Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart *UPDATE* NOT A SSC Seoul Emitter!!!

[adirondackdestroyer]

I mentioned this light on here a few weeks ago when Walmart updated their Flashlight section but it seems like no one has bought one on here yet. So in the spirit of CPF I figured I'd buy one a do a quick review for any potential buyers.

The light itself is decently well made and is very similar to a 2AA Minimag and is an exact upgrade to Brinkmans old 2AA Incan. The light uses a plastic lens which may be upgradable with a glass one that fits a 2AA Minimag, I'm not really sure. It also uses a plastic reflector which fits perfectly in the head of the light. The LED is perfectly centered.

The Seoul is attached to a star which is screwed down so it should be very easy to mod to anyone who is in to that. The output is decent but far from impressive considering it uses a up to date Seoul LED. I would guess the output is around 30-35 lumens or so. Since the output is so low for the LED I would imagine it *should* have very long runtime.

As far as I know this is the first light to use a Seoul or Cree that is sold Nationwide. The price is very reasonable under $14.

I'll take some pics tonight and update this thread with them.

 

[skalomax]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

this is interesting.

 

[parnass]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

...
As far as I know this is the first light to use a Seoul or Cree that is sold Nationwide. The price is very reasonable under $14.

Thanks for the tip. It would be interesting if you could measure the current drawn from the batteries.

 

[defloyd77]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

Uhh you sure it uses a Seoul? The Brinkman 2AA I saw there for that price was a Lux I.

 

[adirondackdestroyer]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

Uhh you sure it uses a Seoul? The Brinkman 2AA I saw there for that price was a Lux I.

This is why I bought the light. I am POSITIVE it uses a Seoul. When I first saw it I posted on here saying that I'm not sure what it uses (because I didn't know what a Seoul looked like) but I'm sure it's not a Luxeon.
So I bought the light and when you open the head you can easily see the Seoul and on the Star it even says it. I tried to take some up close pictures but I have no idea how and they didn't come out well at all.

 

[Gryloc]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

Hey, man. Just happened to bump into you. This light looks very interesting. Do you know how the beam compares in brightness to the common Mini M*gLED? If you cannot measure the current going directly to the emitter, could you measure the current at the battery? This could help us kind of estimate the current going to the LED if we assume that the driver circuitry is like 80% efficient and the Vf is that of the very common Seoul "H" bin. Thanks for finding this. I seen the new "1W - 40lm" and the "3W - 80lm" lights at WalFart, but not Seoul version. Maybe I will have to look into the front of the light to see if I can too spot the distinct Seoul P4 emitter.

-Tony

 

[JRTJRT]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

Is this the Brinkmann black 1 Watt 2AA LED for $14 at Walmart (looks like the 2AA Maglite but an inch longer)?

Can you confirm that it says "SEOUL" inside the light?

Also is there a bluish or greenish tint?

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[Robocop]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

I think there must be 2 different types of Seoul emitters.....The one the Brinkman uses is a Seoul Z emitter mounted on a star.....it says Seoul-Z on the star inside the Brinkman I just purchased. I think the SSC Seoul that we all seem to like is a different version so really this Brinkman is average at best.

The sample I have is a brownish tint with below average performance however the heatsinking is very much better than the Mag-2AA. I may keep mine and mod it with a better star for better tint.

 

[DaveG]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

Does the head on this just un-screw as a MM in candle mode?

 

[adirondackdestroyer]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

I think there must be 2 different types of Seoul emitters.....The one the Brinkman uses is a Seoul Z emitter mounted on a star.....it says Seoul-Z on the star inside the Brinkman I just purchased. I think the SSC Seoul that we all seem to like is a different version so really this Brinkman is average at best.

The sample I have is a brownish tint with below average performance however the heatsinking is very much better than the Mag-2AA. I may keep mine and mod it with a better star for better tint.

I got myself another Seoul light today to compare this to, and sadly enough Robocop is right. This light does use a Seoul emitter but it is NOT the efficient SSC. The die itself looks very similar (nearly identical to my eye) but the dome over it is perfectly round, where as the dome on an SSC Seoul has some angles to it.

I'm very sorry that I misinformed everyone about this light. I should have realized it wasn't a real Seoul when I turned it on, since it has very low output.

Looks like mine will be going back to Wally's World.

And no the head does not screw on and off like a MM. There is no candle mode with this light.

 

[Robocop]

Fot the cost if nothing else the light makes a decent host and looks to be a very easy swap of the emitter. I like the way this light seems to be able to better handle heat and it looks a little more well made than the Mag at least as far as heatsinking is concerned.

I did notice that it does not have a focus feature like the Mag 2-AA and I do like that feature of the Mag design over the Brinkman. I have not yet done a swap of emitters however I am curious as to how the reflector would handle a standard Lumiled Luxeon as the Seoul on mine looks to be a little larger at the base.

If you have a spare star laying around swap it out and for the cost you would have a decent light if for nothing else than a glovebox spare.

 

[chevrofreak]

Re: Brinkman 2AA Seoul Light from Walmart

I got myself another Seoul light today to compare this to, and sadly enough Robocop is right. This light does use a Seoul emitter but it is NOT the efficient SSC.

SSC is just an abbreviation for Seoul SemiConductor.

 

[Robocop]

I am not sure what the difference is really however it is a major one to say the least. I also thought by looking at the emitter from the package that this Brinkman did have the sought after Seoul emitter however it is nothing like the higher quality ones found in other lights.

I recognixed the star inside the Brinkman from another cheap light bought long ago. I have since destroyed that light by modding it however I threw the old star away it was so bad in tint and output. It said the same thing on the star as the Brinkman and that was Seoul Z-Led. Maybe it is BIN or something else involved however there must be two very different versions of the Seoul emitter with one being very good and the other being the quality used in the Brinkman and other cheap lights.

 

[Gnufsh]

I think this light uses an SSC LED, but not the new P4. It probably uses an older less efficient led made by SSC.

 

[Blindasabat]

the Brinkmann 1W 3AAA I got on clearance at Target ($5) a few weeks ago uses an SSC Star too, but it is of course a previous generation emitter that does not use the Cree EZ1000 die. I will soon upgrade it to a new USW0H SSC... of course. The star cost more than the whole light, but it does have a momentary clickie and I can get a 17500 to work in it, so it might be a great work light.

 

[bfg9000]

The SSC Z-power is a previous generation emitter just like the CREE 7090 XR, and was sold here just a year ago (how quickly we forget). It was as bright as a U-bin Lux III but considerably cheaper.

 

[ace0001a]

the Brinkmann 1W 3AAA I got on clearance at Target ($5) a few weeks ago uses an SSC Star too, but it is of course a previous generation emitter that does not use the Cree EZ1000 die. I will soon upgrade it to a new USW0H SSC... of course. The star cost more than the whole light, but it does have a momentary clickie and I can get a 17500 to work in it, so it might be a great work light.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend using anything other than the stock battery configuration in those plastic Brinkmann 3AAA flashlights. There is no real heatsinking in them. The LED star just sits on a thin metal plate. I modified mines and used a better less resistance battery carrier and it works great. Engrpaul also did these and he also recommends against using any Li-Ion batteries. A good candidate for a Li-Ion would be the Dorcy Metal Gear.

As for the 2AA Brinkmann, the one I saw at a local Walmart around me appears to be an older generation Seoul emitter...just like the one used in the 1W 3AAA Plastic Brinkmann...

 

[defloyd77]

How bright is this light though? The Z-power is supposed to be as bright as a lux 3, is it in this light. Any comparisons/beamshots?

 

[Robocop]

From the only two Z-stars I have handled all I can say is I was dissapointed. My experiences may be limited however I remember both of the stars to suffer from the same problems. One was the very dim output and also a weird brown ring around the hotspot.....very ugly beam to say the least.

In the two Seoul Z-emitters I sampled there was no way they were close to a good 3 watt luxeon.....for that matter they were not even close to an average 3 watt emitter.

BFG9000 I am not sure if the Seoul Z emitter you provided a link to is the same as used in the Brinkman light. Believe me there is no way the Brinkman I bought was even close to a U bin luxeon. Maybe this Z emitter in the Brinkman is the lowest end of the scale as it is obviously very cheap. I have only seen this star in 2 lights and they were both very cheap lights with the same below average output.

 

[L.E.D.]

Just picked one of these new ones up today, as I noticed they had been re-stocked after they sold out to trick or treaters. Opened up the head to see the module and it is indeed a Seoul LED. The printing on the metal star reads "Seoul" at the top then "Z-Power" at the bottom. As far as brightness, Throw and overall output are both higher than the Fenix L2D's medium, but lower than high, much lower than max obviously. Tinting is slightly warm, not green though. A good buy at 15 bucks, IMO. We'll see what kind of current this thing is drawing too..