Rayovac 3W 2AA (Walmart) vs. TerraLUX LightStar3 (Batteryjunction)

[woodrow]

I was having a really bad day on Friday, so I thought I would cheer my self up with a new light while I was at Walmart to buy Excedrin. I was hoping for an Energizer cree light...but there were none, but I stumbled across some Rayovac 3watt 80 lumen lights for $24.99. It looked like a lux 3 led...but nothing else looked good, so I thought I would give it a try. In my car and back at the store during the afternoon...it's beam did not look all that impressive....but at night, its not too bad!

I decided to do a quick comparison against my old TerraLUX (nuwai I am told) 2AA rebel light I bought from Batteryjunction for about $28 after the cpf discount. Here are the two lights....side by side and bezel view.

(the terralux had a clip...but I stole it for my old Olight)

As for their output...I do not think they are putting out 80 lumens out the front...but most likely 60 at least. The rebel light has a white tint...while the Rayovac tint is very purpleish....but it is every bit as bright as the terralux, at least to my eyes.

I decided to put new Energizer Max alkalines in both lights and leave them on until they were dead. In another thread, the light looks like a Nuwai X3 reviewed in Flashlightreviews http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/nuwai_x-3.htm
Quickbeam used rayovac brand AA batts and the light was dead within 50 minutes. I expected the same to happen here....but I was HUGELY surprised as the beamshots will show.

Terralux on left, Rayovac on right. Camera locked at 4/10 of a second at f/5.

First...10 minutes into test:

Next, 1 hour into test

I thought the Rayovac would be dead at this point...but both lights are still in regulation.
Next, 1 hour and 31 minutes...

Unbelievably, the terralux had ended its regulation...rapidly flickered and gone out about 2 minutes before I was able to get the camera on and take the shot. The Rayovac was dimmer, but still working!

Here is a picture of the Rayovac next to the little Streamlight microstream...after the rayovac had been on for 2 hours. The microstrem has a lithium AAA in it and is pretty new.

The microstream puts out around 20 lumens...so you can see the Rayovac is pretty dim...but it is still working and giving more than enough light for room navigation.

So, which light is the winner.... too close to call. Personally, I still like the Terralux better because of its nice white smooth (has a OP reflector vs. the Rayovac's smooth one) beam. But I am pretty impressed with the Rayovac. Keep in mind that neither light is as bright as a Fenix T1 on medium... but for less than $30 AA light, they are both pretty impressive.

 

[loving light]

Hi,Thank you for a great review and pictures!I have the rayovac 3watt and I like it alot very solid feel,bright(almost too bright for most tasks)just wish it had a low mode.

 

[Modern_Major_General]

Wow, I have never heard of one of those 3 watt Rayovac (or whatever brand name they happened to be sold under) running for longer than 45 minutes on regular alkalines. This is very suppressing to me!

I had a Rayovac 3 watt (mine was sold by Cabela's) at one point but stopped using it because of the short runtime with alkalines. I eventually got the terralux rebel to replace it, and was happier with the runtime of about 1.5 hours with alkalines until it shut off. Both lights were about the same brightness.

 

[Burgess]

Thank you for this review, Woodrow. :thumbsup:


I own both of these flashlights, myself.


My Nuwai X-3 (3-watt) is quite Green-ish, rather than Purple-ish.

Luxeon Lottery, i suppose.



Surprising run-time comparison you experienced.

In my lights, with Sanyo Eneloop NiMH cells,

-- the TerraLux draws about 700 milliamps of current

-- the Nuwai X-3 (3-watt) draws 1000 milliamps


Do you perhaps have a multi-meter to check yer' current draw ?

Just curious.


Oh, BTW, perhaps last Summer,
the Energizer Alkaline Max AA cells
began to show the single word "Improved" on their package.


I actually phoned Energizer, and asked 'em "what's up ?"


The nice lady (Heidi) told me they've modified the Chemistry slightly,
for better performance under higher current drain.


That's all she could say.


But when i asked if this change would be in the OTHER sizes,
she replied: "No, just the AA's".


FWIW

_

 

[woodrow]

Burgess, sorry...no multi-meter. I was VERY suprised at the runtimes as well. It would be interesting to see how long each light would run on lithium AA's....but that is a $9 test.

 

[Modern_Major_General]

I tested the runtimes of my TerraLux Rebel 2AA and Cabela's 3-watt 2AA (same as the rayovac 3-watt) with both alkalines and rechargeables.

With alkalines, the Nuwai X-3 had a runtime of about 40 minutes, and the TerraLux had a runtime of about 1 hour and 25 minutes.

With rechargeables, the Nuwai X-3 had a much longer runtime of about 1 hour and 30 minutes, a big increase. The TerraLux on rechargeables, on the other hand, had a runtime of about 1 hour and 50 minutes, not a very big increase at all. Both lights flickered and went completely out when regulation failed. Neither has moon mode.

I've discovered that some newer lights that use regular alkaline batteries don't run significantly longer on rechargeables. The Streamlight microstream and stylus pro are two examples. Neither run much longer on rechargeables compared to alkalines.

I've debated picking up a new Rayovac 3-watt 2AA to try it out myself. From the look of woodrow's review, the circuit of the new Rayovac 3-watt 2AA's might have been tweaked to provide longer runtime + moon mode once regulation quits!

 

[cave dave]

That Terralux looks different than the one on the website:

http://www.batteryjunction.com/tlf-3l2aa-.html

 

[Burgess]

Yes, you are correct.


My TerraLux (from Battery Junction) has just a

passing resemblance to the photo posted there.



I figure it has gone through a make-over.


Their photo really should oughta' be revised. :wave:

_

 

[Monocrom]

The carry-clip on the lights makes a world of difference in ease of carry, at least for me.