Those cheap LED torches - are they worth it?

[savtraxx]

yea , they claim to be 300 lumens!!!!!!!!!!!
so i wana get one cause of the fact thier $3
are they gona be junk and not even work , or will they work? or work for only a litle while?
opinions?
anyone owned one?
$3 is pretty dam cheap , you cant go wrong with that , or can you
these are the ones
** Ebay link deleted - Keywords:300-Lumens-CREE-Led-5w-5-Watt-Flashlight - Kestrel **
CHEERS!

 

[Ishango]

Re: those cheap LED torches

I'm not exactly an expert, but 300 lumens for $2,99 sounds a little bit too possitive to me.

To compare I just bought a €12,99 light at Aldi after seeing a topic on it in the budget lights section. This light claims 100 lumen. It does come near my Fenix E20 on high (109 lumen), but I think it's not 100 lumen at all. Plus it uses optics to get throw, which shows a clear ring with artifacts.

However I sometimes like the budget lights, like the one linked above. Sometimes you can actually find a wonderful flashlight for a low price. You could certainly try for the price, but don't expect it to be perfect though.

Just my two cents :laughing:

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Re: those cheap LED torches

$7 shipping.

Some of them will work poorly, for a little while. The others arrive broken. Expect 80 lumens and be overjoyed at 150 in 2xAA mode. It'll go into direct drive on RCR, which will be around 300 emitter lumens until the light heats up.

 

[savtraxx]

Re: those cheap LED torches

so dont buy one?
cheers
anyone else had one?

 

[dhouseng]

Re: those cheap LED torches

It's not $3. It's $3 + $7. It will probably work, lights will come out from the emitter. 200 lumens maybe.

 

[savtraxx]

Re: those cheap LED torches

so rekon it will work for a while?
its certainly a gamble
has anyone owned one?

 

[jtblue]

Re: those cheap LED torches

It's only $10 in total when you add in the shipping cost. Get it and if it works, you have yourself a $10 torch that if it were to be broken/lost, you wouldn't cry about it.

 

[Flashfirstask?later]

Re: those cheap LED torches

so rekon it will work for a while?
its certainly a gamble
has anyone owned one?

Does not really say what brand it is as it just may be a cheap generic Chinese light setup.

 

[RyanA]

Re: those cheap LED torches

It's also ten bucks you can put towards an economical light that's known to be reliable, like a fenix, quark or similar light.

 

[Fichtenelch]

Re: those cheap LED torches

For 10$ i'd rather buy a trustfire, romisen or akoray.
And it looks pretty uncomfortable, too For a couple of bucks more you can get a akoray k-106, which is my favorite.

 

[LEDninja]

Re: those cheap LED torches

:welcome:
-
All 3, depending on your luck. Some will work, some will be DOA, some will work for a week or 2.

are they gona be junk and not even work , or will they work? or work for only a litle while?

Those torches work on 2*AA (3V dropping to 2V), 1*CR123A (3V), 1*RCR123A (3.7V, 4.2V hot off the charger)
There is a big difference running at 3V dropping to 2V and 4.2V dropping to 3.6V.
If you go to selfbuilt's CR123A/RCR123A roundup and look up the Quark Mini 123 in both the CR123A and RCR123A charts.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/201117
RCR123A 4000 lux at 4.2V (direct drive)
CR123A 2510 lux at 3V (boost circuit). This should also be equivalent to fresh 2AA at 3V.
As the ebay lights are 1/14th the cost of the Mini I think the boost circuit may be less powerful and provide less light than the CR123A number above.
To get the most light from those torches you have to buy RCR123A batteries and charger. AW protected RCR123A are $6.99 each and a Nano charger is $7.49 plus shipping from lighthound. You can get the batteries direct from AW over at CPFMP.
-
Here is the runtime graph of a Cree light direct driven with 3*NiMH AAA (4.05V hot off the charger).

Even with the rather flat output of NiMH batteries, the output drops from 130 lumens to 85 lumens before it stabilizes.
At the price point of the ebay lights, I do not think you will be getting premium bin LEDs so I think the above graph will indicate the number of OTF lumens you will be getting.

When you run the ebay light from 2AA (3V dropping to 2V) it will be much worse. You will slowly drop from ~70 initial lumens until the light conks out.
Still it is much brighter than the 2 to 25 lumens of the 2AA incan or 3AAA 9LED torches found at the supermarket checkout counter.

 

[Kestrel]

Re: those cheap LED torches

This thread is a better fit for the /LED/Budget Lights/ subforum, so I'll move it there ... (also changing the thread title slightly)

 

[holygeez03]

I own a few cheapo lights that I got for very cheap from an online retailer that ship from China... I have had good luck with lights made by Aurora and UniqueFire and there are a few other budget brands mentioned in theis thread that seem to be acceptable for their low price...

I use my budget lights for throwing in drawers around the house or for keeping in my backpack pocket at all times in case I forget to grab one of my "good" lights. The build qulity is definitely lower grade than my Quark and Fenix lights, but not nearly as bad as some of the generic cheapos that I have seen in stores. And, of course, do not expect the light to have anywhere near the output claimed by budget sellers.

I would definitely not trust a budget light for important times when it will be your only source of light (bike riding, hiking, camping, power failures, etc.) and I would be careful not to let it get thrown around or beat up too much. But cheap lights are great for buying in higher quanitity or gifts for people who are impressed by the brightness but build-quality would be wasted. I also tend to carry a budget light with me when flying, just in case a security screener decides to confiscate it.

 

[mcnair55]

Re: those cheap LED torches

I'm not exactly an expert, but 300 lumens for $2,99 sounds a little bit too possitive to me.

To compare I just bought a €12,99 light at Aldi after seeing a topic on it in the budget lights section. This light claims 100 lumen. It does come near my Fenix E20 on high (109 lumen), but I think it's not 100 lumen at all. Plus it uses optics to get throw, which shows a clear ring with artifacts.

However I sometimes like the budget lights, like the one linked above. Sometimes you can actually find a wonderful flashlight for a low price. You could certainly try for the price, but don't expect it to be perfect though.

Just my two cents :laughing:

My Aldi light is as bright as my Nitecore EZ and this lumens thingy is as wild as the pixels on cameras.I must have the max pixel thinking I get better pics,wrong,one of my older cameras with just 5mp takes better pics than my latest 12 mp buy which has cost me three times the price and my very first 1mp camera bought eleven years ago takes the best macro shots on low light.

 

[flatline]

I also tend to carry a budget light with me when flying, just in case a security screener decides to confiscate it.

I've never heard stories of anyone having a flashlight confiscated by airport security. Has this happened to you or are you just being cautious?

--flatline

 

[holygeez03]

Being cautious I suppose... When I hear about someone's nail clippers or file being confiscated, I don't think it's much of a jump to think someone might decide that a metal tube with a battery and circuitry inside is some sort of explosive device... and if someone tried to take my E3P away from me, I would probably cause quite a scene and end up getting arrested... besides missing my flight, it would all go downhill from there.

So I usually just grab a decent cheapo and throw that in my pocket or carry-on.

 

[LEDninja]

I've never heard stories of anyone having a flashlight confiscated by airport security. Has this happened to you or are you just being cautious?

--flatline

There have been at least 2 instances/threads.

 

[Monocrom]

Re: those cheap LED torches

I'm not exactly an expert, but 300 lumens for $2.99 sounds a little bit too positive to me.

Close . . . It's a bold-faced f**king lie.

 

[yellow08jk]

I bought a ultrafire wf-606a a couple of months ago and it is pretty awesome. I would say it was well worth the $20 I paid for it. SUPER bright, 100% reliable so far, and pretty decent build. I liked it so much I bought a RL-168 and it is also great. I've now ordered a A-1 and I'm looking for a good AAA light.

I say go for it :thumbsup: