Comparison of cheap LED vs cheap regular flashlight

Please don't laugh people, but I do own many cheap lights. Today I bought my first LED light, one that uses three D-cell batteries. It's a cheapo imported light, but I got it for a great deal, so I figured "why not?" The one I'm comparing it to is a regular flashlight that my wife's work gives out for free to their vendors. It uses two D-cell batteries. It's similar to a Mag light, but says it is from Garrity Industries, but made in China.

So anyway, this is my first light comparison. This pic was taken from about 10 feet away from the wall. The regular light has a brighter "spot" but is mostly useless otherwise. The LED, while still not that great, seemed to put out much more "usable" light at close range.

Here is the pic:

If you want a cheap Led light, bright and white, go for Cree Lights at
http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.901

neat floody LED, I assume it's one of those multi-LED deals? Harbor Freight perhaps? Thanks for sharing.

Nothing wrong with cheap lights IMO, some of us have to keep this hobby affordable after all!

Even some of the cheaper Led Lights are starting to Look good,

KingGlamis said:

Please don't laugh people, but I do own many cheap lights. ...

So anyway, this is my first light comparison.

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Nice, for both the above. Someone's got to keep their head around here. And keep those comparisons coming. What's next?

mdocod said:

neat floody LED, I assume it's one of those multi-LED deals? Harbor Freight perhaps? Thanks for sharing.

Nothing wrong with cheap lights IMO, some of us have to keep this hobby affordable after all!

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If I counted correctly it has 32 LEDs in it. It's not from Harbor Freight, but it wouldn't surprise me if the same company makes them.

The package I bought also came with a 2-AA mini-LED that has 5 or 6 LEDs in it. That thing sucks. I'm going to have to see if it's faulty or if it's just a crappy light. Might be a good candidate for a project light.

The 3D LED sounds similar to the one in my avatar. It uses 24 LEDs. I actually have a couple and find them very useful. They tend to vary in tint a bit, one is a bit purple but the other is beautiful white. I get 24 hours burn time with 24 LEDs and 9000mah nimh cells. Burn time is longer with Alkalines but progressively dims. They are not super bright but still more useful than a cheapy 2D incan.

You may want to check the milliamp draw from the 6 LED if it is dim. A lot of Chinese lights don't have the correct resistor in them. At 20ma per LED it should read 120ma draw for 6 LEDs.

People love to rip on 5mm-array torches, but they project a nice ball of light. That'a a good pic - not over-blown or excessively dim. If that's your first, i'm looking forward to your future comparisons.

KingGlamis said:

The package I bought also came with a 2-AA mini-LED that has 5 or 6 LEDs in it. That thing sucks. I'm going to have to see if it's faulty or if it's just a crappy light.

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It might have no step-up converter, so only new alkalines would have enough volts to run white LEDs, and even then not at full brightness.

If the flashlights came with batteries, you might want to swap in some new ones before passing judgement. I recently picked up a 9 led 3AAA flashlight out of a clearance bin for $2.99. Brought it home and fired it up with the set of batteries it came with. Just about tossed it in the trash, but decided to try new batteries and I now use it quite a bit.

Michael

Ok, since some asked for another one, here is a comparison between a Mini Mag 2AA with the standard incan bulb, and the new cheapo 6LED, also 2AA. Both had new Duracell batteries. Range about 3 feet on to a white wall. My camera wasn't cooperating so the color is way off, the Mini Mag actually had a much whiter color. And the pic is a little blurry. But you can still see, the Mini Mag clearly wins this contest hands down.

OK, one more test. This is my DeWalt 18V rechargeable work light with a 2.5" reflector vs the cheap Eveready 6V light with 3" reflector that you can get for 4-5 bucks at WalMart (the one with the large square battery). Sorry if I am not 100% up on the lingo yet, but I am learning.

This test was done at 10 feet from the wall. You can see why I own four of these DeWalts, it's a good light that will burn for hours on one charge.

Here are pics of the two-pack of LED lights that I bought. The 3D looks a lot like a Mag, and the 2AA is similar too.

KingGlamis said:

Here are pics of the two-pack of LED lights that I bought. The 3D looks a lot like a Mag, and the 2AA is similar too.

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You would expect each LED in the 2AA to be as bright as those in the 3D. I still don't think they're getting enough volts.

I would never laugh about cheap lights, as many of mine fall into that category. Anything under $10 is fair game and very hard for me to resist.

Geoff

Hmmm, my last cheap LED light (from KD) blew one of its LEDs today (er, now yesterday, must get to bed) - the first time that's ever happened to me.