I've had been given some ebay funds awhile back and also have gotten into salvaging laptop battery packs and with all that have gotten into usb powered LED power banks and such on the cheap. With all the free 18650 batteries I first bought one cheap 1AA battery zoomable "3 mode" LED light then a 2AA penlight and then 2 18650 lights and finally last light I got was another 1AA LED light. I have another LED light on order that is a month already in shipping (unusually slow) now that I may add to this thread. I don't have a phone camera just going to give descriptions. My short reviews of this lights their "pros and cons" hopefully will give you an idea if one of them is worth investing in for your needs or not.
First off the 2 18650 lights I have:
1) A 5 mode "cree" rear clicky switch metal light. I think similar lights are listed as "Vander" but this one is listed as "Cree XML T6 5 mode) and has a flat spot on opposite sides and is aluminum colored.
Very cheap about $2.50, decent construction and fit and light with battery in it
Has "glo ring" in the front between lens and reflector that stays lit for a few minutes after using the light.
Plenty of throw and 3 modes are spaced pretty well at 100% 50% 25% then flash and SOS. No mode memory.
The beam is a "ball" not pure but a splotchy sort of round circle that only is distracting a little on a wall and it has sort of a corona around the middle with an unnoticeable slight second halo and good spill. Reflector is smooth.
The outside of the light is round with opposing flat spots in the middle 1/3 and several spots of grippable areas along it so even though it feel mostly smooth it is you won't easily drop it. The switch is a green covered reverse clicky that feels 'strong" and works with no problems.
It has a spring on the light engine end inside and a metal cup springed "piston" in the tailcap end for the battery you should be able to use any typoe of 18650 battery in it I'm using flat tops.
I measured the current draw a month ago and if my memory serves me it is about 0.74A/0.37A/0.18A.
I figure using a ~2000mah 18650 you should get about 2.5/5/10 hours runtime.
The LED in it I'm almost sure is a clone of some sort but tint is decent perhaps a little greenish but hard to notice unless comparing to another light.
Overall this light is a bargain budget light one that if you have some mediocre 18650s around you can toss one in and throw this in a drawer or place it in a strategic location for later use like a toolbox or shelf near an exit. The metal in this light may not be aluminum but doesn't seem to get very hot at all and is thin you can feel it flexing slightly when you squeeze it hard I would say this light may not hold up under heavy beating too well but at the price you can buy 3 of them for under $10 and toss the broken one.
2)Supfire A5 18650 LED light listed as A5sup and is about $5 I think only one dealer sells this one it has 5 modes, a digital lit switch, and a micro usb charge port on the opposite side of the side digitial switch.
This light has the typical 5 modes 100% 50% 25% Strobe SOS. side digital switch that works well and ability to plug a micro usb cable into it to recharge it without removing the battery. It has a deep orange peel reflector about twice as deep as the previous light.
I like this light it throws like crazy almost a laser beam with its deep reflector at a distance it is equal in output to the previous light but dimmer overall with current draw at 0.35A/0.17A/0.8A with only an 18uA draw when off so the battery will probably self discharge more than the vampiric current affects it.
I like the switch but it has some rather annoying problems with it in that you can't easily find it when you pick it up it has no bumps and fits too flush with the metal around it. The LED indicator is suppose to glow (brightly) green when power level is good and red when low and also red when charging and green when full but doesn't work very well I think it is set at too high of a voltage as often in use the led turns red when the battery measures over 4v when you take it out and if you turn if off and back on sometimes it goes and stays green and bumping the light sometimes "helps" out this problem (like the battery bouncing helps contact) The charging port has an annoying rubber cover that has the end that stands off you can feel and often you peel it open. It is on the opposite side of the rubber digital switch so I sometimes feel for the cover to find the switch on the other side. There is no tail clicky. The light has a larger reflector end and a larger tail cap end with step down in side to switch and then body tube. The light feels very solid good finish.
I like this light but it does need a little improvement but I'm thinking if they did improve it the price would go from $5 to $20 quickly as I don't think there is any other light with the "features" of this in the price range.
AA lights-
1AA zoomable light I have 1 that is typical ~$2.50 with a Cree looking emitter in it. It has a clip and a sliding sleeve with vertical (standing on end looking at it) cuts on the slider, horizontal "fins" below it and a sculpted round body section with 3 small flats and a black clip that slides on the tube end on the outside held in by the tailcap. I like this little light I got the silver one (natural finish) and it works well with only a few problems.
The light has 3 modes low/high/strobe. I measured current draw at 0.65A/0.20A at the tailcap.
The light modes are useful and it is bright enough but high mode is close to that of low mode on the 18650 variety perhaps half way between as it is hard to compare a zoom light to reflectored one there is no spill to speak of. The zoom works very well but you do need to put a little grease on the O-ring to make it slide easier not too much or it slides too easy and if you set it face down it will "zoom" by itself making it lose the focus you last had it at. The switch works well feels less stiff than the 18650s by a lot it may be flimsier but so far I've had no issues with it and use the light several times a week. This light zooms in to see the LED "elements" in the beam (squarish design) and out to make a "ball of light" that measures about 3' diameter at 4' distance.
Now here is the issues I have with the light changing the battery take a little effort as the clip and threads sometimes has you not being able to screw it back together easily sometimes it goes back together with no problem other times you have to align things and screw backwards a little then forwards but once you get the threads lined it does go together well. The light pattern on the wall has a halo that I've found comes from reflections off the locking ring and side walls behind the lens I used a large tip black marker to neutralize most of the reflections and the "ball" on the wall looks fine now. The most annoying things about the light I got was the "next mode" memory of the light. This is when you start in High mode turn it off and the light is in low mode when you turn it on and after that strobe so you never start in High or the last mode but always the next mode. I found out the fix for this and it isn't easy to do but can be done with no soldering. You have to take off the lens, unscrew the locking ring (around the LED) and take off the tube and remove the LED to get to the circuit board. You then take a pencil and rub over the capacitors on it to bridge across them with graphite till you find the right one. This will drain the current off the capacitor that holds memory and if you get too much you may have issues not enough it will still have memory. I got mine to where it had memory still but if you leave if off for about 5-10 seconds then it reverts to high mode now.
With the exception of the annoying memory issue I like these zoom lights. I'm not sure of it is a problem with all of these lights or all of this specific model at all so YMMV.
Last light is a 1AA cheap LED light Skywolfeye TLY320 (not listed like this on ebay)... single mode On/Off with plastic optics (typical design) and rear clicky. These lights come in several colors I believe blue/black/red/green. It has silver cut in "rings" near both ends one near the light output the other cut in the tailcap they accent the solid metallic color and look sort of elegant similar to the same in power bank that are round. The current at the tailcap measures about 0.45A has some spill and a two level fading "beam" color is more bluish but close enough to white to not be annoying. The beam is useful and nice and bright enough for short distances as for throwing the beam gets larger a lot quicker than reflectored or zooming lights for distances under 12ft the light does great at 100 ft it better be pretty dark to be useful. I really like this light and the best part of it all is that I paid less than $1.50 for it including shipping I ordered a second one (I have the blue and have the green color coming) I plan on buying more of these cheap lights and putting in cheap AA batteries (generic alkalines) and giving them away probably cost me $2 total or less. The only issues is the light is very smooth and the switch feels/sounds very cheap so the light may not work forever but you can buy 7 or 8 of them for around $10 and throw them away when they go bad.
Last light(s) are the same design but 2AA and 2AAA versions of penlight with cut silver striped on the tube and the light engine is smaller than the body. These lights work well the 2AA is pretty bright as it takes a whopping 1.35A off 2 nimh AAs and the 2AAA output is pathetic only drawing 0.09A (90ma) these lights are hyped in the 1000+ lumen range with output of the 2AA perhaps 300 lumens or so and the 2AAA maybe 15 lumens or so. I like the 2AA I got the red one for around $1 I think they run around that up to $2 online mine is black with silver ends. These lights are one mode.
This ends my cheap light reviews if you have questions go ahead and ask I'll try and answer them. I bought these lights from probably a different dealer for each light almost all of them are available from multiple vendors but he supfire one.
First off the 2 18650 lights I have:
1) A 5 mode "cree" rear clicky switch metal light. I think similar lights are listed as "Vander" but this one is listed as "Cree XML T6 5 mode) and has a flat spot on opposite sides and is aluminum colored.
Very cheap about $2.50, decent construction and fit and light with battery in it
Has "glo ring" in the front between lens and reflector that stays lit for a few minutes after using the light.
Plenty of throw and 3 modes are spaced pretty well at 100% 50% 25% then flash and SOS. No mode memory.
The beam is a "ball" not pure but a splotchy sort of round circle that only is distracting a little on a wall and it has sort of a corona around the middle with an unnoticeable slight second halo and good spill. Reflector is smooth.
The outside of the light is round with opposing flat spots in the middle 1/3 and several spots of grippable areas along it so even though it feel mostly smooth it is you won't easily drop it. The switch is a green covered reverse clicky that feels 'strong" and works with no problems.
It has a spring on the light engine end inside and a metal cup springed "piston" in the tailcap end for the battery you should be able to use any typoe of 18650 battery in it I'm using flat tops.
I measured the current draw a month ago and if my memory serves me it is about 0.74A/0.37A/0.18A.
I figure using a ~2000mah 18650 you should get about 2.5/5/10 hours runtime.
The LED in it I'm almost sure is a clone of some sort but tint is decent perhaps a little greenish but hard to notice unless comparing to another light.
Overall this light is a bargain budget light one that if you have some mediocre 18650s around you can toss one in and throw this in a drawer or place it in a strategic location for later use like a toolbox or shelf near an exit. The metal in this light may not be aluminum but doesn't seem to get very hot at all and is thin you can feel it flexing slightly when you squeeze it hard I would say this light may not hold up under heavy beating too well but at the price you can buy 3 of them for under $10 and toss the broken one.
2)Supfire A5 18650 LED light listed as A5sup and is about $5 I think only one dealer sells this one it has 5 modes, a digital lit switch, and a micro usb charge port on the opposite side of the side digitial switch.
This light has the typical 5 modes 100% 50% 25% Strobe SOS. side digital switch that works well and ability to plug a micro usb cable into it to recharge it without removing the battery. It has a deep orange peel reflector about twice as deep as the previous light.
I like this light it throws like crazy almost a laser beam with its deep reflector at a distance it is equal in output to the previous light but dimmer overall with current draw at 0.35A/0.17A/0.8A with only an 18uA draw when off so the battery will probably self discharge more than the vampiric current affects it.
I like the switch but it has some rather annoying problems with it in that you can't easily find it when you pick it up it has no bumps and fits too flush with the metal around it. The LED indicator is suppose to glow (brightly) green when power level is good and red when low and also red when charging and green when full but doesn't work very well I think it is set at too high of a voltage as often in use the led turns red when the battery measures over 4v when you take it out and if you turn if off and back on sometimes it goes and stays green and bumping the light sometimes "helps" out this problem (like the battery bouncing helps contact) The charging port has an annoying rubber cover that has the end that stands off you can feel and often you peel it open. It is on the opposite side of the rubber digital switch so I sometimes feel for the cover to find the switch on the other side. There is no tail clicky. The light has a larger reflector end and a larger tail cap end with step down in side to switch and then body tube. The light feels very solid good finish.
I like this light but it does need a little improvement but I'm thinking if they did improve it the price would go from $5 to $20 quickly as I don't think there is any other light with the "features" of this in the price range.
AA lights-
1AA zoomable light I have 1 that is typical ~$2.50 with a Cree looking emitter in it. It has a clip and a sliding sleeve with vertical (standing on end looking at it) cuts on the slider, horizontal "fins" below it and a sculpted round body section with 3 small flats and a black clip that slides on the tube end on the outside held in by the tailcap. I like this little light I got the silver one (natural finish) and it works well with only a few problems.
The light has 3 modes low/high/strobe. I measured current draw at 0.65A/0.20A at the tailcap.
The light modes are useful and it is bright enough but high mode is close to that of low mode on the 18650 variety perhaps half way between as it is hard to compare a zoom light to reflectored one there is no spill to speak of. The zoom works very well but you do need to put a little grease on the O-ring to make it slide easier not too much or it slides too easy and if you set it face down it will "zoom" by itself making it lose the focus you last had it at. The switch works well feels less stiff than the 18650s by a lot it may be flimsier but so far I've had no issues with it and use the light several times a week. This light zooms in to see the LED "elements" in the beam (squarish design) and out to make a "ball of light" that measures about 3' diameter at 4' distance.
Now here is the issues I have with the light changing the battery take a little effort as the clip and threads sometimes has you not being able to screw it back together easily sometimes it goes back together with no problem other times you have to align things and screw backwards a little then forwards but once you get the threads lined it does go together well. The light pattern on the wall has a halo that I've found comes from reflections off the locking ring and side walls behind the lens I used a large tip black marker to neutralize most of the reflections and the "ball" on the wall looks fine now. The most annoying things about the light I got was the "next mode" memory of the light. This is when you start in High mode turn it off and the light is in low mode when you turn it on and after that strobe so you never start in High or the last mode but always the next mode. I found out the fix for this and it isn't easy to do but can be done with no soldering. You have to take off the lens, unscrew the locking ring (around the LED) and take off the tube and remove the LED to get to the circuit board. You then take a pencil and rub over the capacitors on it to bridge across them with graphite till you find the right one. This will drain the current off the capacitor that holds memory and if you get too much you may have issues not enough it will still have memory. I got mine to where it had memory still but if you leave if off for about 5-10 seconds then it reverts to high mode now.
With the exception of the annoying memory issue I like these zoom lights. I'm not sure of it is a problem with all of these lights or all of this specific model at all so YMMV.
Last light is a 1AA cheap LED light Skywolfeye TLY320 (not listed like this on ebay)... single mode On/Off with plastic optics (typical design) and rear clicky. These lights come in several colors I believe blue/black/red/green. It has silver cut in "rings" near both ends one near the light output the other cut in the tailcap they accent the solid metallic color and look sort of elegant similar to the same in power bank that are round. The current at the tailcap measures about 0.45A has some spill and a two level fading "beam" color is more bluish but close enough to white to not be annoying. The beam is useful and nice and bright enough for short distances as for throwing the beam gets larger a lot quicker than reflectored or zooming lights for distances under 12ft the light does great at 100 ft it better be pretty dark to be useful. I really like this light and the best part of it all is that I paid less than $1.50 for it including shipping I ordered a second one (I have the blue and have the green color coming) I plan on buying more of these cheap lights and putting in cheap AA batteries (generic alkalines) and giving them away probably cost me $2 total or less. The only issues is the light is very smooth and the switch feels/sounds very cheap so the light may not work forever but you can buy 7 or 8 of them for around $10 and throw them away when they go bad.
Last light(s) are the same design but 2AA and 2AAA versions of penlight with cut silver striped on the tube and the light engine is smaller than the body. These lights work well the 2AA is pretty bright as it takes a whopping 1.35A off 2 nimh AAs and the 2AAA output is pathetic only drawing 0.09A (90ma) these lights are hyped in the 1000+ lumen range with output of the 2AA perhaps 300 lumens or so and the 2AAA maybe 15 lumens or so. I like the 2AA I got the red one for around $1 I think they run around that up to $2 online mine is black with silver ends. These lights are one mode.
This ends my cheap light reviews if you have questions go ahead and ask I'll try and answer them. I bought these lights from probably a different dealer for each light almost all of them are available from multiple vendors but he supfire one.
