Costco - Lightmates 3W LED Cree Focusable Aspheric - Mini Review

[squaat]

So this is my first review like post, so bear with me.

Almost a month ago I stubled across these at my Local Canadian Costco (Willingdon Ave, Burnaby, BC). They cost around 19.99 CAD (last week they were on special for 15.99)

The packaging advertises a 75 Lumen Cree LED, focusable flashlight. Interesting, must have some regulation to do that off two AA's right? A closer inspection showed that it had an Aspheric lens, something that I didn't own yet. So I picked up a pack.

So here's what they look like out of the box (I've removed the crappy clip that it comes with)

Here's a view down the lens (Note there is no reflector at all, just a lens)

Here's the head by itself

Here's it is in candle mode. Note: in the 6 units that I had only a couple could stand on their tailcaps. Perhaps some fiddling with the clicky you could get it to sit flush .

A close up of the LED (any one care to identify the bin?)

The back of the pill module (just screws off the body)

With the circuit board exposed

A Close up of the circuit board. I'm not familiar with circuits, can anyone identify this? I assume the presence of the board means that it's regulated to some extent.

Okay and now for the beam shots... Again bear with me, I only have a crappy point and shoot and I'm new to this.

From Left to right @ approx 1m
LightMate 3W (Flood), LiteMate 3W (Focus), L2D (High)

From Left To right (At a shorter exposure)
LightMate 3W (Flood), LiteMate 3W (Focus), L2D (High)

I had never seen an aspheric focussed beam shot before, it cracked me up to see the LED chip projected onto the wall. Here's a comparison between the "flood" and focussed beamshots. We'll talk about the "Flood" mode in a bit. Unfortunetly my camera couldn't pick all the detail fo the focussed shot. You can see all the lines in the LED wafer!

Beam pattern
So lets talk some more on the beam pattern. Well to be honest it looks really bad on a wall, there are lots of artifacts that aren't shown in my beam shots. Much of which is a fair way out from the center, miles away from the hot spot (even on flood mode). I assume that this is from the aspheric lens, however i would guess that at least (if not more) 90% of the light is focussed into the hotspots. So in other words in practice you have virtually no spill.

The Focussing feature of the flashlight is bit of a joke really. All you do is loosen and tighten the head. At a certain point you reach the flood mode, which is more like a diffuse mode. The focusing feature doesn't make too much of difference at distances less than a couple metres, but over a long distance, say 10+ meters, it definitely starts to show, but this is more due to the tightness of the focussed mode. However because there is no spill and the flood isn't really that floody, it definitely limits the practicality of flashlight.

The Fully focussed mode is so focussed that you can see the outline of the Cree LED, lines in the wafer and all! This makes the Lightmate 3W a really good budget thrower. It far out throws my L2D (even on turbo) and throws just as far as my modded MAG (TerraLUX MiniStar5 TLE-6EX SSC P4 running on 6AA) which is close on throw to a TK20. So yeah the focussed mode is pretty tight, and you can easily see the beam projecting up into the night sky. And it looks awesome in the fog!

Still it feels a tad strange waving a funny Square(ish) shaped beam around.

Build Quality
Not the greatest. I'm no finishing expert, but it's nothing like the HA III on my Fenix lights, and not as good as the HA II on my mag. Threads can be rough depending on the sample, and the o-rings are sometimes loose. However the build is quite heavy set, especially the head.

The focus mode varies from unit to unit, but most (and I've bought 6 as gifts for non flashaholic friends) are IMHO too loose when in focussed mode. While I don't think the head would fall off, it seems a tad wobbly.

I've also found that this flashlight is very easy to disasseble. Everything is screwed together and with minimal effort it comes apart. So far I've taken the LED module off (see pics) and i've been able to remove the lens as well. (which is plastic). Perhaps this could be a good host for mods...

Runtime and regulation
Unfortunately I have no time or way to measure output, runtime so I can't really make any real sound comments here. Sorry. But for what it's worth I compared my orig unit to the ones I bought last week (which was used occasionally for a month and is still on it's orig alkaline cells) to my recent purchases and can say that they seem equally as bright.

Conclusion
Well the flashlight impressed my non-flashaholic friends, and many have shown interest in it. So for less that $10 each they are awesome for gifts.

I've added one to my collection, but it was for completeness not because it was a must have.... okay I admit I get a kick out of the tight focus and like that it can be kinda used as a star pointer

However over time I've come to appreciate a decent spill, this flashlight has no spill and the focus mode is not diffuse enough to compensate. So if you are after a cheap thrower, then this is your ticket, if you want to get friends and family off their cheap incands then this is also your ticket. I know I've given quite a few away.

But in the end you get what you pay for, and this is a decent sub $10 thrower.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

Re: Lightmates 3W LED Cree Focusable Aspheric

Hey, you took the circuit board out and everything... :twothumbs
Definitely an interesting find, too bad the quality isn't higher. The driver could easily be swapped out to run the cree a bit better. Too bad the focus doesn't really spread out more. I'm assuming it's a cheap plastic aspheric w/o any ar coatings for the price. But for the price it's not terrible, and it's likely better than what 75% of the unenlightened have (assuming they have a light at all).

 

[squaat]

Re: Lightmates 3W LED Cree Focusable Aspheric

Hey, you took the circuit board out and everything... :twothumbs
Definitely an interesting find, too bad the quality isn't higher. The driver could easily be swapped out to run the cree a bit better. Too bad the focus doesn't really spread out more. I'm assuming it's a cheap plastic aspheric w/o any ar coatings for the price. But for the price it's not terrible, and it's likely better than what 75% of the unenlightened have (assuming they have a light at all).

It wasn't hard to disassemble this light, so it may be good for mods. I was also able to remove the aspheric lens, and yes it is plastic. Initially thought it wasn't, as the head was pretty heavy. However it turns out, that the head is just pretty heavy.

I just gave one to a co-worker, he thought it was well made. I guess I'm just used to fenix build quality, where as he is used to cheap plastic flashlights.

So yeah, although my review seemed negative, it comes from a flashaholics perspective. "Normal" people think this is an awesome light and honestly for < $10 it is rather awesome. (the throw still surprises me)

 

[greenlight]

Re: Lightmates 3W LED Cree Focusable Aspheric

Too bad the focus doesn't really spread out more.

Buy a different flashlight.

Good to see that they're still making aspheric lights. I'll be looking for this at my local costco, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[1996alnl]

I was at Costco this morning and picked up this package and put it right back.
I'm glad i didn't waste my money.As far as i'm concerned Costco is known for selling quality products and lets face it the average rung sale is right up there.They should'nt be carring this____.
If they carried high end flashlights they'd sell well because people walk in there with their wallets open

Take care

 

[squaat]

Re: Lightmates 3W LED Cree Focusable Aspheric

Buy a different flashlight.

Well it was hard to tell how good the flood would be before I bought it (and I've never owned a aspheric flashlight before. If the packaging on the back of the box was to be believed it should have been awesome.

That being said, I bought 2 more packs (4 flashlights) as gifts when the price dropped, as your average non-flashaholic seems to think these are pretty cool

And now I'm contemplating modding them (better driver, better lens perhaps) as my first real mod, as I don't mind trashing a sub $10 light if I screw it up.

It also has me wondering if I should grab an aspheric lens for my mag, just to make it throw that much further.

So yeah, now that I think about it more, for the price point, it's a pretty good way to get your hands dirty with aspherics

 

[squaat]

I was at Costco this morning and picked up this package and put it right back.
I'm glad i didn't waste my money.As far as i'm concerned Costco is known for selling quality products and lets face it the average rung sale is right up there.They should'nt be carring this____.
If they carried high end flashlights they'd sell well because people walk in there with their wallets open

Take care

Yep agree with your there, especially with the wallets open thing. Costco is the place that re-lit my flashaholicism with some cheap 3AAA nuwai's (before I knew better). However I do wish that they sell some stuff on the level that we expect. (There was a post about a leatherman rebrand of the Fenix L1T at US costcos and I desperately want them to appear at Canadian costco's)

However for your average joe, these flashlights are more than enough.

 

[kramer5150]

That driver looks very similar to the one I found in this cheap light I picked up..

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0275488





Even the "A2682" matches.

 

[gunga]

Yep, I picked a couple up, tried them out, returned them the next day.

I don't know, I just think they are pretty low quality junk. Not sure the beam is even good enough for a non-flashaholic, not very useful...

 

[Gunner12]

Two little things, you can't tell the bin of the LED by just looking at it. A P4 bin LED would look the exact the same as the R2 bin. You'll have to light up the LED with the same power to tell the difference.

Also, there is no such thing as HA II. It seems to make sense since many people express type III anodizing(Hard Anodizing, HA, Type III) as HA III so it might seem correct to assume that HA means anodizing, but it doesn't. HA should only be used for Hard Anodizing, Type III. Type II anodizing is just type II anodizing.

The light looks like a Nuwai X-3 but with a Cree XR-E and a lens.

Could be a decent cheap spot type light but the lack of spill also limits the usefulness.

They look decent for the price. I think they should have used a reflector instead of a lens.

Thanks for the review and beam shots!

 

[squaat]

just to follow up on this review.

I didn't end up keeping this light for myself but I bought a few (6) as stocking stuffers for xmas . (for non flashaholics)

Since then I've gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from my friends. During the recent heavy dumping of snow here in Vancouver, there were quite a number of power outages.

People found it extremely handy during the blackouts and a co-worker even impressed his friends with the light (granted they all had crappy cheapo incans). It out shone and out ran all of the other lights present.

Another friend used it on his vacation to mexico. He and his girlfriend used it to find their way to secluded beach at night and both were surprised how well it lit up their path.

So yeah it's beam pattern and build quality are sub par by our standards, but for your average joes, it's already proven to be more than adequate. (and with luck may have excited them enough to invest in a real flashlight)

Anyhoo it gave me the warm fuzzies to get some nice feedback from friends

 

[BabyDoc]

I am sure these lights were appreciated by your friends, expecially if they were getting their first LED lights. Had they started out with SureFires, I don't think they would be any more impressed. Now, however, should they take another step up with a say a Fenix or a NiteCore, they will really appreciate the improvement. Can you really appreciate the craftmanship and drivability of a Porshe if you have never even driven a Ford? If you start out with the Porshe, you might think all cars drive as well.

 

[jzmtl]

Heh i thought about getting one too but passed. How far is the lens from LED? Always thought with aspheric a lot of lumens not hitting lens are lost.

 

[kramer5150]

There always seems to be interest in aspheric throwers.... especially ones that are cheap and can be easily opened for modding. Get a Q5-WC from DX and a higher current driver and you can have a nice emitter die thrower for not a lot of $$$.

 

[squaat]

Heh i thought about getting one too but passed. How far is the lens from LED? Always thought with aspheric a lot of lumens not hitting lens are lost.

I don't have it anymore, but from memory, it's about a 1cm or so once it was screwed all the way down.

I always wondered that too, what happens to all the side spill of the emitter, why not throw a reflector in there too?

 

[rpage53]

Needs to screw down more for flood

I don't have it anymore, but from memory, it's about a 1cm or so once it was screwed all the way down.

I always wondered that too, what happens to all the side spill of the emitter, why not throw a reflector in there too?

I just bought 2 of these to use in the Fenix flashlight holder on my bike. I didn't like having to take the time to remove more expensive lights when I locked up the bike and if someone takes these I won't mind.

I think there is a slight flaw in the design that prevents the head from screwing down far enough -- so it really doesn't have a "flood" mode. The threads contact the body behind the O ring too soon. My preference would be to turn off the first few mm of threads in the head but I don't have a lathe set up. I'm going to try to grind a little off the body instead and see if I can get more flood and more spill. Then one light would illuminate the road up close and the other would throw well down the trail.

Rick.

 

[fireguy]

I just picked up a package of these lights in Costco. I must admit, I know nothing about flashlights. I have a small LED light I use at work (mostly during medical calls when the room lighting is poor and to help the paramedics putting in an IV). My old light has a number of LED's inside and runs off 3 AAA batteries. It's cheap, which was ok, because it gets knocked around a lot.

This one is bright, seems well built, but I'm comparing it to a $3 LED light. I too thought it was pretty weird the way it projected the LED chip when focused. As for the adjustable flood/spot, well, they missed the target on that one for sure. In a power failure, using it in candle mode would be pretty good. I don't know how long it lasts on a set of batteries as I haven't used it that much.

Having read your review (thank you for it), I'm now thinking: "There are better lights out there?" Wow! I guess I have been [mandatory pun] in the dark [/mandatory pun].

Ok, now for a completely newbie question: what is a good flashlight? I don't want to spend $100 on a light, but something that I could use at work would be ideal - put it in my pocket and use it to examine a patient, look underneath a vehicle at an accident, light my way through a dark basement, etc. Yes, we do have rechargeable lights on the trucks, but sometimes you get in a position where you just need a small light. Also, I just bought a C9000 and have some AA and AAA NiMH, so investing in rechargeable lithium cells and a new charger isn't high on my priority at this point. Run time of the light really isn't an issue since I can carry spare cells with me and recharge them easily. A couple of hours run time would be fine. The ability to change from 'spot' to 'flood' would be beneficial. I noticed that the Fenix site has an orange cover that fits over some lights for traffic direction. That would be ideal! I'd also like something that isn't too small. A single AAA light is probably going to get lost. The LD10 (100 mm or approx 4") seems like a perfect size. Is this a good flashlight? Is it bright enough? It seems impressive, but I really know nothing about "good" flashlights.

I think I might put one of the Costco lights on my bike to use when commuting to work in the early hours. That's an excellent idea!

 

[squaat]

Now the bike light is a good idea. This cheap light has a decent throw, so if you have that and something with some flood you'd be laughing.

@Fireguy
Thanks for the thanks! Yes there are better flashlights out there. Personally I'm a fan of the Fenix range of lights. For your uses I recommend the fenix l2d q5 or the ld20. It's not really pocketable, but it does come with a holster.

For a smaller version try the l1d or ld10, it's essentially the same as the l2d or ld20 but only runs on 1 AA (thus is not as bright in turbo mode, and the runtime is about half as long)

If you want something even smaller then an LD01 might do the trick.

if you want something heavy duty and has the tint of an incan then try the tk20 (which is awesome, but considerably larger)

If you are on more of a budget than an e20 offers high output and a focusable beam (like a maglite)

Other alternatives are the nitecore d10 or d20

However I'm going off thread here. PM me if you want more details. check out selfbuilts 1AA and 2AA round-up reviews for more ideas and opinions

(PS: I've linked to the 4sevens website as they do a nice summary on each of the lights, but there are many other places to buy, some are even Canada, though 4sevens is a really good dealer.)

 

[richardcpf]

I'm glad these brands are entering into the world of high power led lights, I would be happy if people replaces their inneficient incan lights.

 

[invisible]

Now the bike light is a good idea. This cheap light has a decent throw, so if you have that and something with some flood you'd be laughing.

I bought the Lightmates a few weeks ago, but before I saw this thread. I couldn't resist 150 lumens for $20. The thread actually came up in a search about Lightmates, because I was curious about the 'square light' (projected LED chip ).

Anyways, I mounted them on a Topeak Bar Extender. One has the head on tight and the other one has the head off. Candle mode gives a LOT of flood.

The two of them together in that fashion, make a very decent bicycle headlight.