Cree 3 watt multi battery flashlight kit

[Alan B]

A few weeks ago I picked up my first Cree LED flashlight, at the Pacificon Ham Radio convention. This is a good little light, and I have not found any reviews of it.

http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=234

This light is brighter and smaller than any other flashlight I had before. They claim "OVER 160 Lumens Cree 7090 XR-E LED". The performance considerably exceeds my Surefire P6, even with an Ultrafire 4 mode drop-in claiming 180 lumens.

This $35 kit includes the light with two body tubes, one for CR123A/RCR123, and another for 2xAA. It also includes a 3.6V RCR123 battery and charger, a belt holster and a lanyard. It has only one output level, and uses a reverse clicky. The reflector is a very gentle orange peel. Physically the light is a cylinder 3-1/16" long and under 7/8" in diameter (with the CR123A battery tube). It is anodized black, I can't tell which type but the anodize appears to be good quality and so far shows no wear. The threads are not anodized and are fine and just a bit rough and dry. It has hex flats on the battery tube and mild shallow square knurling on the head and tail tubes. I've been using it for EDC since I got it. It does not scratch easily, as it is still scratch free so far. I've dropped it once or twice. I have had to tighten the tailcap switch assembly a couple of times, it is threaded into the tail tube and sometimes loosens when removing the battery.

The make and model of this light are puzzling. It comes in a black box with "ultra bright LED" "alumina Rechargeable" and various other descriptions, but nothing that clearly is make/model. The light itself is unmarked. The website refers to it by the name in the title of this thread. The website indicates they had it made for them.

I'm not set up yet to do beamshots, etc. Sorry.

Most of my other flashlights are older, but after I got this light I started collecting a few others. Seems to be catching. Tiablo A9s, Minimag Terralux TLE-5, Olight T15-Q5 and the Surefire drop-in mentioned above. I can give some comparisons to those lights as a reference.

The pattern from this "alumina Rechargeable" 160 has a very large hotspot. Much larger than the Olight and Surefire drop-in. In fact the only hotspot that compares in size to the "alumina" is the Minimag with Terralux TLE-5. The "alumina" is vastly brighter than the Minimag, but has about the same diameter hotspot.

As would be expected, the intensity of this hotspot does not compare to the Tiablo or high on the Olight T15-Q5. By shifting levels on the T15 I can see that the "alumina" hotspot is about the same as the Olight on Level IV, the 25 lumen level. This makes the "alumina" hotspot sound weak, but it is not. The Olight has a very small and concentrated hotspot.

The light heats up considerably when running on an RC123A 3.6V cell. Running it for awhile seems to be no problem, it gets to 130F or so on the outside and levels off. On a pair of NiMH the heat produced is considerably less, and the light output appears to be slightly less. Since I recharge the Li-Ion every few days I have not much experience with lower voltages. The Li-Ion provided is not protected, and since this light can operate at the low voltage of 2xAA NiMH it is in danger of overdischarging the RCR123 cell.

I figured I would buy a "better" light than the "alumina" that had a similar pattern but more battery conserving power levels, but so far I have not really found much that seems "better" in the general purpose EDC use category - looking into equipment, looking under the desk, walking to the car, etc. The "alumina" has plenty of throw for walking at night, and the wide hotstpot is very nice for inspecting things. Most other lights I look at have too much throw / too small a hotspot for these close-in uses.

Are there other lights with good wide hotspots like this one?

Anyone else have this light??

Thanks for your attention. I have no relation to this vendor other than as a customer, he sells at a couple of the local electronics/Ham Radio flea markets but I believe this is the first light I have purchased from him.

-- Alan B

 

[Radio]

interesting, comes with 2xAA tube and charger and rcr123, not bad

 

[goodjob]

I have this light and thought it was pretty bright, until I picked up the DX VB-16 (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2686) with batteries for just a little more. I think the ratings on the "Alumina" flashlight are inflated. Also, I have managed to get more output from an Ultrafire C3 body and extension tube with a MTE SSC-P4 42180-U head using 2xAA batteries than this light puts out with the same power source. It is the brightest light I have for its size (it was my first light), but I have found DX has better lights for the money.

 

[Alan B]

So it is outperformed by a 2xCR123 light, which is no surprise, and on 2xAA by the C3. Interesting.

I find it is noticeably brighter on 4.2V (fresh 3.7V RCR123) than it is on 2xAA NiMH. The head doesn't heat up much on the 2xAA, whereas on the RCR123 it heats up a lot. So the "alumina" seems to be optimized for 4.2V. Their claims for lumens are suspect, as all are, but would likely be based on the 4.2V supply case.

So far it has made a good EDC light, carrying it with freshly charged RCR123A 3.7V (4.2V charged), in the supplied belt holster. Keeping the 2xAA tube handy makes it easy to fallback to AAs in a more extended emergency (though I have a few charged RCR123's in my briefcase anyway).

I like the floody beam hotspot but have not found that common in other lights. I have considered getting a VB-16 for its interface. It is too large for EDC, however.

-- Alan B

 

[goodjob]

The VB-16 is a little large for an EDC, but the reason I mentioned it is because it is only $2.50 more than the "alumina" kit (yours came with a holster? Mine did not!) and you get a lot more light for your money.

My favorite inexpensive EDC is the MTE SSC-P4 42180-U from DX (http://www.dealextreme.com/detailsdx/sku.1995). It has the diffuse hotspot you are looking for, but runs on 1xAA. By the way, I said the head of this light and the C3 body with extention tube beats the "alumina" using 2xAA, not the stock C3 in that configuration.

 

[Alan B]

If I understood your comparison (the way I read it), it was between 2xAA on the "alumina" vs 2xAA on the C3, right? If so, the "alumina" is running at about half power there while the C3 is probably near max. I suspect it goes into direct drive over 3.7V or so and the output current at 4.2V is pretty high. I measured current over 1A at the tailcap, not sure how much is getting to the LED but it may be over 1A at that voltage. Have you measured current? Does your "alumina" heat up like mine on 4.2V?

I take it when you say "more light" you mean total output, not throw.

Incidentally, the "alumina" Li-Ion cell comes off the supplied charger right at 4.20V, which is the full charge spec for those cells.

How does the C3 with 2xAA compare to the "alumina" with fresh 4.2V RCR123? Or the C3 with 1xAA in EDC configuration??

Mine did come with holster, not real fancy but seems to be well made. Has a velcro flap and the light is secure in it.

I think the VB-16 is quite interesting from a user interface point of view, wish they had used log current steps instead of linear current though. I have almost pulled the trigger on one several times but not yet. At the moment most of my procurements are focussed on EDC size (1xAA, 1xRCR123) lights and gifts... Do we have a lumen reading on the VB-16?

The MTE sounds quite interesting, I've looked at it too but not bought one yet. How does the MTE with 1xAA NiMH or 14500 Li-Ion compare to the "alumina" with fresh RCR123A? For me, comparisons make sense primarily in a configuration for EDC that I would use with this small light. So 2xAA is not as interesting (though it is a great backup mode) as it will not be the main use mode. I want to use rechargeables primarily so I can use the light every day and minimize consumables.

I do have a couple of lights on order, more comparisons when I have them. Maybe even set up for beamshots at some point...

Thanks for the comments and comparisons,

-- Alan B

 

[goodjob]

In terms of total output, "Alumina 1xCR123A" is brighter than "C3 w/MTE SSC-P4 42180-U head 2xAA" is brighter than "Alumina 2xAA" is brighter than "C3 w/MTE SSC-P4 42180-U head 1xAA". The AA batteries I used are Sanyo Eneloops.