Elektrolumens Little Friend Review

[mtbkndad]

When I was doing the Stunner prototype review Wayne sent a Little Friend down do me.
I was very busy with work and have finally been able to complete a review of this wonderful little light. The little friend is a direct drive 4AAA 3 - Luxeon 3 watt light. The best way to describe it is a personal pocket flood light. It has two levels, low and high with off clicks in between.
off - high - off - low - off ...
I like this setup because I can set it in advance for the output I anticipate using next. I have the same type of switch on my two ELX-6's. I also like the groovy texture of the Little friend. It gives the light a very smooth yet easy to hold surface. When the light arrived the Type 2 anodized finish was very nice. Unfortunately, in the testing process the Little Friend did suffer a few drops which show up in the photos. Sorry Wayne, I hope you are planning on keeping this one for yourself when you get it back . I can say it is a fairly tough little light.
Since most people originally asked how it performs in relation to a Tri-star Phaser and I have one. I decided to use my Phaser and 9V Falcata for comparison pics. My Phaser for the obvious reason of answering people's questions about how the two compare and my 9V Falcata because it is a similar priced relatively compact incandescent light.

In reality the Little Friend has about half of the light output of my Tri-Star Phaser. I am using the batteries Wayne sent down with the light since I do not have any Titanium NiMH AAA's at the moment. I do not know if Titanium's would give a little better light output or longer run time. The reason I mention this is because I consistently have gotten better run time results using Titanium NiMH batteries then the batteries Wayne sends with his lights to test.
By saying this is about half as bright as my Phaser I not saying it is not bright for it's size, rather the mini tri-optic and the 4 AAA's just cannot put out the same amount of light as the full sized tri-optic and 4 C's of the Phaser. Wayne's run time estimates are right on the money. Actually I only did the runtime test for high and decided to take Wayne's word for the low because I did not have the time to do a 2 hour run time test. Here is my runtime test result on high.

Time PM ---- Lux@1 meter
6:10 ---- 1401
6:15 ---- 1325
6:20 ---- 1386
6:25 ---- 1351
6:30 ---- 1387
6:35 ---- 1142
6:40 ---- 534

My Phaser with a similar beam and WIDER pattern starts at around 2700 lux at one meter.

For photo's I chose to push the Little Friend to it's limit.
The photo's were done at f3.5, 8".
The Trailer down the street is 180 feet away. All three lights are focused on the trailer. Unfortunately the Suburban happened to be parked on the street the night I took the photos. I like to shoot shots toward the end of the effective range of lights because beams that look white against a wall show their true colors when shooting toward the limit of their effective range. It is the corona of the lights that is illuminating the Suburban.
To the right of the Trailer in the 9V Falcata shot and Phaser shot is a white dot, also barely in the Little Friend - High shot if you have a REAL good monitor. That dot is a white garage door 130 yards away. Unfortunately a car was driving buy in the Phaser shot so the dim garage door is harder to see. The garage is way back off the street and the Phaser did not get any help from the passing car headlights in illuminating the garage door. Notice that a car also drove by in the "no flashlight" shot and there is no garage door to be seen on my 17" powerbook. One final note- If you do not have a nice monitor you may not see that white dot that is the garage door in any of the shots.

No Lights

9V Falcata
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Phaser
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Little Friend - High
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Little Friend - Low

Actually the cropped shots show just how well the Little Friend did at this long distance. Remember this is a little flood light so 180 feet is really asking a lot from this little light.

No Lights Flashlights
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9V Falcata
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Phaser
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Little Friend - High
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Little Friend - Low

Now for some more reasonable shots. In these photos the lights are focused on the tree trunk that is 90 feet away. The Yellow fence in the background is 132 feet away.

First another night shot
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9V Falcata
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Phaser
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Little Friend - High
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Little Friend - Low

Even on low the yellow fence can still be seen.
Now for some cropped shots of the tree and yard.

9V Falcata
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Phaser
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Little Friend - High
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Little Friend - Low

Wayne sells the Little Friend's for $119. This is a nice price for such a small little flood light. I really have enjoyed using it for lighting up a decent area with a nice even flood of light. Low is very useable and I like to save high for getting attention or when I need a lot of light very quick. The fact that is uses 4 AAA's is nice because AAA rechargeable batteries are relatively inexpensive and also very small and light, so extras can be carried . What I do not like about the light is that everything is in such a tight space that care must be taken to put the battery holder in just right in order for the tail cap to be able to screw down completely.
Over all I am very pleased with the Little Friend and will miss it when I send it back. It is no Tri-Star Phaser, but it is a very nice little light. At the same time the Phaser may be brighter then the Little Friend, but it can't be conveniently placed in a jacket or coat pocket and be ready for use at a moments notice like the Little Friend. I you like the beam characteristics of optics in general and Tri-Optics in specific then this is a wonderful little light to have. I personally think it is too big for pants pockets and small purses, but if the lady in your life uses a medium to large purse this may be a nice addition. It also fits quite comfortably in a jacket or coat.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[LEDninja]

Nice practical (as opposed to white wall at 3 inch) beamshots1
While the Little Friend may be dimmer than the tri-star phazer at beam center it more than makes up for it in the wide spill light. Maybe because I live downtown (lots of streetleghts, neighbours too close) but I have found no use for excessive throw. For me bright spill light is more useful at closer ranges.

 

[mtbkndad]

LEDninja,

The Phaser is brighter in every way then the Little friend. However, as you well know, if you are not regularly needing to illuminate objects in the 120'+ range the Little Friend is plenty bright. The Phaser is also significantly larger and less convenient to carry around. When looking at the Falcata and Little Friend then the difference is what kind of beam do you prefer, a brighter hotspot or more flood.

The same is true with the Lumapower Mini-D and Little Friend.
The Mini-D will throw farther with it's real tight hotspot, but the Little Friend illuminates a much wider area.
I personally prefer a nice even flood when I am getting out of a car in a dark area.
One thing the camera cannot show very well is how far human eyes can see well with a nice even flood of light.
Out of the three lights in the Review the Little Friend has the best balance of brightness, run time with two levels, and compact size.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[batvette]

One thing to note about throw Vs spill being useful at short ranges, if you find yourself in a situation where you are hoping for "tactical" (pain) effect, the throw is going to put the hurt on the eyeballs. Think of it as penetration. Like "sorry but you're going to have those 3 dots in your vision for a few days.." Other day I was loading mine and accidentally turned it on, on high pointed right at me. Ouch.

 

[jar3ds]

i love AAA lights...

What keeps me from buying is:

1) a HA finish
2) better battery solution (eg. carrier and nihm/LiON solution[parallel/series reverseable])
3) Need Seoul P4/CREE LEDS
4) Refectors instead of optics

other than that I'd buy one in a heart beat ... Thanks for the review and pics!

 

[mtbkndad]

batvette,

Yes, but bright spill will catch eyeballs faster (from a wider angle). My ELX-6 20mm will catch peoples eyes much faster then my spotlights.
Color temperature is another issue as many people find LED's in general more painful to look at then incandescents. This is true even if the incandescents are a good amount brighter.

There is also something about being faced with an optic like the little tri-optic in the little friend or the big tri-optic in the Tri-Star Phaser. Multi-optics seem to catch peoples eyes much faster then even shallow multi-reflectors and create a brilliant ball of light to look at from a wider angle.
My favorite lights are long throwing more floody lights.

Did I read your post right, do you have a Little Friend?
If yes, how do you like it?

Take Care,
mtbndad :wave:

 

[john2551]

Wayne needs to try putting three SSC P4's in there! Also the P4's only need three batteries so i wonder if three AA would fit in that body. Can someone advise please. With the three P4's & three AA's it would have awesome brightness & great runtime too. The runtime on AAA's is very short. Too short for me.

 

[mtbkndad]

Wayne needs to try putting three SSC P4's in there! Also the P4's only need three batteries so i wonder if three AA would fit in that body. Can someone advise please. With the three P4's & three AA's it would have awesome brightness & great runtime too. The runtime on AAA's is very short. Too short for me.

I was talking to Wayne yesterday and he did mention something about P4's
and the Little Friend. I think this would be something worth asking Wayne about in the Little Friend thread or in email.

The little friend is a nice little light for what it is designed to do.
With 3 P4's it would REALLY be nice. I would also prefer the 3AA setup too.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[Nitroz]

If one D lithium would fit in that flashlight it would be awesome!

 

[mtbkndad]

I thought it would be fun to compare a LP-Mini with a Little Friend.
These are both little lights. For those not familiar with the LP-Mini, it is a Nickel Plated brass version of the LumaPower Mini-D.
It is an amazing thrower for it's size.
These two lights are about as different as can be with the Little Friend being a 3x3watt flood light and the LP-Mini being a Cree XRE pocket throw rocket.

LP-Mini
180 feet is nothing for this liitle light.
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Little Friend
Notice how wide the corona is with the Little Friend. I am almost not far enough back to get it in the picture.
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LP-Mini
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Little Friend
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The next shots show the disadvantage of little throw rockets.
In these shots the LP-Mini and Little Friend are focused on the Brown can.

The LP-Mini make the can very bright, but the can is big enough to block almost all of it's hotspot.
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Little Friend does not light the can as well but gives enough light to view the entire bushy front part of that yard with out having to move the light all over the place.
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Little Friend is a very nice little flood light. Even in the 3x3 watt cofiguration it produces a very nice and useable amount of light.
If Wayne starts putting Seoul P4's in these, a nice little light will become a great little light in terms of light output for it's size.

Take Care,
mtbknad :wave;

 

[jeffb]

Due to the good reviews and pictures, I ordered a "Little Friend"..............I prefer flood for many tasks and am looking forward to receiving!

Normally, also prefer reflectors, however, I believe that in this light, the optic will be awesome, baased on pictures.

I have a D-Mini (silver), very nice well made light........appreciate the beam shots

Thanks,

jeffb

 

[LEDninja]

Little Friend with SSC P4 LEDs ??
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=155770

I'm planning on building a Little Friend with three P4 LEDs in it. Should be a lot brighter at 540 lumens, compared to the estimated 216 lumens when the Luxeon 3W is used.

Wayne

Ooooh my poor wallet.


EDIT

Question 1. for the L3 Little Friend thats on your site.......
can i check out that item and specify "3x seoul's" (ssc p4)?
is it the same price?

Answer: Just select the Little Friend, and add comments about wanting the P4 LED. Same price.
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Question 3. what kind of time frame are you looking at for these? what will the burn time be with the SSC P4? Will it still yield 20-30 minutes on high and 2 hours on low..

Answer: I have Little Friends in stock, just need to attach LEDs and assemble. Using a Luxeon LED or SSC P4 LED, both work fine on the circuit boards, and work with the 35mm tri-optics. Run time, might be shorter on high power?
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I have perhaps 30 Little Friends in stock, of which I would like to move. I may or may not do another run of these? Probably not. I need to do a count of how many I actually have.

I doubt you'll find a flashlight made this size at over 500 lumens. ?

Wayne

 

[James S]

I absolutely love my Little Friend. I always suffer a bit of buyers remorse when spending that kind of money on something that I know I couldn't justify to my wife But not with this, this is fantastic piece of kit. The combination of size and brightness is fantastic.

The weak points are as already mentioned, the 9v battery snap on the AAA sled. I understand the necessity of this for a short run light like this. There just wasn't custom machining for a custom sled in the budget. There are numerous 4AAA lights out there now with a removable sled that use spring terminals to make contact after you slide it back in. I keep meaning to experiment with retrofitting one of those into it to see how that works, but Wayne has really made the light as compact as possible and there isn't a lot of extra room in there.