Garrity 9 LED mini light. My first review.

[Kentuckian]

My daughter bought me one of Garrity's little 9 LED mini lights for fathers day. I'm very new to this whole light addiction and to reviews so please be gentle with me.



The Garrity 9 LED mini light has, as the name implies nine small(5mm?) led bulbs on a pretty flat bottom cup style reflector with a decent shine to it.
It holds three AAA batteries in a battery carrier that seems decently made for an inexpensive light. By the way there are several knock offs of this light but none of them seem any where near as well built.

This is a tough little light. I have dropped it several times, (twice into my pool) and it just keeps working just as good as the day I pulled it out of the package.

The beam is pretty impressive for such an inexpensive light as well. My living room is 18'X20' and this little light lights up the whole room plenty good enough to get around with at the outer edges of the beam and very well in it's path (it has a brighter flood than my old 2D Mag).

Outdoors it is a very pleasant little light for walking down a dark trail, almost too bright actually as it does mess with your night vision but only very slightly so.

I set up a board covered with a dingy white cloth with several colored shapes on it. I was in a very dark area for this test ( out doors with only starlight and very little moon light). I did not expect any kind of throw at all. I was wrong (to a degree). I was able to make out the individual shapes on the board out to 30-35 feet pretty decent and could at least see the board out to 50'. The spill was extremely wide. I'd say somewhere around 20' or more feet across.

I have used this light every night since 6/17/07. Several times a night for anywhere from 5-20 minutes at a time and the AAA cells have only been changed once( now using Rayovac alkaline cells). The light wasn't dead or even dim when I changed the batteries but I have another (lower grade) 9LED light that I put the original cells in a week after I got the Garrity. Both lights are still bright (the Garrity is noticeably brighter regardless of cells used).

Needless to say I'm very impressed with this little light. It has become my EDC (along with my Rayovac Sportsman Extreme 3 watt LED 2 AA light). The little Garrity's come in three colors, black, red and yellow (although I did not find a pic of the yellow model). I intend to buy several more to stash around the house for emergency's :thumbsup:

Here is a pic of the red model in the package.


My apologies for not posting beam shots. I do not have a camera right now.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I have question for you. Do you see anything that looks like a resistor or other "curcuitry" when you look in the back with the battery pack out.

OR does there seem to be room between the back of the LEDs and battery + for such?

I ask because I have a 14 LED 3AAA light that is a 10 LED light now...

 

[Kentuckian]

Just a pretty plain looking cicuit board with two wires(one red, one blue). You can't see it with just the carrier out but the lamp is removable if you take the head off (it's a PIA though).

 

[Empath]

Good review, Kentuckian. Thank you.

Their price does encourage one to pick up several. I haven't been able to put a great deal of time into their use, but they appear to a good value, and a nice multi-LED light.

 

[Pistolero]

I gave the bright yellow one to my father in law.
I think I have one in an emergency kit somewhere (might be in the wife's car)
We have one at work in our bldg's emergency bag.

For $6/7 bucks, this light is great.

 

[redledz]

I bought this light a couple of months ago as well and agree it's a nice little flood light, that is also good for close up tasks needing even lighting without being too bright.

 

[Kentuckian]

It's a pretty good fix for those times when money is real tight but you just gotta have another light!

So far my little Garrity as I mentioned above has been in the swimming pool twice and had hot transmission fluid dumped all over it. I've yet to see any flickering or dimming like the cheap ( read cheaply made) knock offs tend to do either.

Empath, thank you! In my opinion they are worth twice what I see them for at Wal-Mart, ($5+). I did an internet search for them and a few places had them for $8-$11.

Pistolero, I have a black one right now but I definitely like the yellow one best. I don't really know why cause generally yellow is not one of my favorite colors. It just looks neat on the little Garrity.

Redledz, I definitely agree. Out on the trails at night it seems plenty bright, but not too bright to look at a map and blind oneself with glare.

 

[Pistolero]

Pistolero, I have a black one right now but I definitely like the yellow one best. I don't really know why cause generally yellow is not one of my favorite colors. It just looks neat on the little Garrity.

I bought a Red and Yellow one. You're right though, the yellow seems like that light's "natural" color. It just says "Emergency Light" to me. I was thinking of getting some GITD tape to wrap an end in.

 

[pathalogical]

I recently purchased a similar 9 led 3 AAA a the local dollar store. Identical to this one, but silver finish. It's a keeper, but the led assembly is glued in a bit ...but it doesn't bother me.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I have a few of those out and about in the house and about 6 more new in the package.

HECK of a deal for a buck!

 

[woodrow]

Nice review! Thanks. It looks like a pretty cool little light..not just for the money.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

It must be noted that the center LED in one of my $1.00 9 LED lights is dimmer than the rest. MIGHT have always been, but I just noticed it recently.

I hope the Garrity light is a bit more robust in the LED department!

 

[FASTCAR]

My COSTCO has these. 4 pack+12 batts for like 10 bucks.

 

[AvroArrow]

My COSTCO has these. 4 pack+12 batts for like 10 bucks.

^ What he said. I think they've been available at the US Costco's for over half a year now. The Canadian Costco's finally got them in about a month or 2 ago and I picked up one of those 4-packs for myself. I actually bought a whole box/flat of them (I think it was 8 packs/box) because I managed to convince my co-workers that it was cheap and handy to have around, in the house, car, garage, etc. They were about $13+tax CAD for the 4-pack of black rubber ones, with 12 Duracell AAAs. It was almost worth it just for the batteries alone. There's a thread on the board about it somewhere with a picture and item #.

I took one apart intending to mod it with my stash of 5mm UV LEDs and found out that it's a simple direct drive setup, no fancy circuitry at all. The LEDs are all wired in parallel. I suspected this from the beginning as most small direct drive LED lights use a 3 cell configuration. These are very good bang for buck lights and I won't lose any sleep if I lose it, break it, or lend it out. I can post a pic of it taken apart when I get home.

 

[AvroArrow]

Here's the pics:

Costco package:

Exploded view:

LED close-up:

LED close-up:

I bought it as a cheap host for modding with my 360nm UV LEDs. The other 3 are for backup and lending out use. Oh yeah, nice review Kentuckian.

 

[gunga]

Hey Avro, haven't seen you around in a while...

I saw these a few months ago at Costco, then they disappeared for a few months and now are back.

Good point, considering the batteries are worth around $6-7 here, that's a good one.

Maybe I'll pick up a pack for emergency and to lend out to people who might want to borrow a light (the "nicer" ones stay with me!).

:naughty:

 

[Curious_character]

This is the light that got me interested in LED flashlights. It's a great general purpose around-the-house light, and I've given several away. Of all my lights, this is the one sitting beside the computer desk.

I noticed, as I'm sure lots of folks have, that an 18500 Li-ion cell fits into the light if you wrap it with a little paper or cardboard to keep it from rattling. Based on the relative cell voltages, this seemed to me like a neat way to get a lot longer run time with zero effort. What I didn't account for was the much lower internal resistance of the Li-ion cell in conjunction with its slightly higher initial voltage. The 18500 made the light noticeably brighter. But I went back and measured the light output with the original 3AAA carrier, and discovered that it was down to about half its original value. Cooking the LEDs with the 18500 degraded their light output considerably. So if you're tempted to overdrive this light, expect permanent damage. The light is purely direct drive, no resistor.

c_c

 

[AvroArrow]

Hey Avro, haven't seen you around in a while...

I saw these a few months ago at Costco, then they disappeared for a few months and now are back.

Good point, considering the batteries are worth around $6-7 here, that's a good one.

Maybe I'll pick up a pack for emergency and to lend out to people who might want to borrow a light (the "nicer" ones stay with me!).

:naughty:

Hey gunga, I see you've expanded your collection and just snagged a good deal on that L0D-CE. I was going to try for it but was half a day late. :doh: Yeah, I was out of it for a while and but now I'm back.

Yeah, I just found my old receipt for these and I actually bought them mid January 07 for $13.89+tax, which works out to $3.92 CAD each with batteries. Definitely a smok'in deal at that price. While there is a hot spot, these are mainly flood/spill lights, definitely bluer than any white luxeon, but typical for a 5mm LED based light. And like I said, perfect for lending out to people and not worrying if they don't return it.

I noticed, as I'm sure lots of folks have, that an 18500 Li-ion cell fits into the light if you wrap it with a little paper or cardboard to keep it from rattling. Based on the relative cell voltages, this seemed to me like a neat way to get a lot longer run time with zero effort. What I didn't account for was the much lower internal resistance of the Li-ion cell in conjunction with its slightly higher initial voltage. The 18500 made the light noticeably brighter. But I went back and measured the light output with the original 3AAA carrier, and discovered that it was down to about half its original value. Cooking the LEDs with the 18500 degraded their light output considerably. So if you're tempted to overdrive this light, expect permanent damage. The light is purely direct drive, no resistor.

Wow, didn't even think about using a Li-ion in this. Yeah, Li-ions usually come off the charger at about 4.1-4.2v with it's super low internal resistance (compared to alkalines) and would definitely fry the LEDs as you've found out. I'm even leary of loading it with Ni-MH despite their lower voltage (3x1.25v=3.75v - resistance of battery carrier) because of the low internal resistance that will drive the LEDs at a higher current. Although alkalines start at 1.5 (3x1.5v=4.5v), they quickly sag and have lots of internal resistance, especially when run in series so they're perfect for a straight direct drive light like this. As you can see from my close up of the led circuit board there is like zero heatsinking so you really don't want to overdrive this if you want it to last for more than 1 or 2 battery changes.

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

Poop! The Walmart in Livingston, TX didn't have any of these any more than they had the Rayovac 1W 1Blue 2RED 1AA headlamp.

But one of two of my 1$ 3AAA 9LED lights still has 9 bright leds....

 

[Marlite]

Thanks to everyone for their great input. I had one of these in silver which I got as a gift, it was bright too. It came from XSCargo (Liquidators) who featured it for $3.95 in their flyer last year. The 2nd time it was featured they disappeared fast, darn Flashahoics. I gave it to my Mom intending to get a few more for deserving friends and family.

Will have to go for a box of 4 as Gunga talked me into it with his wise cost assessment-12 AAA batteries cost 6-7 dollah! Free flashlights!

Such fun, marlite