ab
Enlightened
Hi everyone,
For a few years I have been particularly disappointed with a certain 3D M*gL*te that for the last while I've been keeping under the sink. It seemed, well, crappy. Dim compared to other better M** 3D's (like the one in my car for example) and with a disastrous beam pattern. Overall YUCK. Really cruddy plastic-junky-flashlight type performance. I suppose this is part of why over time it kind of got continually demoted until it reached the new lows of under the sink duty.
This particular lacklustre example is also one of the motivators that got me first interested in more serious lights. I suppose that was a positive result!
So... onto today. It's late at night/early in the morning and for some reason I start thinking of that yucky 3D under the sink. I'm not asleep anyway, just writing some dumb email. Hmm... flashlights are much more interesting than email so I went and got out the yucky 3D and started playing with it - particularly noticing my longterm complaint about how DIM and CRAPPY the beam was.
On a whim I disassembled the light and when I had it all in pieces on the desk, cleaning it a little, dusting the bits, etc. something under the flange on the bulb caught my eye: "4 cell".
???!!!???!!! WHAT ???!!!???!!!
?! FOUR CELL ?!
Sure enough, close inspection shows the bulb is "4 cell". Talk about a "D'Oh" moment. All those wasted years!
I quickly looked around for a spare 3 cell bulb but if I have one it's out in the garage and I'm inside in the office at 2 AM. I may be a flashlight freak but I'm not going out there now to hunt for pedestrian bulbs. Maybe for a SF assembly, but not for this!
The closest thing to hand that fits is a M** "2-cell Japan" bulb. OK, overdriving will be my new watchword. In it goes and lickety split the lacklustre under-the-sink 3D is reassembled.
Late night living room test says... "Dim cruddy beam's a thing of the past, Flashlight Man!"
All of a sudden I've got a beautiful bright white beam perfectly aligned and looking pretty impressive actually. In a split second this sucker has just gone from the cruddiest 3D to the best 3D I've got.
So... What's with this "2 cell Japan" bulb guys? It's almost perfectly aligned and doesn't give any of the typical junky beam pattern. It's MUCH better in terms of alignment than any other M** bulb I've seen or had, including their fancy M**NumStar versions.
How long do you guys think it will last being overdriven by 50%? I suppose I could put a set of rechargeables in there and bring it down to just 17% overvoltage if this is a substantial life-shortening threat.
Oh well, at least in the short term the so-very-important under-the-kitchen-sink zone is equipped with the best M** 3D I've got.
For a few years I have been particularly disappointed with a certain 3D M*gL*te that for the last while I've been keeping under the sink. It seemed, well, crappy. Dim compared to other better M** 3D's (like the one in my car for example) and with a disastrous beam pattern. Overall YUCK. Really cruddy plastic-junky-flashlight type performance. I suppose this is part of why over time it kind of got continually demoted until it reached the new lows of under the sink duty.
This particular lacklustre example is also one of the motivators that got me first interested in more serious lights. I suppose that was a positive result!
So... onto today. It's late at night/early in the morning and for some reason I start thinking of that yucky 3D under the sink. I'm not asleep anyway, just writing some dumb email. Hmm... flashlights are much more interesting than email so I went and got out the yucky 3D and started playing with it - particularly noticing my longterm complaint about how DIM and CRAPPY the beam was.
On a whim I disassembled the light and when I had it all in pieces on the desk, cleaning it a little, dusting the bits, etc. something under the flange on the bulb caught my eye: "4 cell".
???!!!???!!! WHAT ???!!!???!!!
?! FOUR CELL ?!
Sure enough, close inspection shows the bulb is "4 cell". Talk about a "D'Oh" moment. All those wasted years!
I quickly looked around for a spare 3 cell bulb but if I have one it's out in the garage and I'm inside in the office at 2 AM. I may be a flashlight freak but I'm not going out there now to hunt for pedestrian bulbs. Maybe for a SF assembly, but not for this!
The closest thing to hand that fits is a M** "2-cell Japan" bulb. OK, overdriving will be my new watchword. In it goes and lickety split the lacklustre under-the-sink 3D is reassembled.
Late night living room test says... "Dim cruddy beam's a thing of the past, Flashlight Man!"
All of a sudden I've got a beautiful bright white beam perfectly aligned and looking pretty impressive actually. In a split second this sucker has just gone from the cruddiest 3D to the best 3D I've got.
So... What's with this "2 cell Japan" bulb guys? It's almost perfectly aligned and doesn't give any of the typical junky beam pattern. It's MUCH better in terms of alignment than any other M** bulb I've seen or had, including their fancy M**NumStar versions.
How long do you guys think it will last being overdriven by 50%? I suppose I could put a set of rechargeables in there and bring it down to just 17% overvoltage if this is a substantial life-shortening threat.
Oh well, at least in the short term the so-very-important under-the-kitchen-sink zone is equipped with the best M** 3D I've got.