Just bought my first Dorcy Spyder

Candle Power Forums

Help Support Candle Power:

J

jbroker83

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 4, 2003
Messages
207
City & State/Province
Nebraska, United States
Finally found one at a local camping store. Had to get it just out of curiosity. Well, it's fairly bright, doesn't have the tight beam that I like, but for the money, it's adequate. This will be my travel light for my next trip, that way, if the TSA guys confiscate it, I'm not out an expensive light. The manual lists it's output at 119.5 lumens. Pretty generous with those numbers I'm guessing. Just matched it vs. a p61 6p and the p61 killed it.
 
surefire misure lumens from the lens and with a media from the start up to some minutes of runtime

dorcy measure the lumens from the naked bulb and at the highest voltage

i have 2 spyder... great lights, i have modded one with a tl-3 bulb and 2 R123A batts and one with a lux-V and 2 R123A... great output /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I've used most of the lower priced 2x123 incand lights and to my eyes the Spyder has the most overall output and maybe the best throw though I did a lot of my testing indoors. But the beam of the Spyder seems to be about the worst of what I've tried in the class.

Still, very nice bright little light for the money. Esp if you can get them from CostCo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif
 
I've read a few comments on how bad the beam was on the Dorcy Spyder and I've also read Quickbeam's review on it and the sample he reviewed had a polished reflector (which explains the poor beam quality). Well, I bought a Dorcy Spyder today at Lowes and it has a textured reflector. The beam is not bad at all. Beam quality is a bit better and brighter than my Brinkmann Maxfire LX. The only thing I find "different" is the tailcap switch. I would have preferred a stiffer clickie switch. It's no Surefire, but the Dorcy Spyder is a darn good little flashlight for the money.
 
Lads, photos will be coming up this afternoon. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Hmmm.... a textured reflector would remove about 50% of the reason Spyders aren't great... the momentary-off tailcap being the other.

Still tough to beat at 2 with batts and nylon sheaths for $27 at costco.
 
Okay lads, here are a few pics of my Dorcy Spyder's reflector and beam:

Dorcypics043.jpg


Dorcypics044.jpg


Dorcypics050.jpg


Dorcypics051.jpg


The beamshots are about 7-8 feet from the wall. You can see the beam's shape isn't perfectly round but there are no annoying rings or holes like you see in Mag-lites. Like I said before, it isn't a Surefire, but it's not a bad light for under $20 bucks.
 
David, the rubber around the head and body have a diamond pattern. It's different than the one pictured in Quickbeam's site:
dorcy_spyder_ruler.jpg


Mine looks just like the one pictured at Brightguy.com:
dorspyder.jpg
 
I too have the newer version, and my reflector is textured as well. I like the light....it's going to be my travel/go-to light that I won't mind losing or misplacing....especially at 18 bucks.
 
Yeah, I just got mine from Lowes's on Friday night. It was $19.99 there. I feel like a REAL dumb dumb becuase a little more than a year ago, my local Costco had the 2 packs for like $26.99. In fact, I had bought 2 2-packs for other people who wanted them for gifts, but I never bothered to get one for myself. Boy am I a dumb dumb!

Anyway, I am glad I was able to pick one up. Sort of felt like the collection was lacking in some way without that one being there. I am quite pleased with the performance vs. price ratio of this light. Very good bargain.
 
Oops! Double post again. Don't know what happened there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top