New Energizer LED/CCFT Light

[PJD]

I picked one of these up at WalMart yesterday. It looks almost identical to an Arc White, but instead of the flashlight portion being incandescent, it has a 5MM LED behind an optic lens (like a PT Impact). Somebody had posted about this light a while back, but I couldn't find the post. If you own an Arc White, or are familiar with it, then you have a good idea of what this light looks like. However, Energizer has made some positive changes to the body of this light over the Arc White. First of all, the new LED model just "feels" more solid. Instead of just having the rubber grip over the bottom half of the body it has rubber "armor" all the way around it. The battery door still hasn't been fitted with any kind of gasket for water resistance, but it is thicker than the battery door on the Arc White, and appears to be sturdier. The bezel is also covered with a thick rubber armor and feels quite robust. Also, the seams on the new model appear to be more snugly fit together than the Arc White. I wouldn't give it a dunking, but it appears to be quite a bit more "weather worthy" than the Arc White. The only color WalMart carried it in was OD green...which I like much better than the silver of the Arc White. One other positive over the Arc White is that the switch, while still a slide switch, is much more solid than that of the Arc White. Function is the same: slide backward for the CCFT, slide forward for the LED.

As far as performance, the CCFT portion performs exactly the same as the CCFT on the Arc White. Very useful as an emergency light and capable of sufficiently lighting a whole room. The LED portion, when compared to my PT Impact, throws a beam that appears to be about 2/3 or so as bright as the Impact, and the spot is almost identical in size to the Impacts' spot at a distance of 10 feet. It has wider peripheral light than the Impact, but it also has a LOT more ring artifacts than the Impact. I tried to unscrew the bezel to get a closer look at the LED and see how easy it would be to mod, but the bezel doesn't unscrew.

This light has no "Earth-shattering" breakthroughs as far as technology is concerned (...c'mon, we're talking about Energizer), but IMHO it is an improvement over the original Arc White, and it costs less! I paid $17.00 for the Arc White, and $13.00 for the new LED model. I've already thrown the package away, but I think it's called an LED Trail Light. Anyway, I'll try to find a pic of this light to link to this post. All in all, I think it's a pretty good light for the $$, and a step in the right direction for Energizer. Sorry...no digicam to post pics /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif...

Here it is: www.energizer.com/products/flashlights/flashlight.asp?cat=1&id=2

PJD

 

[Floating Spots]

Hmmmm..... 6 volts.
That 5mm may need a replacement.
Too bad the body is plastic.

 

[PJD]

I think it's fairly well resistored, judging by it's brightness compared to the Impact. But since I can't get inside it's guts, I don't know for sure.

PJD

 

[Empath]

I agree with PJD's assessment of the improvements. I especially appreciate that the switch doesn't have as much tendency to slide past "off" and to the ccfl or spot position. I have both the old and new. I had already replaced the incandescent with a 4 cell PR based LED from Brightguy. The optics feature in the center of the lens does create a little better beam, although the older one with a PR based LED doesn't have the rings surrounding the beam as much.

 

[PJD]

Empath...I did the exact same thing with my original Arc white. LEDCorp PR bulb wowrks nicely in the Arc White. But it is strictly an indoor light because of the complete lack of water resistace with the Arc White...it does make for a nice indoor utility light, though.

PJD

 

[Brock]

It looks the same, does it stand up any better? The original one I have tips in a breeze.

 

[Empath]

It does stand better on it's tail; fairly stable but still slightly tipped easily. It still doesn't stand well on it's head.

 

[83Venture]

Picked up one yesterday, pretty bright CCFT. It will also stand on the LED Bezel which points the CCFT slightly at an up angle. Any idea how long it will run on CCFT?. Package says LED runs 100 hours. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[TheBeam]

Does this use the same CCFL as the Arc White?

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I don't know if same or not, but I am VERY VERY impressed with the CCFT on the Trailfinder I got! AMAZING amount of light!

 

[asdalton]

This would be a welcome improvement on the original ArcWhite. That light had useful features, but the body was too fragile for most uses.

Does the LED in the new model have a PR base? If so, it may be possible to substitute a 6-volt krypton bulb.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

[ QUOTE ]
asdalton said:
Does the LED in the new model have a PR base? If so, it may be possible to substitute a 6-volt krypton bulb.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, modding an LED light with an incandescent bulb? Isn't that a little backwards? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[TheBeam]

I was wondering how the CCFL in these, compare to these .

This new light states its fluorescent has a 10.000 hour life.

Does anybody know which one is more efficient, and how many hours the folding one has?

 

[phyhsuts]

The tubes in the folding light is not CCFL. They are designed to operate with heated electrodes. They are normal fluorescent tubes. However, they are not used as intended and the electrodes are not heated except by the tube discharge. I suppose you can call it "warm cathode" fluorescents? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Not heating the electrodes in normal fl tubes shorten their life considerably. It also reduce their efficacy (how much light they produce for a given power input - measured in lm/W). This is due to the greater electrode voltage drop which contributes to power consumed but not to producing light. Confused? Good! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif Thus CCFLs are no less efficace than normal fluorescent tubes used this way, but they do have longer life (15,000-25,000 hours vs 3000 or so hours). How long its life depends on how long the light operates on each turn on though. The loger they operate per turn on the longer their life. This is more so for normal fl tubes than to CCFLs. Why? Because normal fl tube electrodes have a coating (oxides) that reduce their work function (easier for electrons to leave the surface) that in turn reduce the electrode drops. This oxide is not as robust as the metal, so they are more easily damaged, giving rise to the blackening of the tube ends.

 

[TheBeam]

Wow, great explaination.

The folding runs on 4 d cells and the CCFL on 4 aa's. So if both were to run on the same batteries, either aa's or d's, would they both dim at the same rate?

 

[JSWrightOC]

I purchased two of these lights several days ago, and aside from the rubbery smell (which comes off on your hands!) I love them both.

Using fresh alkaline AA batteries, the LED consumes approximately 60mA. The CCFL consumes approx. 270mA. I would assume the 5mm LED used should not see a significantly reduced lifespan given the moderate overdriving. If you use Ni-MH cells it should theoretically last even longer (less voltage = less current through the resistor). I didn't check the current draw of the LED on NiMH cells, but the CCFL was about 250mA. on a charged set.

The CCFL (or WCFL, depending on how you want to look at it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif) is a welcome addition to the consumer flashlight arena. I am sick of standard fluorescents dying because of improper driving of the filaments. Note that there is a significant rise in light output as the lamp warms up--this is especially noticeable if the starting temperature is a few 10's of degrees below room temperature. Any tests on light output should, of course, be made after the tube comes up to operating temperature. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[The_LED_Museum]

[ QUOTE ]
JSWrightOC said:
I purchased two of these lights several days ago, and aside from the rubbery smell (which comes off on your hands!) I love them both.

[/ QUOTE ]
I bought a flashlight off Ebay a few years back that emitted a smell like plastic spoons melting in a well-used Little Chief upright electric salmon smoker, and if I remember right, my Avalanche 2 (or 6) headlamp also emitted a similar odour.
The odour wasn't unpleasant by any means, just a bit peculiar.

 

[avusblue]

I bought one of these "Trailfinder" lights at Wal-Mart today for a cheap "leave-in-the-car" flashlight for my Miata (won't matter too much if someone steals it when the top is down -- it will take the place of an Opalec MiniGag that I'd hate to lose).

I like it! Especially when considering the price point, it's very nice.

I think this bodes well for LED lights coming down in price and becoming more broadly available to the mass market. That's a good thing!

Dave

 

[JSWrightOC]

[ QUOTE ]
The LED Museum said:
The odour wasn't unpleasant by any means, just a bit peculiar.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, the smell will grow on you if you're not in a bad mood. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'm sure it would fit in with the other smells associated with camping equipment.

I remember when the you couldn't even get a couple white LEDs for the cost of this light--considering that nearly half of the flashlights I saw at Wal-Mart used some kind of LED for a light source, I think the technology is well on its way to becoming practical for the consumer.