New favorite...Dorcy 3Led/1AA

[ikendu]

Well...I think I finally have a new favorite light.

For at least a couple of years now, the PT Attitude has reigned supreme as my all time favorite light. 3 LEDs was just enough light for about everything and not too much light to overwhelm.

On Tues. I finally found one of the Dorcy 3Led/1AA lights at Target (in the flashlight section...not the camping section) and brought it home.

It is a little brighter in the hot spot than the Attitude although the Attitude seems to spread the beam a bit more with more useable "spill". Although, these are subtle differences. Mostly they offer a very similar, smooth, white beam.

Since the Dorcy is a single cell light (1xAA) and the Attitude is 4xAAA, the Dorcy is shorter and overall smaller than the Attitude.

I always preferred the plastic body of the Attitude over the metal body of a MiniMag or an Infinity if you ended up clenching the light in your teeth for a moment for hands free. The Dorcy has a very nice rubber grip around the middle that makes it comfortable in this mode.

Overall, a nice compact little light that is easy to hold and use with a nice momentary switch on the tail for quick bursts of light (one handed). I also really tend to like single cell lights 'cause if you have power outage...you can always scrounge at least 1 AA somewhere.

The target price: $10 ...a nice price.

I also bought one of the 4Led/2AA lights for $17.
It is a nice light too, but for my money, the single cell light is the one to get. Next time I'm thinking about flashlight gifts...there'll be some Dorcy 3Led/1AAs goin' out!

Anyone got a link to a Dorcy 3Led/1AA runtime test?

 

[avusblue]

Glad to hear its a keeper. I'm eager to see this light. The Target stores near me are still fully stocked with MagLites and no Dorcy's yet. (I live in the Twin Cities, where Target is headquartered, so you'd think we'd get them sooner rather than later!!)

I've bought scads of the Dorcy 1AAA 1LED at Wal-Mart, I wish they would carry more Dorcy's than just that one. Their prices are consistently 10% or more lower than Target on pretty much everything.

Dave

 

[PhotonBoy]

The 2004 Home Hardware catalog, p. 134 lists the 1AA 3LED Dorcy at 20 hr. runtime (C$19.99) and the 2AA 4LED at 36 hr. runtime (C$24.99).

 

[LEDMANIA]

It's too good to be true if Dorcy 1AA 3led is running on that runtime figure but I just wait till it pass in to the hands of Craig Johnson for a more accurate review, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon6.gif

 

[Quasar]

I recently purchased both the 1AAA, and the 1AA at Target. They appear to be the same in brightness, but the beam on the 1AA is more concentrated and cleaner(no rings). To 1/2 brightness, I would guess about 5-7 hours based on the above published runtimes for the 1AA.

They also had the 2C 8-LED. Silver was the only color for all three models.

It was stated in another post that Target was planning mid march for the Dorcy's, so keep your eyes open. They just put them out here.

 

[PhotonBoy]

Craig has already reviewed the 1AA 3LED but has not tested the runtime.

http://safeco2.home.att.net/dorcy2.htm

CJ: "CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 370mA"; he measures 400 mA with an L91 lithium

 

[357]

The 1AA and 2AA Dorcys have really nice beams, concentrated flood that is cleaner than the 1AAA Dorcy.


In fact, the 1AA and 2AA Dorcys IMO have nicer beams than my Arc AAAs and Arc AAs, although that is probably due to having multiple LEDs vs just one LED for the Arc.

Overall, I think the Dorcys are a good value for the money.