New member intro+first review!

[vinny]

Hi everybody my name is vinny and i live the dark and dingy united kingdom lol,

First of all before joining this forum i spent a couple of days reading through some of the threads specifically on aaa led keyring/chain torch's.

A couple of weeks back my girlfriend had a small incident of dropping her car keys down a drain at about 9.00pm so it was dark and i really struggled retrieving them working off feel alone.

This then got me thinking that if id of had a torch on my keys i would of had them back a lot quicker lol,

I looked at a lot of nice torch's with good outputs and different modes etc but found for what i needed they where a little bit ott for me, i just needed something that could sit on my keys without creating too much bulk and be there as and when i needed it.

I started looking on ebay for small cheap torch's and was going to buy a couple of those single led with a button cell battery things lol, i hope you know what im talking about, the keyring looking things lol, anyway this little torch caught my eye,

1. It looked like a torch and not a keyring lol
2. It apperantly has a 3w luxeon led
3. It takes 1 x aaa battery
4. It looked very compact
5. It was cheap

The torch i ended up with is an mxdl 3w, now ive done some research into these torch's and ive come to realise that it probably is'nt 3w or even a real luxeon led lol, but either way im still very pleased with it, for a small cheap torch its bright, a lot brighter than i expected, seems to be well made and sturdy, the anodising is'nt the best and is wearing in places but for this kind of money im not that fussed about it.

Here's some pics if anyones interested, also i wrapped some ptfe tape around the threads as the small rubber o'ring didnt look like it was up to the job of keeping water out.

So there it is, unfortunately im not a very good photographer but i suppose you can get the idea, im also going to include some pictures of how it sits on my key's and also the spare aaa battery holder i made so im never without litium power.

Thanks for reading, ive enjoyed reading through this forum and hopefully you will enjoy reading my small review.

Thanks vinny.

 

[SuLyMaN]

lol mate....for $1.28 dollar + $0.99 shipping, you made me insta buy one

So, thats a great review i's say! :thumbsup:

 

[vinny]

lol mate....for $1.28 dollar + $0.99 shipping, you made me insta buy one

So, thats a great review i's say! :thumbsup:

Thanks, i dont think you will be dissapointed

 

[SuLyMaN]

Ooops just noticed there are different types of "MXDL 3W LED".

Anyways, I ordered the "MXDL 3W LED AAA Battery Mini Flashlight Lamp Torch". Is this the keychain one?

 

[Kestrel]

Hello vinny, :welcome:
Your pictures are somewhat too large for CPF, please resize them to 800x800 max.
I'm going to move your thread to the /LED/Budget Lights/ subforum, it's probably a better fit there.

 

[vinny]

Hello vinny, :welcome:
Your pictures are somewhat too large for CPF, please resize them to 800x800 max.

I'm going to move your thread to /LED/Budget Lights/, it's probably a better fit there.

Ok thanks for the heads up i will sort it now:thumbsup:

 

[vinny]

Hello vinny, :welcome:
Your pictures are somewhat too large for CPF, please resize them to 800x800 max.
I'm going to move your thread to the /LED/Budget Lights/ subforum, it's probably a better fit there.

Ive resized the original pictures then edited my post with all the new links but they are still showing up as the same size, i dont know how else to change them.

 

[Kestrel]

Ive resized the original pictures then edited my post with all the new links but they are still showing up as the same size, i dont know how else to change them.

I've occasionally had issues with PB myself with regards to that (might be a cacheing issue perhaps?), it seems to me that the most reliable way is to delete the link/pics from your post, edit&save the photo as a different file in PB after resizing, then place the new links in your post. :shrug:

 

[vinny]

I've occasionally had issues with PB myself with regards to that (might be a cacheing issue perhaps?), it seems to me that the most reliable way is to delete the link/pics from your post, edit&save the photo as a different file in PB after resizing, then place the new links in your post.

Ok i will try that too:thumbsup:

 

[vinny]

Ooops just noticed there are different types of "MXDL 3W LED".

Anyways, I ordered the "MXDL 3W LED AAA Battery Mini Flashlight Lamp Torch". Is this the keychain one?

Yeah thats the same one as ive got:thumbsup: not too bad for the price, im going to give them out as little crimbo presents this year.

 

[mcnair55]

Vinny,

If you are using Photo Bucket,you can resize in there easy enough via the edit option is how I do it.

The light in your pic has had a lot of comments and threads about it,I think many of us own one or more of them,I buy them as freebies for making sales when trade is bad.

Also my mxdl hate lithium and eat them up so I run mine on either an alkie or usually an eneloop type.

 

[vinny]

Vinny,

If you are using Photo Bucket,you can resize in there easy enough via the edit option is how I do it.

The light in your pic has had a lot of comments and threads about it,I think many of us own one or more of them,I buy them as freebies for making sales when trade is bad.

Also my mxdl hate lithium and eat them up so I run mine on either an alkie or usually an eneloop type.

Yeah i did resize them using the edit photo option, then i deleted all the old links and replaced them with the new links that the resized pictures created.

Also ive not seen any threads on these torch's, maybe im not looking hard enough lol, Im currently using a energizer litium in the torch and have one as a spare in the holder i made, it does'nt really look any brighter than when i was using an energizer alkaline battery but according to energizer's website the litiums last 8 times longer and have a longer shelf life.

The alkaline i had in it said to use by 2014 and the litium says to use by 2025, and that is the only reason im using them, the batteries will probably outlive the torch lol

 

[vinny]

To the moderators, im sorry but there appeas to be problem with my photo bucket account, i can rezize the pictures no problem but the resized image for some reason is keeping the original link so there still showing up as the same size even the the originals have been replaced, if theres anyway you could resize them i would greatly appreciate it as im at the end of my tether now:shakehead

My first CPF experiance isnt going as smoothly as i hoped

thanks vinny.

 

[Kestrel]

No worries, I just checked your pics and they are 800x600 now, so everything is cool. I still suspect a cacheing issue on their end. Sorry that you had so much trouble.

 

[mcnair55]

Yeah i did resize them using the edit photo option, then i deleted all the old links and replaced them with the new links that the resized pictures created.

Also ive not seen any threads on these torch's, maybe im not looking hard enough lol, Im currently using a energizer litium in the torch and have one as a spare in the holder i made, it does'nt really look any brighter than when i was using an energizer alkaline battery but according to energizer's website the litiums last 8 times longer and have a longer shelf life.

The alkaline i had in it said to use by 2014 and the litium says to use by 2025, and that is the only reason im using them, the batteries will probably outlive the torch lol

Lithium are great as they have a long shelf life,lighter and work better in cold temps so if you leave your torch in a car on a really frosty night it will be fine,not prone to leaking like alkies either but you can never say never as it will happen,many are also buying the clicky light about the same price as that one.

 

[Bobyn]

Quick question - where did you pick up the spare battery holder? I've been looking around for one forever!

 

[Marbouk]

Quick question - where did you pick up the spare battery holder? I've been looking around for one forever!

Yes that's very handy to have. Vinny says he made it, looks like a chap stick tube. I'm also interested in how you made it. And nice review vinny.

 

[ChibiM]

I have the exact same one..
a nice little light.. the only problem I have is the weird yellow colored middle spot..
dont know about yours?
just tried to turn it on.. had some weird flickering and and when I took out the battery, there was some oily stuff on the bottom of the battery...hmm
works well again with new battery

 

[vinny]

Thanks for all the replies everyone :thumbsup:

As for the photo sizing problems i dont know enough about the internet or how it works to know if indeed it was a caching issue

As for the spare battery holder it is indeed an old chapstick, all i did was remove the internals, and the rear twisty cap, on the twisty cap there is a threaded bar that lifts the chapstick as its turned, i cut this down untill it was the perfect lenght to hold the battery tight against the cap,i then glued the bottom twisty cap on and drilled a hole for the keyring ring to go through, then gave it a quick light sand, a couple of coats of grey primer then a couple of coats of black paint :thumbsup:


Thanks again for all the replies people :thumbsup:

 

[vinny]

I have the exact same one..
a nice little light.. the only problem I have is the weird yellow colored middle spot..
dont know about yours?
just tried to turn it on.. had some weird flickering and and when I took out the battery, there was some oily stuff on the bottom of the battery...hmm
works well again with new battery

When i shine mine on a white wall it looks almost like it has a blue tinge to it, ive not seen any yellow lights in the centre,

I might try and get some beam shots later on so you can compare if you want.