asdalton
Flashlight Enthusiast
I ordered two of the 2xAAA lights from Advancedmart, with the intention of playing the LED lottery and hoping that I get at least one good one. (More on this later.) However, I was also sent two 1xAAA lights by mistake. Those will be mailed back shortly, but I will include them in this short review since I got a chance to try them out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Nuwai 2xAAA LED
Body: black HA II with no blemishes. HA III would be too much to expect on an inexpensive flashlight.
Switch: Combination twist-on with pushbutton for momentary operation. This is very similar to the switches on the Dorcy LED lights, but the Nuwai is less prone to sticking and flickering during momentary use. You also have to be careful when threading the tailcap, but it works fine once the tailcap is attached. The threads and O-ring are not sufficiently greased when the flashlight is new, but this issue is easy to fix.
LED: This is a new high-flux LED with an output somewhere between a 5mm LED and a Luxeon. I would say that it's as bright as five 5mm LEDs, or 40% as bright as a Luxeon. Of the two lights, one has the disappointingly familiar blue tint, but the other is a pleasant cool white.
Reflector: This is done very well. The LED appears to emit light in a HD-like pattern, and so the projected beam has a distinct hotspot and a smooth sidespill extending out 45 degrees from the center. The throw is very good considering the modest overall brightness and the tiny reflector. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Nuwai 1xAAA
Nearly all of the comments for the 2xAAA light apply here. The clear exception is the brightness, which is much lower than that of the 2xAAA light and slightly brighter than an Infinity Ultra. Because of the good throw, however, the 1xAAA Nuwai light often seems much brighter than a typical 5mm single LED flashlight.
As in the case of the 2xAAA lights, one of the 1xAAA lights has a bluish LED, while the other is much whiter.
The Nuwai 1xAAA is smaller than the Dorcy AAA but considerably bulkier than the Arc AAA. Overall, the 2xAAA is a better deal since it costs less and puts out a lot more light.
Some notes on efficiency
On fresh alkaline batteries, I measured the current consumption (from the batteries) of the 2xAAA light to be 120 mA. On lithium batteries, the flashlight is barely brighter and so the current consumption is similar. This current is consistent with Roy's runtime graph. The capacity of the lithium AAA cell is 1250 mAh, so (1250 mAh)/(120 mA) = 10.4 hours predicted runtime.
The brightness of the 2xAAA light is similar to, and possibly a little better than, my UK 4AA eLED. The measured runtimes of these two flashlights are very similar. While the UK has full regulation and draws from less-than-ideal alkaline cells (for the 10-13 hour runtime), it seems strange to me that the Nuwai can get basically the same output performance on much less battery power. We may need to see how long the UK runs on lithium AA cells, so that we are not measuring differences in battery chemistries. But it does appear that the Nuwai with its new high-flux LED gets considerably better efficiency than the UK 4AA with its underdriven Luxeon.
Nuwai 2xAAA LED
Body: black HA II with no blemishes. HA III would be too much to expect on an inexpensive flashlight.
Switch: Combination twist-on with pushbutton for momentary operation. This is very similar to the switches on the Dorcy LED lights, but the Nuwai is less prone to sticking and flickering during momentary use. You also have to be careful when threading the tailcap, but it works fine once the tailcap is attached. The threads and O-ring are not sufficiently greased when the flashlight is new, but this issue is easy to fix.
LED: This is a new high-flux LED with an output somewhere between a 5mm LED and a Luxeon. I would say that it's as bright as five 5mm LEDs, or 40% as bright as a Luxeon. Of the two lights, one has the disappointingly familiar blue tint, but the other is a pleasant cool white.
Reflector: This is done very well. The LED appears to emit light in a HD-like pattern, and so the projected beam has a distinct hotspot and a smooth sidespill extending out 45 degrees from the center. The throw is very good considering the modest overall brightness and the tiny reflector. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Nuwai 1xAAA
Nearly all of the comments for the 2xAAA light apply here. The clear exception is the brightness, which is much lower than that of the 2xAAA light and slightly brighter than an Infinity Ultra. Because of the good throw, however, the 1xAAA Nuwai light often seems much brighter than a typical 5mm single LED flashlight.
As in the case of the 2xAAA lights, one of the 1xAAA lights has a bluish LED, while the other is much whiter.
The Nuwai 1xAAA is smaller than the Dorcy AAA but considerably bulkier than the Arc AAA. Overall, the 2xAAA is a better deal since it costs less and puts out a lot more light.
Some notes on efficiency
On fresh alkaline batteries, I measured the current consumption (from the batteries) of the 2xAAA light to be 120 mA. On lithium batteries, the flashlight is barely brighter and so the current consumption is similar. This current is consistent with Roy's runtime graph. The capacity of the lithium AAA cell is 1250 mAh, so (1250 mAh)/(120 mA) = 10.4 hours predicted runtime.
The brightness of the 2xAAA light is similar to, and possibly a little better than, my UK 4AA eLED. The measured runtimes of these two flashlights are very similar. While the UK has full regulation and draws from less-than-ideal alkaline cells (for the 10-13 hour runtime), it seems strange to me that the Nuwai can get basically the same output performance on much less battery power. We may need to see how long the UK runs on lithium AA cells, so that we are not measuring differences in battery chemistries. But it does appear that the Nuwai with its new high-flux LED gets considerably better efficiency than the UK 4AA with its underdriven Luxeon.
