Eiger 10180 Level 3 Review
The reviewed Eiger 10180 is a small (only 5.3cm long) key chain LED flashlight manufacured by PeakLED.
Note that Eigers are available in different configurations:
Test configuration is a Level 3 light (20 lumen) with medium beam width using a 10180 lithium battery.
The light is a "simple" twisty with just one brightness stage.
The design is a little "old school", however I actually like it a lot! The only thing I personally would change is that the head is slightly larger than the body of the light, whioch somewhat interrupts the otherwise smooth lines… J
Actually that is the reason I never got interrested in the Lummi Wee (which also is about the same size), since there the body seems to be considerably larger than the head…
Also (as opposed to some other lights as the Draco) the Eiger has a centered lug on its end, so it should be great for neck chains (but of course it won't tail stand).
Built quality is (as far as I can tell) very good. The twisty is very accurate, the knurling is deep and provides a very good grip and the tolerances are minimal.
I like especially that the bezel turns quite hard and that there are at least two full turns necessary after the light has been switched off till the head will come of.
I also have a Draco light (which is similar in size even though it uses a slightly larger 10280 battery) and even though that one is somewhat more sofisticated I just can't use it, since the head nearly falls of by itself! I was constantly afraid to loose the head of the light!
Every Eiger light can run with different voltages, even though only a 10180 battery will fir in the tested configuration.
I did try to find some other battery or maybe a few coin cells that would fit as well, and whil I did find a few working configurations, all of those had some space left and none did really fit well. I think PeakLED should consider offering an additional body for e.g. 3 coin cells.
Unfortunately the light seems to be not regulated, but since lithium batteries have a rather flat discharge curve that is not really a problem:
As you can see, the level 3 Eiger takes about 3 minutes to 90% of its initial brightness and another 10 minutes to 80%. It provides usable light for about 1 hour. At that point the 10180 battery measured about 3.4V (which is far from the 3 Volts that are said to indicate over discharge.)
I measured a curent of 70mA on one of my Level 3 heads and 80mA on the other (at 4V battery voltage), so runtime is consistent with a standard 10180 battery advertised at about 100mAh.
The body did get slightly warm to the touch, but really far less than I expected, so heat should definitely not be an issue!
Measurements (brightness, power consumption and efficiency/efficacy):
An Arc-AAA Premium is said to have about 11 lumens and I measured a current of 240mA at about 1.6V, meaning a power consumption of about 0.38W.
A LedLenser V9 Micro draws about 60mA at 6V meaning a power consumption of 0.36W (or about the same as the Arc-AAA).
The Eiger 10180 draws about 80mA at 4V meaning a power consumption of 0.32W (a little less than the other two).
Nevetheless the Eiger seems to be a little brighter (with equal throw but more spill) and if PeakLED tells the truth it should put out about 15 lumens at 80mA.
And finally I measured the well known Fenix LD01-Q5 (middle brightness setting) at about 0,4A at 1,5V meaning a power consumption of 0,6W while putting out 27 lumen (according to Fenix so take that with caution!).
If that holds true (which I believe) the Arc-AAA has an efficiency of 30 lumen/W whereas the Eiger has an efficiency of about 45 lumen/W (as does the Fenix), meaning that the Eiger has about a 50% higher efficiency compared to the rather famous Arc-AAA and is about equally efficient as the Fenix LD01 with a Q5 LED.
One final word about the beam colour:
I ordered two warm white heads and one of them is just great but the other one is too yellow and even a little green to me. I ordered a neutral white head Level 4 by now, which should be the ideal light to me!
Conclusion:
The Eiger is not the perfect light, it could need better regulation and actually the head could be a little smaller, too.
However I am not aware of any light that fulfills its purpose anywherer near as good as the Eiger!
In my oppinion the two other lights that are similar in size (Drake and Lummi Wee) have quite some disadvantages (complicate to operate, head too loose, no center lug or just not designed as I like it), and larger AAA lights like the Fenix LD01, the Liteflux LF2X or even the Arc-AAA are just too large for me to put on my key chain.
So for me the Eiger 10180 is THE key chain flashlight!!!
The worst thing about theese lights was that I had to wait a few weeks for the delivery. Boy, that was hard... :mecry:
PS: Sorry I posted here and not in the review subforum, but somehow that didn't work. Feel free to move this thread!
The reviewed Eiger 10180 is a small (only 5.3cm long) key chain LED flashlight manufacured by PeakLED.
Note that Eigers are available in different configurations:
- brightness configurations ranging from 12 to 100 lumens
- battery compartements for different kinds of batteries:
- one or two "normal" 1.5V-micro-batteries
- 10280 lithium batteries (1/2 the length of a micro battery)
- 10180 lithium batteries (1/3 the length of a micro battery) (used here!)
- available colours: black (anodized aluminium), siler (stainless steel) or brass
- three beam configurations ranging from wide to a narrow spot
- two colours: warm and neutral white (warm white is rather yellow on my lights!!!)
- with or without lug
Test configuration is a Level 3 light (20 lumen) with medium beam width using a 10180 lithium battery.
The light is a "simple" twisty with just one brightness stage.
The design is a little "old school", however I actually like it a lot! The only thing I personally would change is that the head is slightly larger than the body of the light, whioch somewhat interrupts the otherwise smooth lines… J
Actually that is the reason I never got interrested in the Lummi Wee (which also is about the same size), since there the body seems to be considerably larger than the head…
Also (as opposed to some other lights as the Draco) the Eiger has a centered lug on its end, so it should be great for neck chains (but of course it won't tail stand).
Built quality is (as far as I can tell) very good. The twisty is very accurate, the knurling is deep and provides a very good grip and the tolerances are minimal.
I like especially that the bezel turns quite hard and that there are at least two full turns necessary after the light has been switched off till the head will come of.
I also have a Draco light (which is similar in size even though it uses a slightly larger 10280 battery) and even though that one is somewhat more sofisticated I just can't use it, since the head nearly falls of by itself! I was constantly afraid to loose the head of the light!
Every Eiger light can run with different voltages, even though only a 10180 battery will fir in the tested configuration.
I did try to find some other battery or maybe a few coin cells that would fit as well, and whil I did find a few working configurations, all of those had some space left and none did really fit well. I think PeakLED should consider offering an additional body for e.g. 3 coin cells.
Unfortunately the light seems to be not regulated, but since lithium batteries have a rather flat discharge curve that is not really a problem:
As you can see, the level 3 Eiger takes about 3 minutes to 90% of its initial brightness and another 10 minutes to 80%. It provides usable light for about 1 hour. At that point the 10180 battery measured about 3.4V (which is far from the 3 Volts that are said to indicate over discharge.)
I measured a curent of 70mA on one of my Level 3 heads and 80mA on the other (at 4V battery voltage), so runtime is consistent with a standard 10180 battery advertised at about 100mAh.
The body did get slightly warm to the touch, but really far less than I expected, so heat should definitely not be an issue!
Measurements (brightness, power consumption and efficiency/efficacy):
An Arc-AAA Premium is said to have about 11 lumens and I measured a current of 240mA at about 1.6V, meaning a power consumption of about 0.38W.
A LedLenser V9 Micro draws about 60mA at 6V meaning a power consumption of 0.36W (or about the same as the Arc-AAA).
The Eiger 10180 draws about 80mA at 4V meaning a power consumption of 0.32W (a little less than the other two).
Nevetheless the Eiger seems to be a little brighter (with equal throw but more spill) and if PeakLED tells the truth it should put out about 15 lumens at 80mA.
And finally I measured the well known Fenix LD01-Q5 (middle brightness setting) at about 0,4A at 1,5V meaning a power consumption of 0,6W while putting out 27 lumen (according to Fenix so take that with caution!).
If that holds true (which I believe) the Arc-AAA has an efficiency of 30 lumen/W whereas the Eiger has an efficiency of about 45 lumen/W (as does the Fenix), meaning that the Eiger has about a 50% higher efficiency compared to the rather famous Arc-AAA and is about equally efficient as the Fenix LD01 with a Q5 LED.
One final word about the beam colour:
I ordered two warm white heads and one of them is just great but the other one is too yellow and even a little green to me. I ordered a neutral white head Level 4 by now, which should be the ideal light to me!
Conclusion:
The Eiger is not the perfect light, it could need better regulation and actually the head could be a little smaller, too.
However I am not aware of any light that fulfills its purpose anywherer near as good as the Eiger!
In my oppinion the two other lights that are similar in size (Drake and Lummi Wee) have quite some disadvantages (complicate to operate, head too loose, no center lug or just not designed as I like it), and larger AAA lights like the Fenix LD01, the Liteflux LF2X or even the Arc-AAA are just too large for me to put on my key chain.
So for me the Eiger 10180 is THE key chain flashlight!!!
The worst thing about theese lights was that I had to wait a few weeks for the delivery. Boy, that was hard... :mecry:
Copyright C. Krebs
PS: Sorry I posted here and not in the review subforum, but somehow that didn't work. Feel free to move this thread!
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