Commercial Electric 1 AAA-Battery Key Chain Torch
Purchased from: Bunnings Balcatta, Western Australia
Price:$7.95AUD
Description:
(As pictured). This is just a basic 1AAA xenon key chain torch. I had no genuine reason to require this torch, however I did want to gloat to my friends over how bad Xenon 1AAA lights are compared to my L0D-CE
. It features ;-
I had never heard of the brand, Commercial Electric, before, while I was at our hardware store there were all the usual profile types of torches made by this company. It is made in China with a 2 year warranty. The contact details refer to a company called Ozito Industries at www.ozito.com.au. I could not find a link to any of their torches, including the reviewed torch, at that web site. Furthermore their search box did not work for me using Firefox. No Google hits for the product code on the pack either - CEFL1AAA.
They weren't especially cheap (though the AAA was half the price of a Mag Solitaire) so I expected reasonable, but not great, examples for comparison to premium LED technology.
The O-rings were nicely greased with smooth threads, the threads are of reasonably tightness, though the bezel can feel a little loose when unscrewed for more narrow focus. The rubber shock absorber on the bezel and tail cap doubles as a convenient grip for gloves hands, there should be no problems focusing 1 handed or to change the battery while wearing thick gloves.
The tail cap houses the push on/push off rubber switch. It requires a good firm push so there would be no accidental power on while in the tool box. The spring on the inside of the tail cap keeps the battery firmly seated, I couldn't hear any rattles when shaking the torch. The key chain is firmly attached to the tail cap with the usual metal split ring and a convenient fast detach clip.
The overall construction seems to be reasonable, the feel of the metal is not as solid as they try to make it appear with the big rubber pieces that disguise the torch underneath.
Removing the bezel reveals the standard xenon bulb, with the 2 wires inserted into the battery tube. The bulb factory seating was terrible (see image below), it was just shoved in so that one wire is lined straight up with 1 hole and the other had to be bent severely to get it to sit flush against the surface. The end result is a bulb on a 45 degree angle. It had to be angled enough to fit through the reflector hole as it screws on. I can imagine this might cause the wide angle focus to be sub-par and gradually improve as the focus is narrowed (since it has to center the emitter as it gets closer to the focus). Attempting to adjust the seating of the globe proved to be too risky to the brittle xenon bulb, I could hear the glass starting to splinter as I tried to straighten the legs.
Light output. This is where we remind ourselves of the benefits of LED technology. It is absolutely terrible!! On wide focus you basically get a patchy circular yellow beam pattern on the wall - the result of the bulb wire being stretched by the circular reflector into a circle. The spill is very minimal. It might just get you to the bathroom in a dark house, but as the light is so irregular you can't navigate your way through dense wires or anything like that in an industrial application. Useful beam distance would be about 1m at most. The image below is a closeup, around 14cm from a white page, slightly behind the torch, about 10cm from the page.
Focusing the beam as narrow as possible just moves those patchy parts of beam into a more dense pattern. The throw doesn't appear to be increased - it still wouldn't give you any detail on a spot any further than 1m unless you had adjusted night vision.
I'm still working out how to use my new digital camera so there's no comparison or night-time beamshots, but my observation when comparing to my L0D-CE on minimum brightness is that the L0D-CE is FAR FAR brighter with LOTS more usable flood/spill than this xenon torch. I decided to get out a freebie LED button cell key chain light to compare it, and it seems to be as good or better than this light for output also.
The last thing I tried was a drop test. It's such a crappy torch, in fact, that I tried a throw test to the cement floor. Unfortunately, it continued to work, giving me no legitimate excuse to throw it away.
There are no runtime claims, I don't think this torch is worth testing any further in any case.
I would be more than a little embarrassed to EDC this light. It's new place of honor is in the bin.
1 out of 5.
Purchased from: Bunnings Balcatta, Western Australia
Price:$7.95AUD
Description:
(As pictured). This is just a basic 1AAA xenon key chain torch. I had no genuine reason to require this torch, however I did want to gloat to my friends over how bad Xenon 1AAA lights are compared to my L0D-CE
. It features ;-
- Greased O-ringed on bezel and battery compartment threads.
- Bezel twists to focus the beam from flood to narrow.
- 2 large rubber shock absorbing rings - one around the bezel and the other around the tail cap at.
- Rubber covered, press on press off, switch on the tail cap.
- Tail cap is spring loaded.
- Key ring/chain attachment.
- 1 Duracell AAA battery included, no runtime claims.
- No documentation other than what's on the bubble pack.
I had never heard of the brand, Commercial Electric, before, while I was at our hardware store there were all the usual profile types of torches made by this company. It is made in China with a 2 year warranty. The contact details refer to a company called Ozito Industries at www.ozito.com.au. I could not find a link to any of their torches, including the reviewed torch, at that web site. Furthermore their search box did not work for me using Firefox. No Google hits for the product code on the pack either - CEFL1AAA.
They weren't especially cheap (though the AAA was half the price of a Mag Solitaire) so I expected reasonable, but not great, examples for comparison to premium LED technology.
The O-rings were nicely greased with smooth threads, the threads are of reasonably tightness, though the bezel can feel a little loose when unscrewed for more narrow focus. The rubber shock absorber on the bezel and tail cap doubles as a convenient grip for gloves hands, there should be no problems focusing 1 handed or to change the battery while wearing thick gloves.
The tail cap houses the push on/push off rubber switch. It requires a good firm push so there would be no accidental power on while in the tool box. The spring on the inside of the tail cap keeps the battery firmly seated, I couldn't hear any rattles when shaking the torch. The key chain is firmly attached to the tail cap with the usual metal split ring and a convenient fast detach clip.
The overall construction seems to be reasonable, the feel of the metal is not as solid as they try to make it appear with the big rubber pieces that disguise the torch underneath.
Removing the bezel reveals the standard xenon bulb, with the 2 wires inserted into the battery tube. The bulb factory seating was terrible (see image below), it was just shoved in so that one wire is lined straight up with 1 hole and the other had to be bent severely to get it to sit flush against the surface. The end result is a bulb on a 45 degree angle. It had to be angled enough to fit through the reflector hole as it screws on. I can imagine this might cause the wide angle focus to be sub-par and gradually improve as the focus is narrowed (since it has to center the emitter as it gets closer to the focus). Attempting to adjust the seating of the globe proved to be too risky to the brittle xenon bulb, I could hear the glass starting to splinter as I tried to straighten the legs.
Light output. This is where we remind ourselves of the benefits of LED technology. It is absolutely terrible!! On wide focus you basically get a patchy circular yellow beam pattern on the wall - the result of the bulb wire being stretched by the circular reflector into a circle. The spill is very minimal. It might just get you to the bathroom in a dark house, but as the light is so irregular you can't navigate your way through dense wires or anything like that in an industrial application. Useful beam distance would be about 1m at most. The image below is a closeup, around 14cm from a white page, slightly behind the torch, about 10cm from the page.
Focusing the beam as narrow as possible just moves those patchy parts of beam into a more dense pattern. The throw doesn't appear to be increased - it still wouldn't give you any detail on a spot any further than 1m unless you had adjusted night vision.
I'm still working out how to use my new digital camera so there's no comparison or night-time beamshots, but my observation when comparing to my L0D-CE on minimum brightness is that the L0D-CE is FAR FAR brighter with LOTS more usable flood/spill than this xenon torch. I decided to get out a freebie LED button cell key chain light to compare it, and it seems to be as good or better than this light for output also.
The last thing I tried was a drop test. It's such a crappy torch, in fact, that I tried a throw test to the cement floor. Unfortunately, it continued to work, giving me no legitimate excuse to throw it away.
There are no runtime claims, I don't think this torch is worth testing any further in any case.
I would be more than a little embarrassed to EDC this light. It's new place of honor is in the bin.
1 out of 5.
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