Saw Brinkmann 3 Watt at Target on sale $4.98

[lightinsky]

If you want a Brinkmann 3 Watt Led they have them on sale. I saw 2 brinkmann 3 watter's for only $4.98 ea. I didn't buy them as I don't care for the 3AAA non regulated battery carrier type of flashlights. They also had 2D Incan Copper color Mags for $4.22. Oh I'm in the Northeast of the US in MA. Good Luck !

 

[ace0001a]

If you want a Brinkmann 3 Watt Led they have them on sale. I saw 2 brinkmann 3 watter's for only $4.98 ea. I didn't buy them as I don't care for the 3AAA non regulated battery carrier type of flashlights. They also had 2D Incan Copper color Mags for $4.22. Oh I'm in the Northeast of the US in MA. Good Luck !

Personally I don't mind the configuration if only because AAAs are an easy to find and inexpensive battery. With that said, the Brinkmann 3AAA 1W and 3W flashlights have excellent reflectors in them and a clear glass lens. The output and throw for a compact flashlight is really good and an excellent candidate for a mod. I did my Brinkman 1W 3AAA with an SSCP4. Since it was already using an SSC Z-LED, the swap was really straight forward. Takes a little working with the 3W one though, because it uses an actual Lux3.

 

[EngrPaul]

I paid $30 for this last fall. I put a cree in it and it was lousy. I went with ace's advice and put a Seoul in. Soooo much better. Thanks Jeff, even though I didn't go out and get a 1W to upgrade, you still inspired me to make better with what I had. At $5, I might have to get to Target and make some more

 

[ace0001a]

I paid $30 for this last fall. I put a cree in it and it was lousy. I went with ace's advice and put a Seoul in. Soooo much better. Thanks Jeff, even though I didn't go out and get a 1W to upgrade, you still inspired me to make better with what I had. At $5, I might have to get to Target and make some more

Lousy with a Cree huh? Yeah, I thought about sticking a Cree in my 3W (it's still got the stock LuxIII in it right now). Maybe I'll try the extra Edison Opto KLC8 I've got lying around on that one. Paul I'm there with you as I paid $30 for mines too (the 1W was $19.99 I think). Going to check my local Targets tonight...

 

[Pellidon]

I bought a lowly loney 1 watt my Target had for $7. Thinking I would put the Seoul led in it when it arrived. To my suprise, it had one installed already. No mention of it on the card.

I already had a 3 watter that is the shop's hand out light. The one I give to someone that wants a light.

 

[ace0001a]

I bought a lowly loney 1 watt my Target had for $7. Thinking I would put the Seoul led in it when it arrived. To my suprise, it had one installed already. No mention of it on the card.

I already had a 3 watter that is the shop's hand out light. The one I give to someone that wants a light.

Yeah, the SSC emitter in the 1W is not the P4. It's using a 1W Z-LED. You should swap it out with an SSCP4 star. Makes a world of difference in that one. DX is sell selling SSCP4 stars for like $7.18 shipped (but it'll take like 2 weeks to get to you). Or you can get SSCP4 stars from Photonfanatic in the Dealer's section here for $10 and they're actual SSC mounted ones. DX mounts the emitter to an OEM star themselves.

 

[lowatts]

I was at a MA Targets last night and didn't see any Brinkmanns on sale, will have to check it out again this weekend. I almost ordered a SSCP4 this morning with the JetBeam AA order but didn't know if I'd need it, guess I should have ordered it : )

 

[WNG]

Only problem is runtime on these unregulated 3W 3AAA units.
The output won't last long and will begin falling from full brightness pretty soon.
I have a Lux-1 running on 3AAA and a 1 ohm resistor. Get about an hour of usable light from 750mAH NiMH AAAs.

 

[thelightdude]

The price scanner said the Brinkmann 3 watt was $29.95 at the two Target stores in my area.

 

[lightinsky]

The ones I saw at Target had a red mark down ticket on them saying formerly 19.99 but now $4.98. Maybe some Targets aren't so quick to mark down stuff as others are.

 

[ace0001a]

Only problem is runtime on these unregulated 3W 3AAA units.
The output won't last long and will begin falling from full brightness pretty soon.
I have a Lux-1 running on 3AAA and a 1 ohm resistor. Get about an hour of usable light from 750mAH NiMH AAAs.

That's about what I expect from 3 AAAs. I feel that 1 hour of (useable) runtime is acceptible for a flashlight of this class.

 

[EngrPaul]

I tend to think you'ns are off in the runtime estimate. My Brinkmann 3AAA gives at least 2 hours on NiMH. I think I'll do a runtime later to confirm.

 

[ace0001a]

Yeah to clarify, my point was that I expect at least an hour from these kinds of flashlights and not referring to the Brinkmann specifically. Though I did decide to do a runtime test on one I sold with a half used set of batteries and got a hour of useable light before going to moon mode. Maybe WNG's batteries weren't fully charged. I've heard that can happen with NiMHs and depending in the charger being used.

 

[cratz2]

I tend to think you'ns are off in the runtime estimate. My Brinkmann 3AAA gives at least 2 hours on NiMH. I think I'll do a runtime later to confirm.

~3 hours to 50%? I think many 1W and 3W 3xAAA lights either direct drive or with a simple resistor give an hour or less to 50%.

 

[AlexGT]

Can this model fit 1 18650 or 1 18500 li-ion? This could be a nice SSC mod light!

AlexGT

 

[thezman]

Can this model fit 1 18650 or 1 18500 li-ion? This could be a nice SSC mod light!

AlexGT

18650's are too long. This was my hope when I bought the 1 watt version.

I have no 18500's, so the best I could do was make a dummy out of a dowel rod to see how it would fit. It does fit, but it's a tad too short, some type of spacer would probably be needed.

 

[ace0001a]

In my opinion, the Brinkman 3AAAs are not a good candidate to go li-ion because the LED has very little heatsinking. The LED star inside rests on a small metal plate that makes enough contact with the thin inner metal tube to complete the circuit. Running with as much juice as an 18650 will send to the LED will have it running hotter than I'd be comfortable with on this particular flashlight. Go 3 NiMHs and SSCP4 and you'll still have a fairly bright flashlight with acceptable runtime.

 

[EngrPaul]

I agree. Don't overdrive the Brinkmann.

P.S. My local target doesn't have any bargains on Brinkmanns. However, I picked up a couple River Rocks for the first time, to satisfy my addiction

 

[Illum]

my nearest Targets's flashlight stock is essentially empty except the krypton plastic lights on the other end....

if theres stock I'll go and empty it

 

[cratz2]

I went to 4 Target stores and all the Brinkmann 3Ws were $29.99!

They did have a new style one that is all aluminum. Mostly black with a bit of silver trim. Looks nicer than the rubber/plastic Maxfire-looking version AND it's $5 less. Didn't get one though. I'm holding out to see the others go on sale for $5. All 4 stores I went to had 3 to 8 of the rubber/plastic type lights so hopefully they'll drop in price eventually.