TechLite?

[ubetit]

I was in Costco today looking for some Life+Gear lights and they had a huge stack of these Techlite blister packs. I did a search and couldn't find another thread about this brand.


The body is all aluminum
Cree Xre LED - 160 lumens
Half power = 80 lumens
Strobe on high power.
Water resitant- 30 minutes at 1 meter.
Spotlight to floodlight focus ring.
Red LED in the tailcap glows when the batteries are low.

There's no memory though so you always cycle through the three stages. The momentary switch goes to full brightness by holding it down for 1 second.


Although not built quite like my Surefire C2, it's really not that bad. The best part is that this pack of 2 was only $19.99.




ftp://ftp.hutchisonmedia.com/temp/IMG_5272.JPG

ftp://ftp.hutchisonmedia.com/temp/IMG_5274.JPG

 

[recDNA]

What is the item number? I want to call Costco to see if they are in stock.

 

[Beamhead]

What is the item number? I want to call Costco to see if they are in stock.

406343, its in the first pic.

 

[Eldendor]

Saw this today in my Costco. Just for future forum-searchers it runs off of 3 AAA cells.

 

[PeterN]

Just bought a pair to test. 20 dollars for the pair, can't beat that.

I just tried them out. They are bright, but they have some draw backs.
1 – The switch is a smart switch that switches from dim (25%) to full (100%) to flashing (emergency use) to off. However, to turn the flashlight on to get to a certain mode, you have to cycle through each one, also to turn it off, you have to cycle through the cycles. This means, if you want to turn it off to full bright, you'll have to press it twice, then, to turn it off, press it twice.
2 – the light's beam is very focused, it says it's adjustable, but it isn't really adjustable by much. As in, instead of most of the light on 3 - 5 degrees (estimated), you can make it 10 - 15 degrees (estimated). It's much more of a spot light than a flood light no matter how much you change the focus. Although, there is some light outside of the focus spot, it isn't much. They really shouldn't advertise "adjustable focus" because it really doesn't change much.

It's really bright in that 3 -15 degrees, but for use while walking, you may want something that has more of a spread light. And, that switch is annoying; It doesn't know how to just turn off from whatever mode, you HAVE to switch through the modes to turn it off.
Pros: The build is good, the focused beam is bright, it comes with batteries, and has a low and high mode.

If you're looking for a very bright light for very little money (10 dollars each), then these may be ok if you're willing to overlook the downsides.

 

[gimmejr]

I just bought a set and its pretty much as described by everyone. One thing is you can turn it off without cycling through the settings. You have to hold the button in for about 2 seconds and it switches off.

 

[worldedit]

Maybe you can put 18650 cells in them. Would give 3x runtime.

 

[kimgkimg]

What's the runtime on 3AAA?

 

[Moonshadow]

Wow, this must be one helluva deal, to have four threads on the go at the same time. . . .

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=263308

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=262363

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=216181

 

[ubetit]

Wow, this must be one helluva deal, to have four threads on the go at the same time. . . .

This is my thread and it was started last July. Anyway, i wouldn't by these lights. They eat batteries even when off.

 

[tvset]

This is my thread and it was started last July. Anyway, i wouldn't by these lights. They eat batteries even when off.

True. I have the same problem with the set I purchased in July-09. I returned the set already. Too bad, they were pretty bright. May be they fixed the problem with the new lights?

 

[opskmallory]

I just bought a pair. Same as above. They are on sale this week for $14.99 for the pair. For the price, it's reasonable. I'll probably leave the batteries out. Oh, and you can hold the switch down to have them turn off without cycling.

 

[scottman]

you people are all retards.
it goes from like 80% to 100% then to strobe
idk where 50% and 25% came from but its stupid.
its clearly visible that its shiney or really shiney but if the first setting was 50% or 25 the 100% setting would b way less bright.
its a sicklight quit complaning.
a lite is a lite and this one happens to be cool
and who the hell actually has an acount on a website to talk about flash lites?
i made this acc just to reply to this post

 

[sheppie62]

Welcome newest Dork "Scottman"

[QUOTEwho the hell actually has an acount on a website to talk about flash lites?][/QUOTE] You do! :welcome:

 

[mcnair55]

:welcome: indeed and suggest less of the beer makes your spelling terrible to read but at least you spell retard correctly but suppose that comes quite easy as plenty around you seem to think.

 

[wuchak]

Just bought a pair to test. 20 dollars for the pair, can't beat that.

I just tried them out. They are bright, but they have some draw backs.
1 – The switch is a smart switch that switches from dim (25%) to full (100%) to flashing (emergency use) to off. However, to turn the flashlight on to get to a certain mode, you have to cycle through each one, also to turn it off, you have to cycle through the cycles. This means, if you want to turn it off to full bright, you'll have to press it twice, then, to turn it off, press it twice.
2 – the light's beam is very focused, it says it's adjustable, but it isn't really adjustable by much. As in, instead of most of the light on 3 - 5 degrees (estimated), you can make it 10 - 15 degrees (estimated). It's much more of a spot light than a flood light no matter how much you change the focus. Although, there is some light outside of the focus spot, it isn't much. They really shouldn't advertise "adjustable focus" because it really doesn't change much.


It's really bright in that 3 -15 degrees, but for use while walking, you may want something that has more of a spread light. And, that switch is annoying; It doesn't know how to just turn off from whatever mode, you HAVE to switch through the modes to turn it off.
Pros: The build is good, the focused beam is bright, it comes with batteries, and has a low and high mode.

If you're looking for a very bright light for very little money (10 dollars each), then these may be ok if you're willing to overlook the downsides.

You don't have to cycle through to turn it off. When the light is on any of the settings just push in the switch and hold it. It will jump to high after 1 second and turn off when released. It basically activates the reverse clicky mode. If the light is off and you push and hold the switch it will come on high after 2 seconds and then turn off when released.

 

[userix]

Anyone notice that upon initial battery install, the red tailcap lights up red and stays lit until you turn it on at least once? Is it suppose to do this? I can imagine that since this happens, the tailcap is capable of parasitic drain, since the led activates itself when the flashlight is not even on.

 

[wuchak]

Anyone notice that upon initial battery install, the red tailcap lights up red and stays lit until you turn it on at least once? Is it suppose to do this? I can imagine that since this happens, the tailcap is capable of parasitic drain, since the led activates itself when the flashlight is not even on.

The red tailcap light also comes on with mine when I put the batteries in it.

 

[wuchak]

I bought a two pack of these for $14.95 a couple of weeks ago as an impulse buy at Costco. When I got home I read the threads on here and was concerned about the reports of the batteries draining when not in use. I put the batteries in each of the lights and set one aside. The other I put in my "out with the dogs" jacket. I've been using it a little each night for a total of about 2 hours over two weeks. I also used it for about an hour when installing a new dishwasher. It lights up under the sink nicely. Last week I got another two of the two packs for $14.95 while they were still in stock. I left them unopened until today. I opened one up, put batteries in it, and compared the beam of that one with the unit that has just been sitting with the batteries in it for a little over two weeks. There was no visible difference in brightness between them. Then I compared the new one to the one I've been using and the one that has been used is at about 80% brightness. This doesn't seem to be out of line with a normal discharge curve for alkalines in an LED light. When the alkalines die I'll replace them with lithiums.

For $7.50 each I think these are nice little lights. They are solidly constructed and have some nice features. They are a huge step up in quality from the typical LED lights I see at this price point at Home Depot, Walmart, etc. They are just the right size to be comfortable in the hand and the brightness and wide spill makes them excellent dog walking, roadside under the hood repair, tire changing, project lights. I scattered mine around the house including adding one to the tool bucket.

All 6 of mine stand on the tail with no interference from the switch. What does interfere is the wrist lanyard if you let it run over the end of the bevel. If you loosen it up just a bit and pull the loop over to rest in the low part of the bevel instead of going over the end the light stands solidly on the tail.

The brightness is definately not the 160 lumens claimed on the package. I'd put it somewhere in the middle of a 2D and 3D maglight with a regular bulb. I think these would make good, but not ideal, self defense lights. The LED is bright enough but it's not concentrated enough to get that brightness into someone's eyes at 20 feet with enough intensity to be blinding. The body is well designed for self defense with its hand fulling size and bevels at base and top. I'd like to find an aftermarket reflector that would give a better beam concentration.

The adjustment on the reflector is more of a fine tuning control than a real adjustment. It's always a wide spill, the adjustment just lets you focus the center hot spot to remove the donut hole.

For $7.50 each I'm extremely pleased with these lights.

Update: I just did a side by side comparison of the Techlite and my Cabela's XPG 3 Watt Luxeon 2xAA rated at 65 Lumens. Both lights with fresh batteries. The center spot on the Cabela's light is smoother and comparable in brightness to the Techlite on the 50% setting. At 100% the Techlite is quite a bit brighter in the center spot and the rest of the beam. The beam size on the Techlite is larger than the Cabela's by about 20%.

Build quality of the Cabela's light and the Techlite seem the same, very good in both cases. The new version of the Cabela's light uses a Cree LED and claims 80 Lumens. It runs $29.99. I think the Techlite, at 1/4 the price is a stellar buy. I prefer the feel of the larger diameter Techlite but I like that the Cabela's light uses AA instead of AAA. With rechargables that's not much of a concern in the long run.

Edit 2: My Cabela's XPG mentioned above has a beam that matches the brightness of the Surefire G2 nitrolon 65 lumen model.

 

[wuchak]

The Techlites from Costco appear to be identical to the Serengeti lights that were sold at Sam's Club for $30 a two pack and are now going for $39 a two pack on Amazon.