UK 4AA eLED, first impressions

[ikendu]

Yukon_Jack said:...beginning to think that the rubber switch...an obstacle...in severe cold.

One nice thing about the UK 4AA design is that there are two ways to switch it on and off. The switch is the obvious one. But...you can also engage the switch to on...then simply rotate the bezel to turn it on and off. Should work great with thick gloves.

This is a nice flexibility. The rotated bezel for "off" is also nice for shipping or transporting the light without worrying that it will accidently be "on" and run down the batteries. My wife once took a different 4AA light camping and it got set to "on" in the luggage...completely wiped out those 4 AAs...which otherwise would have been good for a whole week of camping.

 

[Bob Snow]

Got my two lights. One is very white with a slight magenta tinge and is comparable to my Arc LS first run with lithium battery. Whiter beam is somewhat tighter with more throw. The second light is pea green and half the brightness. I assume there is little or no correlation between light output and current draw, so I do not expect more run time from the dim greenish light. Glad they were only $20 each. I got them for my neice an nephew to use while camping. Durable, long run time, not too bright when they shine them in my eyes, cheap easy to find batteries and waterproof.

 

[kitelights]

Sorry that I dragged my feet getting this info - but it's now official -
Lithiums are fine for use in the UK 4AA eLED according to an engineer at UK.

 

[symes]

They are a bargain at $20 despite the output level and with the Lith AAs make a great standby, but can anyone believe that this little light made 27 pages...what a hoot!

 

[eebowler]

Ok, I know this is an old thread and don't expect many people to read my post however, I think it is best that what I have to say, is said. Also, I've decided not to start a new thread since this is an old product that has been reviewed many times before.(I also want to rant a bit)

Via a friend of a friend, I obtained a UK 4AA eLED flashlight from Brightguy.com a few weeks ago for a wonderful price of $20 plus shipping.(Thank you Greg!) The first thing I noticed was how white the light was compared to 5mm LEDs./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wow.gif Then, I noticed that it was actually purple and not as white as my brain was hoping. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif A friend's mother exclaimed "That light PURPLE!?" within the first 1 1/2 second of me showing it to her the first time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif. I polked arround a couple times trying to figure out what the bin of the LED was but, backed off since I only have one light and didn't want to destroy it. The colour still bothers me a bit...Whatever.

Investigating the LED with a low power microscope (I've never seen a Luxeon in real life!), I discovered that the SE was slightly damaged. A very small part of the top of the LED was missing as if it broke off or was scraped off or something. Nothing significant at all. It is just something that is not supposed to be there.
The most disturbing discovery I made was about a two weeks ago. I placed the UK and my Opalec moded maglite into a tub of water which was at most 18 in deep. I put on and took off both lights at least three times and left them on for about 8 mins. Removing them, I dried the outsides thoroughly and opened them up. The mag was dry inside with a little bit of water in the threads of the head. Nothing more. Opening the UK, I discovered a tiney(sp?) amount of water on the module. Fine, it is possible that while opening it, water from under the bezel somehow got there. Removing the batteries however, revealed the source of the problem. I estimate that at least 3 drops of water leaked out from the body. All four cells were wet! I performed my version of Craig's suction test by sucking on the body of the light with my mouth. I could feel the vacuum weaken as air entered the vent. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif Blocking the vent with my finger did not allow any air to enter the body. The submersion test was performed again in 11.5 in of water. This time, I put the light, bezel down into the water and let it drop to the bottom of the tub. I did not put on or take off the light. The damn UK still leaked! WTF! Just one foot of water and it leaks!? I wonder if something is wrong? I am so /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif that epoxying the vent shut is a serious option. Should I do it?

Thanks for reading.

 

[vtunderground]

Well, that sucks about the water leakage. My eLED survived the bathroom dunk test just fine, but I still don't really trust it in wet places. But I guess that's what UK makes the mini-Q40 eLED for, right? Maybe UK would replace yours under warrantee though, because that vent isn't supposed to let water in.

The beam on mine looks purple too, when shining on a white wall. When out in the woods (or working on my car, or whatever) though, the beam looks pure white.

 

[David_Campen]

[ QUOTE ]
I noticed that it was actually purple and not as white as my brain was hoping. A friend's mother exclaimed "That light PURPLE!?" within the first 1 1/2 second of me showing it to her the first time. . I polked arround a couple times trying to figure out what the bin of the LED

[/ QUOTE ]
Just last night I was comparing a UK 4AA eLED that I just got against a UK 4AA that was upgraded via LED module a couple of months ago, both purchased from Brightguy. The colors were quite different - one was bluish-white and the other was yellowish. The beam patterns were also significantly different.

 

[Roy]

My UK4AA eLED has a yellow tint.

 

[DBrier]

I have 4 and they all look different. I tried to photograph the differences, but it didn't turn our well. The worst one of mine has a greenish tint. One is yellow and the other two are white.

 

[Stanley]

Yikes, that doesn't sound good... I know it'll probably be troublesome but if you get a chance, drop UKE an email about the leak and hopefully you can work out some sort of replacement? I'm way overseas from the US as well, and I can imagine the amount of trouble that shipping back and forth can cause, hope you somehow find a way about it... Good luck!

 

[03lab]

My first light was kinda purple while my second light has a green tint but is also somewhat brighter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

 

[DBrier]

Here are the shots I took a while back when I first got mine. All four have brand new batteries. I was playing with different settings and styles of photographing.

You can definately see the differences. I still love the lights though. All four have homes, and I may get more for gifts.

 

[eebowler]

DBrier, thanks for the pictures. Without reading your first post, from the pics, I would assume that two were yellowish and the other two were white(er). I see the purple colour most vividly when the light is turned on under fluorescent lighting. Maby instead of changing the camera's settings, try different coloured ambient light to take the pictures?

vtunderground/Stanle: I did't think of contacting Underwater Kinetics. I'll do that now. I wouldn't be asking for any warranty service though. That would simply be too much trouble and expense for me to go through. I'll just inform them of the problem.

I should have asked in the first post: Has anyone else experienced any leakage problems?

I'll keep you updted.

Richard.

 

[DBrier]

The pictures don't show up the same on camera as they did in reality. I lined them up from dimmest (left) to brightest (right) The one on the left was the greenest /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif but showed up as the very bright on camera.
????

 

[turbodog]

I bought two. There was a good bit of variation in tint between them although overall brightness was about the same.