zhong sheng zs20rba3 - 5W flashlight

[tnforever]

For a very 1st light, its probably decent enough for you, i know that my 9 LED shower head was (to me) a great light then but when i discovered CPF, i realised that there is a whole world of options out there and having been hanging around, around 50 orders to DX later, one truth emerges:

you get what you pay for

case in point: recently purchased a Nitecore EX10 GD+ from a fellow CPF-er for $55 (came with a cell, charger and clip), broke the lens recently and emailed nitecore, they replied within 4 hours and they're sending me a new lens for free

That's what I'm thinking. For camping and stuff I would advise you bring something that is more reliable, even a MagLED or a Fenix E01 so you'd have some light in case your light goes out. But really, for the vast majority of consumers, the only time a flashlight is used is if the power goes out (once every 3-5 years at night maybe) or for finding something dropped somewhere, so having one of these lights is not a bad thing.

TBH though for $15 bucks I would've spent my money on something solid from Romisen, or if high power isnt needed a entry level Inova, LifeGear or Energizer, or Husky and Task force, something like that.

 

[Illum]

I think the Husky series of lights available from Home Depot are Zhong Sheng. Here's a look under the hood of one of their headlamps:

It was $5 and while it isn't the best made light, its worth the money. Use what makes you happy.

there has been 1 Watt LEDs from Ningbo Zhaoyang Opto that looks like this, only the stars actually a star, not a waffleoo:

I find it kinda odd that the only information regarding zhong sheng is a bio-technology firm... biotech LEDs?

 

[csshih]

The result? Bright as a Cree for about half an hour, and then it died. The extra voltage, lower internal resistance and less resistance from six less internal contacts meant just too much voltage hit the emitter.

I'm thinking the 5W rating of the light may actually be correct because this led was dang inefficient.
I wonder how many amps that thing sucked up?

 

[manoloco]

isnt it a "Lichao Police"?

it was my gateway flashlight, i bought one, had never seen a led light that bright before on a flashlight, got curious about it, started googling and looking for it, and then arrived at CPF...

like i stated in a previous post, i think its purpose was to show me the way here.

Shortly after, the click failed, i fixed it a couple of times but it was already unreliable; during a power failure, i had to hit it hard to make it make contact (really needed it to show a group walk down a stair, so no time to mess around with it, much less in the dark)

Ictorana said it, the light is very unreliable, you probably really like it because of the reason i liked it too, i havent been exposed to better lights, but now i wouldnt want to get caught in a situation of need with that light.

my advice: if you are willing to spend a little more, get a Fenix L1T current version, its what i did, and man that little 1xAA light beat the crap out of the Lichao, by a LOT.

 

[lctorana]

LCTorana said it, the light is very unreliable

Please don't misquote me. I never said the light is unreliable. I have it on my desk as I type this, and it is in perfect working order, and has NEVER let me down. I burned out the emitter - that was my own fault, and then swapped it for a Cree. Not the fault of the light.

What I did say was that the ZhongSheng ZS20HBA cannot stand being overdriven. And if you have one, and intend to keep it working, you must use the OEM battery arrangement.

 

[manoloco]

Oops, sorry i confused my own experience with your experimentation with the light.

got a bit carried away while commenting i guess

 

[march.brown]

The ZhongSheng was my very first LED torch, other than a couple of keyring types that use the small button cells ... There are no "Police" or other markings on the outside of my ZhongSheng ... Only when the head is removed do you see the ZhongSheng ZS20HBA printing.

The body is different to the one on this post, though it still uses 3 X AAA batteries.

It is 109mm long, the body is 27mm wide and the head is 32.5mm at its widest ... It is a single mode and has a tail clickie switch and a wrist strap ... It is well made with a black finish ... The threads are not square-cut and the plain reflector and lens are plastic, but this is only to be expected in a cheap torch ...The head has an O-ring fitted but the tail-cap doesn't, so it won't be water resistant ... For where it will be used, this is no problem.

It was very cheap (off Ebay), over a year ago and has been in the car glove compartment ever since ... I realised a week ago that I hadn't looked at the three AAA batteries so brought it into the house ... It was working OK but I removed the old (made in China) alkaline batteries and now it uses Hybrio AAAs and is working well ... I think that, for my Wife or any other non-torch person, it would make the ideal little kitchen/bedroom LED torch ... My Wife will probably only use it during a power cut to find the candles and matches ... I think that it was only about three or four pounds with batteries (including postage), so at that price it is excellent value.

I realise that (apparently) most of the very cheap torches are not too drop-proof, but in all my 72 years, I have never dropped a torch ... OK, I realise that I never actually had a torch when I was a child, except for my bike lights ... Surely dropping a bulb-type torch would be more prone to possible filament damage than dropping a cheap LED torch.

Anyway, it is cheap and to some readers it is nasty, but it does its job perfectly well ... That is all you can ask of a torch ... However, in "torchaholic" company it really can't be classed as the "male jewelry" of a big named expensive torch.

If my life depended on having a 100%, perfectly reliable and water resistant torch, then my choice might well be different ... Naturally a back-up torch of fairly similar specifications would also be essential.

However, as a retired (old age pensioner) person with a torch in every room in the house, I don't need such exotic torches ... That doesn't mean that I wouldn't like some top level torches, it means that I am willing to compromise and buy lesser known names ... This doesn't necessarily mean less reliability, but if one of my torches proves to be unreliable, I will buy another torch to replace it.

Please bear in mind that some people have financial constraints on their expenditure ..... or a Wife .... or both.
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[hoongern]

Sometimes, I think we forget the old days when we used to use lowly flashlights (unless you were a flashaholic from birth - different matter). Just the other day, my family was driving along and there was a police roadblock (in Malaysia) - and when going past, I saw a couple of them using flashlights, I would bet they were these "Police" flashlights (Or even worse!). In fact, one was using a big yellow plastic multiple 5mm LED showerlight, which was so dim I can't imagine how he was performing the checks. Man, I was really tempted to turn on my Quark AA / Seraph TL-3....

But whatever it is, looks like a lot of people are using these cheap lights out there.

Btw, the 1AA Police 5W light I mentioned earlier in this thread - just stopped working this past weekend. Oh well, it was a good night-time light while it lasted!

 

[march.brown]

I found the same torch as I bought on Ebay.

It is item number 180384583752 ... Seller is Kowloontown ... Price is £4 including postage.

It's a nice little torch for a non-flashaholic.

 

[jaydee00003]

I found the same torch as I bought on Ebay.

It is item number 180384583752 ... Seller is Kowloontown ... Price is £4 including postage.

It's a nice little torch for a non-flashaholic.

Sorry to reply here but i am new here and for some reason i cant write a different post dont know why anyway.
I have the police rx 10watts but with the same emitter number 4aaa batterys. Comparing it to my fenix tk30 it is around 70-80 lumens in dark areas you can light up for around 30 meters . This was my first led light and i still think its preatty good i paid 330 Philippine peso its around $7 Us dollars. I used it many times i never had problem with it i think i t is good a light i droped it few times still nothing happened.
The fron glass scratches as it is cheap light overall the paint is allright button is good the rubber broke on it but button still working. The battery compartmant is cheap comes apart very easy. Mine was damaged to to battery leakage cuz my wifes little brother used it for sometime. Other then that its still good.At the emmiter there are small wires exposed going from 1 side to the other and if you tighten the head too much it actualy cuts the wires.The beam has a full rings but for 7 bucks its allrigh overall i like this light.

 

[BlakVBR]

I have one of those no-name headlamps with a zhong sheng as pictured above. It works great but I decided to swap it out with a Q5 because I had a few sitting around. The beam pattern looks horrible now, but if I take the reflector off it gives a really nice bright short range work light.

There is not a shred of thermal compound in there but that doesn't matter because the LED is mounted on that tiny piece of floating PCB and isolated from the housing, which is plastic anyway. So heat management is nonexisitant lol.

 

[buylight]

I have one with this company led bulb too..it has ZS20HBB printed on the circuit with 6 notches star design.have to say it was pretty good light considering the price which is around $5.the tint is cool white, not getting warm for the nonstop operation, and 3 x AAA can last for whole day until the last juice of energy..Of course this light can't be compared to other brand for the term of built quality, brightness and so on..but the product is good for the price.