UK eLED Zoom: worst flashlight for 2005?

I just received my UK eLED Zoom, and to say I'm disappointed is a bit of an understatement.

First, it has the butt ugliest color emitter I've ever seen. I don't know who makes a '2 watt' emitter, but they are doing a very, very bad job of it.

I'm familiar with the Luxeon Lottery. I have a *lot* of Luxeon based lights, and this is the first one I've seen that manages to get a mix of purple and green at the same time. Unbelievably hideous.

For comparison, the very blue emitter in my $10 River Rock 2 AAA light took a bit of getting used to, but as it's similar to many Nichia 5mm LED based lights I have, and it only cost $10.65 (with sales tax) I really don't mind. The eLED Zoom cost almost $46.

I'm not really very fussy about tint; many of my lights are a little bit greenish or, less often, a little bluish (not including the very blue RR 2 AAA). I don't notice the tint, unless I do the dreaded comparison on a white ceiling. My SL ProPoly does have a slightly sea green tint, when compared to a bluish light. By itself, it looks as white as can be. I think the tint is just great; I have no complaints about this fine piece of flashlight workmanship.

Not so the eLED Zoom: color rendition is drastically shifted due to the almost unbelievably bad color it puts out.

Then there's the beam. Yes, it's focused with an optic of some sort. At it's narrowest focus there's a perfect image of the square emitter, with virtually no spill light at all. Very, very narrow.

The beam does adjust - a little. You can widen the needle beam up about three times it's initial size. It's round, focused, narrow, and has absolutely no spill light to speak of. At about 15 feet, it's about 4 feet in diameter. Hardly a flood beam, as I was expecting. If I shine it at my feet at a 45 degree angle, the beam is a little over a foot in diameter on the ground. Way too narrow for a walking light, as I was expecting to use it.

Then there's the less than wonderful switch, which is supposed to easily switch from high to lowQuote) 'The light must be ON. By quickly pressing the switch twice, brightness will go from high to low. Repeating the process will switch the light back to high power.'

Looks good on paper. Turning the light on is easy: press the switch, it comes on to high. Quickly double pressing switches the light....off, 9 out of 10 times. I spent a LOT of time trying to get this to work; using the ball of my thumb, my thumbnail, the side of my thumb. Varying the interval. Nothing works, at least the way it's supposed to. If you do get it to low, quickly pressing the switch twice....turns the light off.

The switch simply doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Perhaps it's defective, although it ALWAYS turns on and off OK. It just doesn't seem to know what a double press is.

However, *I* know what a double press is; I do it ALL THE TIME with my Ultimate HDS EDC.

Perhaps I just got a horrible example of the absolute worst case scenario for both the switch and the emitter. That doesn't forgive the narrow angle beam. I was expecting a beam with little spill light, due to the optics. I didn't expect the beam to be almost as narrow as the 4th generation KL1, when it's set to it's WIDEST setting. (Yes, I compared them side by side) Maybe some of you people who think the only important measure of a light is how far it throws, might like this light, hideous purple/green beam and all, but I sort of doubt it.

I have a LOT of flashlights I really don't use. I almost never used my 4th gen. KL1 until I got a F04 beamshaper for it. I've NEVER bought a light and immediately wanted to return it. Ever. Until now. It's going back. First thing in the morning. Sheer POS. Period.

My advice: buy a Streamlight ProPoly. It's cheaper by far, and it has both a nice center beam, and very good spill light. I haven't seen any post saying somebody got one with a bad tint emitter. Likely, it may have happened, but it must be extremely rare, or I would have seen posts about it. The SL ProPoly is one of the very best buys on a flashlight available today.

Pity the eLED Zoom is SO BAD, by comparison.

For the record, I own 6 or 8 UK lights, and have found them to be tough, reliable lights giving good value for the money. I have an eLED module in a UK 2L that I'm particularly fond of; it must be one of the toughest little lights available, with a very nice beam. I use it a *lot*

Sorry I don't have a digital camera, so I could document the horrible color, and IMHO, terrible beam from this 'slightly focusable' flashlight.

Avoid the eLED Zoom like the plague. At least that's my opinion, and advice. Unless you *like* shipping lights back for a refund..... :thumbsdown:

Thanks goldenlight for that review. I only have one other UK (the SL6), but I do have the new Q40 eLED plus on order, that I'm going to use as a backup dive light. It may have a similar reflector/optics combination as the 'zoom' only without the zoom feature. UK claims that the beam opens up in a wider angle under water - we'll see. Perhaps I shouldn't have bought it, but at least it hasen't got the crappy switch. It's a twist-the-head kind of switch.

Jan

Thanks for keeping me from making a mistake. I, too, own a UKE 2L with LED module and it is my EDC in my briefcase...not excruciatingly bright but consistently bright enough for a long run time and the beam and tint are excellent. I think I'll leave well enough alone on the zoom model.

Mine has a decent tint. However, I don't think this light breaks any new ground nor is it one of UK's better efforts in my view.

I wouldn't nominate it for worst light of the year; but, I would not recommned it to folks either -- I think there are better lights that fill the same capabiity.

I've given mine to my wife for dog walking duty. Although she says she will use it, she thinks the SL Pro Polymer 4AA Lux is a much better dog walking light. Now she has her own backup dog walking light.

UK didnt cut off the NORMAL Q40 eLED did it?

They are still listed on brightguy.com. My guess would be that they will continue to make it; it's substantially less espensive than the eLED Zoom, and the modules can be purchased seperately to put in a (xenon) 4AA UK, or a UK 2L.

Not the worst, but I had higher hopes.
Lots of beamshots and comments here http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=101180&highlight=propoly
The SL propoly is the champ in the 4AA Lux world.

I got one of these for Christmas. Mine has a bright and white Luxeon, and there are no quality problems. However, I wouldn't recommend it simply because the beam is inferior to what you can get from competitors. The wide beam isn't wide at all, while the tight beam has poor focus without much throw. The Surefire KL1, which I use as an informal minimum standard for what qualifies as a decently throwing LED, creates a hotspot about 2x as intense. The focusing mechanism on the ZOOM doesn't do much, and it seems to have been put in as an afterthought rather than as a designed feature.

The two level output shows some promise. However, I would have preferred a HIGH-LOW-OFF sequence (going directly from HIGH to OFF if there is a sufficient time elapsed, as the EOS headlamp does) rather than the double-clicking that it presently requires.

If you are looking to spend $30 on a 4xAA plastic-bodied LED flashlight, go with the Streamlight Propolymer 4AA Luxeon.