Lighthound .99¢ Photon Clone Vs. $15 Photon Freedom Micro

Tonight, on a whim, i picked up a Photon Freedom Micro (note to self, stop buying things "on a whim"), even though i have one of the Lighthound .99¢ "Photon Clones", i wanted to see how the inexpensive "imitator" compared to the "real thing"

the difference may surprise you, it sure surprised me....




One of these lights is not like the other, one of these lights doesn't cost much...
one is a Photon Freedom Micro, the other is a Lighthound "Fauxton" clone...

these pics are underexposed by 1 stop;
$15.00 Photon;

.99¢ Fauxton;


the light on the left is the Photon, the one on the right is the "Fauxton"...

here are the two side-by-side;

Photon on the right, Fauxton on the left

as far as light intensity goes, the Fauxton is actually brighter than the Photon, the Photon also has a much more yellow color balance (the literature specifies the color balance is 6500K on the LED, hence the yellow color when compared to "normal" LED's)

so, in terms of raw power, the Fauxton actually outperforms the Photon, however the Photon makes up for it with a much richer feature set.

the Fauxton has 2 settings, momentary operation, and constant on (via a switch that holds the button down)

the Photon has a lot more settings than the Faux, first off, it has brighening/dimming settings that can be accessed from power up (hold the button down as the light brightens , release when it's at the desired brightness), power down (push the power button to turn on, release then hold down the button to dim the light, release when desired intensity is reached

it has 4 flashing settings accessed by holding the power button down;
slow beacon; one flash every 5 seconds or so
medium beacon; one flash per second
fast beacon; strobe light effect
S.O.S.; distress morse code

momentary; rapidly turn on/off the light 4 times, to exit momentary, hold until the light turns off

it also ships with a lanyard (not a fan of lanyards myself) and a rather nice multifunction clip with 3 small magnets on the base

it's also a *lot* easier to change the batteries in the Photon, no tools are neccecary, the case is friction-closed, wheras the Fauxton uses 4 jewelers screws to close the case, then again, since the Faux is so inexpensive, it'd be easier to treat it as "disposable", once the batteries die, i'll pull the LED out and pop it in one of my Minimags, and toss the rest

so, even though the Fauxton outperforms the Photon in raw power/brightness, the Photon has a cooler feature set, both lights will have a place on my keyring, the Photon is definitely cooler, due to the multiple features

Is the Photon Freedom the one with the newer 2x brightness led?

yes, this is the newest version

I got a free Fauxton with my last Lighthound order and your observations are right on. Compared to my new 2x brighter Photon Freedom the Fauxton has more output and much whiter beam. The Photon is on the blue/purple side but the Fauxton is pure white.

I received one with my Lighthound order as well. These are only 99 cents? Very much a photon 2 clone. But has anybody taken one apart yet. Are the batteries as difficult to change as Photon 2 with the LED, switch, easilyl popping out as you unscrew the case. In quality and looks, these blow away the Countycomm's 99 cent lights.

My recent December order from Lighthound also included the photon clone. When comparing this to the "same" photon clone I received from Lighthound order this past summer, the "new version" is substantially brighter and whiter.

No way! It's hard to believe that the lastest, greatest, whitest and brightest Photon is that blue and violet tinted!

I'm not knocking the cheap lights. The brighest non-100ma 5mm LEDs I've ever found came from some clunky coin cell lights I got at Wallgreens for $.75 each. The 35k LEDs from KevinL are very bright, and the Snow 29 LEDs are very white, but I haven't put any of the Snows in a coin cell light yet.

I'm still going to get one of the newest Photon Freedom To The Max lights just to check out and I'll be glad to swap the LED with something whiter as I really just want the circuit, but it's hard to believe that they are still that blue/violet.

I've never understood why people pay that much for the Photon's. Sure it has a few extra features but c'mon how often do you need to DIM the light of a coin cell light? It can blink, well woopty doo. If I was in an emergency situation I'd rather have a bunch of cheapies than a much more expensive Photon.

I mean no disrespect to the Photon people but I have a hard time understanding the logic behind getting one when you can get a "clone" for a fraction of the cost that outperforms the Photon in pure output.

I think for the same reason that folks line up to buy a Surefire E1L for $100 when they can get a Dorcy for $20. Different strokes for different folks. I personally want to try to make the circuit work in another light.

cratz2 said:

No way! It's hard to believe that the lastest, greatest, whitest and brightest Photon is that blue and violet tinted!

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I just put a Snow in my Photon last night. Ya, it is hard to believe that th Nichias are still that crazy purple (angry blue). They can definately take a beating though.

cratz2 said:

I think for the same reason that folks line up to buy a Surefire E1L for $100 when they can get a Dorcy for $20. Different strokes for different folks. I personally want to try to make the circuit work in another light.

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Yep I guess I'm just not seeing the big leap in quality that other people are seeing when it comes to these coin cell lights

Like I said, I plan on getting one... probably the next light I'll order, but I'd swap a Snow in the very first day. Plus, I they pull less current than the CSs, at least when run direct on a LiON cell so they might give a bit better runtime.

Oh well... MacTech, since you seem unhappy with it, would you care to trade it for something like a Maxfire LX, similar to your G2? I have no use for it and would like the Photon.

cratz2 said:

Like I said, I plan on getting one... probably the next light I'll order, but I'd swap a Snow in the very first day. Plus, I they pull less current than the CSs, at least when run direct on a LiON cell so they might give a bit better runtime.

Oh well... MacTech, since you seem unhappy with it, would you care to trade it for something like a Maxfire LX, similar to your G2? I have no use for it and would like the Photon.

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Actually, Cratz, i *do* like the Photon, i actually find it's "gimmicky" feature set kinda' fun, i really like the ease of changing batteries in the Photon, no tools needed, the Faux uses jewelers screws, the Faux is closer to the Photon II than the Freedom....

heck, i may just end up swapping LED's once the batteries in the Faux die

the Faux has more of a "spotlight" style beam, the Pho has a more floody beam, there's a distinct "edge" to the beam on the Faux, the Pho's beam profile tapers away to nothing, no edge

easiest way to sum it up?

the Fauxton is a "thrower*"
the Photon is a "flood"


....*insofar as a keychain "squeezylight" can be a "thrower", the beam from the Faux is more usable at distances than the Pho

I swapped a Nichia in the 99c clone from lighthound, and was really surprised how bright it is. Floods a room enough, to my eyes, with a nice spot. This 99cent/free light saved me from buying a $50-70 Peak!
I'm very happy with it, even with the color. When I'm avoiding puddles and ice at night, I dont' care how pretty they look, ya know?

I am more impressed with this light than with the Fenix unfortunately.




I have a question for the modders out there could the LED from this key chain light be put in a Dorcy AAA:candle:. I bought couple of Dorcy AAA recently and they are pure junk, they have a purple beam.

Knifemaster, you can pretty much put any white 5mm LED in any other light that takes a white 5mm LED - I specify white LED because other colors such as amber and red often need less voltage and will die when run on 2 cells. But if you are going to the trouble of opening the Dorcy up, you might as well either order a Nichia CS or Peak Snow 29 LED from a groupby. On the Dorcy circuit, the Nichia CS is brighter but the Snow 29 is whiter. The CS is available in two bins, the C0 which is the typical blue in the middle, green around the edges and the B0 is more consistant blue. Again, the Snow is whiter, but the Nichias are definately brighter.

cratz2 said:

But if you are going to the trouble of opening the Dorcy up, you might as well either order a Nichia CS or Peak Snow 29 LED from a groupby.

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Having no soldering skills, I thought I'd try this one. I almost tore my hair out. The R1 resistor is SO SMALL, the only way to get it of the board was to almost just burn it off. I tryed to fill the R1 gap with a LED leg, what a nightmare that turned into. Couldn't get the stock LED desoldered and pulled off. The only thing in my defense is that I was trying to use a Cold Soldering iron, and that in itself is pretty much a joke.
I just thought the whole thing was like trying to circumsise a flea, everything was way too small and I didn't have the right tools to begin with. Or the patience either, it seems.
Thats what I love about putting the Nichia in a coincell. It took 2 mins total to cut/shape the LED leads, slip it in, close it, and fire it up.

Robban said:

I mean no disrespect to the Photon people but I have a hard time understanding the logic behind getting one when you can get a "clone" for a fraction of the cost that outperforms the Photon in pure output.

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If you owned a Photon you'd notice the subtleties that make them great. Easier to press and hold for prolonged periods of time (Photon I), watertight casing (at least for the Freedom), and a much nicer feel (this one's important to me -- a light's gotta feel nice in my hand for me to like it).

I ordered a Photon clone (yellow for longer runtime) from Lighthound, and I'm quite happy with it. But I like my Freedom Micro better. I find the dimming feature incredibly useful. Not sure about the flashing modes, though. I'd definitely order another Freedom.

Robban said:

I've never understood why people pay that much for the Photon's. Sure it has a few extra features but c'mon how often do you need to DIM the light of a coin cell light?

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Dimming is useful in several situations. The first is when you don't want to disturb other people around you, eg when looking at a programme in a theatre. The second is when you have good night vision and don't want to destroy it, but need a bit of local light for something. The third is when you want longer battery life.

It's the last which is the killer for me. I carry a Photon partly for use in emergencies. If I get stuck in a lift or a collapsed building I'd hope to be rescued within a few hours, but it could be a lot longer.

Robban said:

Yep I guess I'm just not seeing the big leap in quality that other people are seeing when it comes to these coin cell lights

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Really? The 99c lights feel cheap and nasty to me. The constant-on switch is stiff. It's impressive for what it cost, but my Photon feels much better quality. I'm much happier with it on my keyring. The absolute cost is affordable to me.

It might be better to have 20 cheap lights than one higher quality one, but in practice I am not going to carry 20 lights. It's a matter of bulk, really. And if I am only going to have one coin-cell light I want it to be good quality.