Panther Vision Clip-Ons

hawk

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 18, 2001
Messages
6
Location
South Carolina
[Moderator: please move this to a more approprate forum, as necessary]

Panther Vision Lighted Anywhere Clip-Ons (2 piece)

I'm writing this poor-man's review because surely there is someone other than me who might want to know more about this niche type of lighting. I could only find one reference to this company here, and that involved a baseball cap with built-in LED's.

URL references:
(Distributor) http://tinyurl.com/nws5x
(Lowe's) http://tinyurl.com/o74sp.

The limited text and pictures at either site above don't do justice to these devices. Indeed a specialty item, I feel that they will come in useful for the purposes I have in mind.

Part of the problem is that of age... mine, and eyeglasses with progressive lenses versus what I need to illuminate -- if I need to see at the bottom of my lenses, the light is above, and vice-versa. In short, even with sufficient lighting, I still can't focus on the object without a lot of fiddling around.

Another situation is that of having plenty of ambient light -except- on the object I'm trying to see; e. g., in someone's home, with plenty of natural or artificial light, and yet I'm trying to adjust that "something" using the braille method, because it's the only thing that's in total darkness, and is in a very tight spot to get either access OR light. I've already tried everything from 110v corded lamps to minimags to LED's -- whether mouth held, head bands, headlamps, tripods, magnet mounts and so on. Before LED's started to become more viable, for many years I made do with Minimags and various accessory mounts, both homemade and commercial aftermarket. I don't need to discuss that here -- y'all already know. So, until I can get the perfect mount for whatever lamp, or, can grow another arm and hand, I'll continue my pursuits.

Earlier last week, I went to Lowe's on a household mission. Needless to say, I also stopped by the flashlight display. Just around the corner, close to but not with the other flashlights, there was a pegboard hook containing several of these clip-on lights, the blister packs being quite dusty, as if having been there a while. I noticed the price at $24.97, and observed that they required 2xCR2032 for each unit -- harder to find than AAA's, but still among the easier-to-find batteries.

I decided to pass on these lights, but later started to think that if they worked as the package indicated, they could come in handy in my work environment.

Yesterday, I went back to Lowe's, again on another non-flashlight mission, but this time noticed that the clip-on lights, while still dusty, were marked $16.97 for the PAIR, including a really neat semi hard-side zippered case, and with (4) CR2032's pre-loaded, 2 for each light. (Note the price of $29.00 at the Panther Vision site). A little math told me that this works out to less that $8.50 per light, and that I've paid a lot more for a lot less in the past for stuff that may or may not work for me. Whether I had looked at the wrong price before, or whether the item had been reduced since my last visit, I don't know. But it was enough price difference to justify springing for the lights.

There are two spring-loaded clips on each light, and each clip works independently. The business end of each clip has what looks/feels like a neoprene cover surrounding the clip. Because of this feature, it's possible, using one hand (thumb on bottom of lamp, index and middle finger controlling individual spring clips), to clamp the light directly (and securely) to eyeglass frames, and permit an up/down adjustment. This is instead of the typical straight-ahead lighting found in many clip-on devices.

Best of all for me, the clips will fasten securely to small width and/or diameter tools, the kind that I use a lot. This includes adjustable (Crescent) wrenches, screwdrivers (only tested up to 1/4" shaft), and others. For me, this means the light shines on, and travels with, the object being used to adjust/manipulate. You know that doesn't happen often, even with a helper holding the light!

The design couldn't be simpler. It consists of a molded clamshell case with a single LED held captive by channels inside the case for the body and leads, and a "pinch" method of retention where the LED exits. The switch appears to be a stainless slider switch that when on, bridges the circuit between the back of one of the batteries and one leg of the LED. On the outside, the switch has a ball end, creating the illusion of a sub-mini toggle switch, when actually this piece is attached at a right angle to the internal sliding plate. This ball end also prevents the switch plate from falling through the case during battery changes. Due to the bent plate inside, there is a moment of 'resistance' or detent on the full 'on' position, but the switch will activate at approximately half-throw without locking. The battery "carrier" is the housing itself -- the twin batteries nest on top of each other, and held in all planes by the confines of the outer case. The positive connector is an (accessible) wire , appearing to be stainless and an extension of the LED lead. This wire is held in position by a molded trough in the lower portion of the case.

Externally, there are molded raised areas in the case. One is flat on one side of the LED, presumably offering some protection for for the slightly protruding LED and to eliminate side-spill where it isn't wanted (more below). Curved raised areas are also on either side of the slide switch, and are the same height as the switch, likely to help prevent inadvertant switching by proximity to other objects.

The separate zippered container is either for additional protection for the switch and/or LED, or possibly just to store the units, since they could be easily lost otherwise. The neat case is almost worth the price of admission!

I know this group loves particulars -- spill, current draw, spectrum analysis, and that type of thing. All I can offer at the moment is that the LED's are bright, nothing like a dollar store keychain light, that they favor white, or perhaps with a slight green tint (when compared to something with a blue tint). They are direct driven, since there's no room for any discrete circuitry in the little housing. The pattern might be considered a "growing" spot -- at close range, such as mounted on a tool, it is round except for the pattern being interrupted by the flat protrusion that protects the lamp (note this flat is also on the side that clamps to something, so it's not a bad thing). Otherwise when mounted, say, on eyeglass frames, it is more of a flood pattern, and again, the little piece of flat plastic helps prevent side spill from shining in your eyes on the same side as the clamps. Again a good thing.

If there's a downside, (so far), it will be battery replacement. While the four phillips screws are larger/longer than typical eyeglass screws, there is still the matter of the spring-loaded clamps being in the way of the screw heads. I suppose it's not much different than other lights that incorporate split cases, but I don't have much experience with these either.

As the packing indicates, you can attach these to the baseball cap visors, eyeglass fromes, running shoes, or whatever. I wouldn't think of them as an EDC item. As I write this, these lights are untested in actual field service, but simulated tests indicates they are going to become a viable part of my service kit.
 

DaveG

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
868
I bought a set of them at Target a few months back,thought it would come in handy for night fishing,bright little things.Sears sells safety glasses that look like the same maker with a light on each side,but with 2 leds in each light.
 

Flying Turtle

Flashaholic
Joined
Jan 28, 2003
Messages
6,509
Location
Apex, NC
The nearby Target was closing out some similar Panther products a few months ago. They are very white and bright. I've considered trying some modding using them as donor lights.

Geoff
 
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