3 or 5 watt luxeon with 3 or more AAA?

Hi All,

I was on the road and had to do some car repairs. Picked up a Dorcy 1 watt with 3 AAA batteries at an all-night walmart. This is one sweet flashlight - only trouble is that it's not bright enough.

Anyone know of a waterproof (rain-wise) flashlight with a 3 or 5 watt luxeon powered by 3 or more AAA batteries??

Just a handful of suggestions here:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews_index/reviews_index_led3-5watt.htm

Or try here; it's a good place to buy from:

http://www.szwholesale.com/luxeon-lights-c-27_35.html

And BTW: welcome to CPF. You'll find it full of helpful, though slightly odd, people.

Kees

More watts isn't necessarily better though it is a trap that many can fall into. More likely it wasn't an efficient use of the LED that is in the flashlight. If you got it from a Wal*Mart, the light is probably a Dorcy Metal Gear. While it is a decent light for it's purpose, it's operational energy levels may be impaired by the use of AAA batteries, and the desire of the company to not have these products returned for short run times. A Luxeon III using AAA batteries would result in an even shorter run time.

You might want to consider something using larger batteries, such as one of the Streamlight Propoly Luxeon models (4AA or 3C), or a LEDBeam 3C (uses a Luxeon III.) Both are pretty much at the top of their games for brightness.

And Welcome to CPF!

EricH said:

Hi All,

I was on the road and had to do some car repairs. Picked up a Dorcy 1 watt with 3 AAA batteries at an all-night walmart. This is one sweet flashlight - only trouble is that it's not bright enough.

Anyone know of a waterproof (rain-wise) flashlight with a 3 or 5 watt luxeon powered by 3 or more AAA batteries??

Click to expand...

I know the batteries co$t more, but the Dorcy CR123 version really ROCKS!

I've got a Brinkmann 3 watt 3xaaa that I got at Target, and I really like it. It is wicked bright:rock: . Much brighter than my Metal Gear, and even brighter than my Gerber LX3.0. The runtime is just under an hour with NiMH's.

I have a brinkmann 3-watt headlamp that uses AAA batteries (3).

Runtime is around 3-4 hrs continuous, and it is very bright.

dragoman

Hello EricH

Welcome here. If you want a bright AAA light, take a look

http://elektrolumens.com/LittleFriend/LittleFriend.html

But I wouldt take a AA-solution

Best regards

_____
Tom

Hi everyone,

Excellent responses - I've got my research cut out for me. Looks like the more I learn, the more I realise how much I don't know!

While lookin' around, I stumbled across the Surefire U2. Wow, major league drool time. Anyone ever run one of these puppies with LIR123A 3.6V rechargeables??

You're getting the hang of it! Watch your wallet

Kees

Why a 3xAAA light? Generally speaking, lights are severely limited by AAA batteries, moreso when you ramp up the wattage. You can get pretty bright initial brightness with a 3xAAA light, but it'll drop quickly and overall runtime will suck. If you look at the graphs on FR for pretty much any 3xAAA light, you'll see what I mean. Stick with AA or larger would be my suggestion.