LED Touch Light at WalMart

Couldn't resist snatching up a Garrity 3 LED Touch 'N Lite today at WalMart. Don't think it's been mentioned before. It's a pretty normal looking round touch light, but this one has three "2x Nichias" and a thumbwheel timer adjuster for 1-5 minutes. It uses four AA batts that are supplied. There's slots on the back to hang it on a nail, along with four little rubber feet. Price was $7.93. It was hanging with the night lights.

As you might expect it's pretty bright. The package says 16 hour continuous runtime. I checked the timer on mine for shortest interval, and it was 35 sec. Cranked the adjuster wheel fully the other direction and it was still shining at 8 min. I'll test it more tonight. This could be a very useful utility light.

Geoff

The off timer is a nice touch. Can it be set for ON?

I'll buy some if I can find a walmart. It would be nice if the cap glowed so you could find it each time you went to turn it on.

Interesting!!!

Got any pic?

It's described here.

Garrity has some strange Javascript going on their pages. If that doesn't work, here's an image.

Thats pretty slick, I like the timer option. Will have to look for them.

I may have to go on a search for them,
definately needed around the house

Had some time to play with my light. The adjuster wheel can be set to constant "On". It need only be turned to a detent I hadn't noticed earlier. The longest timed interval seems to be about six minutes. This thing really lights it up, at least with new batts. I'd say it comes close to rivaling the River Rock lantern for its flood of light.

Geoff

One of these seems to have yellow packaging and states a 14 hour runtime, while another seems to state a 16 hour runtime with blue packaging. I realize it is highly unlikely that anyone saved their cardboard backing from four years ago, but-

does anyone know what the difference is, if any, between the two, and if there really is a difference in runtime, or, did they just alter their claims?

I am in the market to buy three or four, and if there is a genuine difference, it would impact which one to hunt for.

I have a half dozen taplights around here, I paid about 50 cents each for incan versions and replaced the bulbs with LEDs and resistors. One taplight had a timer shutoff circuit that was neat but later when batteries were mysteriously depleted after 2 weeks I figured out it had a 4ma current leach to them or 100mah/day. I would suggest hooking up an ammeter and seeing what the standby current of those lights are.

Oh, wow, that's unfortunate! Do you remember/know which brand they are? I am after the Garrity ones in particular because they use genuine Nichia LEDs, have a metal base, and have the variable timer function.

When I get some, I will definitely check for current flow in the off position.

Since the original links are dead, see here and here.

Also, before I forget to mention it: these lights have been discontinued. :-(

LEDAdd1ct said:

Oh, wow, that's unfortunate! Do you remember/know which brand they are? I am after the Garrity ones in particular because they use genuine Nichia LEDs, have a metal base, and have the variable timer function.

When I get some, I will definitely check for current flow in the off position.

Since the original links are dead, see here and here.

Click to expand...

hopefully it is in the microamp current range otherwise even if you don't use it 6 months later the batteries could be drained. I have a touchlight that I modded using the guts of a garrity 3AAA 2x5mm LED headlamp. I took the LEDs off, wired it to an old luxeon in a 3AA taplight and it has 5 modes now with a high of 100ma and low of about 30ma with a fast and slow strobe and blinking led battery indicators. Vampiric battery drain is a problem on some cheap lights out there even a 1ma drain will kill a battery in 3-4 months.

I have a few of the Garrity touchlights en route. I am good at taking voltage measurements solo, but I'll ask for help from the resident electronics master for checking for current flow when the light isn't on.

I am really excited about getting these lights, both because of the timer ability and for their [presumed] utility during the next blackout.

Also, because of my handle— you know— I'm just...

addicted.

EDIT: 9/02/10

We checked the current draw when on and when off to see if there was any kind of draw when the light was off. I feared that the light might draw current even when off so that the timer would work. I am pleased to say that this is not the case.

When on, the light draws 275mA. When off, the light draws zero. I am very pleased, as the Garrity Touch N' Lite will now have a permanent home in my room, set to an approximate one minute timeout. After washing up for bed, I can tap the light, navigate to bed, make sure my dresser lights are in order, and close my eyes before the light winks out.

There appear to be two versions of this LED light, a 14 hour version and a 16 hour version. I believe the 14 hour version may have a metal casing (better build quality) but I am not sure. The 14 hour version has a yellow cardboard backing, and the 16 hour version has a blue backing. If anyone with these lights could post whether their base is metal or plastic, I would appreciate it.

I definitely recommend this light for use around the house, and I will let everybody know how it fares during the next blackout.