Silviron
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this light yet.... (unless my search was defective).
I picked one up at my friendly local Walmart early last week, and this is the first chance I've had to do anything with it. (along with a Garrity multi-function multi LED headlamp which I'll also try to write up and post tonight in the headlamp section).
It cost twelve dollars and some change, I don't remember exactly.
By itself it looks really 'stubby' and kind of fat... but next to a Dorcy Metal Gear 1 watt 3AAA light it is actually narrower overall, (except the widest point of the Brinkmann; the knurled area around the head, (37.25mm) is about 3/4 mm wider than the widest point on the MG.)
Overall it is 4 7/8 inches long. (5 1/4 for Metal Gear)
Machining quality is reasonable.. Not as good as the Metal Gear, but acceptable for the price.
The one area where the Brinkmann is actually excessively large is the tailcap/switch. That thing is literally twice as long as the one from the Metal Gear... The threading is the same, so you could actually use the tailcap from the Dorcy, saving a full half inch overall length... Plus the Metal Gear TC is 'waterproof' while the Brinkmann's is not even water resistant.
The Brinkmann is unfortunately quite unreliable: just about every time that I re-insert the battery carrier, the + contact on the LED 'module' bends in so that it won't make the proper connection with the battery pack.
If the contact was a 'springyer" metal or if the battery carrier had a little coil spring contact as the one from the Dorcy or the Garrity single 5mm LED 3AAA aluminum light, this wouldn't be a problem. No big deal to take it apart and bend it out again, but I don't think that the average consumer would want to do that, even if they even thought of trying.
While the battery holder for the Brinkmann is similar to the more familar 3AAA ones in other lights, it is of cheaper construction (lacking the spring as mentioned above, as well as other things). It is also 1.2 mm narrower, so the holders from the other lights won't fit in the Brinkmann tube.
The beam is 'nothing to write home about'. Here it is from about 1 meter shining on the ceiling:
It really reminds me of the beam from the early Brinkmann single 5mm LED lights... The Rebel and the one before that. About the same throw, a little wider spot beam, and almost no 'spill'.
It measures 67 LUX peak at 1m, (by contrast the stock Dorcy 1AAA keychain light has 27 LUX, and the same 'throw... . Notwithstanding the respective LUX measurements, they seem to be just about as bright by eye...Just the Brinkmann spot is wider....
I don't know how much more useful the Brinkmann would be in practice.... And given the size differential between this light and the 1AAA Dorcy, I think I'd rather carry the little Dorcy.
It might be a decent light if it used the newer Nichia LEDS which have about double the LUX output and 25% greater throw than the ones in this light. But as it is, I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone to be used 'stock'.
Easy enough to transplant some decent 5mm LEDs into this light and make it better (it isn't regulated, merely a resistor)...
But what I think I'm going to do is make a heatsink and DD three 3W Luxeons off a 18650 LiION, drill out the inside of the tailcap to fit the extra length of the 18650, and tap back end of it for a Kroll switch. That ought to make things more interesting
...
Have posted a mini-review of the LED headlamp I picked up at the same time HERE
I picked one up at my friendly local Walmart early last week, and this is the first chance I've had to do anything with it. (along with a Garrity multi-function multi LED headlamp which I'll also try to write up and post tonight in the headlamp section).
It cost twelve dollars and some change, I don't remember exactly.
By itself it looks really 'stubby' and kind of fat... but next to a Dorcy Metal Gear 1 watt 3AAA light it is actually narrower overall, (except the widest point of the Brinkmann; the knurled area around the head, (37.25mm) is about 3/4 mm wider than the widest point on the MG.)
Overall it is 4 7/8 inches long. (5 1/4 for Metal Gear)
Machining quality is reasonable.. Not as good as the Metal Gear, but acceptable for the price.
The one area where the Brinkmann is actually excessively large is the tailcap/switch. That thing is literally twice as long as the one from the Metal Gear... The threading is the same, so you could actually use the tailcap from the Dorcy, saving a full half inch overall length... Plus the Metal Gear TC is 'waterproof' while the Brinkmann's is not even water resistant.
The Brinkmann is unfortunately quite unreliable: just about every time that I re-insert the battery carrier, the + contact on the LED 'module' bends in so that it won't make the proper connection with the battery pack.
If the contact was a 'springyer" metal or if the battery carrier had a little coil spring contact as the one from the Dorcy or the Garrity single 5mm LED 3AAA aluminum light, this wouldn't be a problem. No big deal to take it apart and bend it out again, but I don't think that the average consumer would want to do that, even if they even thought of trying.
While the battery holder for the Brinkmann is similar to the more familar 3AAA ones in other lights, it is of cheaper construction (lacking the spring as mentioned above, as well as other things). It is also 1.2 mm narrower, so the holders from the other lights won't fit in the Brinkmann tube.
The beam is 'nothing to write home about'. Here it is from about 1 meter shining on the ceiling:
It really reminds me of the beam from the early Brinkmann single 5mm LED lights... The Rebel and the one before that. About the same throw, a little wider spot beam, and almost no 'spill'.
It measures 67 LUX peak at 1m, (by contrast the stock Dorcy 1AAA keychain light has 27 LUX, and the same 'throw... . Notwithstanding the respective LUX measurements, they seem to be just about as bright by eye...Just the Brinkmann spot is wider....
I don't know how much more useful the Brinkmann would be in practice.... And given the size differential between this light and the 1AAA Dorcy, I think I'd rather carry the little Dorcy.
It might be a decent light if it used the newer Nichia LEDS which have about double the LUX output and 25% greater throw than the ones in this light. But as it is, I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone to be used 'stock'.
Easy enough to transplant some decent 5mm LEDs into this light and make it better (it isn't regulated, merely a resistor)...
But what I think I'm going to do is make a heatsink and DD three 3W Luxeons off a 18650 LiION, drill out the inside of the tailcap to fit the extra length of the 18650, and tap back end of it for a Kroll switch. That ought to make things more interesting
...Have posted a mini-review of the LED headlamp I picked up at the same time HERE
Last edited:
