How can the Blimp 3AAA be so bright?

http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.851.html
Going by the numbers from fifthunit (which seems to be honest) it's brighter than most CR123A-líghts, and that with an hour of runtime until reaching 50% output with 3AAA Ni-MH 900mAH. I haven't seen any other light matching this performance (maybe Coast V6 p-chip, but don't know the runtime). And that from a less than 20USD light! So how can it be? What's the catch?

nnot too bad for common batteries.

I begining to really like Fifthunit.com... Everything i've purchased from them has been a good product at a great price!

What's the catch?
LED will NOT last 100,000 hours.
Runtime 1/2 that of 3AAA Super 1W or 3W.
Requires 3 NiMH batteries. Alkalines will probably not be able to maintain the 900-1000mA required for more than 5-15 minutes. Then the light will start dimming. Cheap NiMH chargers will NOTcharge 3 batteries - only 2 or 4.

BTW the light is NOT a 'TRUE 7 W'.
1Ax3.6V=3.6W (NiMH).
1Ax4.5V=4.5W (Alkalines)
But it is only marginally less bright than their 2x123A '7W'. IIRC 74 for the Blimp vs.78 for the 2x123A in Fifth unit's reviews.

That's a great question, how does this flashlight and others listed in the review get so much power. For example the KENBAR - 8 Watts LED uses 1x18650 (3.6V). How can it get 8 watts. The biggest LED I've seen that you can put into a flashlight is the Luxeon K2. The K2 maxes out at 1.5 amps. If you multiply that times the voltage from the battery - you only get 5.4 Watts. Even if you maxed this bulb out at it's max forward voltage of 4.95 volts by using a DC to DC converter aimed to increase the voltage supplied by the battery, you would only get 7.4 watts. Does anyone know then how this is possible. Are they using a bulb I'm unaware of? (very possible) Or are they overstating their numbers?

I'd love to hear from an owner of this light?

While possibly not the same guts, the exterior is unmistakably the same as the one in this thread

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=86016

LEDninja said:

What's the catch?
LED will NOT last 100,000 hours.
Runtime 1/2 that of 3AAA Super 1W or 3W.
Requires 3 NiMH batteries. Alkalines will probably not be able to maintain the 900-1000mA required for more than 5-15 minutes. Then the light will start dimming. Cheap NiMH chargers will NOTcharge 3 batteries - only 2 or 4.

BTW the light is NOT a 'TRUE 7 W'.
1Ax3.6V=3.6W (NiMH).
1Ax4.5V=4.5W (Alkalines)
But it is only marginally less bright than their 2x123A '7W'. IIRC 74 for the Blimp vs.78 for the 2x123A in Fifth unit's reviews.

Click to expand...

Can't agree about the runtime, it's great with NiMh. And the issue of loading 3AAAs is not that a big deal either,who has exactly 3 AAAs, and even my cheap loader has a discharge function. This, compared to buy expencive lithiums in the store or order from the net, I can live with for getting such a bright small light. Just wonder how overdriven the LED is. Anyone who could give a rough estimation of life span?

I'm going to try one of these. The price is right and being able to use standard AAA batteries seems like a smart way to go for a new flashlight bug like me that is just starting out.

Lobo said:

Can't agree about the runtime, it's great with NiMh. And the issue of loading 3AAAs is not that a big deal either,who has exactly 3 AAAs, and even my cheap loader has a discharge function. This, compared to buy expencive lithiums in the store or order from the net, I can live with for getting such a bright small light. Just wonder how overdriven the LED is. Anyone who could give a rough estimation of life span?

Click to expand...

Most super 1 watt or 3W 3AAA lights run 2 hours. The Blimp runs 1 hour. In actual use this does not matter as most torches are used for less than 5 minutes at a time.

Measurement of these super torches (7A Golston, 10W 2 stage Fifth unit) show about 1A current to the LED.

The 5mm LEDs in 3AAA multi-LED lights sometimes die one by one. 3 watters are much more rugged. The Golston 7W has been out six months and no reports of dying LEDs.

I probably will not buy a Blimp at this time as I have a 3x3W My Little Friend running at 2A. I do not need a light at 1/2 the brightness of MLF. Might consider them for gifts though. 3AAA is much better than 2CR123A for non-flashaholics.

Anyone get one of these yet?

It's on the way, along with a few others.

So far I have Glimt and Lill, they are both fantastic two-stage clickies running on RCR-123a's. They are truly as bright as they claim. The only thing I don't like about them is plastic reflectors, not centered on the emitter as well as they should be.

I recieved a couple, did some tests with the meter- I forget the exact numbers, they are on my desk at home. Worked out to about 1 watt. I was expecting it to be higher. Very bright light though, It will light up the side of the neighbours house about 1/4 mile away! Tight hotspot with decent spill, overall not a bad light.

The only problem I had was with the battery carrier, one of the springs popped out. Needed a little persuasion to get it to stay in place, but all is fine now.

I should have waited until I got home for the numbers! I was confused a bit!

3 new Duracel AAA - 4.50v in the carrier exactly - 678ma draw at the battery carrier. which would be 3 watts not 1!

jhawkins1 said:

I recieved a couple, did some tests with the meter- I forget the exact numbers, they are on my desk at home. Worked out to about 1 watt. I was expecting it to be higher. Very bright light though, It will light up the side of the neighbours house about 1/4 mile away! Tight hotspot with decent spill, overall not a bad light.

The only problem I had was with the battery carrier, one of the springs popped out. Needed a little persuasion to get it to stay in place, but all is fine now.

Click to expand...

I don't see what the big deal is about 3AAA lights.

I think anyone who owns such a light should view a switch to L Ion 18500 cells as almost mandatory.

No need to keep buying primaries and 50% more capacity than NIMH with zero self discharge to boot.

Throw an oring around the cell and there is no rattle at all.

Seems academic (and economical) to me.

yep, a "TRUE" 0.678 X 4.50V = 3.05 watts, DEFINITELY not "7 TRUE Watts". In addition, if you monitored both the amps and volts, within 2 minutes I'm sure it would drop under 3 watts.

Just pulled mine apart, there are no electronics outside of the LED. It appears to be a direct drive. Definately surprised me there!

Direct drive, 100% driver efficiency!

You might get 7W using AAA lithium batteries, since the current/voltage curve is so steep. Has this been tried?

Alkaline batteries have a poor internal resistance. Me thinks my Sanyo Industrial 1000 AAA's will work great.

Sounds like they're counting on the internal resistance of alkalines.
Would that fry the LED if you used NiMH batteries?

AndyTiedye said:

Sounds like they're counting on the internal resistance of alkalines.
Would that fry the LED if you used NiMH batteries?

Click to expand...

Dont think so. In fifthunits own test, they used NiMH. In fact I think that's the best option for this ligth, alkalines will give it a very short runtime.

Would love to see this light run on 3 X 10440 AAA lithiums!!