Harbor Freight HID or Amondotech Illuminator 3152?

I'm looking for the brightest dam HID I can find around the $150 price range. It seems to come down to these two lights (the Amondotech Illuminator 3152 or the Harbor Freight (formerly Costco) HID.

Does anyone have both these lights that can give comments on comparison such as brightness, quality, throw distances, etc?

Try Sams Club HID.

There's lots of previous comparisons on these two lights in numerous threads. Output is basically the same. The HF, with its larger reflector, throws further so it may give the impression that it is brighter. The AI, with its smaller, but better quality reflector, has a nicer beam and spot with less artifacts and its a smoother, more consistent beam/spot. They are both 35 watt lights. I have both and rarely use the Costco/HF because of its size and weight. The AI versus the Sam's Club, (same light) has the sought-after 4200 Kelvin lamp, which, in my opinion, is brighter and renders colors truer

I thought the AI and the HR were the same size. Don't they use the same size battery?

http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1129

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=93175

I didn't include the Sam's Club light because I don't have access to it (I can get the other two).


Wow, I now see the AI at 8 lbs 7 oz and the HF at 16 lbs. Is that right? That's a pretty big difference. So the battery sizes are not the same? How about length of time of light on a charge between the two?

If you want the brightest get the costco (original one 2 years ago, it has a much better reflector than the harbor freight. ) Batteries are the same between all the lights .Sams club light is ok. Got mine at auction for 65.00

Batteries are the same between all the lights .

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That's what I thought. So what explains such a difference in weight, the HF having almost double the weight of the AI?

The HF has a much larger body, reflector, glass window, has the wall wart charger built into it and also a 12V charger/alternate power source cord. It all adds up.

Holy crap, I didn't realize the sizes were that different. From the websites, they look about the same size. I guess looks can be deceiving.

You say the charger is built in to the HF? So the charger on the AI is on the cord?

The specs on Amondotech show the AI as having a 7" reflector. That picture sure doesn't look like it.

Yes, a separate wall wart for the AI. It has a 5 3/4 inch usable reflector through the front, black bezel. The metal reflector itself is probably 6 1/4" but some of it resides behind the bezel. The HF has a 9" usable reflector. Unless you have a very frequent need for lighting things very far away, the AI, I believe, would be much more usable.

I notice on the AI website, there are two of the 3152's listed. Both look exactly the same and both specs are exactly the same and same price. Any ideas what the difference is? I tried calling the website number and got an answering machine.

Are you refering to the N30 as the second light? The bright green one that is substantially smaller? I see only one AI.

Re-look at the pic above. All three lights pictured now.

On the website, it shows 3 lights. Two of them (the first two left to right) are the same light. Then to the right is the 3rd one you added to the pic. I was just wondering if there is actually any difference between the first two or if it is a misprint.


http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=HID&btnSearch=GO&Page=1



Since you seem to personally have both lights (AI & HF), which one do you prefer and why? If you were just going to buy one, which one would you buy?

Yes, I have all three. If I was going to buy only one, hands down, I'd buy the N30. It's under 4 lbs, and to my eye, pretty much as bright as the AI. It is so small, convenient and bright, it's my go-to light for just about everything I use a light for. Plus it has the 7 LED's in the handle for those tasks that require small amounts of light. Some people have issues with its looks. Not me. It is a great little bright light.

I have both the N30 and the 3152 and they are good lights, but the N30 has developed a huge, I mean huge, orange haze in the beam that's about 1/4 pf the size of the total beam, and it's been impossible to contact Amondotech for some help. I have waited at least 5 minutes between turning it on and off and never dropped it or set it vertical. hope you have better luck than I did.

I went ahead and ordered the AI 3152. I was tempted to get the HF one just because of it's size and throw. A couple of things changed my mind. One, I like the idea better of the charger being outside the light rather than inside. The less complicated, the less than can go wrong. The way I look at things anyway. The butt ugly orange of the "Chicago Tools" brand just looks cheap (as are Chicago Tools in general). If it was still the "Costco" brand and gray, the decision would have been tougher.

To tell the truth, I don't even really need this light, but I just wanted to have one (the Tim Taylor syndrome I guess, heh heh). I wanted one "monster" light that would reach "way the hell out there". I hope I'm not disappointed.

I just got my 3152 via FedEx.


All I can say is, THIS THING IS $#@!(^*%$@^&*()&^ING HUGE! ! ! ! ! ! !

When I first saw the size of the package, I said, "no way is this my flashlight".

IT WAS ! ! ! ! ! !

This light is like 3 times bigger than what I thought it was going to be! It's just hard to get an idea from a picture on how big this thing really is until you get your hands on one.

I can imagine how big the Harber Freight light must be. Holy Jeez!

It's daytime right now so I have to wait for this evening to turn this big bad boy on. Looking forward to it.

I have it charging right now, waiting for the charge light to turn green. The instructions don't say how long that will be. (The instructions are written on one small piece of paper, would liked to have seen more literature included with it).



Edit:
Well I just went and did a little testing. This light is absolutely insane! I'm walking around my neighborhood with this thing strapped around my shoulder laughing my *** off at how bright it is, probably looking like a frigging lunatic. Heh heh.

Now I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with this light but god damn, you're sure going to see me coming, and I'm damn sure going to see you!

Mike89 said:

All I can say is, THIS THING IS $#@!(^*%$@^&*()&^ING HUGE! ! ! ! ! ! !

I can imagine how big the Harber Freight light must be. Holy Jeez!

Click to expand...

hahahahahahahahahahahaha..you have no idea. if you think the 3152 is "$#@!(^*%$@^&*()&^ING HUGE! ! ! ! ! ! !" then the HF is $#@!(^*%$@^&*()&^ING HUGE+++++++++++++++ HUGE !!!!!

:twothumbs

Well since I got this one, I have a better idea now than what I did before I got it.

The HF is almost twice the weight (16 lbs vs 8 1/2 lbs) so yeah, I can imagine.

This 3152 will shine as far as I can see. Dunno what to expect from the HF. If the HF throws further than the Illuminator, I couldn't see that far anyway.

Maybe one of these days, I'll get it anyway just out of curiousity to make my own comparisons. I'd like to see some long range beamshot comparisons of these two lights to see which one is actually more useable at long distance. I do like the color of the 4200K bulb.

The HF will throw well past what I can see, however it is still quite bright at 750 yds which is about as far as I could see needing to light somthing up.

With bi-nocs and a telescope I've illuminated things up to 1.25 miles away but it still wasn't alot of light getting that far. At 1 mile I could still make out most of what I wanted to see.