New streamlight / alkalines only ??

flashlight reviews said:

UPDATE JULY 2004: After hearing numerous complaints from readers and users of this light I am downgrading the review rating. This is because of multiple premature failures on the part of the LED module. You may notice that the numbers on the Throw vs. Output chart are pretty high for a light with only 7 LEDs. That is because they are being driven with so much current that the LEDs are overheating and many people are experiencing premature failure of the LEDs. The symptoms are usually a strobing of one or more of the LEDs. If this happens to yours, contact Streamlight for replacement.

To avoid this condition I would recommend that owners of this light either use a dummy cell and run it on only 3 AA alkaline batteries (less light output is the result) or run it for short periods only.

As an experiment I decided to run my sample on 4 AA rechargable NiMH cells for a while and although the module gets warm (and less light is produced) it does not get anywhere near as hot as with 4AA alkaline cells. So my observations suggest using 4 rechargable cells or only 3 alkaline cells and a dummy cell in this light; NOT four alkaline cells as recommended by the manufacturer.

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flashlight reviews said:

The one concern I did have with this light surrounds driving LEDs at fairly high rates inside a plastic body. Despite the use of a lot of metal in the lamp assembly to draw heat away from the LED, there is nowhere for that heat to go inside a plastic light. As a result heat could have build up caused damage to the LED. Based upon thermal observations, it does not appear that the LED or the surrounding structure get any where near the manufacturer recommended maximum temperature despite continuous on-time.

UPDATE Dec. 2005: I have it on very good authority that both name brand lithium AA and NiMH cells will work in this light.

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