Brinkmann Cree 2-AAA Tuffmax...

Just tonight I was browsing the local Wal-Mart and noticed a few new lights. I almost got the 2-CR2 Coleman however decided to wait however I did find a slick little light from Brinkman.

It was 10 dollars and has a Cree inside. It is a clip on style that uses 2-AAA cells for power and also has a swivel type head. The beam is kind of crappy however a little satin tape smoothed it out just fine. For the price it is a pretty decent light with a good floody beam and nice white tint.

Strangely enough I can not find a link or photo anywhere on line and it is not yet on Brinkmans site. Has anyone else purchased this light and if so how does yours perform? I did take mine apart and it was easy with 2 small screws holding the swivel head together.

Pretty basic set up with a standard Cree star inside and no other heat sinking to the body....it is all plastic anyway. I did not go into the body of the light so I have no idea as to any circuit or lack of one. If I can find a reflector that will fit this light could have a little bit better beam and actually be more useful as it is very easy to access the star and reflector.

All in all pretty nice for a 10 dollar Cree light.....just a heads up for any others who may want to try this light out.

Re: Brinkman Cree 2-AAA...

Sounds like a nice light! I might want one in the future. Is it the one rated at 75 lumens? I was in Walmart recently and I do recall seeing lots of different Brinkmann lights.

I just bought the "Brinkmann Dual Krypton Spotlight" at Walmart, and it is extremely bright but has a very short battery life. I still really like it though.

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I can not remember the rating on the package.....being the flashaholic I am I quickly tore the package open in the parking lot and threw it away. The beam does have a hotspot however it is splotchy. There was also a single AA Cree light by Brinkman just under this one on the shelf. It was kind of big for a single AA and I think it was 13 dollars.

I can tell by looking into the reflector when off that the emitter does not sit low enough in the reflector....(or it may just be a crappy reflector) For ten dollars I really do not mind and it it has a pretty good flood beam pattern when smoothed out a little.

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It does sound like a great flashlight! I have a Brinkmann 3 watt 3xAAA LED flashlight, and it is extremely bright for its size and has a very nice dark blue beam. It has a nice hotspot with a large corona and a good amount of spill. I really like mine, and I have no doubt the Brinkmann 2xAA CREE is a great light too.

Re: Brinkman Cree 2-AAA...

here is my short review a few days ago that went mostly unnoticed

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/202989

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I was at Wal-Mart today and didn't see this light anywhere. We definitely need a picture from someone who has the light.
They had at least 6 different versions of the new Coleman Cree lights, but not this Brinkmann.

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The light was just recently put out at the one store I found it at they are clearing out a lot of stuff and some stores may not have it out if there is no room for it yet.

Re: Brinkman Cree 2-AAA...

BlueBeam22 said:

It does sound like a great flashlight! I have a Brinkmann 3 watt 3xAAA LED flashlight, and it is extremely bright for its size and has a very nice dark blue beam. It has a nice hotspot with a large corona and a good amount of spill. I really like mine, and I have no doubt the Brinkmann 2xAA CREE is a great light too.

Click to expand...

Brinkmann actually made a Cree version of that light, I got one not too long ago from Walmart, but didn't see them on the shelves last time i was there, around the time a lot of the new Coleman lights showed up.

It's labeled as a "1 Watt," probably because it has a similar resistor in the circuit like the original 1 watt with the older Seoul (not a P4), but it appears to be roughly equal brightness to the "3 watt" with less power consumption. The beam is slightly different since it's a cree with an orange-peel reflector, but still has a pretty good spot. You might like it if you liked the 3 watt Luxeon version. Except for the reflector (I think) most of the parts appear to be interchangeable.

Re: Brinkman Cree 2-AAA...

Lynx I must have missed your review as I searched "Brinkman 2-AAA" within the forums and could find nothing at all before I posted.

I have not used mine enough to get it hot however I can tell you inside the head there is no heatsinking other than the star. It looks as if the makers cut the star into a smaller shape to fit so there is even less material than normal on the star for heat sinking.

I will try to post a few photos tonight after 11pm when I get off duty. I believe this little light has its uses just due to the rotating head and clip feature. It is cheaply built however very simple and as such should be reliable. I also must add I found no o-rings inside my sample at all so water will have an effect on this light.

I was suprised to find a Cree based light this small and handy for 10 dollars regardless of the cheap quality. I am thinking of buying the 13 dollar 1-AA version just to see if it has better heat sinking or maybe a better beam.

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Yes please post up the pic so i know what to look for......and great review, hope the 1AA version is better.

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Here are a few pics if it works.......

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I just took mine apart again and I lightly frosted the reflector with clear enamel. The beam is much smoother now and makes a perfect flood area light.

I did let mine run for several minutes and it does seem to shift color a little. The insides have no real heatsinking at all and when mine was apart I also ran if for about 3 minutes. The star got very hot almost to the point I could not hold it.

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I have run mine constantly till the batteries (nimh) were rather depleted. when it gets hot after awhile it seems to get dimmer but is still brighter than a lot of lights. The really odd beam pattern looks ugly on a wall but in actual use is nice as it floods closeup things pretty well instead of having a really intense dot of light it is a lot less pronounced which unlike other lights doesn't saturate my vision of things up close in a tiny spot. My major concern is the battery latch. The snap mechanism holding it shut is a little hard to use on mine and could be the weak stop of the light.

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Thanks for posting up the pics Robo, not bad for the price...might just get one in case of blackouts.....hows the runtime on primaries and high capacity nimh.

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I picked up one the other day. I got a great tint but the beam pattern is awful. I've taken it apart to try to see if I can do something but theres' really not much anything u can do to it. Absolutely NO heatsinking whatsoever. Just two wires running to the star and thats it.

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Is there room for a small heatsink that you can attach to the star.

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Nice. I might have to stop by and take a look. I'm looking for a low lumen long running flood-light. A night-hiker / night-stander if you will:twothumbs ~10L is all I need when my eyes are already dilated for night-darkness. Color tint is VERY important. The fact that I could clip it on my belt and not worry about it rolling off the night-stand would be a HUGE bonus.

Sounds like it can come apart rather easily:thumbsup:.

Hows this for a mod...

Ditch the stock reflector, run the emitter wide open for max flood. Fabricate a new mount for the LED star, position it more forwards towards the lens. This would buy some real-estate for a heatsink and maybe even a multi-mode driver inside the head.

Can the battery compartment come apart as easily as the head?
I wonder if two parallel wired cells would be possible? Heck, two parallel wired Eneloop AAAs would give almost 2000mah, and with the right driver could easily do over ~60L.

Hmm

:thumbsup:

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I haven't had the head apart but I pried thed battery compartment apart and I have no camera but I will describe it. There is one long circuit board with a push clicky switch (standard black with white square plunger) there is two wires from the circuit board to the head. I didn't look too hard but I am guessing you could put 2 14500s in there am unsure how the circuit would handle it.
There is one screw holding half the case at the bottom of the clip you have to lift the clip open all the way and use a #0 or smaller screwdriver I think I used a #00. make sure you have some glue though as the top part of the case is held by two small plastic pins that break off when you take it apart. They must have been glued.
If you open the battery tubes you can actually see the board and switch between the battery holes.

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gotta a soft spot for nice Walmart (affordable) lights.

my first quality non maglite flashlight came from Walmart. still got it among my ammm... now too large collection of lights.

Brinkman Legend LX (incand) for the fab sum of $15.... came with 2x CR123 and put out a lot of light!

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How hard is it to access the reflector? If youre in the market for a flooder (like me), you could sand off the reflective coating and use some GITD paint for some BLING!!

interesting...:thumbsup: