I just got this light last week and was going to post a review, but you beat me too it. I'm a noob in the CPF world. I've always had a soft spot for flashlights but I just recently got bit by the "bug". My collection has always been at the local sporting goods store / walmart / home depot level. My Dad did get me the Jetbeam Mk II a while back and I have just ordered a few new lights from DX to get into the higher powered world. Ok so to the review...
I found a great light at Home Depot the other night. Still playing with it to see how it performs, but man is this thing a beast. It really lights up anything within about 50-60 yards. (The beam hotspot is only 8 1/2" wide at 10 ft, so this thing throws really nicely.)
Husky 4 Watt LED (2-D cell batteries)
only $24.00
The light says it is 200lumen (I would guess that is about right, but I don't have anything of the same caliber to compare it too). I compared it to a few other lights I do have (Maglite 2-Dcell with Mag LED, JetBeam MkII AA and a Dorcy 3-"D"cell 3 watt LED). The Dorcy was the only light that came anywhere near this one. It is compared in the photos below. The Maglite didn't register in the picture, the JetBeam was just barely visible.
The light is almost too bright for indoor use. You would truly blind an intruder if he was inside your home and you put it directly into his face (even from 20-30 ft).
Haven't had a good chance to torture test it fully, but I did drop it onto the basement floor (vinyl tile on cement) from shoulder hieght while it was running (6 times). No problems. Also used the light as a hammer and was pounding on some 2x4's and it held up (pounding the bottom cap). I can't get the head off, put it in in the vise and still can't get it loose. Even cranked on it with a large pliers. Seems that the head has glue on the screws.
Runtime:
I ran it on the factory batteries (Eveready Super Heavy Duty D Cell) while I was working. Kept monitoring it every few minutes. The First Hour it was really super bright. Still maintained much better brightness than the 3 Cell Dorcy after 2 1/2 hours. At 3 hours it was a bit less than the Dorcy 3D. Still ran brighter than the JetBeam light until between hour 5 and 6. It was still brighter than the Maglite after running for 7 hours. (And these were crappy batteries.) I'm not sure how many more hours of usable light it would have, but it was still pretty decent after 7 hours. Here is the approxomate breakdown:
Hour 0 - 3 very bright (brighter/comparable to the Dorcy 3D)
Hours 3 - 5 1/2 medium brightness (Better than the JetBeam Mk II)
Hours 5 1/2 + better than my small flashlights and standard D flashlights
Here are my lights that I compared. (All lights are stock, except for the Maglite. It has the Maglite add-on LED and a painted bottom so the kids don't lose it.)
Beam Shots at night while 40ft back from my shed. I had to adjust the camera down to prevent the Husky from washing out the photo. You can see a lot more of the area around each beam, but this gives a relative brightness.
Here is a test from 80 ft. This is only the Dorcy 3D and the Husky. The other lights were not bright enough. First the standard photo, then I zoomed in to get more of a close up (still 80 ft away).
The light in my pics don't do any of the lights justice. There was much greater spill on the sides from all the lights. This was just a relative brightness of the light compared to others. The mag lite was not really that dark, it just happened that if I made it look any brighter, the camera was washing out the Husky to a large bright dot (as is there it is already washed out enough). You do get a representation of the brightness compared to the other lights.
Another note: After dropping the light 6 times onto the basement floor, it lost the crisp beam circle. The beam turned a bit ovalish. I think that this is the LED that is no longer centered, but I'm still just learning.
Here is another shot to give you an idea of the size.
All this for only $24. I can't complain. I now have a new light under my pillow at night. It was great. Some neighbor kids were making too much noise the other night and I lit them up from behind the garage. Man, did they scatter. I could hear them behind their parents house... "dude, what was that??". I guess they will not be hiding there smoking anymore.
. Here are a few photos:
