K-Mart Flashlight review [ 3D Tomcat ] Oz K-mart

There I was in K-mart minding my own business when I did spy with my eye the Tomcat 1W LED Metal torch on special for $15 Oz

Thats right , from an Australian K-mart , so for the rest of you ??





As can be seen it comes with 3 D sized cells , is single mode , has a anodized aluminum body with a revers clicky . I was very surprised by the quality of the torch , it has nice smooth threads , o-rings everywhere except the lens retaining ring , plastic reflector [ 49mm Wide x 38mm Deep ] and a plastic lens .
The clicky is very positive and mechanical in feel .

Some more pictures .









As we can see the emitter assembly is nice , but again just a hollow tube for the emitter to sit on , so not much in the way of heatsinking .
I dare say , this could be a hell of a good host , but a new pill would be needed [ LATHE ] for transferring heat .

I could see this being anything up to a MC-E SSC-P7 SST 50 mod host .

Now to some math :

Voltage measured at the tail = 4.55v
Current draw = 0.33A
Watts = 1.5w

I cant vouch for the driver in anyway , or how much loss there might be , but it looks like were talking of at least 50Lumens OTF possibly a little more , but at only 0.33A current draw , it should last a while on 3 D sized cells , and if you needed a flashlight to have around to loan out to those who dont respect a really good light , well , for 15 Ozzi bananas :thinking: , and for a light from a local retailer , I can think of more expensive flashlights on the shelves possibly not nearly a nice , and certainly with no Modification potential like this one .

For a possible mod host 10 out of 10 , as a house flashlight , bearing in mind the price , 9 out of 10 . How long it will last ? , the heatsinking bites , and for using a hollow tube 1 out of 10 .

Over all , being a unproven light , ill give it 7 out of 10 again keeping in mind the price bracket [ Cheap ] .

Very interesting...In fact way too interesting considering how easy it looks to mod. I'm not sure to thank you or### you! Oh well - It's only another 15$ and KMart is just down the road.
Happy New Year.

What about the switch? What switches would be used if you're gonna plug a MC-E or a P7 in there drawing 2.8A?

I didnt take the switch out , and cant vouch for how much current it can handle . I will take a look at it shortly .

In no way does it feel [ feel ? ] like its weak or fragile .

Well , the switch is larger than most I have in my 1x18650 lights .
So I would hazard a guess at it being able to handle the current .
If it cant , then there is plenty of space for a larger switch , and swapping in a new one looks like its going to be somewhat easy .

I have a Cree XR-E P4 emitter on a 20mm star , so might swap it in . Will have to wait for a beamshot first though I think .

Backyard beamshot .

Im going to swap in the XR-E P4 and see if its any better .

for $15 with batteries it makes a great gift for anyone who might need a light ever.

there is a k mart close to me, imma look for one lovecpf

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/241179

repost?

Decent looking light. BEtter than a maglite

waddup said:

for $15 with batteries it makes a great gift for anyone who might need a light ever.

there is a k mart close to me, imma look for one lovecpf

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/241179

repost?

Click to expand...

I did a search , and there have been other reviews .
A repost ! Hardly ,

Better than a Maglite ,:tinfoil: Sorry No !
Going to pop in the Cree P4 shortly and see what happens .
Got my fingers crossed for a Lathe this year . Then I can get in some serious moding . @ $15 , this would be great for beginers to cut there teeth on doing mods , before they start cutting up more expensive Maglites , well expensive here in anyway .

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago. Agree that they are a fantastic platform for simple mods. Just need a 20mm star and a 20mm driver. Could possibly fill the aluminium tube with some kind of heatsinking material, but probably not necessary unless going to a P7 or MC-E. I've been itching to mod this, but my emitters are still MIA from DX (although the drivers showed up fine)

The reflector geometry is nice, its deeper than a maglite i think, so keeps the beam relatively tight, but it seems a bit poorly made. Also, very cheap feeling plastic. Still looking for a replacement, wouldn't be too hard to change the reflector since you can shift the height of the LED by screwing the parts out a bit more.

tolkaze said:

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago. Agree that they are a fantastic platform for simple mods. Just need a 20mm star and a 20mm driver. Could possibly fill the aluminium tube with some kind of heatsinking material, but probably not necessary unless going to a P7 or MC-E. I've been itching to mod this, but my emitters are still MIA from DX (although the drivers showed up fine)

The reflector geometry is nice, its deeper than a maglite i think, so keeps the beam relatively tight, but it seems a bit poorly made. Also, very cheap feeling plastic. Still looking for a replacement, wouldn't be too hard to change the reflector since you can shift the height of the LED by screwing the parts out a bit more.

Click to expand...

Yes , :thumbsup:

I just swapped out the driver for another Luxeon driver I had lying around , current draw is up to 1A now .

3 times the current and only double the output , well more like 80% more . Not sure thats a good trade , I will swap in the Cree P4 with the old driver to see what the beam and output are like .

Cree XR-E P4 on 20mm Star = Current with orriginal driver is the same , but output is up , I just need to lower the reflector a little to improve the beam but looks like 70Lumen output .
I can live with this as is for now ,

Well , I lowered the reflector , and now its more in the neighberhood of 90Lumen or so . I did some mods to the pill assembly so as to lower the reflector , and it may need another 1mm lowering . But no rush , time to cook lunch .

Here is the cree P4 mod .





I did need to drop down the reflector a little so it would sit well with the Cree P4 emitter , I may mod further , but going high output will need a new pill for better heatsinking . Hopefully next week , I will go look at some lathes as the retailers should be open after the Christmas break .

I scored two 4D 3w led mags from coles for $29. Yes AU$29 for the two,with batteries. Some serious modding being done.

Before ^

And after \/

Thanks a flippin lot old 4570. Stopped in at K-mart today. Bought one of those 3D Tomcats. Will be shoving a SSC P7 inside it when it arrives.
Did you happen to see the smaller 3AAA version. AU$10 a pop. Got three of them and they shine brighter than their big brother. Great for the glove box. Now I've got no money left for chocolate.

ROTFLMAO

Nice to see others were lured by it's aesthetics & price point, I found mine had poor electrical contact with the components (nothing a tidy up couldn't fix) but it never really left the bottom of my duty bag because I had more powerful lights... at 1 watt it's kind of disappointing IMHO

I had the original intention of rigging one up with a DSWOI and utilize the deep reflector to create some kind of a "P7 throw monster" but like you discovered thermal paths are limited due to the design of the internals (without a lathe) though a potting compound could be used I suppose, nice P4 upgrade! :thumbsup:

Using a solid aluminium bar offcut the thermal path could be improved significantly

Well, I haven't been able to mod the 3D version of this light, simply because my drivers were too small, and I haven't been able to make good battery contact without some fiddling.

Anyways, I was back down at K-Mart, looking for cheap 123's and I noticed the Tomcat 9 Led models, and beside that, a 1W 3aaa single led version for about $8 so I grabbed it. It is roughly the same output as the larger 3D light (probably just due to the reflector) and uses the same LED.

I tried my hand at some desoldering and resoldering of bits and pieces, and got a 5-stage 1000ma board and an XR-E (possibly R2, most likely not... DX lucky dip)

Its slightly brighter, but I think it is due to the geometry of the reflector. I will shave off a bit at the back, and get more of the LED dome up into the reflector and will post some shots if anyone wants to see.

Oh, and its also a lot more cool white now, whereas the original had a kind of SSC P4 colour about it

Yeah I saw some of those 3AAA 1w units today almost sold out locally 2 left @ $10.00 each IIRC, make a nice basis for an upgrade mod (yes I dismantled it in store)

I fought the urge to purchase one as I've already got a significant number of lights that just don't get used... upgraded it would make an awesome gift! :thumbsup:



Perhaps someone *cough* old4570 *cough* would like to pull the trigger on one and then post their findings here?