Energizer Trailfinder LED, CF at Wallmart

Hi everyone. I was just at wallmart and picked up the Energizer Trailfinder (In the future it will be refured to as ETF ). I could not fids any threads on this one so I figured I would start one of my own. This light seems verry cool especially at the price of $12.77

It has a 3" Compact Fluorecent lamp and the package has a little "try me" buton on it. The Fluorecent lamp draws 275mA with fresh batteries.


The LED has a magnfying lense mounted above it which gives a verry tight beam of light without mutch side spill simalar to the others single LED lights that use a lense.

On the Left is an Arc AAA and the ETF is on the right. They are bolth positioned about 3' from the target.

In this picture I moved them bolth about 8' from the target. you can see that the tight beam does a good job at throwing it's self a distance.



On the left is about the eqiuvelant of a BB400 (I actually made the curcit my self and it is driving at 330 mA) with the head off and the ETF on the right. Each square on the floor is 6 inches. The compact florecent lamp is verry bright for it's size and can easily light a room or a tent verry well.

I think that making the led have a longer through was a good idea even if it sacrafices side spill. because you can use the fluorescent up close and the LED for seeing a distance.

I have not yet been able to do a run time on the light. nore have i been able to disect it. It is glued together and would require damage to disacemble. There are no screws under the ruber grip or stickers. The LED draws a waping 61mA with new alkaline batteries. I believe that the led is being directly driven with a resistor. It uses 4AA which it comes with (Energizer of course) so that would mean that the resistor is bleading off around 2 Volts with new batts. This would put it in the range of 66% efficency with new batteries and then gradually increasing in efficency as the batteries drain.

I am verry impresed with this light and am glad that i got it.

Thanks for the review!
What kinda run time would that give us?

Wally seems to always have some decent lights.

I have the Energizer Supercharge Rechargable LED light. I imagine it uses the same LED and lense. It also acts as a night light. It says it's good for <crap! can't find the info> something like <can't remember either>.

Do a search for it, as I have commented on it before!

Mine has a slightly off center LED. I think it will be GREAT as a power out light!

Save the little circuit board that comes in the back end of the light as part of the demo packaging. It's a good "current probe".

Need to get a CCFL, I have one already, but it uses 6Ds!

I do believe that this is the hunting/camping version of the Energizer ARCwhite light. I saw one in Wal Mart too but it has the same body, and same cold cathode tube that the Arcwhite does and is the same price. I am not sure about the reflector though.

Nice but that single focused 5mm LED looks a little dissappointing... Maybe some sort of luxeon could be dropped in there?

But, to stay on topic that looks like a great little light. I do believe I'm going to have to buy one or three. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jon

just got one the fluorescent is impressive to be so tiny the led is ok. A good deal for $13.00 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I bought one of these "Trailfinder" lights at Wal-Mart on Saturday for a cheap "leave-in-the-car" flashlight for my Miata (won't matter too much if someone steals it when the top is down -- it will take the place of an Opalec MiniGag that I'd hate to lose).

It's been talked about here, here, and here. And probably other places, as well.

I like it! Especially when considering the price point, it's very nice. It's nice to have the "quick switch" ability to flip between spot and flood with the two modes. Well done.

I think this bodes well for LED lights coming down in price and becoming more broadly available to the mass market. That's a good thing!

Dave

In one of my binge buys last week, I also got a Trail Finder. The Flourescent is AMAZING!

The LED output, focused as it is, sucks hind tit! Lights with similar brightness but no lense like that are WAY better!!!

I'm thinking of destroying the lense, but then how would I semi seal it up again?

For 13 bucks, who cares?

Lowe's hardware had one with a red body, not marked "trailfinder" but as far as I could tell the same light. Wish I had that one instead.

Checked the "Trailfinder" out at Walmart & passed it up ... What I'd really like to see is a similar light without the reflector end. Nice, compact light with only the CCFT (or maybe two CCFT's).

Case should be very durable and at least water resistant.
The CCFT portion of this light is such a big plus, I feel confident that SOME manufacturer will see the light.

Coleman makes a 4AA folding CCF light with a U shaped tube that's more powerful than the Energizer. Only "dumb" thing about it is that one side of the tube cover is amber, but personally I think that's OK. It makes it easier on the eyes if you want, and you can flip the tube up for full brightness.

The amber colored option is to limit attracting bugs. Coleman's lantern is designed with outdoor and camping use in mind. If bugs aren't a problem, you just flip the cover up, and you have white light.

Oh yeah, bugs...good point. And, the main reason I don't spend a lot of time outdoors or camping. I camped once in the southern Great Dismal Swamp when there was a warning sign up saying "This area is infested with ticks". It was. It surely was.

The LED is a nice thing to have along with the CCFL. Gives you that assurance that you'll never be completely in the dark when the batteries can't drive the tube.

I was wondering if the Arc White is still around, and where to get one. It's the same light as the Trailfinder, right? Except that it has an incan instead of the single led. I'm thinking an Everled might really whip it into shape.

I bought one based on what I read here. The CF was really impressive, but the battery door on the case was so poorly constructed, that I took it back. It looked like one drop and it would break and I saw no way to repair or improve it.

Some Wal Marts may have these discounted . . . I bought four at my local Wally World for $6 even each!! (That was all they had though.)