New Life Gear LED+LED+CFL Flashlights

StarHalo

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Anyone else see these? 3xAA for the smaller one, 4xAA for the spotlight which can light one or two CFLs. I'm intrigued.. Opinions?

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my#1hobby

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Very cool lights! I really like the CFLs, I have a few CFL lanterns and love them. Thanks for posting this; I just gotta have both. :)

Can't seem to find the runtimes for the CFL mode...:thinking:
 
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ZMZ67

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Interesting....the CFLs probably offer better quality light than a cluster of 5MM LEDs but I wonder if AAs are up to the task of running the CFLs for any length of time.I have a non-CFL version of the 3AA and I don't think it is rugged enough for serious use but I have seen the 4AA non-CFL lantern model in stores and it seems to be much more substantial using a heavier/better plastic body than the 3AA.
 

pinetree89

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Mar 10, 2011
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I had a Life Gear LED light that was bit smaller than these that was gifted to me. Runtime was billed as a couple of hours. The bad part is they decided to use 2ea LR44 button cells for the power source. Crazy. The box said "This flashlight comes with batteries for life", or some such phrase. Of course this was subject to $12 shipping handling fee per set...

Haven't been a Life Gear fan since. My son ended up accidentally dropping the light on the concrete from a couple feet and the thing exploded into many pieces. These lights look really cool, but I suspect their durability is non existent.
 

StarHalo

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Got to visit a handful of Targets and bid box hardware stores this evening; these lights definitely aren't in any stores yet, bummer.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I have a simple 4 watt CFL using 4AAs and it draws about 300-350ma of current. It gets about 6-8 hours of runtime. I figure the tubes on the lantern are 6 watt tubes so they should get about 4-6 hours for one or perhaps 2-3 hours for both less on alkalines. IMO these lights are interesting but more cute than made to be functional. The tubes will need replacing if you use them a lot and could cost more than the light is worth. CFLs are decent for flood output compared to LEDs with diffusers all but the newer more efficient ones they should get close to matching on output but LEDs can run to lower voltages and typically have a lower level to extend runtimes. Before LEDs I had a few flourescent lights and they were the king for area lighting superior to LED in output area but the disadvantage is some of the tubes can cost $5 or more if you can even find them.
I am trying to remember where I saw these at..... Academy Sports?
Yes.... that is where I saw them they even show some of them on their website academy.com
 
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Lynx_Arc

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I thought about CFL vs LED, but bear in mind - 70 lumens of perfectly even flood for $10..
The even flood of fluorescent is hard to beat vs LEDs. There are a lot of fluorescent lights around the $10 range I have a cute GE 4AA 4 watt fluorescent light for a closet etc that is nice and walmart used to sell a 4D lantern for about $10 too that used commonly found tubes. My advice is to look at the tube(s) in the light and see if you can readily buy replacements for it before you buy the light as you could drop it and break a tube or burn one out by letting it run too low on power too often.
 
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