A REALLY long term (11 year) review: Brinkmann Long Life LED Light

zespectre · Jun 15, 2012

I was out in my storage shed today and needed light, so I grabbed the flashlight I keep out there off the shelf and clicked it on. Kinda dim, but it worked and sufficed for the job at hand. Then I looked at what I had in my hands and it really made me pause because the light I've left in the shed all these years was my VERY FIRST LED LIGHT!

The Brinkmann Long Life

This light, with it's 30+ hour battery life and "bulb" that would never burn out was a completely new idea to mainstream lighting when it came out around 2001. To look at it now we'd laugh. It's plastic body seems fragile (though it has obviously held up), it's switch is large and clunky, and don't even get me started on the pathetic light output, sickening blue color, and silly collimator lens.

Yet here it is, still serving a purpose and working even though it gets left in an unheated shed.

Oh and as far as I can remember, this is only the third set of batteries I ever put in the thing (I only just put new batteries in it because I noted the the expire date on the batteries)!

turboBB · Jun 15, 2012

Great story! Thanks for sharing. I hope to do some tribute threads in the future and this gives me inspiration (although my first LED light only dates back to 2008).

Cheers,
Tim

HighlanderNorth · Jun 15, 2012

zespectre said:
I was out in my storage shed today and needed light, so I grabbed the flashlight I keep out there off the shelf and clicked it on. Kinda dim, but it worked and sufficed for the job at hand. Then I looked at what I had in my hands and it really made me pause because the light I've left in the shed all these years was my VERY FIRST LED LIGHT!

The Brinkmann Long Life

This light, with it's 30+ hour battery life and "bulb" that would never burn out was a completely new idea to mainstream lighting when it came out around 2001. To look at it now we'd laugh. It's plastic body seems fragile (though it has obviously held up), it's switch is large and clunky, and don't even get me started on the pathetic light output, sickening blue color, and silly collimator lens.

Yet here it is, still serving a purpose and working even though it gets left in an unheated shed.

Oh and as far as I can remember, this is only the third set of batteries I ever put in the thing (I only just put new batteries in it because I noted the the expire date on the batteries)!

I'm so tired of people posting reviews of lights that they've only owned for 11 years or so! I mean, you've got to own a light for at least 35 years before you can possibly have a good idea of whether its good or not.

Just kidding!

madecov · Jun 15, 2012

I'm not sure I have anything around here that is 11 years old.
I keep upgrading stuff.

zespectre · Jun 15, 2012

madecov said:
I'm not sure I have anything around here that is 11 years old.
I keep upgrading stuff.

Oh believe me, I upgrade stuff all the time. That is part of the reason I was so astounded to realize that I still use this light. My only other long-term light is a 20 year old magcharger but that doesn't strictly count since it has a different battery pack, upgraded bulb, and aftermarket "light orange peel" reflector.

StarHalo · Jun 15, 2012

The better bit of info there is that the light has survived years of hot/cold/humidity in an outdoor storage shed; quite a testament to the longevity of the LED that even in an old, cheap configuration, it survives without issue.

Also, if those are Energizer Lithiums you're using (which you should in a semi-outdoor application,) ignore the expiration date; they won't leak or swell if worn down to zero like alkalines.

Sean · Jun 15, 2012

I remember that light! Good to know it still works.

biglights · Jun 16, 2012

Interesting story..

zespectre · Nov 19, 2017

EVEN LONGER long term review (16 years and counting): Brinkmann Long Life LED Light

16 years and this light still gives reliable service in my storage building which has no internal lighting.
The building has no insulation, gets damp, is dusty and messy and gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
And still the light, which sits on a shelf right by the door with Lithium AA batteries in it (it's only on it's second set of those) works every time.

Oh come ON... it's made of cheap plastic with wimpy "O" rings and a thick, chunky, Ka-Chunk Ka-Chunk type of switch. How can this thing POSSIBLY still work?!? LOL.

But it does.

Amazing.

bykfixer · Nov 19, 2017

Re: EVEN LONGER long term review (16 years and counting): Brinkmann Long Life LED L

Amazing!! Very cool story... and to update 5 years later no doubt.

Last year I found a cheap little buck 99 WalMart brand "Ever Active" in the door of my 95 pickup truck I put there in like 98/99. It still had the Ever Active batteries in it, but they had long since depleted. No leaks!!! Fresh cells and it worked fine.

But my first LED was a bedside light made by LED Lenser. It put out an amazing 12 lumens from 3 emitters run off 3 N cells. Last summer one of the cells began to leak so I retired it. The little plastic WalMart light also got retired. They are both on display now.

magnil · Jul 12, 2021

Re: EVEN LONGER long term review (16 years and counting): Brinkmann Long Life LED L

I've been using my Brinkmann LED since I bought it during a camping trip in Saco, Maine in the twenty double oh something. It's been working ever since with the only fault of me screwing it back together too tight and causing the switch end to crack. Epoxy made an ugly fix but it still works.

Oh ye who lead, take heed! Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we will smite

-William Vaughn Moody-

zespectre said:
16 years and this light still gives reliable service in my storage building which has no internal lighting.
The building has no insulation, gets damp, is dusty and messy and gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
And still the light, which sits on a shelf right by the door with Lithium AA batteries in it (it's only on it's second set of those) works every time.

Oh come ON... it's made of cheap plastic with wimpy "O" rings and a thick, chunky, Ka-Chunk Ka-Chunk type of switch. How can this thing POSSIBLY still work?!? LOL.

But it does.

Amazing.

bykfixer · Jul 13, 2021

Re: EVEN LONGER long term review (16 years and counting): Brinkmann Long Life LED L

Welcome aboard magnil.

LeanBurn · Jul 13, 2021

Re: EVEN LONGER long term review (16 years and counting): Brinkmann Long Life LED L

usually a review comprises pictures, specs and some sort of beam shots. I tried to find out what the light looks like but found nothing.

A REALLY long term (11 year) review: Brinkmann Long Life LED Light

zespectre

Flashlight Enthusiast

turboBB

Flashlight Enthusiast

HighlanderNorth

Flashlight Enthusiast

madecov

Flashlight Enthusiast

zespectre

Flashlight Enthusiast

StarHalo

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Sean

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biglights

Enlightened

zespectre

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bykfixer

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magnil

Newly Enlightened

bykfixer

Flashaholic

LeanBurn

Flashlight Enthusiast

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