Yesteryears and TODAYS flashlight technology

xeroid · Jan 7, 2015

OK, I admit, I'm not as young as I use to be. If I go back to the days I used a simple Maglite 2 AA battery flashlight on a daily basis, and I think of the NEW LED techology I immediately think of the biggest advantage being LEDs use much less power to give out the same amount of light. So one would expect that buying a cheap LED 2 AA flashlight would run for a much longer time. RIGHT?

That has not been my experience at all .... my 2 AA LED flashlight (a cheap Walmart Police Security Maven) is burning up batteries in about an hour! I would expect a 2 AA LED flashlight to run longer than the Maglite. But that's not true in this case.

My guess is your going to tell me that the LED light is putting out more light and therefore will burn through batteries rather quickly. But, I'm not noticing any increase in light. Isn't there a flashlight that will replace the Maglite with the same brightness that will run much longer before battery changes? Where is the efficiency gain one would expect with LED light technology?

rivermobster · Jan 8, 2015

xeroid said:
OK, I admit, I'm not as young as I use to be. If I go back to the days I used a simple Maglite 2 AA battery flashlight on a daily basis, and I think of the NEW LED techology I immediately think of the biggest advantage being LEDs use much less power to give out the same amount of light. So one would expect that buying a cheap LED 2 AA flashlight would run for a much longer time. RIGHT?

That has not been my experience at all .... my 2 AA LED flashlight (a cheap Walmart Police Security Maven) is burning up batteries in about an hour! I would expect a 2 AA LED flashlight to run longer than the Maglite. But that's not true in this case.

My guess is your going to tell me that the LED light is putting out more light and therefore will burn through batteries rather quickly. But, I'm not noticing any increase in light. Isn't there a flashlight that will replace the Maglite with the same brightness that will run much longer before battery changes? Where is the efficiency gain one would expect with LED light technology?

I think your problem is Walmart...

I have a Streamlight flashlight for work that I bought before LED emitters were even available for it. It would maybe last a half hour or so before I had to swap out the battery pack. Years later, when they developed a LED emitter for it, I bought one right away. Now I can use it all day with the same battery! It puts out more light, runs cooler, and I haven't had to swap a batter pack in ages.

As always, I believe you get what you pay for.

Grijon · Jan 8, 2015

xeroid said:
OK, I admit, I'm not as young as I use to be. If I go back to the days I used a simple Maglite 2 AA battery flashlight on a daily basis, and I think of the NEW LED techology I immediately think of the biggest advantage being LEDs use much less power to give out the same amount of light.

That has not been my experience at all .... my 2 AA LED flashlight (a cheap Walmart Police Security Maven) is burning up batteries in about an hour! I would expect a 2 AA LED flashlight to run longer than the Maglite. But that's not true in this case.

My guess is your going to tell me that the LED light is putting out more light and therefore will burn through batteries rather quickly. But, I'm not noticing any increase in light. Isn't there a flashlight that will replace the Maglite with the same brightness that will run much longer before battery changes? Where is the efficiency gain one would expect with LED light technology?

My Fenix E25 (I see they've updated since I bought mine) will run two AA for 72 HOURS on low while putting out considerably more usable light than a AA MiniMag, which I used myself for years; my E25 will also run 55 lumens (much more light than a stock full-size incan C/D-cell Maglite could dream of) for 10 hours. The new E25 bumps those two runtime ratings to 140 and 11 hours, respectively.

rivermobster said:
I think your problem is Walmart...

As always, I believe you get what you pay for.

Absolutely!!

xeroid said:
So one would expect that buying a cheap LED 2 AA flashlight would run for a much longer time. RIGHT?

I would not expect anything of a cheap light except for it to emit some light for some time, LOL!

Charles L. · Jan 8, 2015

You bought a light from WalMart that retails for $13.00. How much did your Maglite cost when you bought it? What would that be in 2015 dollars?

With all due respect, you did not buy today's flashlight technology. You bought a mega-retailer's marketing BS.

Many great examples of inexpensive flashlights are out there. Among them is an L3 Illuminations L10 3-mode, twisty head, single AA light for a little over $20.00. You can find an Olight S15 2xAA light that will be a huge improvement over your Maglite for the upper $30's to low $40's. And that's just scratching the surface of what is available.

Today's technology includes a thing called Google

Chicken Drumstick · Jan 8, 2015

xeroid said:
OK, I admit, I'm not as young as I use to be. If I go back to the days I used a simple Maglite 2 AA battery flashlight on a daily basis, and I think of the NEW LED techology I immediately think of the biggest advantage being LEDs use much less power to give out the same amount of light. So one would expect that buying a cheap LED 2 AA flashlight would run for a much longer time. RIGHT?

That has not been my experience at all .... my 2 AA LED flashlight (a cheap Walmart Police Security Maven) is burning up batteries in about an hour! I would expect a 2 AA LED flashlight to run longer than the Maglite. But that's not true in this case.

My guess is your going to tell me that the LED light is putting out more light and therefore will burn through batteries rather quickly. But, I'm not noticing any increase in light. Isn't there a flashlight that will replace the Maglite with the same brightness that will run much longer before battery changes? Where is the efficiency gain one would expect with LED light technology?

There are several things here.

1. Output. A LED putting out the same light using the same power will last longer.

2. Batteries. Don't use alkalines. Even the best ones are rubbish and perform badly, they suffer huge voltage sag and very prone to leaking. NiMh rechargeable (such as Sanyo Eneloops) will offer much better performance and of course you just recharge them. Lithium Primaries (Energizer) are non rechargeable but are far superior to alkaline batteries in every regard, much better performance & runtime, don't leak and have a great shelf life.

3. The actual torch. No idea on the one you listed, but any half decent budget 2AA torch will be efficient and brighter.

To sum up, a good torch + good batteries will give you great runtime and/or performance. I think the incan Mini Maglite is rated at about 9 lumens or something. An LED making 50 lumens should last hours and hours and hours. But 2AA is also easily capable of making 200-300 lumens.

xeroid · Jan 9, 2015

This really has nothing to do with Walmart or the $12.98 price tag of the flashlight.

Maven is a best seller!
Travel size, with durable aluminum construction and tactical design.
3 Modes:
High - 130 Lumens
Low- Conserves energy
Flash - Signal for help
Includes 2 AA Alkaline Batteries.

• 130 Lumens
• 3 Hour Effective run time
• Up to 5 hours of continuous run time to 0% battery life. ( May not be true )
• 140m Beam distance
• Soft touch mode change( 3 light displays)
• 3 light settings(High,Low,Flash)
• Cree XPE
• 2 AA batteries
• Strike Bezel
• Water resistant

knfmn · Jan 9, 2015

My experience has been that there have been *huge* changes in flashlight technology, just in the past 5 years, let alone the last 20 years. I'm pushing 40, so I definitely remember when Maglights where just the best thing out there. I got interested in more high end lights about 15 years ago, when SureFire was the greatest thing out there. Now, I'm carrying a Fenix PD22 that takes a single CR123, puts out way more light than the SureFire I used to carry that took two CR123s and can run for about 100 hours on a single battery at its lowest setting. It's kind of awesome.

MidnightDistortions · Jan 9, 2015

Grijon said:
My Fenix E25 (I see they've updated since I bought mine) will run two AA for 72 HOURS on low while putting out considerably more usable light than a AA MiniMag, which I used myself for years; my E25 will also run 55 lumens (much more light than a stock full-size incan C/D-cell Maglite could dream of) for 10 hours. The new E25 bumps those two runtime ratings to 140 and 11 hours, respectively.

+1

to OP: Definitely go for the Fenix E25.

Also are you using alkalines or NiMHs? Need to list your brand name and mAh rating.

Beamhead · Jan 9, 2015

xeroid said:
My guess is your going to tell me that the LED light is putting out more light and therefore will burn through batteries rather quickly.

Nope, I'm going to tell you the cheap light isn't up to spec.

xeroid said:
But, I'm not noticing any increase in light.

I am sitting here with an old school incandescent mag AA and even the free HF 9 LED lights put out more light.

xeroid said:
Isn't there a flashlight that will replace the Maglite with the same brightness that will run much longer before battery changes?

Yes, many, use some of your exuberance and research them.

xeroid said:
This really has nothing to do with Walmart or the $12.98 price tag of the flashlight.

Maven is a best seller!
Travel size, with durable aluminum construction and tactical design.
3 Modes:
High - 130 Lumens
Low- Conserves energy
Flash - Signal for help
Includes 2 AA Alkaline Batteries.

• 130 Lumens
• 3 Hour Effective run time
• Up to 5 hours of continuous run time to 0% battery life. ( May not be true )• 140m Beam distance
• Soft touch mode change( 3 light displays)
• 3 light settings(High,Low,Flash)
• Cree XPE
• 2 AA batteries
• Strike Bezel
• Water resistant

emphasis added by me............

You say you burn through AA cells in an hour, is there any light coming out after an hour? If so it may continue to run at moon level output up to 5 hours. They list it out to 0%, we here use the 50% standard.

reppans · Jan 9, 2015

xeroid said:
But, I'm not noticing any increase in light. Isn't there a flashlight that will replace the Maglite with the same brightness that will run much longer before battery changes? Where is the efficiency gain one would expect with LED light technology?

Sounds like you got ripped off, my AA Minimag measure ~7 lumens. Even a 5$ Sipik does 60lms from 1AA. I've runtime tested a couple mid-priced ($40-65) lights at 8-9 lms for 30 hrs on 1xEneloop (probably run longer on an Alkaline)... and that's current regulated.

ForrestChump · Jan 9, 2015

rivermobster said:
I think your problem is Walmart...

Chicken Drumstick · Jan 9, 2015

xeroid said:
This really has nothing to do with Walmart or the $12.98 price tag of the flashlight.

Maven is a best seller!
Travel size, with durable aluminum construction and tactical design.
3 Modes:
High - 130 Lumens
Low- Conserves energy
Flash - Signal for help
Includes 2 AA Alkaline Batteries.

• 130 Lumens
• 3 Hour Effective run time
• Up to 5 hours of continuous run time to 0% battery life. ( May not be true )
• 140m Beam distance
• Soft touch mode change( 3 light displays)
• 3 light settings(High,Low,Flash)
• Cree XPE
• 2 AA batteries
• Strike Bezel
• Water resistant

Well you are the one complaining. Do yourself a favour, by something better and use some proper batteries. Then be amazed at the slap in the face by reality that you'll receive.

Charles L. · Jan 9, 2015

xeroid said:
This really has nothing to do with Walmart or the $12.98 price tag of the flashlight.

Um, yes it does. But no sense in belaboring the point -- please either try one of the lights mentioned in this thread, or do your own research and find one that interests you. You haven't approached SOTA flashlight technology yet.

xeroid · Jan 10, 2015

There really isn't much to these small flashlights. Looking at the Fenix E25, there really isn't much difference. They both use the same LED CREE XPE, are driven by the same power 2-AAs, both have 3 intensity modes & a flashing mode, and both are made with solid aluminum bodies. The switch location is only real difference I see.

So maybe I'm just not realizing that the light is indeed brighter than the old MiniMag, and using better batteries will make any light seem a whole lot better. Maybe that's why Fenix E25 recommends using Ni-MH batteries. :sssh:

reppans · Jan 10, 2015

xeroid said:
There really isn't much to these small flashlights. Looking at the Fenix E25, there really isn't much difference. They both use the same LED CREE XPE, are driven by the same power 2-AAs, both have 3 intensity modes & a flashing mode, and both are made with solid aluminum bodies. The switch location is only real difference I see.

So maybe I'm just not realizing that the light is indeed brighter than the old MiniMag, and using better batteries will make any light seem a whole lot better. Maybe that's why Fenix E25 recommends using Ni-MH batteries.

I'm utterly astounded that someone that goes to such great depths researching the dangers of Li-ion use in flashlights could compare a Fenix to a Walmart "Maven(?)" in this way..... unless you're troll'n, of course.

mcnair55 · Jan 10, 2015

Buy yourself a Led Lenser P7.2 and a couple of packets of Alkaline,great light and better than that old pony Maglite.

MidnightDistortions · Jan 10, 2015

xeroid said:
There really isn't much to these small flashlights. Looking at the Fenix E25, there really isn't much difference. They both use the same LED CREE XPE, are driven by the same power 2-AAs, both have 3 intensity modes & a flashing mode, and both are made with solid aluminum bodies. The switch location is only real difference I see.

So maybe I'm just not realizing that the light is indeed brighter than the old MiniMag, and using better batteries will make any light seem a whole lot better. Maybe that's why Fenix E25 recommends using Ni-MH batteries.

Did you actually try the Fenix E25 or is it just specs you're looking up?

I only found the light you have on this Walmart site. I can't find it anywhere else and doesn't appear to be on the US website so there's no way i could get one if i wanted to test it out. In all it's a cheap flashlight and despite it using the same LED (if it's even the same LED and not a cheap knockoff), they might be using inferior internals or could be some other factor. Using a charged set of alkalines or NiMHs it won't make much difference other than the alkalines should make the light slightly brighter in the beginning. Again i wouldn't trust Walmart's claim nor the manufacture of this light. There are plenty of better, more reputable flashlight brands out there.

gravelmonkey · Jan 10, 2015

xeroid said:
<snip> Where is the efficiency gain one would expect with LED light technology?

Example figures:
Incandescent bulb = (roughly) 16 lumens per Watt.
Cree XP-E = 148 lumens per Watt.

(Both subject to some reflector/lense etc losses when put inside a flashlight)

xeroid · Jan 10, 2015

Just comparing specs. Yes, only available in Canadian Walmart stores. You say "in all it's a cheap flashlight despite it using the same LED etc etc" So you speculate that because it comes from Walmart, = specs must be lying?

Beamhead · Jan 10, 2015

xeroid said:
Just comparing specs. Yes, only available in Canadian Walmart stores. You say "in all it's a cheap flashlight despite it using the same LED etc etc" So you speculate that because it comes from Walmart, = specs must be lying?

It doesn't use the same driver/circuit....................that is where the rubber meets the road, :welcome: but do some research.

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