Mini Trek

Well, I just got my mini trek from CCrane. It has 2 5600 Nichia LED's in it. It uses 3 AAA cells side by side in a triangle pattern. It is brighter than a Photon, well brighter than any single LED light I have seen yet. I took it apart, as usual, and it uses the same led head as the PLW-3 or CCtrek Trek standard LED flashlight. So I swapped the heads and sure enough they were the same and could be replaced with each other. The mini trek has a narrower beam, more standard size, but the PLW-3 has a wide beam. It is a nice little light. I think this might replace my infinity, and it is waterproof.

Brock - http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/led.htm

Great!! I've been waiting for that light to come out too.

One question about the clip, is it a removable or integral part of the body?

On my way to place the order!



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2d_edge

The clip and eyelet at the end of the lgiht are all moulded at once so it isn't removeable. I am serously considering cutting it off to make the light smaller. I will leave the ring and "bite tab" at the end though. I got a black one and it looks like the yellow one at CCranes site
http://www.ccrane.com/mini_trek_light.asp

I took some shots of the mini trek itself
http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/led/minitrek.jpg

Brock

Brock... how does it compare to PLW-3 brightness?

Looking at photos from C.Crane black mini-trek has a different body-end style from the yellow one.



If you don't mind where'd you get your mini-trek?


<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by 2d_edge on 10-15-2000 at 04:45 PM</font>

I got mine right from CCrane. The mini trek has a narrower beam than the PLW3, so it is brighter, but it is a far smaller area of light it lights up. If you have a PLW-3 you can put the led/head part on the mini trek. So that is a really nice feature. I wonder if they make a 3 led head assembly that has a tighter beam of light coming out. I can't adjust the LED's in my PLW-3 because they are epoxyed in place.

As far as having 2 different body styles I think the black one show in the pic is the prototype. They told me they got some last spring, but they had a problem so they case was re-tooled. I bet it was one of those.

Brock

It seems to me that, while a clip is a welcome accessory to a flashlight, one that is part of the overall body would be a liability rather than an enhancement, since it couldn't be replaced if it got snapped off.

In your opinion, how likely is the clip to be snapped off? If you have it clipped to your belt, for instance, and you grabbed for it at an awkward angle? How sturdy does the clip seem to you?

I think the clip is too short to break off. I think if the light caught on something it would spin and then fall off before it broke the clip. If it didn't break, or spin and fall off, I think it would hold you in place, it is a large clip.

Brock

Thanks for replying, Brock.

I wonder how the Mini Trek stacks up against the Princeton Tec 20, which I recently bought on sale at BrightGuy. They look similar in size.

The Tec 20 is WAY brighter, but then again it isn't LED either. If I remember right the mini trek has a burn time of about 24 hours, opposed to 2 on the Tec 20.

Brock

Are we talking a tradeoff between brightness and burn-time in comparing LEDs to regular flashlights? If the number of LEDs in light were increased, to brighten the beam, then the burn-time would decrease accordingly. Correct?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Craig:

In your opinion, how likely is the clip to be snapped off? If you have it clipped to your belt, for instance, and you grabbed for it at an awkward angle? How sturdy does the clip seem to you?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In my opinion, if you have the light clipped to a belt or waistband and then start reefing on it or get it hooked in a doorway, you can kiss the clip goodbye if you ever hear a loud "popping" or "snapping" noise coming from waist-height under these conditions.

Since the clip is physically a part of the flashlight body, it cannot be replaced and you will have to live with what you did for the rest of your life.

I'm guessing the Mini Trek is also waterproof, but I haven't done the dunk test yet. (don't worry, I chose a rusty coffee can instead of a test location that flushes).
For this test, I will replace the LED assembly with the one from a PLW-3, so that in case the thing leaks, I won't ruin the catalyst pellet present in the Mini Trek's retaining ring. The light isn't mine, and I'd prefer I return it to its owner in the same condition it was in when I borrowed it.
That means no snapped-off clip, no snipped-off bite tab, and no soggy catalyst pellets.
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net

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Hey Telephony glad to see you here. I took the mini trek to 10 feet without a problem so you can dunk away

I would expect the 3 LED head to use 1/3 more power than the dual led head. Or is that math wrong, either way I would expect the dual that comes with the mini trek to pull 50ma while the three LED to pull 75 ma on new batteries.

I was wondering about the contacts on the trek style lights and since Telephony (Craig) pointed it out on my light now I believe it will be an issue in the long run. I guess it depends on how long it will take to make the light fail in one way or another.


I personally will be using the mini trek with the 3 led head from the regular trek.

Brock - http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/led.htm

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KenB:
Well darn it, I just a few days ago ordered the Mini Trek but asked them to send me the PLW-3 insert instead of the 2. Darn, Craig why didnt you post the update sooner

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry about that. I posted the info to my website the moment I noticed the problem and took the picture. I spend about 12 to 16 hours a day answering e-mail, around 1 to 2 hours taking pictures and typing web material, another hour filling orders, and anything left I spend here in Candlepower Forums or in front of my television set.

The differences I see between the Mini Trek and the PLW-3 with regards to battery contact wear are as follows:

The PLW-3 uses a stiff vertical copper strap to make contact with the copper plating on the bottom of the PCB. This strap quickly rubs a groove in the PCB, and rides in it like a train wheel on train tracks - carving itself deeper and deeper in the PCB every time you use the light.

The Mini Trek uses a piece of stiff wire to contact its PCB. The wear pattern is a series of shallow diagonal cuts in the solder of the PCB, rather than a continuous groove that's actually being cut into the board of the PLW-3.
So the potential failure mode is somewhat different, plus it should also take longer for the first symptoms to appear - if they appear at all.

It should be possible to rejuvenate a dead or dying PLW-3 by applying a thin layer of solder directly over the groove cut in the board by the battery contact. This should immediately restore operation, but the durability of such a repair is not yet known.

Because you are going to use a new PLW-3 insert in a Mini Trek, you will probably NOT experience the PLW-3's normal failure mode;
but instead you will see some diagonal marks appearing near the edge of the board after awhile. If these marks stay shallow, you may never experience any failure whatsoever.

When a PLW-3 murders itself, it's because of a sharp metal protrusion carving into the board every time you turn the head. The Mini Trek's contact is a piece of wire laying horizontally on a small platform, and doesn't appear to be nearly as deadly or sharp; plus it rubs a larger surface area of the board at any given time, distributing the wear force over a greater area.

This may indeed be the "fix" that was needed for twist-on flashlights. But only time will tell for certain.

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net

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If you wanted to see some distance ahead of you, like if you're walking at night, you'd want the Tec 20. If you were doing close-up work, however, like checking tire pressures in the dark early morning and reading an analog tire gage, you'd be better off with the Mini-Trek. Agreed?