Dorcy LED AAA-Very nice and Bright for 6 bucks!

I try not to create duplicate threads, but there seems to not be a clear thread on the Dorcy AAA led flashlight.

I bought one of these last night, after searching at my local Wal-mart's "Wall of Flashlights" for about 15 minutes. This light was hard to find, and I almost gave up looking for it. You would think that there would only be so many places to hide, in an 8 foot by 6 foot section of the shelf.



I was hoping to find the 1AA, 3LED Dorcy, but, no luck.

Well, I picked out a gold one, and threw it into my basket. "Why am I buying this 6 buck Wal-mart light" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif,I thought, "I have 8 ARC AAA,s 3 Inova Microlights, a bag full of dollar Coincell lights, About 6 CMG O4's (the discontinued ones with the constant on switch) and other lights, why am I buying another light? (EDIT-ANSWER, CAUSE IT WAS THE CHEAPEST LIGHT YOU BOUGHT IN A LONG TIME, AND YOU ARE A FLASHOHOLIC!)

I will let someone else do a full review with screen shots etc, but let me say, that when I put that 1 AAA battery into the light, it was easily the WHITEST, BRIGHTEST, LARGEST SPOT of any single NICHIA 5mm LED that I own.

Of course a comparison to the ARC has to be done.

Sadly, I have to say, that, both with fresh batteries, the Dorcy was Wider, brighter, and larger hot spot and side spill than my 2nd edition CPF Arc AAA. (I think the 2nd edition CPF AAA was either version 3.0 or 3.1 of the ARC AAA revision). (I have a brand new ARC arriving in the mail any day, and will test the Dorcy again to the newest ARC AAA when it arrives (before giving the ARC away as a gift). The ARC was very close in brightness, but it was clear that the Dorcy was brighter.

Now physically, give me the ARC any day, esp on a keyring. I will not be testing this out, but I would think that the Dorcy would not hold up long term, on a keychain. We all know and have proven ourselves, that the ARC is built like a tank. Als0, the ARC is shorter and thinner than the Dorcy, something that is important for a keychain light.

Turning off the ARC AAA, and letting the Dorcey AAA run constantly for about 2.5 hours, the Dorcy seemed to be about the same brightness as a fresh (with only a couple of minuets on it) ARC AAA.

Tonight I will load both lights (all three if my new one is waiting on my doorstep when I get home!) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif with fresh batteries and do a hour by hour comparison of the lights.

How will I use the Dorcy? Well, for me, the ARC AAA, at 25.00 plus shipping, is too expensive to just give away. But heck, at just over 6 bucks plus tax, Both my Nephews will be getting a "just for no reasion" gift the next time I see them.

This is easily one the the very few, "true flashoholic worthy" flashlights on the Wal-Mart isle. (The other one being the Brinkmann Legend LX.

I remember the SureFire/Brinkmann Legend LX comparisons of a couple of years ago:

Why buy a 60 dollar SureFire when you can buy a 20 dollar Brinkmann? - The Brinkmann is actually brighter than the E2 or G2 (or so the disucssion threads argued anyway!)

I think that SureFire/Brinkmann Analogy will be very similar to the upcomong Dorcy/ARC debate.

The things that go through my mind, is this, "Is the Dorcy a Nichia 5MM LED?" We already know that the ARC is overdriven to give us more light, so much that some people have described the overdriving color "Angry Blue", and I have always thought that ARC was driving their hand picked Nichia's at very close to the maximum brightness that the Nichia's could be driven, so how did Dorcy get theirs to be brighter?

man i love them dorcys but there so hard to find.i hope they havent been discontined

Where is the 1AA/3LED, and the 2AA/4LED????????

The world wants to know !

Our Jackson, Tn. Wally World had about a dozen 1 AAA/1LED in stock today.

I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home from work tonight, and bought one too. I've been looking for them for several months now, but our local Wal-Mart never had them in stock. I'm rather impressed with it too, but it definitely won't replace my ARC AAA as my EDC keychain light. I doubt it would last six months of daily carry in my pocket. It is slightly brighter than my ARC, but considerably bigger.

The Meijer store across the road from our Wal-Mart has had several of the different Dorcy LED lights for a month or two, including the 2 AA/4 LED, but they don't carry the 1-AAA light.

-Keith

[ QUOTE ]
JohnK said:
Where is the 1AA/3LED, and the 2AA/4LED????????


[/ QUOTE ]

I am waiting too!

The Dorcy AAA, with a fresh battery, was ALMOST as bright (say a good 80-85%) as my Streamlight Clipmate, with 3 5MM Nichia's.

That was pretty impressive!

Can anybody say "Group Buy ? "

the Dorcy AAA is indeed a great light for $6.. but the Arc AAA isn't supposed to be as bright, so it's not a contest..

i would reccomend the Dorcy AAA to anyone who needs something small and bright and doesn't need to spend the $20+ to get the Arc AAA's durability, etc.

I went looking for beamshots of the Dorcy but was unsuccessful. Is the beam the same as the Arc AAA or is it more of a spot?

There are allot of people that like my Arc AAA but don't like the price. I could very easily give the $6 dorcy as a gift and to them it is WAY better -- simply cause it is brighter -- than my $25 Arc.

This hobby is so hard for me to explain to people.

Simple question...where can you get one in the UK...???

Seems to be one that I have to ask far, far too often. Especially given that the answer's right in front of me someplace in this case!

cue, I don't have a beam shot, but my two Dorcys are brighter. The Dorcy has a diffuse hot spot formed by the convex lens, and a smooth corona, or side spill. The Arc is less pronounced in the hot spot.

Side by side with two Arc AAAs (Std., not premium), ah, not a lot of difference, unless you are looking at a white wall, which I don't do much.
A nice light for the bucks, and the Arc doesn't have the tailcap clickie momentary, a BIG plus for the Dorcy.

I think the 1 AA/3LED and 2 AA/4LED will be the biggies, an alternative to the Opalec drop in at much less cost.

I have seen this question asked a dozen or more times with no answer; WHAT is the 1 AA/3LED, and the 2 AA/4LED retailing for ? And where ? These two do not replicate any major light manufacturer (OEM) in format. They will SELL like hotcakes.

[ QUOTE ]
cue003 said:
I went looking for beamshots of the Dorcy but was unsuccessful. Is the beam the same as the Arc AAA or is it more of a spot?

[/ QUOTE ]
Dorcy 1AA 3LED vs. Arc AAA and Dorcy 1AA 3LED vs. Dorcy AAA - Courtesy of Lak
Dorcy AAA vs. Arc AAA vs. Ultra G - Courtesy of Unknown VT
Dorcy AAA vs. Dorcy AAA vs. Arc AAA vs. Ultra G - Courtesy of Unknown VT

I don't know if I got a bright ArcAAA or not, but it destroys my CMG Ultra-G, and is just as bright as my DorcyAAA, only with a smoother, less ringy beam. My ArcAAA is one of the newest ones with the writting down the side (thanks thisisnascar!)
The dorcy though is great for the money and very bright like everyone says. Also great for mods! UV LED is going into mine!

i also got a very bright Arc AAA from TIN.. he's picky tho, so you know it'll be quality! *lol*

Thanks for the info and the links. When you guys refer to the ArcAAA you do mean the STD version and not the Premium right?

Will the Premium produce different results?

Thanks.

no doubt this is a good adv for this 1 AAA LED light and you done better than Dorcy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

seem very much VFM.(value for money)

gee...e...e i start to peep on it now!

JohnK,
Here is a place that sells the Dorcy you were asking about.
http://www.coolflashlights.com/LED-Lights.html

I bought one at Wal-Mart... must have been 3 or 4 months ago. Gave it to my mother. Went back to buy more, but haven't seen them since.

Not quite as good a beam or as "white" as an ARC AAA, nor as compact. But pretty darn good, especially considering the price.

Well I loaded two fresh AAA Rayovac batteries in both my ARC CPF (2nd edition) and the Dorcy.

To use another analogy, for light output only, these two lights were like two horses, running neck and neck on a race.

It started off, where the Dorcy was brighter than the ARC.

Now I forgot to mention this earlier, but even though the ARC website says this:
==============
Also note: we use the brightest 5mm white LEDs on the market- special binned Nichias. However, the beams are not perfect. There will be tint variations, geometry variations, etc.
==============

My ARC(my CPF White one) beam output is perfectly even, with a slight "cross" appearing in the "hot spot". The ARC (EDIT I said ARC, but I MEANT TO SAY DORCY, so it is the DORCY that has a slightly uneven beam EDIT ) has some minor uneven spots in the beam, but overall is pretty smooth, just not perfect.

After a while (about two hours, the ARC seemed slightly brigher, but again, just slightly. Again, this was a neck to neck race.

The ARC did seem to be just a bit blue-er than the Dorcy. My new ARC did not arrive in the mail yesterday, so I could not compare the Dorcy to a current ARC.

My recommendation:
I do not think that there is an equal to the ARC AAA, for rugedness, warantee, and reliability, and low cost of operation. For EDC use, get the ARC. I have one on my keychain (The Turquoise, talk about bright! but that is another post!)

Coincell lights are nice, but are more expensive to feed, and loose their brightness early on, in their battery life, but do offer a "key sized-weighs almost nothing" light, when even the ARC AAA might not be acceptable to the owner.

Now, the Dorcy AAA would be nice to give as gifts, put on NON EDC keychains, throw in a travelbag, use as night markers, etc.

It is nice to have this option around. I remember once, when traveling, I lost my ARC for a short while (I found it, it was inbetween the cushions in the couch of the hotel I was staying in) and it was not a nice feeling. Loosing a Dorcy would be MUCH LESS traumatic, so one could say that the Dorcy is Expendable! (Like Rambo!)

Well, Wally World sells the 1/AAA for 40% less than the coolflashlight site, so, the same reduction would give a Wally World price for the 1 AA/3LED at about $ 10.80, the 2 AA/4LED at about $ 14.40 or so.

That beats $ 17.95, and $ 24.95 + shipping for sure.

It sounds like there is a baby chicken around here, can you hear it ? Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap................

Well, my "new version" of the ARC AAA came in the mail yesterday, and I am happy to say, that my new ARC AAA (it is a gift, si I will not be keeping it) does appear to be slightly brighter than the other two lights.

So, please realist that all three are pretty close in brightness output, but with new a new battery, here is my eye's view of the brightness output:

Brightest
1. NEW ARC AAA (just purchased 1-16-04)
2. Dorcy AAA
3. ARC CPF "LE Second edition"