Photon LED lights - differences in Generations

Do the three different Photon generations also have different LED's or are they equal bright?
While the PhotonIII is a bit to fancy in my opinion what is the difference between the PhotonII and I?
I thought there was also a Photon UV available, is that one a I,II or III?

What is the general opinion on these, are they worht their money?

The original Photon II white-led version came with a Nichia with a wider beam angle and considerably less total brightness than the current versoin. Also, they started gold-plating the LED leads somewhere along the way, to improve contact.

I bought one of those old white P2's and later I asked about buying one of the newer leds for it and they sent me a new led for free if I canfind it. I still have the old led and will send it to you if you're collecting them or something. The leads are trimmed to fit the P2 so it's not so great for other purposes, and by today's standards it's not such a good led to begin with.

Thanks for your offer - I am not collecting them, only thinking about grabbing some of them as solid&cheap keyring lights with lots of different color choices.

[ QUOTE ]
(...)and by today's standards it's not such a good led to begin with.

[/ QUOTE ]
Do you say that they cannot compare to other LED keyrings in terms of quality&output?

Simplest cheapest thing to do is buy a bunch of the Countycomm $1.00 lights and a bunch of colored LED's from lsdiodes.com or wherever. Swapping LED's in the Countycomm lights is very easy.

Yes, the CountyComm lights are the best deal for some keychain lights. The Photons are a bit better, but a lot more expensive.

All the photons use the same LEDs, so there is no difference there. They are good quality modern LEDs. You can get a UV LED in any of the different versions of the Photon.

The Photon 1 only lights while you are pressing the switch. The Photon II has a constant-on switch, but is held together by 4 tiny screws which make battery changes a pain. Neither of these is that remarkable compared to the competition. The Photon 3 is great if you want something with a lot of features. The electronics give it different brightness modes and flashing, etc. The latest one is called the Freedom Light. It is a slightly more refined version of the Photon 3 and includes a couple of really neat accessories that add some real value.

I suggest you get a Freedom light if you want the best coin cell light and don't mind paying $20 for one. Otherwise, just get the CountyComm lights. But you have to part with $20 for those also (you just get a lot more of them). I have a number of Photons and like them very much.