River Rock .5 watt AAA Beam Pattern

dehnehsu · Oct 21, 2005

Yet another post on the River Rock.

I've opened up 4 different .5 watt River Rock's. (I was lucky to even find them in the Bay Area) I've never seen a decent smooth beam on any of them. Is this common? I know not to expect a lot, it's only a $10 penlight with a teenie reflector. One I kept has a small dark donut hole in it's blob like spot, and another has a yellow spot in the middle of the blue/white corona. It looks like an egg sunny side up when it's viewed on a white wall. Some of the others I looked at had a small blob of yellow in it as well. Is this part of the LED phosphor? Anyone else have this in their River Rock's? Yellow colors and blobs aside, it is a bright little Flashlight.

srvctec · Oct 21, 2005

dehnehsu said:
Yet another post on the River Rock.

I've opened up 4 different .5 watt River Rock's. (I was lucky to even find them in the Bay Area) I've never seen a decent smooth beam on any of them. Is this common? I know not to expect a lot, it's only a $10 penlight with a teenie reflector. One I kept has a small dark donut hole in it's blob like spot, and another has a yellow spot in the middle of the blue/white corona. It looks like an egg sunny side up when it's viewed on a white wall. Some of the others I looked at had a small blob of yellow in it as well. Is this part of the LED phosphor? Anyone else have this in their River Rock's? Yellow colors and blobs aside, it is a bright little Flashlight.

Mine kind of looked like this as well- that's why I put some Write Rite on the lens to smooth out the beam.

See post here http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1087270&postcount=23

OR the entire thread here http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=92270

setherd · Oct 21, 2005

I just bought one the other day, I love it! I am suprized at teh beam quality for $10. I have a great white hotspot, maybe...maybe a touch of blue in it. this then even ly transitions to a nice bit of side spill.
I am using this a light now as for most things I dont need 30-200 lumens of light.
as a matter of fact I just used it about 15minutes when I got up in the middle of the night to take a sleeping pill and come post here

any other light of mine would have been too bright

goldenlight · Oct 21, 2005

Mine is very, very blue, with a blotchy hotspot. A decent amount of spill light.

Mine lives in one of the cup holders of my new car; I bought a silver one so I can see it in the dark; it makes for a pretty decent light for a quick look around the froont seats. I had a small, cheap 2 AA flashlight velcro'd to the dash on my old Honda, but this car doesn't have any place to put one.

cratz2 · Oct 21, 2005

I have three of them... the LED on one is less centered than the other two though I got the three best in the store at the time. The color uniformity isn't outstanding throughout the beam, but the beam shape itself, I don't have any issues with... and there isn't anything I would describe as a donut hole... maybe just the slightest spot where the light is less uniform...

But, no one would ever notice it in real world use, only when shining on a while wall from less than two feet or so. VERY acceptable for a $10 light in my opinion.

Flying Turtle · Oct 21, 2005

The beam pattern on mine has a good shape and no blotchiness. The RR headlamp was a little strange, though. Just turning the bezel a bit seemed to "focus" the light better. Maybe a slight bezel adjustment is possible with the flashlight.

Geoff

BlackDecker · Oct 21, 2005

I have 2 of these lights, and both definitely are in the bluer end of the light spectrum. They both have slightly off center LED's, but it doesn't appear to affect light output.

I didn't buy these lights for throw, but for spill and light weight for use on backpacking trips. An excellent light for $10 as all have attested.

flashlite · Oct 21, 2005

I have a RR 2C 1.5w that has a yellow/tan spot. The 2C has an optic as opposed to a reflector, so I guess that's why the yellow/tan tint that I have is smoothed out over the entire beam (inside the blue halo created by the optic) rather than an un-uniform/spotty beam like you describe.

I kind of like the yellow/tan tint over the typical blue tint because it picks up colors better - more like an incan. I was wondering the same thing though. Is this caused by too much phosphor? Am I sacrificing total output? If tints can't be avoided but they can be controlled, why don't more LED manufacturers go for tints in the yellow spectrum rather than the blue spectrum?

cratz2 · Oct 22, 2005

Yeah, my RR 2C 1.5 watter has a very tan ring around a pretty white hotspot. I would rather no ring be present at all, but all things considered, it's a pretty cool light. Some don't like the very limited beam pattern, but I can see uses for it, esp in hunting situations.

dehnehsu · Oct 24, 2005

srvctec, Thanks for the tip on the Write Rite. I smoothed out my donut hole by covering the lens with some clear static cling material. I just roughed up the surface a bit with some fine sandpaper to diffuse the light and it evened out the beam nicely. I'll pick up some Write Rite if I can find it on the shelf cheap somewhere. The eggs sunny side up on my silver River Rock went back to Target for a refund because the yellow bugged the heck out of me. You could always see that big yellow blob on anything you flashed the light on, including dark surfaces.

River Rock .5 watt AAA Beam Pattern

dehnehsu

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srvctec

Flashlight Enthusiast

setherd

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goldenlight

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cratz2

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Flying Turtle

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BlackDecker

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flashlite

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cratz2

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dehnehsu

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