Stanley MaxLife 369 Tripod

filkergem

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I was in an unusual part of Walmart for me the other day, and ran across a very interesting light, the Stanley MaxLife 369 Tripod. You can see it's specs here http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?TYPE=PRODUCT&PARTNUMBER=95-112 It is a clever variant on the 369 Flashlight reviewed here: http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/second/stanley1.htm - the tubes that the batteries go in are hinged to allow them to work as legs of a tripod and the head is apparently hinged more to permit pointing it in other directions. You can use it like a regular flashlight or as a self-standing light. I didn't get it right then, but I was sorely tempted to put one in my car for changing tires- it's sized like a D-cell light, so not as handy as the Dorcy AAA or River Rock headlamop I was planning to put beside the Cyclops. We'll see if I can resist it the next trip to Walmart.

Has anyone else tried one of them? It claims up to 200 hours on 1 LED and 9 batteries, and I forget how little time on only 3 batteries and all 6 lights.
 

DUQ

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I was just looking at both the small and large version today at Home Depot. I was with the better half, so none of them ended up in the cart ;) Kinda handy lookin.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I saw it at Kmart and shrugged when I saw the price tag. It seemed like a waste of a tripod for the output of a few meager 5mm LEDs, With 9AAs they could have put at least 12 LEDs in it.... perhaps 24 would be worth it.
 

filkergem

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Hmm. How much did Kmart want for it? Walmart wanted $22.46 or something similar - not a bad price, I thought. Very flexible light, with the three light levels and the clever tripod built in. Of course, it'd take a lot of cheap AA batteries to fill the thing.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I don't recall how much Kmart wanted..... perhaps $25. You only need 3 batteries to use it I think.. LEDmuseum.org did a review on one without the tripod awhile back I think.
I like the idea of an LED worklight but so far most are woefully underpowered with just a few 5mm LEDs or overpriced using 30 white LEDs at $60 or so.
 

Silviron

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They have been at my Walmart for a month... I started to pick one up when I first saw them, but I thought I'd see what CPF thought of themn first... Did a search then, but no hits....

Well, I decided to pick one up today, and then when I got home, fond not only this thread but another....

Well, anyway, here is my mini-review:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While the concept is neat, the execution IMHO leaves much to be desired. Here is what I found:

With one leg filled (3AAs) Lux readings @ 1 meter:
1 LED : 26 LUX
3 LED : 61 LUX
6 LED : 121 LUX

All three legs filled: (9AAs)
1 LED : 26 LUX
3 LED : 65 LUX
6 LED : 135 LUX

So, contrary to the blurb on the package, it is a little brighter with all the batteries with 3 & 6 LEDS, the 1 LED is the same.

Throw?
One LED / about 10-12 ft of useful brightness... Enough to get around the house in a blackout, or walk slowly through the woods. Three LEDs not much more throw, a little more brightness though.

With all 6 LEDS running maybe 30 ft of useful throw.

I don't even know how to describe the beam. I don't like it myself, but other people may.

Here are some beamshots: The light is one meter from a 20X30 inch white foam board with the dot grid on 2 inch squares, and the words RED GREEN BLUE written in those colors with a Sharpie felt pen of the appropriate color. The camera is about 1.5 meters from the target, with F stop 2.8 and exposure length 1/60th second for each shot. The images should be pretty close to reality, depending on your monitor settings. All done with a full 9 fresh AA alkaline cells operating.

The first shot is with one LED on:
1ledsm.jpg



The next is with three LEDs operating:
3ledsm.jpg



And this one is with all 6 LEDS on:
6ledsm.jpg


And this one, the light is about one foot away from the target to show the kind of weird beam pattern, with six LEDs operating:
pattern.jpg


As you can see there are a lot of artifacts that may or may not be distracting to you.

As a worklight, ... say for wrenching on your car, the the 3 LED setting is barely, barely adequate for non-detail work. 6 LEDS almost adequate, but leaves much to be desired. My Petzl Myo 5 headlamp with the 5 LED beam is better.

It isn't a positive mechanical latch that holds the tripod legs in when you are using it as a handheld. Just a couple of small magnets,,, and they don't hold very securely. the "open" button just slides the little rod that the magnets are on out away from the little steel buttons on the tripod legs. All in all, that setup is a waste of materials and manufacturing steps IMO. Coulda just used solid mounted magnets if that is the way they wanted to go... I suppose a mechanical latch would have either had to been more bulky or would have been to delicate for extensive use. so I don't know which would be preferable in the long run.

In the hand, it feels like holding a M*G 3D, except a little softer grip due to the rubber center. Length is about an inch shorter then the 3D, so, about halfway between the 3D and the 2 D.

The lens/optical assembly is held on with a rubber? bezel and three small TORX screws. I think a #4... This may be important, as this light is just begging for a modification. I'm not sure what LEDs are in it, but the new 18,000 MCD Nichias should be one way to improve it....

I just opened up the head... Man, there is a lot of electronics in there.... Considering the battery configuration, I don't see the point. Ten transistors two ICs and assorted capacitors and resistors. wow.

I took some photos of the electronics.. but I have to crop them down a bit before posting... Probably be able to post them in a little while.
 

Silviron

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OK, Here are the electronics shots.
DSCN2062_small.JPG

Click for larger view

DSCN2064_small.JPG

Click for larger view

DSCN2066_small.JPG

Click for larger view

I can't figure out what all these electronics are for. On that last photo of the reflector assembly, there are 2 transistors per side, for a total of 6 there (plus 4 more on the other board).

Seems like with this battery configuration, they would just go for direct drive with a current dropping resistor rather than all this stuff. Even assuming that the switch is not a mechanical four way but an electronic one, why would you need ten transistors , two ICs and assorted caps and resistors???

Ok, there is a low battery indicator (3mm red LED) but even that shouldn't require all this.

Oh well, I'll leave it to you guys that understand circuits better than I to figure this one out.
 

Komodo693

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I got one for work - lighter in weight than a 2d maglite, brighter up close within 20 ft - but after that the light really drops off.
Would be an interesting light if someone figures out how to change the leds out - could probably fit a bunch of 1 watt luxeons in there.
 

Silviron

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I ripped it apart a little further and did some experimentation. If you are interested in some of the deeper technical stuff, and more photos of the 'guts'

LOOK HERE
 

Blinding

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I like the design of the Tripod; difficult aiming most flashlights where you want them. Love the long run time. The brightness did not impress me.

I have a bunch of the 26,000 mcd 5mm leds and after reading here that this light could be opened I went ahead and replaced all 6. It is now at least twice as bright and much more usable.

Some notes on how to upgrade it. The top opens easily with the correct bit. The reflector has two plastic tabs inserted into the board and melted in place. Not that difficult to remove. The LEDs are soldered into a board. Most of them have polarity markings on the component side of the board and the others can be inferred as all connect to a common trace.

Warning! Remove all the batteries before working on the board. I managed to blow one of those transistors. The on/off switch isn't a hard off so it will NOT protect you. Apparently others have had the same problem. I managed to scrounge another transister from my junk box and got it working again.

I wish I had two of them so I could remove the lense and reflector on one and do a side by side comparison. I don't believe they do much good with this type of LED. I also agree with others that with 9xAA batteries this could have had more, and therefor brighter, LEDs.
 

DSpeck

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I got one of these for Christmas (it was on my list :) ), and was disappointed in the output of the light. I knew it could be modded, so I took all the guts out, and replaced them with a uFlex board from TaskLED (georges80), and an older Q3J 1W Luxeon. I used an SO17XA reflector, and made the heatsink out of a piece of 1/8" aluminum plate I had. I could have simply wired 3 Lux I's in parallel, but I wanted to preserve the long runtime aspect of this light. I even re-used the existing pushbutton switch, so it keeps the watertightness of the original configuration.

Dimming, long runtime, good beam - much improved over the original, I think... and it still looks interesting... :) ;)
 

fstedie

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I took the guts of the Costco headlamp (with a K2 LED)and upgraded my weak Stanley Tripod light with them. You don't get the best flashlight but I like the tripod feature and the fact that it holds 9 batteries.

DSCN0299.JPG

DSCN0300-1.JPG
 

TorchBoy

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I took the guts of the Costco headlamp (with a K2 LED)and upgraded my weak Stanley Tripod light with them. You don't get the best flashlight but I like the tripod feature and the fact that it holds 9 batteries.
Beauty mod! It's a torch that's just crying out to be modified. With mine I replaced the first LED with a brighter one, and now there's no change in brightness between the first two settings - it might even get a tad dimmer when it changes from the bright single to the three dim LEDs.

What I really want to do is put in three Crees and optics. There's very nicely enough room for them, but what to do about heat when I turn it on high?
 

leprechaun414

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I have one of these and its not very durable if you use it as a work light. I dropped it od a 6 foot ladder and it did not survive the drop test. One leg is permently detached. The only good thing is that it can still be powered by the other two. Other than that it is a cool light more lite projects.

My 2 Cents
 

fstedie

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What I really want to do is put in three Crees and optics. There's very nicely enough room for them, but what to do about heat when I turn it on high?

You're right, there is plenty of room, I took out the stock LED board and installed the headlamp's driver electronics inside the housing. The Costco headlight is a luxeon LED with a small heatsink so it should be OK temp wise for a while.
 

Sigman

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I saw these lights at one of our local Costco stores marked down to $15. I didn't see it mentioned in the thread (maybe I skipped over it?). I've not evaluated the light, therefore don't know if it's a good deal or not (therefore not posted in the "Good Deals" at the CPFM).

Just thought the info was relevant to the thread, eh? :thinking:
 

2jzpower

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I just did a motor swap in my Friend's Sentra....

To say the least THIS SUCKS!!!!!!
ok... where to start... this thing is too dark to be used swapping motors...
the latch mechanism also broke... the legs won't close anymore...
also up close there is no sidespill so it's a pain to use as a work light...


honestly i'd rather have bought a cheap AA powered flourescent light...

we also had 2 dual strip PC flourescent droplights... much better
 

bigfoot

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I have one of these lights and it's handy when the power goes out. You can just put the light in the middle of a room or on a counter and have adjustable light where you need it.

Although I received mine as a gift, the price I've seen for these in Wal-Mart and other places seems pretty high for what you get.

I like it, but not for anything outdoors or something requiring a good deal of light.
 
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