Lidl AAA Zoomie

Just reviewed the “bigger sister”, the 2xAA zoomie flashlight from LIDL :stuck_out_tongue:
Here: “REVIEW”: Livarnolux 314791 – Push-Pull Zoomie Flashlight – 2xAA – Cheap – From LIDL!!! =) :+1:

Check your local LIDL - these lights are back! There are some in stock at my local store, here in western France, so probably being stocked in a few more. Bought one in great excitement for €3.99, and was pleasantly surprised by the light. It is certainly well built, though my beam is not artefact-free. But for the money they’re a great small zoomie to throw in the car. I’m going back to get a few more for the kids for sure.

It seems they won’t ever come to Poland…

Same thing here :zipper_mouth_face:
I have 2xAA lights from there, but would like to try one of these small ones if they arrived to our stores :weary:

Hope to find the little AAA here in Italy… :slight_smile:

Could i know this torch’s size?

They’re back!!!
Last week i saw them again in several of our local Lidl shops in the Netherlands, €2.99 each. Bought two of them and today again two
after examining the two i bought last week.
There is a small plastic label on the keyring which states the type number. It says Livarno TL273. Manufacturing date May 2018.
Dimensions are: 85 mm long and 2.15/1.6 mm wide.
I’m quite happy with them, certainly for this price. Unbelievable, i wonder how long they will last.

Thanks for the heads up! Bought a couple.

EDIT: this really is not a half bad light.
I’ve paid more than this for really rubbish lights.

Have they ever been sighted in german stores? NL isn’t far away from me, not even an hour by car, but I cannot justify spending an extra on gasoline just for the fun of it. Still curious. I like AAA lights.

Maybe you can suggest your wife to go shopping in the Netherlands for a change. Coming weekend will be fine weather as well.
Wife happy, you happy that’s a win-win.

There’s one catch: No wife.

Otherwise I’d have taken her with me to have a good time in the beautiful towns of the Netherlands.

I suddenly remember that it's a bit odd because the distrbution center is in Germany in Bretten (D-75015)
i noticed it on the label on the keyring and at the back of the package.

It says: Mellert SLT GMBH & Co. KG
Langenmorgen 2 D-75015 Bretten

e-mail: kundenservice@mellert-slt.com

Maybe you can contact them.

I'll try to upload a picture but i have to find out how to do that.

In post number 15 of this thread there are two pics, in the second picture you can see the address on the right.

Thanks, Tejo.

I had a look at the folders, there’s currently the Laverno LiIon light on sale that we have in the Lidl-shops also. Maybe there actually was this AAA light in the shops. In the future, I’ll have a look at their brochures before disposing them :smiley:

Edit: Ah, thanks for the pointer to #15 - there’s no german text on the package. Impossible to sell over here.

Yesterday I had a surprise when I arrived at home!!
Henk4U2 contacted me some days ago telling me that he sent me a light! Any clue of what light was it?

Yes, it was a Livarnolux TL273! :partying_face:

I have to say - eventually repeat - that this is nice little flashlight :o It is really robust, seems like tank! I wasn’t expecting this level of quality in such a small flashlight, that is made for wide public consumption, sold in a supermarket. But, having 2 other Livarnolux flashlights, I was also expecting that it might be good!

In some aspects you know this is a “non-expensive” light, like on the led/pcb, the hollow pill or the UI.
But the anodization, even the lens, the clip and the overall feel…you know that it has some good qualities.

Below I will leave some photos !
But before that, I want to thank again, to Henk4U2 for his kindness and for sending me a light that otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get around here. :partying_face: :+1: :beer:


High

Medium

Low

:sunglasses:

Great work Wim !

Thanks to neBstress who has given his Lidl zoomie to me I am able to write a few words about it. :slight_smile:

Here’s this light with my other small zoomies for size reference:

From left to right:

  • On The Road i3 (16340)
  • cheap AA zoomie (AA)
  • Skywolfeye B18 (AA)
  • Coast HP2 (AAA)
  • Led Lenser P3 AFS P (AAA)
  • Lidl zoomie (AAA)
  • Skywolfeye B16 (AAA)
  • Skywolfeye E522 (AAA)
  • Nebo Poplite (3xLR44)

Now with my other AAA-sized lights

From left to right:

  • Coast HP2
  • Led Lenser P3 AFS P
  • Lidl zoomie
  • Skywolfeye B16
  • Skywolfeye E522
  • Peak Eiger Ultra
  • Astrolux A01
  • Sofirn C01S
  • Thrunite Ti3
  • Trustfire Mini3

I’d like to compare it with Skywolfeye B16 which up to now was the best AAA zoomie in my collection.
As you can see, the lidl zoomie is quite a bit larger. It is also significantly brigher as stock, the LED clearly has a larger die.
The spot size is about the same, I can’t tell which is larger but the Lidl one is brighter, I measure 2.16 kcd, compared to 1.46 kcd of Skywolfeye.
Lidl zoomie has a huge yellow halo in the throw beam. It’s there in flood as well, but then it’s only a minimal part of the beam.
Each beam has some rings in the beam, I would say they are not very bad in either case but Skywolfeye is better here as well, overall quite good.

The zooming action is very stiff on the Lidl zoomie, much stiffer than with my other AAA zoomies. The stiffer movement is probably caused by tighter o-ring and may result in better waterproofing, but I haven’t tested that. I like fast zooming lights and this one just doesn’t meet this requirement. I guess I’ll remove the o-ring so it will be fine. Skywolfeye is a bit stiffer than I like but I would say it’s good enough.

UI is hopeless in both cases:

  • high-mid-low-sos-strobe without memory for the Lidl zoomie
  • high-low-strobe with next mode memory for Skywolfeye

Each of the light is easily moddable, they have alu pills and no glue. Skywolfeye pill is hollow, I don’t know about the Lidl one.
Anodization…neither light has anodized threads. Overall anodization of Skywolfeye is good, a bit matte, seems to hold up quite well. It clearly punches above its price in this regard. Anodization of Lidl zoomie looks poor, typical for a low end light. It’s missing from some edges straight off the box.

Summing up, for unmodded light Skywolfeye wins for me. The smaller size matches lower performance, but higher build quality is a win for me.
For a modding host, it depends. I Lidl’s larger lens will probably give more throw. If it has a good pill, it may be thermally better. But Skywolfeye’s higher build quality will remain and it should offer better performance-to-size.

So this challenger failed to win over my favourite. I still consider Skywolfeye B16 to be the best AAA zoomie out there. I still can’t stop wondering how a brand like Skywolfeye managed to produce something so mediocre (as opposed to the rubbish that they tend to make). And I still can’t stop wondering how came that seemingly nobody decided to produce something better.

Thanks neBstress!

Glad you got the flashlight Agro :wink:
And thanks for your comparison and opinion on the different lights! The Skywolfeye is actually pretty compact from your photo :wink:

The pill from the Lidl Zoomie (both the AAA and the 2xAA versions) is hollow. The best way to improve it using a bit of aluminium or copper to fill that hole and help on any eventual heat dissipation (if modded with a FET driver, as example).

Your Trustfire Mini3 caught my eye too :+1:

SKYWOLFEYE Portable Lighting Mini XPE LED Flashlight Torch Outdoor Lamp Zoomable Pen Light with Keychain for AAA Battery B16
Sorry, this item is no longer available!

{aliexpress}

I wouldn’t call B16 compact. It’s a fair size for what it delivers, but it could certainly be smaller.
Mini3 is compact, definitely. When I look at it next to the Led Lenser it surely looks like they are a different size class…despite actually using the same cell. And this Led Lenser model is discontinued - all Led Lenser zoomies with TIR that you can buy today are even larger than that.

I tracked B16 prices some time ago and most of my links are deal but some still work:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32979680736.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/33058837654.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32968305138.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/4000165564442.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/33007365832.html