Review: DX Powerlight HX-G011 1W 1xAA (DX sku 2089)

I have two of the black lights but cannot at present find one of them.

116 lux on lightbox for one of the black lights - however, it can't really take an Eneloop as I had to hold down the tailcap, I couldn't get the threads to engage

77 lux for one of the Powerlights

68 lux for the other

All on eneloops charged this week.

Very rough lumen numbers

25 for black light

17 for one powerlight

15 for another.

But I do need to recalibrate this against my one light of known output. I now have my doubts and suspect my lumens readings may be too high.

I suspect that all three might be brighter on alkalines because they have rather low current draw and the small increase in voltage of an alkaline might hold under the loads these lights are putting on them.

167 lux (or about 35 lumens but see above) with the black guy on a new alkaline - but either my alkalines are too long for the spec or this is just a junk light with a tube that's a bit too short - can only just get the threads to engage, there is no question of tightening the cap fully. Will now try with a Duracell. Nope, a junk light but it might function with the cheapest, nastiest cells out there.

Lumens not that bad. Even better than said elswhere. But the battery issue worries me.

But I´ll have to wait to it gets here. Both my rechargeables and my Duracells are exactly

50,5 mm incl 2 pieces of plain paper to preventing shorts when measuring.

Still can't find the other one, but i seem to remember that it worked fine with all the AA cells and NiMHs I threw at it - but I've got one decent one and one shorty for $3, can't say I'm all that bothered other than wondering where I put the good one.


I'm quite excited to receive these $1.48 AA lights from eBay seller digitalzone88, which will henceforth be designated as the BLF Cheapskate's DeLight 1xAA. I agree with Nautic, DX and KD could learn a thing or two from this seller, he shipped on the same day that I ordered. I almost feel guilty paying so little, especially if they work. Anyone want to do a detailed review? Little gems like this are the reason that BLF exists! ;)

Well, I'm getting caught up in this wave too...and in for 2 of the BLF DeLights (running with the new moniker, although taking some edit liberties :)). It'll be fun to see how they turn out. Crossing my fingers I don't get a shorty.

I also received a shipping confirm in short order...now just have to see if it'll arrive in 15-25 days per the estimate in the e-mail!

Received this yesterday : http://www.focalprice.com/LF177B/1W_Mini_Portable_Clip_LED_Flashlight_Torch_Black.html .

To be kept in a lady's purse. Small & cute enough.

Just 7.5 cm !

Beam is brighter than the Powerlight I got from FocalP. Beam is slightly bluish, beam is just as good as Powerlight. Body seems thicker.

Lens better quality than the Powerlight, thought it was glass for a moment.

Preferring it to the Powerlight. Might get 3 more to give away, just $2.65 each.

Did not power on at first, dropped the head on a wooden table-top and it worked perfectly thereafter ! Users at DX say battery sometimes does not make proper contact, body/top is a bit too long, it is a twisty.

Quite happy, if I get about 5 - 6 hrs with a AAA alkaline.

Will try and find a forward clicky tomorrow.

btw : Rom RC-G2 (forward) clicky is available at a online store.

I got a good laugh out of that one. :D

I found the good DeLight but seem to have lost a Preon 2. This is not a good rate of exchange.

It doesn't really get fully dark at this time of year - these shots were taken at about 10:45pm BST (UTC/GMT+1)

Control

BLF DeLight on an alkaline. Must do a comparison shot with the Powerlight. The tree is 50 feet away.

By meter, the shorty is brighter than either of the Powerlights (all on alkalines), but I couldn't fid the one used to take this shot when I was pointing them at a meter.

Thanks Don! Very nice shots! I am expecting my BLF DeLights tomorrow or early next week, I hope they work out well. That is a pretty nice looking bright beam for a $1.48 piece of aluminum.

Ah yes, you guys are really way North there aren't you?

North of Labrador and Moscow but the climate is heavily modified by being an island so it isn't nearly as harsh as could be expected. HAving the Gulf Stream run up the west coast helps a lot too. That said, where I was failing to take beamshots last week, I have personally seen -30C (-22F) and about 28C (82F) max (once, 30 years ago). People die of the heat here when it stays above 25C for any length of time.

The BLF DeLight is definitely brighter than the Powerlight, but is less well made, only one of the two of them is actually usable.

On the lightbox (All of them running cheap alkalines) An Eneloop here would cost about the same as 3 BLF DeLights

DeLight 1 (shorty) 83 lux
DeLight 2 169 lux
Powerlight 1 65 lux
Powerlight 2 72 lux

Will do some runtimes on all 4 of them soonish - they are likely to be very long.

Received my order of two BLF DeLights today from digitalzone88 (shipping to Los Angeles). Ordered on 4/28/10 and received 5/12/10. I'm liking them quite a bit. Pretty good brightness for the price. Quality is good and consistent between the two I ordered. There are scratches/specks/dirt on the lens but the beam/hotspot was still pretty clean. So far so good...looks like a good buy. May buy more!

All with cheap alkalines in them. I thought - turns out there are NiMH in the Powerligts so this isn't a fair test. Will redo tonight

Powerlight 1 285 lux
Powerlight 2 295 lux
DeLight 1 552 lux
DeLight 2 1430 lux

This time, I'm going to use the same cell in all four of them - a well-used Duracell measuring 1.31V - I'm running low on alkalines though i nearly bought a 40 pack at the weekend. I don't approve of disposable batteries though so prefer not to use them. I'll do the same tests with an Eneloop as well. It measures as 1.37V. Also decided to dig out a new alkaline (1.53V) as it seems these lights are heavily voltage dependent - they'd be really good with lithium AAs though it does seem strange using a disposable cell that cost twice as much as the light. For the price I'd put the cheapest alkalines in it and toss the whole thing if the cell leaked.

DeLight 1 is the shorty - I now suspect that it is actually too thick a layer of hard plastic goop that serves as the switch retaining ring because it is exactly the same length as the good one.

The throw measurement is in lux at 1 metre, the output number is in lux


Throw Throw Throw Output Output Output
Light New Alkaline Used Alkaline NiMH New Alkaline Used Alkaline NiMH
DeLight 1 1050 617 985 178 97 163
DeLight 2 1488 836 1457 196 114 180
Powerlight 1 328 185 288

92

61 80
Powerlight 2 310 167 239 98 59 77

Just for fun since Mr. Shorty - DeLight 1 - is not actually usable, let's see what happens with a 14500 in it. Nothing at all. Cell protection must have cur in or something as it still works. I was expecting smoke.

About to fire up the runtime box - the only one in the house that runs Windows in order to do some alkaline, NiMH and anything else I can think of that the meter can log. I've ordered a stock of batteries for the meter given that the 9V batteries only run for about 3 days continually before needing replacement.

I imagine the DeLight will not run for as long as the Powerlight though a switch mod involving a resistor to give a low mode ought to be an option. I have an otherwise useless DeLight to experiment on. The high (the level it normally is at) is useful enough, but if it is possible to add a low a fair bit lower than the Powerlight for eternal runtime, it would be really nice. Component cost would be a few cents (1/4 watt resistors are tiny and about 2 cents each retail) plus an hour or so of time to fit the components if I can figure out how to turn the stock switch into a two level one.

And how to dig out the hard plastic that holds the switch in place without killing the tailcap.

This is the BLF DeLight in all its incredibly low priced glory.

The business end.

The body and tailcap

Incredibly thin body. It is a lot thinner than it seems here.

Hmmm, not half bad. Did the finish come scratched like that? Is it a high-sheen glossy finish that looks like plastic, or is it a matte black?

By the way, after a temporary hike in shipping costs (a scandalous $0.09 or 18.75% increase), they're back down again, and lower than ever. $0.47 if you live in the USA and $0.47 if you live anywhere else in the world. ;)

I think the marks are mostly pollen. Must cut the grass today. The DeLights got stuck in a bag with a lot of other lights when I was away. Do you think I took enough lights? I make it 68 of them there - the blue plastic thing lives there.

There were a few missing there. Pity I never got any beamshots as the sun would go down and it'd rain. Again.....

I don't think there were any marks on it when I got it. The finish isn't glossy, it is a sort of satin finish with a mild sheen.

Not a caring environment for lights - it is an old cheapo laptop bag.

The AA lights all got tossed in the compartment on the bottom left. Everything but the 3D and larger Mags will fit in there. Just.