Hugsby P31 Revisited

But this time with the wrong driver - I am assuming it has the driver out of the gold P32 which is 3-mode and 14500 capable. Actually, for me this is a bonus as the 3 mode is more useful than the single mode even if it would be better as high/low without strobe. If my hypothesis is correct, then the 2.8V cutoff makes a lot of sense as it'll stop it from over-discharging 14500s - 2.8V is a good place to stop under load.

The box:

The box travelled well considering it was just in the usual padded envelope.

The contents:

Minus bubblewrap - looks like I'm doing an unboxing - something I've always wondered why people bothered....

It definitely says it is a P31

Usual interchangeable ends lubricated with some blue goo that gives a nice feel to the threads. Maybe a tiny amount too much of it, but better than usual. Thus far it maintains the very, very high standards I expect of these Hugsby P3* lights. I've had three of them through my hands now and have found no issues with any of them.

This one says 2010.07 - the last P31 I got said 2010.02 and the P32 I received recently said 2010.07

Throw (AA Alkaline) 0

Lightbox (AA Alkaline) 0 :)

Throw 14500 fresh from the charger: 7480 lux at 1 metre. That's a lot.

Lightbox:

Switch on: 1176 / 211 lumens

30 Seconds:1084 / 194 lumens

2 minutes:1064 / 191 lumens

Added to Lumen Estimates spreadsheet for next update of that thread.

On 14500 it is the third brightest of my AA lights - the Ultrafire C3 stainless steel is the brightest but also the hottest. The Hugsby produces 85% of the output and 150% of the throw. It out-throws all my other AA/14500 lights by a long way

Light Best Throw
Trustfire R5-A3 Alkaline 1800
Trustfire R5-A3 NiMH 1880
Trustfire F22 SS NiMH 2200
Aurora SH0030 SM 14500 2810
Uniquefire AA-S1 NiMH 2830
Uniquefire S10 1M NiMH 2960
Ultrafire A3 14500 3160
Trustfire R5-A3 14500 3520
Aurora SH0030 5M NiMHx3 3700
Hugsby P31 3790
Ultrafire C3 SS Q5 14500 5060
Trustfire F22 SS 14500 5610
Uniquefire S10 1M 14500 5650
Uniquefire AA-S1 14500 6100
Hugsby P31/32 14500 7480

Temperature at 2 minutes: I don't believe the thermometer - It said 36.7oC My lips said about 45oC. Warm but not burning.

Ambient Temperature 21oC

No way would I let a stainless steel C3 near my lips after two minutes on high with a 14500. That said, it is inescapable with AA lights of high lumen output that they are going to get hot. Until we have considerably more efficient LEDs this is going to remain the case.

To be continued as I investigate farther.

Interesting, but IMO an AA flashlight which can only accept a such high voltage, i.e. 14500 batts, is UNusefull.

Why? Because if you have an emergency, i.e. a black out, or a hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, etc and you have not 14500 or dont have electricity in your house to charge it, you will be fuc***. In short you will not have the capacity to use that flashlight except if you have charged 14500 batts or the way to charge them. If it could also accept alkalines/ni-mh you will be saved.

The ideal AA flashlight is the one you can use alkalines/ni-mh only or the one you can use alkalines/ni-mh/Li-ion.

Only can 14500? For that I prefer a 18650 light.

It is my opinion.

However, thanks for the info, Don!

I like that throw!!

Have you tried a 14500 in the P32?

Don, you have convinced me to get another P31!

Edit: Oh no...kaidomain

Back order - Ship as soon as stock arrives

-for both the P31 and P32

I've not put a 14500 in the P32, it is fine on NiMH - but I will stick a lithium primary in it to see what happens.

Throw: 3400 (Briefly - sustained in the 2900 zone)

Lightbox - High:

Switch-on: 527 lux / 95 lumens

30 seconds: 467 lux / 85 lumens

2 Minutes: 461 lux / 83 lumens

These figures make wonder about the freshness of these lithium primaries, I'd have expected the numbers to be better than NiMH. Time to check voltage. 1.595V - not great. Expiry date 2024 though.

Time to try some more.

1.822V

1.771V

1.807V - Less consistency than I'd expect for new Energizer lithiums. Wonder if they are fakes?

Time to try again with the 1.822V one.

Lightbox - High:

Switch-on: 574 lux / 103 lumens

30 seconds: 452 lux / 81 lumens

2 Minutes: 444 lux / 80 lumens

Ending voltage 1.528V - these smell suspicious to me, but I have no baseline to compare with - the things are too expensive here. They were bought from the eBay link from here a few weeks ago and the seller said he was in Japan. They shipped from Hong Kong which makes me suspicious. Time to ssacrifice one to see what it can produce by way of output to 1V.

It registered as 1.613V on the charger which should be discharging it at somewhere between 500mA and 1A - currently 550mA and it is down to 1.48V by the time the charger has pulled 10mAh out of it. Must look up the Energizer data sheet to see what these cells should do.

Edit - at 500mA they should give around 3,000mAh. Energizer's data sheet say typical weight is 14.5g but don't give weight boundaries. Three of mine (The fourth is being discharged just now) weigh 14.7, 14.7 and 14.8g which is within any likely weight deviation. They do not look the same as the ones Energizer uses for their datas sheets. I'll get some pics so that someone who is familiar with these cells can comment. There are no obvious typos.

The downside of the throw is that the hotspot is too small to see what the (very large) black dog is up to at the bottom of the garden - OK it isn't laser fine like the dedicated throwers, but particularly with the 14500 the contrast between the hotspot and the spill is high enough to render the spill of limited use when spotting a black target. She has an upset stomach so I want to keep an eye on her output just now. Problem is she doesn't like lights being shone on her while emptying herself. This is not normally an issue but it is raining just now. I'll do beamshots on a dry night soon - but remember that the rainy season where I live begins on the 1st of January and ends on the 31st of December. See any of the detective stories by Stuart MacBride for details of the local climate.

From another side of the P31 box

Hey Don, does this p32 have memory or how does the modes of the light work out?

Neither the P31 or the P32 I have appear to have mode memory, they both come on on high. The time to determine whether it is a mode change or a switch off appears to be around a second.

Hmmm, this just popped up on Kaidomain:

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10740

It claims to be Hugsby P31 CREE Q3 3-Mode Flashlight(1*14500). What do you think? Does it really have a low mode, being a P31? And although the title says 1*14500, the description says Voltage input range: (0.9V~4.2V). Do you think it would work on NiMH and Alkaline? The price is pretty good here on KD.

I don't think it will work with NiMH/Alkaline. It may stay on down to 0.9V but it won't light up below AFAIR 2.8V. I have one of these so will check it when I get home. It does say 1x14500 but it is possible that they have put in an AA/14500 driver rather than the P32 1.5V maximum driver. I think someone here tried to order one recently to be told KD didn't have any of them.

Ah, you're right, I suspect that's what it is. Startup voltage is not the same as rundown voltage.