Budget Light Review: Two El Cheapo no-name eBay zoomies (1x18650 and 3xAAA)
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (Silver) / ★☆☆☆☆ (Black)
Summary (Silver one):
Battery: | 1 x 18650 |
Switch: | Reverse Clicky |
Modes: | High - Low - Strobe |
LED Type: | unknown (not defined) |
Lens: | Plastic |
Tailstands: | Yes |
Price Payed: | $4.25 |
From: | eBay |
Date Ordered: | November 2011 |
Summary ("Black redhead"):
Battery: | 3 x AAA |
Switch: | Reverse Clicky |
Modes: | High - Low - Strobe |
LED Type: | unknown (not defined) |
Lens: | Plastic |
Tailstands: | Yes, barely |
Price Payed: | $5.52 |
From: | eBay |
Date Ordered: | November 2011 |
Pros (both, unless noted):
- Adjustable focus
- Silver one has a nice looking body, might be ok for modding
- Threads & push-pull zoom were properly lubed in the silver one
Cons (both, unless noted):
- Build quality
- Very cheap aluminum pill
- Plastic lens
- Unknown emitter
- Broken memory, always starts in next mode
- Low power, nowhere near the claimed 300/400 lumens
- Beam quality, especially in the black one when zoomed
- Twist zoom in the black one is very rough (and has over three rounds from flood to zoom!!!)
Features / Value: ★★★★★ (Silver) / ★★★★★ (Black)
Basic operation, two modes and strobe.
Memory doesn't work in either one. Always starts in next mode.
Value for money is actually almost ok, and at least the silver body is ok for modding (+1 star).
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★
I like the looks of the silver one. Smooth push/pull zoom functionality and well placed non-slip rings are nice.
The red crown on the black one is a matter of opinion. IMHO it looks ok.
But the zoom is very weird: Turn the head to zoom - OVER 3 FULL ROUNDS from flood to zoom. Feels like you would be unscrewing the head off! No-one would ever need that kind of precision for zooming, really. And with scratching sound. No thanks!
Threads were surprisingly smooth, and well lubed (especially in silver). Also the overall finish looks better in silver than the black one.
Nice size, fits hand, feels good. Both were actually smaller than I thought.
Measures (no photos this time, sorry):
Silver:
Length: 125-135mm
Diameter: 34mm
Lens effective diameter: 21mm
Tailcap diameter: 28mm
Weight: 106g (without battery)
Black:
Length: 107-115mm
Diameter: 34mm
Lens effective diameter: 21mm
Tailcap diameter: 28mm
Weight: 88g (without battery)
Battery Life: ★★★★☆
Didn't run real runtime tests yet, but must be good with tailcap currents of:
Silver: High: 0.45A, Low: 0.10A -> theoretically almost 5h runtime on high, 24h with low.
Black: High: 0.30A, Low: 0.07A -> theoretically almost 2h runtime on high, over 10h with low.
Light Output: ★☆☆☆☆
Below average. Under driven.
I got a lux reading of about 2.3kcd (silver) and 1.7kcd (black) in zoomed mode.
White wall beamshots, first in zoomed mode. Black redhead on left. Haven't ever seen that ugly ring..
Emitter & reflector:
Both lights have the same unknown emitter (please help me identifying it) and weird looking reflective sides.
Summary: ★★★★★(Silver) / ★★★★★ (Black)
Barely worth the price paid. Black one will be gifted away straight away, silver one will get another chance with R2 + 1000mA driver.
The end: (pun intended)
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the review.