awful $1.90 1xAAA zoom light with redeeming qualities

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AAA Flashlights
1

amazon has something called “Flashlight,Baomabao Mini 3500LM Zoomable CREE Q5 LED Flashlight 3 Mode Torch Super Bright Light Lamp”
i bought one.
for $1.90, plus $1.00 shipping.

the description is a total lie.
i wanted it to have light level modes, other than “ON”.
it doesn’t.

it also is not 3500 lumens, cree q5, did not have a ‘strap’, is probably not very waterproof, it is not Powered by 18650 battery” (actually 1 x AAA)
the light color is bluish, the finish is probably paint instead of anodizing.
lumens maybe 100 at most.

what it is, though, is the smallest AAA light ever with a tail switch.

shorter than the singfire 348.
the zoom isn;t bad
it;s so light it can go on a hat brim, and it is fairly bright.

i complained to the company and they refunded me all the money $3 woo hoo, but in the end it was free, i didn;t have to send the light back
amazon says it is currently unavailable.

—this was my review, some may be redundant—-
2.0 out of 5 stars

SUPER Cheap, small, but VERY poor product description:1 mode not 3, 100 lumens not 3800,not 10 watts, AAA not 18650, no strap.
By wle on November 3, 2016

Verified Purchase
Cheap, small, but VERY poor product description:1 mode not 3, 100 lumens not 3800,not 10 watts, AAA not 18650, no strap.
—on the plus side—
cheap
very small, smallest AAA ever
light (weight)
it does work
fairly bright, though probably battery life is not great, or it gets dimmer and lasts a few hours at reduced brightness
it zooms, i don;t really like zooming but at least that part was accurate

==more minuses-
BIG: 1 mode, having dimming modes is why i BOUGHT the thing, but it does not have them

button is very hard to press
does not tail-stand

light color is poor/cheap - very blue, some pink tinge
clip works but would be hard to turn around to put on a baseball cap, to make a headlight
—you can do it but it sort of makes the zoom be stuck on spotlight mode

wle

picture at:

orig link:
https://www.amazon.com/Flashlight-Baomabao-3500LM-Zoomable-Bright/dp/B01HCH1MR8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

this looks like the same light:

even cheaper!

2

Dollar ninety cents. You can’t even buy coffee for that kind of money in most places…

3

Picture or it didn’t happen. :stuck_out_tongue:

[edit]Ah, thereś a picture now. :slight_smile:

4

One single mode usually is not a big issue for low power lights. I like my sf-348. Next mode memory with strobe is quite more uncomfortable.

5

Some manufacturers claim three modes when they are only one in the sense the led only has one brightness. How they justify three modes is turn on is one. Zoom out is the second function and zoom in is the third function. Maybe they should be calling it four function, the forth being turning the light off.

6

Is the button hard to press because you can’t fit your fat finger in there :smiley: , or is there some issue?
I just got a Thorfire TS07 AAA, that had an issue with the switch. I took the switch out and it worked fine. Put it back together, and it worked fine. It apparently was just an assembly error. I do have an issue with my finger.
Mountain Electronics has a variety of small drivers if your interested in modifying. Dedome that led for a warmer tint :wink:

7

Thanks for the review wle :+1:

And remembering a recent thread here about the “budget’ part being forgotton- HAH :stuck_out_tongue: it LIVES :sunglasses:

Phil

8

Doesn’t show up on Amazon search for me. There is a…

“Mokao Mini 3500LM Zoomable CREE Q5 LED Flashlight 3 Mode Torch Super Bright Light Lamp”

…which is probably the same thing. It is listed for $1.38 + $1.99 shipping. The picture actually says “Skywolfeye”.

Digger deeper the same light (and pics) is also listed under the names Nomeni, Vesniba, Luhan, LandFox, & Elaco (and probably more).

9

“Mokao Mini 3500LM Zoomable” - it is the same thing, though this one has ‘non -thermal radiation’ :slight_smile:

my link that i ordered from was

https://www.amazon.com/Flashlight-Baomabao-3500LM-Zoomable-Bright/dp/B01HCH1MR8/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

if you just put Mini 3500LM Zoomable on the amazon search bar, it brings up about 5 apparently identical, cheap lights

wle

10

i like these even better than the sipik sk68 zoomies, because they are TINY

if i want BRIGHT, i have some 18650 lights for that.

since i don;t need SMALL very often, i can get by with the limited energy of the AAA battery

i would be really happy if it had a moonlight mode, but it doesn’t……

wle

11

Skywolfeye

love how they stole multiple manufacturers names .
looking forward to the Nicheo and Clee Lettuce Brite LEDS

12

well - I like it
it;s interesting for the price, and the fact that it is the smallest lightest AAA i have ever seen, plus tail switch
not everything has to cost $75
i won;t use it much but when i need small and light, it’s what i pick up

the SF-348 is usually too bright at night, which is also when i want small for 2HTC ( 2 hand teeth-carry )

wle

13

I have bought one some months ago on Aliexpress, and you can buy it for 1,86$ shipped!!!
For me, it’s very nice and powerful for that price!
And yes, push the bottom is not so confortable

no issue and not so much fat on my fingers :smiley:
It is small and hard to push. But it work.
I’m very happy with it!

14

I tried adjusting stuff in the cap to make the button work better, but so far nothing has worked.
wle

15

Thanks for pointing at this flashlight, I like it too, got one from Aliexpress for $1.87 shipped, let’s see how it can be upgraded :slight_smile:

16

I see you have a picture now.
I’ve seen it too on AliExpress and had it on my wishlist for a while.
But i know from experience the lens is (probably) either a spherical lens or just the centre of the well known 23mm aspheric lens.
This means either a lot of donut effect or a relatively long focal distance and thus only a small bit of light is focussed.
And i’ve been searching for smaller aspheric lenses, but there’s very little choice out there that are any good…
None the less, it’s probably the tiniest zoomie out there, and i think i will order one anyway.
I have 20 Cree XP-C LEDs on their way too, and some spare also well known 20mm aspherics (shorter focal distance than the 23mm ones) in stock, so it could be fun to mod this thing. :slight_smile:

17

for sure!
Stay tuned :+1:

18

I read somewhere that amazon is planning to crack down on these poachers.

If you want to sell a brand name (not sure if Latticebright can be called a brand :slight_smile: )you will have to put down 1500 each time you want to open a sellers account. Right now there is nothing to stop them from opening and closing as many accounts they want .

19

yeah it is terrible but tiny, bright and cheap!!

you are right about the lens though
donut plus it doesn;t really get much brighter when focused, indicating light loss is large

wle

20

I ordered one too. :slight_smile: