I received three aluminum red pen lights too and i’m impressed by the weight and brightness. These thingies feel more robust then i expected and they are quite bright too. Just one can light up a room and i imagine what it would be with a few of them. I love the ‘total flood’ output. I wish there would be a ‘low’ mode too. It could be very handy in many situations, especially indoor or on a camping trip.
I have one with regular alkaline AAAs and another with rechargeable Ni-Mh. My lux meter says they shine the same. I can’t tell about runtime though. Anybody has timed them?
I just did a quick and unattended test with rechargeable Ni-MH.
I set a pen light on in the bathroom shining toward the ceiling, with the lux meter beside. It read 20 steady after 30s and i let it run while i went out. Three hours later it reads 1 (about the ambient light level) but the light is still on and somewhat useful - but much dimmer of course. Batteries are Better Power Baterry Co Ltd “Enelong” 900mAh Ni-MH AAAs - from FT, and they are about 1V once back into the charger.
Also did a time test, but forgot about it…
Lights were still on after 5 hours but not really useful light. I used relatively new Japan Eneloops.
Batts were under one volt. All the emitters were even and still lit. Good sign of a decent quality COB.
I wasn’t gonna post cause I forgot about them. I want to know how long they last, with useful light too.
Will do it again and use a set of Alkalines and Eneloops this time.
Tried again…
I had 2 lights set up today at 12:12PM, its now 8:16PM here and One light is still kicking.
First light with 3 relatively new and just off the charger, Japan AAA Eneloops.
Surprised, this light ONLY lasted a bit over 3 hours with useable light. 3.5 hours I still could see the LED dots lit but useless lighting.
Second light has 3 New AAA Alkalines, cheap AC Delco that were about $0.21ea off Amazon.
Amazingly this friggin light it still ON 8 hours later And it is still useable if need be.
Here is a Pic @ 7 hours
OK, 9 HOURS and 15 MINUTES!!! Time to call it for the AC Delco Alkalines.
Just received a pair of these in today’s mail. What a fantastic deal! Nice white light like reported here. Anyways, One of the best buys in a nice little knock around light. :+1:
Got two each of the plastic and the aluminium. The plastic yellows on Ali are pale, not lemon yellow that I was expecting. They’re also cheaply built compared to the aluminium ones. Al ones also have slightly warmer tints and are marginally brighter with cleaner flood.
Edit: plastic ones also don’t have a bottom/tail cap magnet.
What these could really do with is a hood and shroud on top, left, and right. Would prevent light hitting back at the eyes when hanging off the shirt pocket or backpack sternum strap.
Oh, wait, at this rate, we’ll be getting batteries in wrappers that light up, in a year or so, without needing flashlights. Just click the button on the + end ….
Again, it’s a multi-AA light, but I’m curious if someone with suitable tools could bore out the battery tube to take an 18650, or possible one or two 16650 cells.
Not sure about the driver style in this light, but I doubt a pair of Series-Connected 16650s would do it any favors… :zipper_mouth_face:
> Nebo
Yep, those are very nice looking lights, though past my wallet pain threshold.
Especially cute — the base magnet plus the retractable pickup magnet.
Let’s see, how could you mod that — measure the relative strength of the two magnets as you fiddle with the antenna length, use that signal to pulse the light, and you’ve got a magnetic theremin.
