I received a little AIMAI penlight for review from Gearbest if this isnt cheap, what is? (7,89$)
Lets start with the review and some basic data about the light:
(my measurements)
overall lenght: 5,33 inch / 13,5cm
head diameter : 0,54 inch / 13,7mm
body diameter: 0,49 inch / 12,5mm
weight (empty) : 24g
This has to be one of the cheapest 2XAAA penlights with a Cree XP-G2 emitter and it looks pretty similar to a certain light from Thorfire, i dont own that Thorfire model but at least on pictures it looks identical to me.
It arrived in a very simple package and again it looks like it is very similar to the thorfire package.
You get the light, the manual in english and two spare o-rings, nothing fancy but for 7.89 dollar its perfectly ok. Here is a little 360 view
I was kind of sceptical because of the price, i have some other penlights and shorter single AAA lights as well and usually you pay alot more for a 2XAAA Cree penlight. The anodizing looks kind of shiny to me, the reason is they probably skipped the beadblasting process, when you take a closer look you will see machining marks and everything is not that smooth compared to a lets say 4sevens Preon light. The follwing three images will show those machining marks pretty good i think. The higher priced brands like 4 sevens or lumintop would beadblast those marks away i guess before the light gets anodized but im ok with that and im sure that most ppl just dont care because in the end its a 7 dollar light.
All images are not editet to show the real surface of the light. As you can see the surface is more on the rough side in terms of machining. I couldnt remove the tailcap, i assume its a one piece design and only the head is removable.
The rubber coated reverse tailcap clicky is pretty stiff, i liked that pretty much. I used the Lumintop penlight for some months as my EDC in the summer because i mostly wear jeans and i activated the tailcap clicky all the time unintentionally for example when i crouched down.
Here you can see whats going on inside of the head compared to probably the most common penlight, the 4sevens preon p2 and a lumintop IYP365. Aimai on the right. I think its interesting to compare such a cheap light to the more expensive models.
The tailap view from inside the tube
The XP-G2 R5 emitter, it should deliver 210 Lumens. It looks not centered on that picture but it is. The camera lens wasnt exactly centered to the LED.
AIMAI use a smooth reflector for this light. The light has mode memory and 3 modes (High/mid/low). There are no disco modes like SOS or strobe.
high is 210 lumen, mid is 5 lumen and low is a true moonlight mode with 1 lumen. I actually have my doubts about the 5 lumen mid mode, it looks way brighter than 5 lumen to me
(i need that DIY sphere offered here on BLF!!)
Size comparision with a 4sevens preon P2 "toxic green" and the Lumintop IYP365
In case you ever wondered how flashaholics play "pick a stick" (Mikado). Now you know it : )
Even 7 dollar lights can offer coated glas, you have to love that purple shimmer
I have to do that runtime test again, i called it a day after 223 minutes. The problem is the light has an extreme stepdown from 100% to 10% after three minutes, probably the mid mode.
You can reset the stepdown if you want. I used my new luxmeter with datalogger.
Some outdoor beamshots compared to other penlights
As a GIF
indoor beamshots
You get alot for your money, coated glas, a Cree XP-G2 emitter and a nice stiff tailcap clicky plus a no nonsense 3 mode UI with a true moonlight mode. Those are the lights you can actually "use" and dont have to worry about scratches or dents. This is similar to Ganzo knifes, those are the knifes people use while the spyderco models end up being shelf queens. This is like the penlight version of an eagle eye X2R, perfect as a gift.