Been going a long time without posting up HD deals! Just not much out there nowadays, or too busy to post up? (Question directed to all, but dchomak first and foremost.)
The light is cool white and the beam is very homogeneous over about a 160 degree cone. The advertised 500 lumens looks accurate. Since I'm going to store it in the trunk of my car, I replaced the alkaleaks with AmazonBasics High Capacity Ni-MH AA batteries. Plenty of room is provided in the battery compartment for these slightly over-sized high capacity batteries. The overall build quality of this utility light is actually quite good.
This Home Depot special has been posted on BensBargains.com off-and on for a week, but I haven't noticed it in this thread. Pardon if I've double posted.
Edit: If anyone is interested in some limited test data on AmazonBasics High Capacity Batteries, check out this post. << Conclusion, you may be better off with Eneloop batteries for longevity. Edited.>>
After watching some youtube reviews, I ended up picking one up. The main complaint about it is fairly short runtime - realistically about 2 hours, but with plenty of NiMH cells on hand, I’m not too worried. Otherwise, it seems like a pretty good utility light. I like it. Thanks ActiveAl for heads up!
Pete, thank you for the photos, the YouTube tip, and helpful info about the run time. I looked at several of the YouTube videos, and this one was my favorite. In it, the guy disassembles the Defiant utility light, puts in a tripod mount, adds a stick-on heat sink to some very hot resistors on the circuit board, and reassembles. It is a little long (35 min) but was entertaining.
I thought I’d verify runtime on this Defiant 500 utility light. This is using AmazonBasics High Capacity NiMH cells and ceilingbounce app:
Test #1: NiMH
As you can see, the light flatlined after about 24 minutes and it would not turn back on. The cells were at 1.27V when I pulled them out and were fairly warm. I put in another set of cells, and the light still would not turn on. I waited half an hour. Still no signs of life. I opened it up, but did not see any burned elements and nothing smelled burnt. I put the light back together and it started working again. Weird. I’m currently recharging my NiMH cells so that I can redo the test and see what happens this time.
Wondering if it’s some kind of overheat protection mechanism that shut it down? Maybe this light wasn’t designed to run on as much current as NiMH cells can deliver? I haven’t come across anything that would suggest that…
Anyone else care to do a runtime test on theirs?
Test #2: NiMH
This time I had the light standing vertically up on its long side. The previous run where it failed, I had it standing on its shorter side - maybe it did not like that?
The light was still on when I ended the run at about 120 minutes, but the light was fairly dim at that point. Cells were down to around 0.9V after I pulled them out.
EDIT Test #3: Alkaline
FYI, the light continued to run for a long time past 120 minutes, at this low, roughly 4-5% light output.
Initial lumen output on NiMH was about 35% higher compared to alkaline. But from about 100 minutes onward, the light output on alkaline cells was actually higher than on NiMH, although both were fairly dim at that point - only good for maybe a night light.
Modes: High, Low, & Strobe! LOL! Why on earth would they include strobe??!!! I’m interested in hearing more about this light (or various other similar models on GearBest).
(Now this thread is going off-topic.)
Agreed. Having a low mode is nice - I wish the Defiant light had it. But strobe? That’s idiotic unless maybe if you plan on using it as a disco light.
Also, to get back on topic: final update on that Defiant 500 lm utility light from HD: it ran for 72 hours non-stop on alkaline cells. Granted, the light output was fairly low after the first two hours or so, but still usable to find your way around in the dark, at least during the first 24-36 hours - roughly 10 lumen (guess).