[Review] Pretty good low budget 1x18650 lantern

I'm not going to open it up, but in jeff51's review he says which emitters are supposed to be in there.

"Seller lists 30 2835-LEDs as being the light source."

Thank you kindly for the review. I have four incoming as well. Nice to hear of the neutral tint.

Yeah, the neutral tint was a pleasant surprise.

I was expecting cool white.

Thanks for your impressions RC. I have 4 brown ones on the way. Hopefully they will be neutral tint as well.

If the brown ones are a different tint, definitely let us know.

I would be shocked, but it could happen.

For the price I think it’s a great deal.
Love the even soft light.

On mine there are no screws on the top and I see on the photos on sale site at least some don’t appear to have screws.
Perhaps this version has a driver without the nasty PWM on low.

I’ve knocked mine around quite a bit and it’s still going strong - with a better battery.
Pulled the OEM battery apart and found the top and bottom had metal caps covering spot welds from wherever they pulled the batteries from.

I think the design is quite clever. Makes for a compact light.
If someone would make this with a 21700 down the middle and a better UI it could be a real winner.
Sell it for $20 a pop with a good battery. Or for $79.99 (as seen on TV).
All the Best,
Jeff

Well, since it's unbranded, I wouldn't be surprised if each batch could be a little bit different.

They might be made in different factories, too.

I don't know if there is PWM because I never notice it, and I don't have any equipment to measure PWM.

If they got rid of the nasty PWM on low, that would be a great improvement.

I updated the original post.

I added this...

I'd say the tint is about 5000K.

There is no yellowish or bluish color.

It's just plain white.

Awww, this’d be a good reason to try out the Hammer Of Knowledge and see what’s in there.

RC, Give it the finger wave test.
Wave a finger with the lamp as the only illumination (or the majority of the illumination).
Start slow and speed up the wave.
A light with no of fast PWM and all you see is a blurry finger.
A crappy PWM will show multiple fingers - and look like an old time movie with slow frame rate - All jerky.

Or take a pic with like a 1/4s or slower shutter speed. Wave the light fast as you can through the frame.
From an old POST from TK

Poor PWM will show multiple flashes. Faster PWM will show many more flashes.
No PWM will just be a blur.

Fans blades show this really well, Just watch the blades for effect seen in TKs images.

I did a video about camera shutters and PWM.
At 1:35 is my version of the camping lantern and it’s PWM

And at 6:52 you can see the Nitecore TUBE example and later the light waving in the camera view.

All the Best,
Jeff

You realize that the ability to notice bad PWM is a curse, not a blessing.

If I start noticing bad PWM, it will most likely annoy me to no end.

Talk to Boaz for a bit about lights with bad PWM and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Right now, I'm happy with the PWM of all of my scores of lights.

Some of them are not very good lights, so I doubt that none of them have PWM issues.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Did you remove the review? I’m not seeing anything in the first post.

Yes, I removed all of my flashlight reviews from the internet as best as I can.

I posted images that I do not own.

I going to get permission to post different images before I put my reviews up again.

RC,
I hear you on the PWM, Ya’ can’t unsee stuff once you see it,
Feel free to use anything from my stuff. A credit would be nice.
But we are all here for fun after all. Well most of us anyway…
All the Best,
Jeff

Can you at least post a link to a store where this lantern can be purchased?

Maybe he should ask for sofirns permission first… not so much “fun” left it seems.

anyway, here is the link to the product

So, it looks like modding this LED with high CRI LEDs should be very easy, as 2835 high CRI LEDs are very plentiful.

I bought 2 black ones, hope I’m happy with them when they arrive.

that is a really good video demo of PWM, thanks

Jon, thanks for the complement.

I’m, unfortunately, one of those that is really bothered by visible PWM.
So I’ve spent a little effort into into finding out what is most bothersome.
What I’ve decided, is it’s the combination of PWM Freq. combined with the duty cycle.

Basically, it’s how long the light is off that makes the difference (mostly). There seems to be some point at which the off part of the cycle becomes too long and that fusses with my eyeballs and brain.

An RC, about using images from others. Copyright law is different for different uses. If the images are being used to generate money for yourself - that is usually a clear violation.

If the images are being used for editorial purposes - that is a different matter. Hence all the news sites with videos from all sort of sources.
But, naturally, you should do what makes you feel comfortable (I am captain obvious).

As RCs review is gone, let me repeat that at this price this is really a nice lamp. Wonderful diffused soft light - maybe 300+ ish Lumens with a good battery installed. The OEM battery is likely a pull from some older equipment or some old (old) stock.
The UI kinda sucks - Always High, Med, Low, Red, Blinkies, off.
All the Best,
Jeff