Brinyte DIV03 (XM-L | 3 x AA)
This flashlight was provided for review by aurabuy.com
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
Battery: | 3 x AA |
Switch: | Twisty |
Modes: | 1 |
LED Type: | XM-L U2 (CW) |
Lens: | Glass |
Tailstands: | Yes |
Price Payed: | Review sample. Retail price $51.13 |
From: | aurabuy.com |
Date Ordered: | November 2013 |
Pros:
- Very robust (& heavy), feels good in hand
- Simple UI, no extra modes or anything else that could go wrong when underwater
- "Safety first"-approach (for diving)
- Uses regular AA batteries
- Doesn't shut off abruptly
- Long emergency lighting time
- Tight beam
- Good lanyard included (has also a claw at the end of lanyard)
- Flat bezel
- Anodized "flat top" threads
- Head and tail cap are heavily glued (yes, this is a pro for a diving light)
- Very waterproof design with triple O-rings
Cons:
- A little pricey for features (but then again, it's a diving light)
- Battery carrier is a bit flimsy (but does it's job)
Features / Value: ★★★☆☆
The light comes in a plain white box which contains the light itself, lanyard-claw-combination, and a manual (in English and Chinese).
This light has only one mode, high.
UI is simple: Tighten the head to turn on, loosen to turn off. However, as the light is designed for diving, it has triple O-rings, which makes twisting the head hard (= requires two hands).
Value for money: Ok.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
Design is very functional, aimed for diving (and diving only). The light is thick and heavy, fits my hand perfectly, and feels very robust.
Emitter is well centered in the middle of flawless reflector.
Knurling can be found only from the head and small area in the middle of battery tube. Knurling is not aggressive at all and is there only to make twisty operation easier. Bezel is flat, so it doesn't catch or tear your diving equipment. Anodizing is good with no visible flaws.
Threads are long, making sure that the head stays in place also when turned off. There is no free play whatsoever, so the light feels secure also when turned off. Threads are also anodized (for twisty operation) and have flat tops for longevity. There are also three O-rings to make sure that water stays out.
Tailcap is tightly glued, but there wouldn't be anything special to see, just a large spring and nothing more:
From the outside, tailcap as very functional form aiming for diving safety. Outer ring is grooved from the both sides to keep it from damaging the lanyard, which can be securely attached to the tailcap with the following method:
The lanyard has both tightening device and claw at the end, providing different options to attach the light to your diving gear.
The arrow in the battery holder is a bit misleading (or at least it can be understood in a different ways), since the light is opened from head-body junction and not from tailcap. The arrow points to the light head, not to the insertion direction.
The light body has a clear marking of the polarity (see pic above), but battery carrier (pics below) doesn't have very clear markings for battery direction. You can be the judge and figure out which one is the positive pole:
[Answer: Positive pole is shown in the left picture]
The light is fully waterproof, which is secured by sealing the head and tailcap with some kind of glue => only openable seam is between head an body and that is sealed with triple O-rings. So I wasn't surprised at all that there were no leaks during my rudimentary 10min test in bathroom sink. I turned it off and on couple of times while underwater.
Manufaturer rates this waterproof up to 150m underwater, which is a high number, but the construction of the light suggests that it might be able to survive very deep dives.
Some measurements:
Length: 129mm
Head diameter: 50.0mm
Body diameter: 38.1mm
Tail diameter: 42.0mm
Weight: 381g with lanyard and three Eneloop AA batteries (= ready to use), 303g without batteries
This light is obviously developed with diving requirements in mind. It does only one thing, but it does it really well!
Battery Life: ★★★☆☆
Average. The light is bright, but runtime to 50% is only 47min, which would lead to two stars. But on the other hand, the light provides a long period of emergency light, which is important when diving => plus one star.
As this light has a twisty switch, it doesn't have any parasitic drain.
Light Output: ★★★★☆
Runtime graph: (with 3 x Eneloop 2000mAh)
This runtime test was done indoors, with ambient temperature of 23°C, without any additional cooling. Maximum temperature during the test was 50°C, at 0h35min.
This light doesn't have any low voltage warning, but the brightness goes down gradually, just like a diving light should work. Light did shut down at about 5h mark, after almost 3h period of providing sub-lumen emergency light.
The initial light output was 711lm and ANSI-reading (OTF, after 30s) was 668lm.
The advertised output is only 500lm, so this light overperforms for the first 40min.
White wall beamshot (1/200s, f/4, ISO80, WB: Daylight)
Beam angle (1/200s, f/4, ISO80, WB: Daylight)
Summary: ★★★★☆
A reliable no-nonsense diving light, which works with regular AA batteries, and provides nice amount of light.
Verdict: Recommended for divers who don't like Li-ion powered lights!
The End (pun intended):
Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!
And special thanks to Aurabuy.com for providing this light for review.