3W 1AA Led Police Flashlight

my experience is literally identical.
constant flickering, doesn’t always power on, unreliable switch, hollow pill… they are just not worth of repairing if they don’t work from the start and myine didn’t…

I use mine every day, (but it is slightly modified)

New switch and boot from the parts bin…
‘Blue’ led replaced with nw xpg from parts bin…
Reflector replaced with ledil tir from the parts bin….
Tacticool bezel ground off, it now reads “olice 3w” :slight_smile:

Was it worth it?

Maybe…. :~

I also have the MXDL. The problem is thaat the contact at the head is just a tab of aluminum. When I did a drop test on it the light did not work until I bent the tab out so it would make contact.
The Police light is superior. HEY! If the police use it then it must be reliable and well made should it not?:):slight_smile:
Jerry

Adding my voice to the chorus of “don’t waste $1.75.”

Recieved mine 5 minutes ago from Fasttech. Bought 3 and was intending to give them away as stocking stuffers and they didn’t make it in time. Good thing. NO WAY I’d give someone one of these.

Think Harbor Freight bargain-bargain-bargain bin that they’re giving away with $5 purchase. Terrible.

The one of the three that’s slightly less purple I let my 5 year old have.

Hi Shimey,

What specifically did you find that caused your dissatisfaction? Did they fail to light when turned on? I am sure you did not expect Surefire quality.
Did you give them a drop test or what? I previously stated that one ran 7 hours on an eneloop, but I read my writing incorrectly. It ran over 9 hours. I have one running now with a Tenergy. It has been on for 4 hours and has not lost any brightness to the eyes. For a cheap long running light where you do not require a high output they are worth the money. The most I have paid is $1.27. I bought one recently for 99 cents.
BOY! What a deal.:slight_smile: They are pretty rugged in that my own drop test has not affected one yet.

Surely you know that the average person does not care a whit about the tint or if the beam is not perfect.
Of course if it is cheap enough I don’t either.:slight_smile:

Best,
Jerry

My take
10 lumens soaking wet (my convoy m1 on low would take 5-10 of these to get the same output)
damn near impossible to get apart without destruction (i have yet to succeed)
cheap, cheap, cheap and unreliable
if you lose it you won’t cry over it unless you had an eneloop in it
you can’t replace it with a cree led without major mod work, you can’t drop in a replacement because its designed for the no name led it has in it

its worth 1 cent if you don’t want to mod it and like the poster above you give it away intending it to get wrecked

if you want to gift it as a goodwill gesture, send a card instead

When i was told this before i got it i was like oh well not a big deal, but having used it my advice has become don’t waste your money or time or brain power on it.

Get an sk68, its far brighter and more durable and reliable

That tab is not aluminum, but not sure what it is though…
Some stainless alloy (?) probably possible to solder it.
But when bending it out kinda solved the problem, something must have gone wrong with the spring in the tail.

But also the driver AND the LED are better than POLICE3W (and most other’s under , say, 3 dollars.)
But, POLICE3W is (i.m.o.) a fairly decent body and even the parabolic mirror is usable.
As far as I can tell the tailcap and switch are up to the job for a cheap 1A (really 3 Watts, but not yet POLICE :stuck_out_tongue: ) upgrade.
But then a 4½ dollar AA / 14500 zoom Q5 (sipik / ultrafire) would be the more sensible choice…
This one is also nice, and slender too:

Also 1 mode 3 Watts Cree XPE Q5, but completely useless because of the tiny weak lens…
The cooling needs work too if you wish to use it with a 14500…
But that’s why it’s a DIY hobby, off course.

I think I assumed (there it is) that Fasttech wouldn’t stock something so obviously cheap.

Maybe I got 3 bad ones, but the tint is not just a little purple, it’s PURPLE. I’d think that the uninitiated, coming from incandescent flashlights would say: “eww”

As toys for the kids, maybe. I’ve actually bought Dollar Store lights that are just as cheap, but brighter and whiter.

My first Convoy C8 arrived in the same package. I’m so thoroughly impressed with it, maybe it’s easy to be critical of anything else. :slight_smile:

Just as a matter of interest, but not much, I loaded one with a Tenergy at 1445. I am going to bed here at 2130, and it is still running. I just compared it to a Fenix E01, and the outputs are about equal with the POLICE slightly brighter. That is almost 7 hours. I will start again tomorrow after church, and see how it does. I suspect it will operate above a “moon mode” for close to 9 hours total. Wish you guys had given me the ones you didn’t want, but remember it also has to be free postage.:slight_smile:
I guess I am just a budget lightaholic. When I eat out, I don’t care if the food is good if it is cheap enough.:slight_smile: Well maybe…. :wink:

I do like the light.

Jerry

Just thought I would close the loop.
I have been testing the run time for the 3W Police light with a Tenergy Premium battery.
Total run time was 19 hrs - 17 minutes. This is much longer than I expected.
Not a bright light but long run time.

Jerry

Nice result, thanks for testing.

I’ve got a load of these, I buy whenever there’s a $0.01 or $0.99 sale. I don’t care that they’re less reliable, I have numbers on my side :bigsmile: I just load them with cheap primaries and stash all around the house. Always around when you need them.

A neat trick would be to epoxy or tape a magnet on them so they stick on fridge, window etc. Less likely to lose them this way.

One of my favourite light is actually a Police 3W light. Baked to wood colour, swap a Nichia 119 and 2x 7135 chip (700mA), and epoxied a magnet on the clip. Very nice.

EDIT: Add link to one of the better Police AA version.
http://www.buyincoins.com/item/1392.html
http://www.buyincoins.com/item/1689.html

:bigsmile:
Jerry

How do you disassemble these without destroying?

These are press fit from the front, so… you press fit in reverse. :slight_smile: Only the lens hold everything in place, so you just need to remove that.

I just use old batteries - stack a couple old AAs inside (the second will stuck out), let stand on hard surface, and tap the head with a mallet. After a while the lens will come off clean.

Thanks for that info.
Will that exemplar also work the same:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Foxanon-Brand-High-Quality-Ultra-Bright-Mini-Aluminum-Handy-Flashlight-Waterproof-Torch-Portable-Cree-Q5-Chip/1808535212.html

It is the one which you posted on the aliexpress site?

From the aliexpress pictures - yes, it seems to be press fit too.

I have a couple of similar lights like those with only slightly different body carving. The tap method worked with them (in fact ALL of my cheap AA/AAA lights can be opened this way).

Just wanted to report and thank.
I got my police lights and they are easy to open with your method and they go together after that the same way.

My brother bought one when we first heard about DX, It does not work anymore but the switch seem to be fine. Is it worth trying to mod it? And should I buy both driver and LED, as I don’t know which one is working and which one is not?

I notice that seller claims his version contains a Cree Q5 emitter. :open_mouth:
But then again, he’s also claiming 800 lumens output! :bigsmile:

It has maybe 2 lumens, 400x exaggeration is unusual
At this new chinese lumen rate, the 500mAh 18650 would hold 200Ah, about as much as the average car battery