WTF?? $50 for 4 plastic keychain?? Now i'm pretty curious to see beamshot of it! Are they so good to cost more then $10 each!
You'll notice that I didn't order a white LED version. The free one that Battery Junction sends out is fine for that :)
Look at it this way for $10 where else can you get a UV light or an IR light? Or where else can I can a red LED in a light this small? Or in a cyan light this small?
I could get 5 Sipik SK68's but I would have just more of the same (and I gave my last SK68 away anyway).
The lights in and of themselves are somewhat interesting. I got them with a "covert cover" which is removable I believe but is to eliminate spill. Good especially for the UV one. They have blinky modes (4) and I think the brightness is variable. I think it's programmable. Not sure about the details as that's not why I bought them and the details were sketchy on the BJ site.
Still $50 does seem like a lot of money for plastic button keychain lights :)
I found a review so here's some more info. They have a removable battery cover, have an electronic switch, comes with a keychain with a spring loaded clip so the light itself can come off easily. It comes with a hands free holder that clips on to a cap and has a magnetic edge to the clip so that it can be placed on a metal surface.
You can configure the light to come on and off with a single click or to come on in low and ramp to high or come on in high and ramp to low. It can be set to momentary or stay on mode. The flash modes are like the Proton Pro it looks like. If you ramp from one end of the range to the other and keep holding the button down for a few more seconds then it will go to the strobes otherwise it will not.
This may seem like a lot of functionality for a light that isn't that bright but I think it's interesting for several reasons. Depending on which light you get you may want to configure it differently. Personally I'm not going to configure this to be a headlamp because I'm sure button batteries are expensive for what they are (and I don't wear baseball caps).
The red LED version and the cyan LED version are for preserving night vision and to do that they need to be low so the ability to have the light come on in low and ramp to high is nice.
The IR one is just an experiment but since I can't see if it's on it will be nice to have that set to momentary mode. The same would apply to the UV one.
For hiking I'd probably wear the red one on a string around my neck.
Relax man you don't have to explain to us why you spent $50 bucks on key chain lights, but we do expect at least a mini review. Battery junction has some really cool stuff but there shipping is kind of expensive and that bothers me because they are almost driving distance for me.
I am sure what you get will be worth every penny.
Their shipping was $4.50 or something like that for first class mail. There was a cheaper $3.50 option as well. The cpf2011 discount was enough to cover basic shipping.
I am relaxed :) but will give a mini-review when they come. I had no idea you could get UV and IR keychain lights for around $10!
Just about anywhere in China, for about 1$-2$ a piece, but probably not the same quality. (And if you can't find a suitable complete solution, you can just mod the simplest keychain light with a cheap 5mm LED, they're available cheap for the types of lights you bought. Again, probably not the same quality.)
If you're willing to do some surgery, you can pull out the IR filter from cheap web/digital cameras and get this effect. You can also pick them up complete with a few IR illumination diodes at the usual places (DX, ebay, etc)
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-pc-webcam-300k-pixel-with-6-led-13
Probably the most innocent use of that line on the entire internet...
I hesitated as I used that abbreviation but I didn't I didn't want to have to write out Battery Junction yet again in that thread At least the predictable occurred and now I can forget about my poor choice in deciding to abbreviate :)
Don't worry bryan, you're not the only one that thinks you're slightly insane. :)
I got a microlight. Had a few of them actually. They were TITS back in 2004. It has a clickie and it can ramp up or down which is pretty cool for a button light (although what's the point of having less than "not enough light" lol) Some hidden flash mode I can't remember how to activate (or care to figure out). I also have a Swiss Army Knife button light. Looks really cool with a white cross and red background. It's in my drawer right next to my Photon.
Haha...yes, guilty as charged. I got a little carried away. Actually, I'm glad I ordered the red and UV one but I don't really need the IR one and I have no idea why I ordered the cyan one!
I don't have any interest in the more popular items of today...large XM-L lights so I was attracted by the gadget factor :) I know they've been out a while but they are still somewhat unusual :)
Being able to dim a dim light is a bit funny however I had astronomy in mind for the red and cyan ones so there was some method to the madness :)
I should have looked for a 1 AAA version of the UV one also but I was on a roll!
Problem with cheap UV is they are usually 390 nm and above meaning there is far to much light in the visible spectrum an almost nothing at 365 nm were you really want the output to be.
Most of the light for these is supposed to be outside the visible range (370nm) according to Photon. There purple lights are just inside that range and can be used for some similar purposes.
We will see when I get it. Should be this Friday.
led-dna sells 2 leds for 4.20$ - http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-5mm-365nm-Ultra-Violet-UV-LED-Lamp-/390294985638 , or one complete keychain light for ~4$ (including shipment) at lck-led - http://www.lck-led.com/p845/Mini-KeyChain-Flashlight-w/-5mm-365nm-UV-Led/product_info.html.
I think I may have lucked out. I received a message from the company today saying that they hadn't charged my account and were holding the order to wait for the IR model to arrive. So I changed my order to just the UV and Red model.
I don't know if they will get my email in time since the IR model was supposed to arrive today or tomorrow but hopefully they will and I will just get the UV and Red model which were the only practical things I ordered :)
Wow you should have got our order by now. I usually get my stuff in 3 days tops. I guess you really lucked out if you weren't sure about your purchase. I was really looking forward to hearing about those little monsters. I have been to cheap to buy one but very interested to find out if they were really worth the price. Keep us updated.
I ordered them Friday night but they aren't open on the weekend (hard to believe) so I just got the email from them at noon today but didn't see it until after 3pm (PST) so when I responded they were closed.
So, if they see my email tomorrow before they fill the order I'm getting red and UV. If they fill the order first...I guess I'll be getting them all!
Either way I should have them by Saturday. I think if they are decent I'll be happier paying that much just for the red and UV.
I know I can find cheaper stuff in China but I'm not willing to wait that long.
Stay tuned... :)
Order shipped today and I was able to cancel the cyan and IR light!
E1320 an update for you.
I received the Photon Freedom Micros today. I got the red LED and the UV LED.
Yesterday I got the cheaper $3 versions of both of these lights so I have something to compare them to.
The UV is clearly better in the Photon. It has only enough visible light so that you know it's on (if it's on bright and you aren't standing outside). The cheap UV light is mainly purple (visible spectrum) with a little in the UV range.
I tested both UV's using diffraction grating and as a practical test I used them to find the anti counterfeit strip in a $20 bill. Both work but the effect is much better with the Freedom.
The Freedom with the red LED is much brighter and the beam is much better than the cheaper version. You can use the Freedom as a blinking beacon if you wish as well and it's dimmable. Both Freedoms are easier to turn on and off.
If you want a neat clip-on holder with a rotating head you get an adapter with the Freedoms for that. It might be useful with the UV. The holder also has small magnets on the back so it can be attached to metal as well.
If I were just looking for a white button style keychain light I probably would just go for something like the free lights that you get at GoingGear for orders over $20. They are fine for my uses.
For something like an UV or red LED it's worth the extra money for the Freedom. However if money is tight and you just need a red or UV light momentarily the cheap ones are OK as well.
I'll use the red one in conjunction with headlamps that don't have red or for astronomy and it's worth the few extra dollars for something that works a little better and that is brighter.
I don't have a real need for UV at the moment so if all I cared about was looking out for counterfeit money :) I could use the cheaper version.
The Freedoms do come with several innovative ways to carry/hold/use them but I don't need most of those.
I'm glad I canceled the cyan version and the IR version since I really had no use for those and I am glad that I did get these red and UV Freedoms.
Thanks for the mini review :)