New AAA on Ebay

It's a little bit less bright than my ITP A3 on med (with Energizer lithiums). It's definitely less bright than my BLF delight (also on Energizer lithiums). I'd say it's around 10-15 lumens with a 10440.

I tried a 10440 in my best MXDL clicky (I got 20 of them, and have been using the brightest one) and this thing is distinctly brighter than my iTP A3 on medium according to my naked-eye ceiling bounce test in the bathroom. Since I use the medium mode on my iTP about 90% of the time, I find this to be very useful. Though I'm not sure how long the MXDL will last running on 4.2 volts.

The Focalprice super-budget Tank E08 clones also showed up today, and I was impressed with the their appearance and function. The knurling is pretty good, and the matte finish is handsome and looks rugged. Standard generic Chinese led, with brightness comparable to, if just slightly less than, the MXDL clickies and twisties. The beam is a little blue, which was expected. The rear clicky switch does have a fair amount of side-to-side play, and it is easily activated with light-medium pressure. I wish the spring in the switch was stiffer. It seems stiff enough to not easily turn on accidently in the pocket if stand-alone (nothing attached) but I could see it coming on inadvertently if attached to the caribiner or other keyring attachments and being jostled in a tight pocket. All in all, pretty decent lights - just not sure that they are ideally suited for keychain duty. The form factor is pretty good, otherwise.

Thanks boomhauer for the update! I’m still waiting for mine to arrive, everything takes a few weeks longer down here.

Hmmm, I just ran across the original that these guys seem to be trying to clone...

http://cgi.ebay.com/LD-Series-Black-Aluminum-Body-LED-1AAA-Flashlight-Campi-/270630783450

$70.00 with shipping?????????

http://www.brightguy.com/products/Fenix_LD01_LED_Flashlight.php

Ok, here it's about $48.00 with shipping- to the USA. For shipping to South America it costs a cool $108.00 :quest:

My conclusion? I'll stick my with my $2.00 cheapies thank you very much. I can buy 25 to 60 of these decent clones for the cost of one Fenix LD01. I feel vindicated.

Looks like DX isn't the only one with questionable specs:


Features of Fenix LD01 Q5 LED Flashlight:
• Cree XP-E R2 LED
• 3 brightness levels:

RE: Light from same selller having production differences.

One head aluminum, the other plastic is not surpising - As you know (big) manufacturers /assemblers try to have (3) parts suppliers to pull parts from to protect them from parts shortages. That and there are changes over a production run, the reason I created a thread asking that a "Date Column" be added to reviews, and that any "batch info" /markings that might indicate factory /shift, or batch the units came from be posted as well.

http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/540

http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/540#comment-7016

RE: My conclusion? I'll stick my with my $2.00 cheapies thank you very much. I can buy 25 to 60 of these decent clones for the cost of one Fenix LD01. I feel vindicated.

While I'm a fan of quality- that has to be weighed against cost and intended use.

Several years ago I was checking out a piece of property which had a cave.... I had flashlights in EVERY pocket....

.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320579913319&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT - the clicky

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320579913323&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT - the twisty.

Two weeks from when I bought them from HK to here - not the fastest ever but that wasn't the seller's fault - that was down to the HK post. Each light came in a bubble wrap sleeve and they were separately wrapped in more bubble wrap. Both arrived unmarked and undamaged. Why does the twisty have a silly chrome dome on the end to stop it from tailstanding? I'll never understand designers. The AAA NiMH are just about ready to pull off the charger so numbers are as follows:

Clicky:

Switch-on: 20 lumens

30 seconds: 18

2 minutes: 17

Twisty:

Switch-on: 18 lumens

30 seconds: 17

2 minutes: 16

MrLite KC-05 (Lipstick): Lot and lots of modes and mine appears to be completely different from the one reviewed on CPF.

These are the modes I think I have though there may be more - farther investigation required...

Low:

Switch-on: 8 Lumens

30 seconds: 7

2 minutes: 7

Lowish:

Switch-on: 14 lumens

30 seconds: 13

2 minutes: 13

Medium:

Switch-on: 38 lumens

30 seconds: 36

2 minutes: 33

High:

Switch-on: 61 lumens

30 seconds: 59

2 minutes: 56

More details the next time I update the lumen chart post.

Sounds good Don! Thanks for the update.

Try the MXDLs with 10440 and see what lumens you get.

My MXDLs start out very bright on 10440, but I noticed that they got dimmer after a minute or two. I shut them down after that. Battery voltage measured 3.8V. Lights seem undamaged. I haven’t had a chance to investigate more to determine what’s going on.

Tried the twisty with a 10440. 48 lumens at switch-on, 37 lumens at 30 seconds, dead at 32 seconds. The phosphor appears to be toast ad there was a smell of burning epoxy. Just as well it was cheap! Don't think I'll sacrifice the clicky as it is perfectly usable as is.

Just received my MXDL 1xAAA clicky and twisty pair from an eBay seller:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270554060391

Very impressive for the price. So tiny! Very attractive design, looks even better in real life. Surprisingly the clicky disassembles at both ends, with O-rings. Threads are very dry and scratchy though. The clicky switch is very nice, no flickers. The twisty threading feels quite nice, with a positive feel on the twisty switch action that is much better than I expected. I agree with Don that they should have made the chrome end flat instead of domed. The beam quality on the twisty is rather ringy, and about as bright as my Trustfire F20 on medium, and about the same color as the Trustfire, that is to say, slightly warm white. The clicky, on the other hand, has STELLAR beam quality. Absolutely amazing for a $2 light. I don't know how they did it, but this tiny little thing is amazingly floody, even more so than almost all my much larger AA lights. And the beam is silky smooth from the center all the way out to the aura, quite an impressive spread with no rings or blotches at all. The light color itself is fine for me, although most of you would probably comment that it's a bit blue tinged. But it's not too blue, I'd call it cool white. The battery life is awful, as is to be expected with a 1xAAA light, and even more so with the crummy BTY batteries I used to test. I'll try them with some cheap alkalines later on.

Basically, if you haven't already, buy them. And DON'T fry them with LiON batteries, these are keepers! ;)

and even more so with the crummy BTY batteries I used to test

You can get 4 cells for the price of 1 eneloop, and somehow, the 4 cell combined perform worse. :D

They came free with my charger! I'm not complaining. ;)

OK, the following two items just arrived:

Generic LED version of the Tank007 E08 1xAAA with Clicky Carabiner

Richuang RC-7001 1xAAA Clicky with Clip

In short, buy them. If you don't like them, just forgo your morning cup of coffee and you'll pay off the cost.


The generic E08 arrived in a smashed box with no bubble wrap and the carabiner scraping against the flashlight body. I was sure it was a dud. I was even more sure that I had wasted my money when I put in the battery and it didn't light up. Turns out the I had the battery backwards. Before you think I'm terribly ignorant, I must mention that the battery prongs appear totally backwards on this light. There is a spring sticking out at the end of the battery tube near the head. And on the tailcap there is just a flat tab. I'm surprised it makes contact. It really does look like the battery would have to be installed backwards with positive facing the switch. But it's not. At any rate, it works fine, and it must be quite durable if it survived the beating of the trip from China. The light color is neutral enough, although a scrutinizing user would notice a hint of blue. It's not extreme, though. The brightness is a bit less than a Trustfire F20 on medium. The beam pattern is rather ugly, marred by rings. Decidedly wide beam for such a small light, but still not as wide as the amazing MXDL Clicky. It's an attractive little thing, amazingly short and tiny, especially for a clicky. Speaking of the clicky, it is a clicky post, the same post that has the hole for the carabiner clip. Kinda weird. But it works, at least now that it's new. It requires a decent amount of force to click it, but it does have quite a bit of leverage compared to a rubberized recessed button. Be that as it may, it sure feels a lot more expensive that $2.88. The threading is very nice and smooth for the price, and it has a rubber O-ring. Not bad at all. I'm thrilled.

Now the Richuang RC-7001 is another steal. The RC-7001 is also very short, especially for a clicky. It unscrews at both ends, but I dont like the way it's assembled at the head. When you unscrew the head, just the head retainer comes off, with the lens and reflector sitting there held onto it only by gravity. The LED board, however, remains screwed into the body with the LED protruding out all by itself. This defeats the purpose of unscrewing the head, unless you wanted to change the lens or reflector, which frankly wouldn't be worth the trouble for a light in this price range. Unlike the MXDL clicky, the Richuang does not allow you to take the whole head off with the LED module and insert the battery from the top. So the MXDL's mechanical design is far superior in this sense. But nevertheless, the Richuang's quality belies its $2.83 price tag. The clicky feel very nice and heavy and positive. The clip is very functional and much more sturdy than the one in my much more expensive Trustfire F20. The beam is quite pretty, with only very faint rings that are only visible on a white wall. The color is warmish, with no blueness. Pretty impressive for something so cheap. Of these four lights, I think I prefer the form factor of the Richuang RC-7001 most of all. It's a short, tiny, handy, ultra-cheap clicky that no serious tightwad should pass up.

Can you compare the brightness of the riuchang to the F20 on Medium? is less than the generic e08?

Being a serious tightwad, I am looking forward to delivery of the Richuang. I was not quite as impressed with the post-clicky on the generic E08, but it is one neat little light that seems higher quality than the asking price.

Regarding the front head removal on the mxdl clickies, I found these to be very tricky - the o-rings on mine were all easily pinched upon re-installation. I had to lube them well, and run a fingernail along the seam of the joint to tuck them into place while screwing in. An extra hassle that resolved me to remove only the tailcap for replacing batteries.

smashed boxes and no bubble wrap is how my ones came to

i got 3 of each i find the richuang to be a little brighter than the E08 clone

i all so got 3 of the rachuang 2xAAA all looks same as 1xAAA just longer batt tube dose not look much brighter

tryed the 1xAAA on 10440 compared it to my fenix L0D on high 75lumen L0D is a little brighter so maybe 50/60 lumens for the rachuang only tryed it for a min or two dont think it would last long

Hi Fran82, the Richuang and the generic E08 are almost equally bright, but the beam quality is much better on the Richuang. They seem to be approximately equally bright as the F20 on medium, all with fresh NiMHs.