For quality cheap (~$10) chargers, there’s also the Nitecore i2 and Nitecore D2… I feel comfortable with how safe they are to gift them for sure. NiMH is a pretty safe battery to begin with.
FWIW, I measured two BLF-348 units. I got 48.6 lm and 49.1 lm at start, on a fresh Eneloop.
So, just a bit under 50 lumens on a rechargeable NiMH cell.
As for runtime, I’m not sure. It took about a day of frequent use to drain the cell I had laying on my desk. So, a bit faster than I’m accustomed to, and it gets warm during use. I get a few weeks per charge on my 10180 lights, but I only use them at a low level (~10 lm).
Guys, did anyone disassemble the BLF version? I wonder if there is any thermal compound between the LED and the pill. In the “stock” SF-348 there is none.
Moreover, the pill is “hanging in the air” supported by spring on one side and the reflector on the led side and is not “snug fit” into the body.
I’m afraid it can fry the led when driven off a 10440 for a long time.
I’ve had mine running on a freshly charged eneloop for the last hour and a half. The output is now in the moonlight range. In a previous test this morning I saw some odd behavior from both my lights. They would get very dim as the batteries depleted then suddenly jump back up in brightness before quickly dimming again. Not sure what that was about.
That’s because the driver works to about 0.8-0.9 volts, after the voltage drops below that, the driver turns (edit: off, i wanted to say OFF, sorry!!) , the voltage of the unloaded cell jumps up a little bit, the driver turns on, the voltage drops, and the cycle repeats.
I got mine today and wanted to say thank-you to the for getting this done and done well.
first and foremost the TINT on these is very nice …and CRI is higher then most leds.If i’m guessing I’m guessing 80~85.
Like Jacktheclipper I was a bit unnerved by the lack of anyone commenting about the tint .Everyone seemingly happy with all other aspects of this light had me sweating . Compared to the last version of these lights the difference is night and day .
If you are considering buying one and for some reason on the fence than I suggest you stay there … you’re a nut … these are sweet little lights …(buy both)…
That makes sense except that there was no off/on sequence involved. The lights were on the entire time. It was the output that jumped back up then gradually dimmed back down.