To fund my flashlight collection I work as an HVAC tech and recently came across a new light at one of our suppliers.
Most of the lights sold at these places are the cheapie shower head style or old stock AA mag lights so I really didn’t take it seriously until I turned it on.
It’s called the Cliplight Clipstrip and after avoiding it for a week or two I finally bought one. ($8.xx)
(image found on google)
Features:
Two modes (On or Off)
A deep carry pocket clip (cause they stuck it on one end)
It tail stands (but won’t head stand)
A magnet in the clip that will actually hold the weight of the light (tested & verified - vertical and suspended)
A multi position clip
140 lumens
I’m actually pretty happy with this light. Between seeing this one and buying it I found another with the same form factor, but sold under a different name, that didn’t have a solid LED strip and wasn’t nearly as bright.
Clipped in the neck of my shirt it does an excellent job of lighting my way and even does a respectable ceiling bounce. I haven’t used this light in any work situations yet.
There’s not much to this light. I don’t think there’s any kind of driver or even heat sinking behind the LED (s?)
I can’t test to see what the lumen output actually is but it’s better than I expected. Tint is definitely cool white.
I probably won’t do runtime testing or get tail cap readings
The cells stack end to end so the light is a little longer than my Solarforce L2 lights and the thinnest part of the light is about as thick as a AA but squared off.
I'll try to remember to take some measurements and maybe some pics tomorrow.
Bunch of lights are similar, I’ve been happy with my 2xAAA Larry Light. Issue I see is that plastic case is a limiting factor due to heat, so none are going to have that great of light output until we see metal bodies. 3xAAA seems like a very awkward form factor, too long for pockets, much less power/life vs AA almost the same size.
OTOH mine is rated something like 60 lumens, and that is plenty for a lot of tasks and I see no issues from leaving it on for half a hour or more at a time.
If you want LOTS of output for just 20x as much money there are serious bar strip floods available, like the SnapOn for about $130.
those are cool. I have a couple simmilar lights, both neon-gree & Black housings, one has a front-flashlight along with the side flood and the other only has the flood same as above. One is 3-AAA and the other is 2-AA.
Here are the two simmilar lights i have.
The left one is a Prime-lite model, has a tail cap rare-earth magnet, very bright, close to a neutral white emitter array, mechanical clicky switch, and a rubberized coating on the body.
The one on the right is a Phillips/Woods model, it has a directional flashlight in the top along with the side light strip, is more of a cooler white tint that the Primelight, but this one also has magnets in the bottom and the back, and an electronic switch.
Both have a very smooth, floody output with good quality SMD style emitters.
The cheap pocket floods are nice, I use one along with a HF “puck” light also 3xAAA iirc, but I am tuned up to buy something like the monster output Snapon that is about $130, once its loses that $1 in front.
I’ve got something similar in a 2xAAA form, however it’s casing is horribly cheap and nasty, the battery cover feels like it’s going to come off every time I pick it up, but for 50p down from £8 I was reasonably impressed.
I’m just trying to find a nice piece of alu tube to re-host it all in!
