Anyone have one of these?
That's pretty cool. Not that I ever have a need or desire for colored light other than red. But if the price was around $10.00, I'd get one just for the sake of having one.
Maybe in time, others will follow suit (Cmon trust, ultra, unique, spider, fandy etc) and the price will go down. :)
The interesting thing is that it's one larger LED. Don't know how that works but it's interesting. I wish Manafont or someone would carry it and bring the price down as well.
I have no use for it really but would probably get one anyway as it's different. Someone has used one for light painting as well (there are some photo's from customers).
Yah...10 buck and it would be a keeper.
I guess it's using a single RBG emitter. It would be cool to see a flashlight with 3 slider controls (or 3 rotating rings) where you could mix the output yourself.
I can't believe no one (that I know of) has made one of those yet.
There are MC-E available with different colors if you want to do it yourself:
http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10692
There is also available a RGBW version.
The problem would be a driver that can switch between the 4 mc-e dies and even combine colors.
Buy two and you have emergency Nav lights. For some reason I want one. I'm not sure why?
Oh my glob. At the end of the review the guy said he wished there was an automatic SOS. And also I loved how he said the last 2 modes aren't very useful.(I guess as opposed to all of the other modes.)
In looking around some more I think this was sold as First Alert 10 color LED flashlight in 2009 and there are references to it at Home Shopping Network for as low at $8 or maybe even lower.
Everyone sold them out and I don't think any more were made. The site I linked to for $24 appears to have them but who knows. No one else does. I'd like one for $10 just to play with but it is funny reading about all the blinking modes.
The interesting thing to me would just to be able to get 10 colors out of one LED knowing that it's being done simply by varying the current to various combinations of the RGB emitter. If you could mix it yourself it would be even more interesting.
There's no real use for it however unless it was very well made. As it is it's in the same category as the zoomie lights....you don't want to pay too much unless the quality gets a lot better.
My will power is only so strong. I ordered one today. They aren't open on the weekend so it probably won't ship until Tuesday and with UPS Economy it won't arrive anytime next week.
Since it is so unique and I have to see how it works and experiment with it I had no choice but to buy it :) I hate not having any competition for a particular product. There was no way to get the pricing or shipping down. I did find a $5 coupon but I had to spend $2 on batteries to get the order to $25 which was the minimum for the coupon.
On the one hand this is a cheap piece of crap light :) on the other hand since it is a cheap piece of crap light I can poke at it and see how it works and experiment with the different colors without having to pay even more for a "quality" version of this light.
There was a Quark RGB that cost $100 and it only had 3 colors (no mixing). If I just wanted a red or green or blue light for some practical purpose I wouldn't be getting this one. I want something with 10 colors just because this one can do it and no others can apparently.
At least I'm not a flashaholic! I think I'm an experimentaholic :)
I gave you guys a week to buy this thing so I wouldn't have to but no one would step up to the plate :)
I beg of you...someone buy something interesting this coming week so I can take a break. No more XM-L's or large lights...buy something interesting :)
Peace out!
I think I have my (good) excuse for ordering this light now!
I have three lights that I can easily set up with filters (red, blue, green) to experiment with color. With 3 lights you can create not only red, blue and green but also magenta, cyan, and yellow.
More colors would be possible with more lights but to create the color yellow it takes two lights (red and green). If I want to use yellow with anything other than blue I'm out of lights.
When my 10 color light arrives I can make more colors. I can mix any of the 10 colors that light is capable of with varying brightnesses of red, blue, or green from my existing lights.
OK, now I have a reason for that light!
I may be talking to myself here :) but since I don't think this thing is going to arrive until week after next anyone care to guess what exactly it is and how it works?
I think it has an optic but I can't tell about the LED. I'm wondering if it might be the MC-E RGB emitter (which was red,blue, green, and white). Probably not for $25 and it came out (this particular light) in 2007. Maybe.
The light comes on in white each time on startup. It seems to have a single mode momentary switch in the tailcap. It has another button on the side which cycles from white to red,green, blue, orange, yellow, lt.green, lt blue, purple, and pink. I think white and red would be pink, white and blue would be lt blue and white and green would be lt green. Yellow would be red and green. Orange and purple I'm not sure using light but I think it would involve unequal mixtures.
I guess I'll find out in a few weeks but I am really curious.
The first one I received was DOA. I just received the working version today. It's an interesting little light. It's more a novelty than anything else but it does make a good light (nice beam) especially for red, green or blue.
It uses (3) 5 mm leds (red,green,blue) and initially comes on in the white mode. However, the white is composed of all three LEDs rather than a separate white LED so it's not white around the perimeter but rather RGB.
You turn the light on with the tail cap button and it always comes on in white (about 30 lumens). You then use the side switch button in the head to cycle though the 9 colors.
You can get back to white at any time by using a half-press on the tail cap button.
Some of the colors are just lighter versions of other colors (lt. green, red, blue). There is purple, yellow, and orange however. The beam is very nice since it's diffused. It would be more mainstream and useful I guess if there was a separate white LED but I like the effect of knowing that all the colors plus white all come from those 3 LEDs (RGB).
I have some transmission diffusion film so I can look though it at the light as I change the colors and I see the combinations of the RGB used for each color. It's pretty interesting.
It's fun to play with and it's a good example of how additive color mixing works and I don't know of any other light out there like this. The practical side is that this would be a good light to go for if you are outside at night and want a decent red, green or blue beam for whatever reason.
I'm also noticing the more I try it out that the white beam is kind of nice even if a bit different than normal. You are aware that it is composed of RGB but it still serves the purpose of a white light. At least it's not the CW tint that so many complain about :) It has a warmness to it. Once you move away from shining it on a nearby wall it appears even more a pure white.
Sounds pretty cool.
Thanks for the review gc. It makes me wonder what the RGB MCE would look like with all four of it's emitters on at once.
Couldn't find a similar flashlight on on eBay but did find this...
Which might be fun to play with (there are also a number of novelty small lights...led candles, a drinking glass, flower etc... that probably use the same/similar driver).
DX and a bunch of other HK retailers have these starting from $13 but I have never bought any myself. Some of the cheaper lights have videos that show off the lights pretty well.
Yeah, I looked into that at one point and saw that most are very low lumen and most don't just screw into a regular outlet. If anyone gets one be sure to post here!
There is the Quark RGB which does use a MC-E RGB emitter. It's no longer made but I think it was sold for around $100. If someone has one a review would be nice!
My light is turning out to be a nice "specialty" budget light. The 9 colors are interesting but it's best use is with the first 3 colors (red, green, blue). It's a nice 30 lumen (so think of it as medium on a multi-output light) smooth beam and no color mixing until you get past the first 3 colors.
If you need a red LED you don't need it brighter than 30 lumens or you don't need red in the first place. Green seems much brighter just because our eyes have more rods and cones that are sensitive to that wavelength and blue is just plain interesting. It's relaxing in some settings and when outside it's more or less like having a blacklight in that some things are becoming luminescent.
It has a white beam when you first turn it on so it's practical in that sense as well.
I like to have something different as long as it's not too expensive so this light is in the same category as my UV keychain light and ,if I run into one, something like Langs old school 60's incan light. If you like flashlights it's nice to find something different every now and then.
Excellent post. Thanks. In a way, it reminds me of what has been happening in the world of motorcycles (my other passion) for the past two decades: the Japanese would introduce a new model that was essentially the same as last year's, except for some (in the grand scheme of things) relatively minor improvements relatively close to the red line and often some improvements in maximum stopping power. So you would get, maybe, 5% more power way, way high up on the rev band which most people can't utilize at all and the ability to lay on the brakes a second later on the track, which is absolutely useless on the road without ABS, because almost none of us have the fine motor control to consistently use the brakes to their full potential for fear that the front wheel might lock up.
So while the Japanese were basically engaging in oneupmanship, the Germans instead focused on building large touring motorcycles, the Italians focused on style (at least for a while), HD did its own thing (and killed Buell in the process) and various niche manufacturers did come into their own.
And that has worked surprisingly well: tons of squids just had to have the newest GSX-R or RR bike, so they traded in their bike that they used to go really fast in a straight line for one that can go a tad bit faster in a straight line. And I'm not even being sarcastic here. Well, maybe a little bit. :D But, in technology there's always a trickle down effect and in the long run, we all benefit: we wouldn't have the great engines, brakes, transmissions, suspensions and electronics without racing and what is essentially less than a handful of manufacturers competing with each other.
I think we may be seeing some of that in the flashlight world, as well. There's always the newest, greatest thing since sliced bread, then everybody gets on board, prices come down, etc. Until somebody comes out with a new emitter that gives you pretty much more of the same. Because, let's face it, most of the old lights we consider obsolete are still light years ahead of what the average Joe has. That's because they put out enough light for most applications. Gaining another 20 lumens is just like having a bike that does makes 2 horses more at 15k rpm: nice for bragging rights, great if that's your thing but utterly inconsequential in the real world.
Other things like reliability and UI do matter. And this is coming from a guy who is a self-confessed lumens junkie. To a normal, regular person having a light that just works(tm) is way more important than the amount that comes out the front.
I no longer buy expensive lights but I can understand why people do it. A really high-end light is like riding a nice, brand new BMW. Extremely expensive, but also reliable, comfortable, safe and ultimately, very, very nice. I'd rather have two Japanese bikes than a single BMW (I have owned BMWs and I have nothing but fond memories). But that's just me. It's a personal choice.
I'd also rather have two STL-V2s than one premium, brand-name light. Again, personal choice. That's why I think there's a market for these novelty lights, even at the hugely inflated prices that some of them command.
In the case of the Quark RGB that sold for $100...it didn't sell well so it's no longer available even though it's only been a year (I think) since it first came out.
It was the same quality as a regular Quark, cost twice as much and a few were sold because it was different. I think 4Sevens just didn't read the market correctly. If they managed to sell it for the same price as a regular Quark more people would have purchased it even if they had no use for it since it was different.
When it's (relatively) expensive and they have no use for it it's a harder sell :)
Actually, I think it take less "courage" to try something like that than to come out with the same light over and over. I get bored looking at all the XM-L lights that are all more or less the same.
That is pretty cool.Magic.do you think so?