I just received one of these (free — I was asked by the rep and agreed to do a review)
+EDIT:
the first one —used with my own li-ion — had severe passive drain — the flashlight heated from 20C (ambient) to 30C standing on a table, switched off, plenty of air circulation, checked with an infrared thermometer.
Not a good thing to have in a purse or backpack.
I also saw the drain problem reported in a review on Amazon (draining the battery, but no mention of noticeable heat)
The first light I got also would barely light up with the lithium primary 3v cell after that had been used for ten minutes or so.
Definite problem(s), not well defined.
Orca promptly sent another, flashlight which didn’t have the problem. I’m using that (and more so now that days are getting shorter). It’s a nice light*.
No visible identifiable difference between the flaky one and the good one, so it may be something to watch for in retail products.
Nice as in “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
—end edit—
Making a placeholder here, because I’ll take a while using it.
I’m guessing others may also have review samples coming.
So — feel free to add either reviews and/or pointers to your reviews elsewhere
First impressions: for li-ion, ONLY use a protected cell.
EDIT or maybe don’t use li-ion, see below EDIT
My first sampe flashlight came with a bad driver — will overdischarge an unprotected li-ion.
END EDIT
Ringy light distribution (photo to come). Yellow hotspot, blue edge.
Played with it a while with the included lithium primary cell, which lasted a day of very intermittent use.
I didn’t check that included cell voltage at first, I should have.
Put in a Radio Shack (“Deworld”) 700 mAh 68030.
Starting from a fully charged cell, played with the light for a few minutes and set it aside overnight.
Very ringy, not noticeably brighter but I didn’t measure it.
Found the light unresponsive in the AM
I removed the tailcap and put it back on (but maybe it was just a weak contact on the switch button; it would click but not turn on)
Checked the cell — it had drained a (protected) cell to 2.9v
When the switch worked would give the strobe, or only 2 levels
With the cell at that level, the switch would click when pressed anywhere, but I had to use a thumbnail pressure on the center to get it to actually operate electrically.
So I’m guessing that’s oddities associated with low voltage from the cell.
I’ll try it again with the fairly drained primary lithium. Going to 2 levels plus strobe is a feature on a weak battery, I’d say, for safety/crosswalk nighttime use (which is where I find this kind of light most useful)
OK, with their provided lithium primary cell, at 2.92v, clicking the switch — does nothing
Holding the switch down for 3 seconds starts the strobe (it’s very dim, easy to look directly at the emitter)
Clicking the switch changes it to low; clicking again changes it to slightly brighter (still very dim).
So I put in the fully recharged Li-ion cell next.
Went through the levels, all Ok, switch performing properly
Put it in my pocket.
Half an hour later the flashlight is noticeably warm.
Checked the cell and it’s down to 3.7v
OK, bad driver. Put a fully charged 4.2v li-ion in and the light got hot again (not turned on) in about half an hour.
Removed the cell, it was at 3.7v.
Charged the cell, put it back.
No light on first click.
Two levels, no strobe.
No light at all for several clicks
Then very very dim light — two levels and strobe, but not even lightning-bug brightness.
Cell’s down to 3.2v.
So that’s two different li-ions, same behavior — fast drain, warm flashlight tube, erratic switch results at low voltage.
I’ll see if I can get another one to try out.
Does anyone else with one of these have measurements of the passive drain when it’s off?
(I’m trying to figure out how to measure it, as this is a light where the battery sits very high in the head piece, so I can’t just measure from negative pole of battery to the side of the tube)
I have this POS !
It will drain a fully charged battery overnight. The Parasitic drain is horrible! Look at the Amazon reviews. Others have the same problem.
Contdact the reseller (Amazon if that’s how you bought it) and get a replacement.
It’s a known problem, but not all of the drivers are bad — replacement I got worked correctly.
Simple test, if you have an infrared thermometer — the flashlight starts to heat up while switched off, as the battery gets drained
(unscrewing the tailcap a quarter turn — 90 degrees — breaks the circuit preventing the problem, so I got in the habit of doing that to turn the flashlight off, like a twisty)
I’ve made it a habit to lock out any flashlight by turning the tailcap a quarter turn loose, before putting it away.
That’s a precaution against accidental activaton by bumping the switch, but also prevents passive drain with this problem.
I just turn the flashlight off by turning the tailcap instead of using the side button.
I wish they’d make the tailcap have a detent (sticky-noticeable clicky point) when turned far enough to disconnect power tho’.
So locking it out withe a half twist will work? I can do that I guess when I put it in the drawer. It’s just something I shouldn’t have to do on a $34 light.
Yes. On the first one I got a quarter turn is enough — and when the pocket clip lines up with the pushbutton, it’s locked out.
But your threads may vary. Check and see, maybe put a couple of dots on the parts that line up when it’s locked out
(they should have painted these with indicator marks)
You’ll see a brief flash from the LED when you tighten the tailcap again. I would guess that’s the passive drain kicking on.
I wish we had a circuit design expert here willing to hold forth on how to handle passive drain with electronic switches.