Three Colorful AAA Budget Lights from DinoDirect:
Bronte RA01 vs. SKILHUNT Ramble-ι (Iota) vs. Tank007 E09
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ / ★★★★☆ / ★★★☆☆
Three Colorful AAA Budget Lights from DinoDirect:
Bronte RA01 vs. SKILHUNT Ramble-ι (Iota) vs. Tank007 E09
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ / ★★★★☆ / ★★★☆☆
Summary:
| Bronte RA01 | SKILHUNT Ramble-ι (Iota) | Tank007 E09 | |
| Battery: | 1xAAA (Alkaline, NiMH, Lithium) | 1xAAA (Alkaline, NiMH, Lithium) | 1xAAA (Alkaline, NiMH, Lithium) or 1x10440 Li-Ion |
| Switch: | Twisty | Twisty | Twisty |
| Modes: | 3 (Med, High, Low - No memory) | 3 (High, Med, Beacon - No memory) | 3 (High, Med, Low - With memory) |
| Led type: | Cree XP-G R5 (CW) | Cree XP-E R2 (NW) | Cree XP-E R3 (CW) |
| Lens / reflector: | Glass / LOP | Glass / LOP | Glass / SMO |
| Tailstands: | No | Yes (+ Tailhangs w. magnet!) | Yes |
| Price payed: | $13.49 | $12.59 | $11.15 |
| From: | DinoDirect | DinoDirect | DinoDirect |
| Date Ordered: | May 2012 | May 2012 | May 2012 |
Pros & Cons:
| Bronte RA01 | SKILHUNT Ramble-ι (Iota) | Tank007 E09 | |
| Pros: | - Good price :) |
- Good price :) |
- Good price :) - Good knurling (easy to turn on) - Anti-roll design - Small & lightweight - Well spaced modes with a real low mode (with really bad PWM though) - Mode memory - Accepts 10440 - Comes in a nice tin box - Threads were smooth & well lubed - No battery rattle |
| Cons: | - Mode order (I prefer Low-Med-High) - A bit slippery without any knurling - Doesn't tailstand - Quite cold tint - Ugly & heavy claw |
- Mode order (I prefer Low-High) - Real low mode missing (High-Med) - A bit longer knurling on head would be nice - A bit heavy - Longer than the two others |
- Runs HOT (even on normal lithium battery) - Bad, really slow PWM - Bad regulation or thermal issues?? Brightness goes down from 200->150 units in first 30s - Lower runtime than in others (and not that much brighter) - Ugly beam pattern (I didn't win in the lottery) - Mode order (I prefer Low-Med-High) |
Features / Value
Packaging of all three lights is shown below. Bronte has the best retail packaging with good information, SKILHUNT is in "ok" blister (information is ok too), and Tank007 in a tin box without any information.
All of the boxes contain the light itself, extra O-rings and split ring. Bronte includes also a claw, but it's unnecessarily heavy and IMHO ugly. SKILHUNT has also a clip and a separable magnet. Note that SKILHUNT has hidden the goodies inside the back paper(!!) -> very easy to throw away by mistake.
Features are otherwise very basic, but the tail design of SKILHUNT is very clever! This is worth +1 star for sure.
The tail can be disassembled and user can choose if he wants to use clip or key ring attachment. The magnet is strong, but also removable => no problems if you have credit cards in the same pocket: Just remove the magnet! [Removing the magnet might feel difficult, but you can catch it easily with the clip]
Here's the light with key ring attachment and without magnet => ready to go into your pocket:
UI is ok in all lights, but I would prefer Low-(Med-)High. Operation is normal twisty: Tighten head to turn on (to first mode). Loosen to turn off. Turn off and on again for next mode. Only Tank007 has memory, which can be considered as a good thing, especially given the H-M-L mode order. That makes it the only light of these, which can be set to start on low (but you have to remember to leave it on low when you stop using it!). Modes are well spaced in all of these, but SKILHUNT doesn't have a real low mode, which costs it one star. None of these have annoying blinky modes (good), but SKILHUNT has beacon mode (about 1/s) which can be useful in some situations. And you don't have to see the beacon since the light has no memory => it always starts on high.
Value for money: Especially the SKILHUNT feels like a much more expensive light, but also the others are good.
Star rating:
Bronte ★★★★☆
SKILHUNT ★★★★☆
Tank007 ★★★★☆
Design / Build Quality
Design is good in all of these lights. Tank007 has anti-roll design (hex-style in the end of the head), others don't. On the other hand, SKILHUNT has a clip, which prevents it from rolling.
The size is ok for key chain use, but aluminum as material is a bit weak for that. I prefer either SS or Ti for key chain lights... But then again: All of these are cheap, so you can buy a (better) replacement next year. Aluminum is also lightweight, so good for key chain in that sense.
Bronte doesn't tailstand, but others do it well. In addition to this SKILHUNT "tailhangs" very well with it's magnet on any magnetic surface (90 degree / 180 degree positions can be achieved without sweat).
Bronte doesn't have any knurling, which makes it a bit slippery. Knurling in SKILHUNT is quite narrow and requires a bit practice to use. Knurling in Tank007 is nice, making it very easy to operate.
Let's take a closer look to the knurling. Head of Bronte (no knurling here - minus 1 star):
Head of SKILHUNT (notice the narrow knurling):
Head of Tank007 (Good knurling, but note the "spilled paint"-look in the anodization. Weird!)
A look to inside. Similar design in all three lights: Tail spring keeps the battery in place and prevents rattle.
Bronte:
SKILHUNT (Note the thick walls!)
Tank007:
To my surprise the threads were very smooth and well lubed in all three lights. However, SKILHUNT was significantly smoother and felt like a real high-end light.
Bronte:
SKILHUNT:
Tank007:
A look to drivers. Bronte doesn't mention the brand there, others do.
Bronte:
SKILHUNT:
Tank007:
Tank007 has a SMO reflector, causing bad beam in my sample (kreisler & others have mentioned that the beam quality is a lottery in Tanks, I guess I didn't win.. 
). Others use LOP, which is good! Emitters are well centered, no problems there.
Measurements:
Bronte: 14.0 x 70mm, 26g with claw and lithium battery (13g light only).
SKILHUNT: 15.5 x 75mm, 30g with clip, magnet and lithium battery (20g light only)
Tank007: 14.9 (15.5 max from hex) x 70mm, 22g with lithium battery (13g light only)
The bottom line in the quality: Machining & anodization is good in all of these, nothing else to complain than the "paint spill" in Tank007.
Star rating:
Bronte ★★★☆☆
SKILHUNT ★★★★★
Tank007 ★★★★☆
Battery Life
Good in others, not-so-good in Tank007.
I measured the current draw of all lights:
Bronte: 0.58A, 0.20A & 0.04A => Theoretical runtime about 2h on high, up to 30h on low.
SKILHUNT: 0.64A & 0.14A => Theoretical runtime about 2h on high, up to 8h on low (= med).
Tank007: 2.00A, 0.66A & 0.06A => Theoretical runtime is only about 35min on high, up to 20h on low.
The high current draw in Tank007 caused some weird things in my tests, for example throw dropped from 840cd to 600cd in 30s, bringing the brightness down to SKILHUNT level! (SKILHUNT didn't drop almost at all during the first 30s)
Also the temperature after taking the white wall beamshots was significantly higher in Tank007 than others (45°C vs. 35°C, and this was after a couple minutes!)
I need to do some more testing to see the regulation and real runtimes of these lights. Please stay tuned..
Star rating:
Bronte ★★★★★
SKILHUNT ★★★★☆
Tank007 ★★☆☆☆
Light Output
Good for a EDC pocket / key chain light. From about 3 lumens on low to about 80 on high => certainly enough to cover most situations on EDC use.
The tints were from really white Bronte to "almost NW" SKILHUNT. Nothing to complain in any of those. The tints can be seen in the following white wall beamshots (1/160s, f/3.4, ISO200, WB: Daylight)
Low mode (From left to right: Bronte, Tank007 - SKILHUNT missing due to no real low mode)
Medium mode with same exposure (From left to right: Bronte, SKILHUNT, Tank007)
High mode with same exposure (From left to right: Bronte, SKILHUNT, Tank007)
High mode, decreased exposure (1/1000s) to show the differences better (From left to right: Bronte, SKILHUNT, Tank007)
Beam angle on low (From left to right: Bronte, SKILHUNT, Tank007)
Beam angle on medium (From left to right: Bronte, SKILHUNT, Tank007)
Beam angle on high (From left to right: Bronte, SKILHUNT, Tank007)
Star rating:
Bronte ★★★★☆
SKILHUNT ★★★★☆
Tank007 ★★★★☆
Summary
All of these three budget lights are very good value. Give these to anyone and ask to guess the price: You'll most probably get answers of $30 or higher. Really nice lights, which all have some slight shortcomings, which is understandable for this price. The smart clip / magnet / key ring combination of SKILHUNT makes that light a winner in this comparison. If that light would have a real low mode, it would be a very good candidate for my EDC. Now it will serve as a secondary pocket light, not on my key chain, but securely attached with the clip..
Verdict: SKILHUNT Highly Recommended, others Recommended (for the price)!
The Ends (pun intended).
Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!
(just to see how well they are regulated)
Nice clip .