Review: Durable Stick Style N-FB91 CREE Q4 3-Mode 180-Lumen White LED Flashlight w/ Strap (1x18650/3xAAA)

Durable Stick Style N-FB91 CREE Q4 3-Mode 180-Lumen White LED Flashlight w/ Strap (1x18650/3xAAA)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★

Summary:

Battery: 18650 (or 3 x AAA)
Switch: Reverse Clicky
Modes: High - Low - Strobe
LED Type: Cree Q4
Lens: Plastic
Tailstands: No
Price Payed: $24.20
From: DealExtreme
Date Ordered: September 2011

Pros:

  • This thing is actually a thrower (with deep reflector)
  • Durable design
  • Good rubber handle, fits my hand perfectly
  • Nice strap with claw
  • Looks cool
  • Will make damage if used to whack an intruder
  • Easy to mod

Cons:

  • Hollow pill (needs to be replaced / filled when modding)

Features / Value: ★★★

Durable design.

Three modes: High, low, strobe.

Can use either 1 x 18650 or 3 x AAA. (18650 is brighter)

Value for money is GOOD.

Came in the normal white OEM box inside an elongated yellow envelope:

Design / Build Quality: ★★★

Build quality is good. Feels good & well balanced in hand. Not too heavy.

Rubber handle with strap & claw is a nice addition and the ring between handle and body helps to keep the grip!

Threads were amazingly good for this price.

Only negative thing was a minor dent in the bezel.

Flashlight parts:

Rubber handle and claw:

Threads in the handle:

Dent in the bezel (on upper right spike)


Size, compared to "The Baseball stick":


Lots of mass for heat transfer & cooling. Should be good also for longer runtimes, except that the pill is hollow and requires some filling.

Hollow pill:

Some measures:

Battery Life: ★★★★★

Didn't have time for real runtime tests yet, but must be good with tailcap currents of:
High: 1.5A, Low: 0.33A -> theoretically almost 1.5h runtime on high.

Light Output: ★★★

Good. See the reflector measurements above, this thing is a thrower! Hotspot size is almost as small as in my Solarforce Skyline I. Wow!!

I got a lux reading of about 16kcd (measured at 2m, calculated back to 1m). A bit brighter than the baseball bat with XR-E R2.

Flood is ok, but the beam is a bit ringy (which doesn't bother me at all).

Emitter & reflector:

Summary: ★★★★

A very good "special purpose" light, easy to mod with any led with 21mm star. I'm very happy with it!

The end: (pun intended)

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the review.

WOW, very good review... and very "exotic" weap..... flashlight

Merry Christmas to me. I'm getting this!

Nice review.

Which do you like better?

Thanks for the review. I couldnt help but find myself laughing in a sinister way several times as I fantasized about fending off my foes with the macelight. I wish they had these when I was competing in MA years ago.

Its great to see the driver running the XRE hard. I was very surprised to see how deep the reflector is. To bad DX didnt include a photo of it because Id imagine it would increase their sales for this item. Are you going to fill it with lead/steel shot? To bad the weight wont be added to the tip of the light. At least it will be easy to dump the shot if you dont like it.

Order placed! :)

Ha! What a crazy design. Thanks for reviewing this though, there's something for everyone in the flashlight market... :)

Thanks again for the review! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

Thanks.

It's hard to decide which one is better, I like them both equally. This one is better value for money for sure ($24.20 vs. $32.90 and about equal value).

The baseball bat is way heavier, but E1320's / Flashpilots suggestion of filling this one with lead shot should make that even. But then again, the baseball bat has a heavier head.. But I like the real attack head in this one.. But...... Just buy both and be happy! :D

Great pics and good review!!

Very interesting light, I bet there´s not many reviews on this one :D

It´s not very common, that a light like this has a properly driven emitter...

Is it possible to get a ready-made not-hollow pill for this with the measurements given. Or do you have to make your own / fill?

Really nice review, _the_, thanks.

After the bat light and now this mace I got around to thinking what will be next? How about the RQ Real-Spear or a Solarforce Enhanced Bezel with bayonet lug? Finally it occurred to me that someone could produce an enhanced version of that grenade styled light, complete with a dodgy driver and designed specically for three mismatched fake brand lithium cells, a kind of launch and forget light.

Two points that deserve to be reported in the review as negative:

1. Lens: Coated plastic Lens

2. Reflector: Plastic Smooth/SMO

Plastic lens was already mentioned, but I didn't see that as a very bad thing - especially given the main purpose of the light.. :)

And you are right, also the reflector is plastic.

I suppose this is a weapon first, then flashlight second. Imagine being beaten with a strobing mace! that would be disorientating.

I find it interesting that they made a 'thrower' out of this 'beater.'

Since the mace is meant to be used in extreme close-quarters, it would seem logical that a 'floody bludgeon' would be more practical than a 'throwy bludgeon.'

Seems logical to me. That way you can beat hell out of the robber but still keep a lookout to see if the cops are coming because they might think you are using excessive force...........

I prefer to use things other than clubs to explain to the local neds the error of their ways. I find policemen do the job in a much more satisfying way - but then my father was a judge.

Failing that, the assistant has rather impressive teeth.

And would rather scrounge treats from neds than attack them - but they don't know that.

Not as impressive as Rosie the Rottweiler (one of the assistant's pals) who loves everyone, but her happy noises sound like "I'm about to rip your throat out."

I'm so not coming to Helsinki if you guys are carrying that type of things. No wait, I work there... Well maybe I just need to get myself one of those.

Arrant thoughts: I was once considering building an 8 D cell flashlight from galvanized water pipe and dubbing it "the FugLite". Perfect for those strolls in bad neighborhoods. A P60 insert into an aluminum baseball bat would be my second choice.