Interesting that the Frog and GT Nano draw similar currents when the main LED is OFF and the switch button backlight is ON, especially since the Frog's backlight is so much brighter.
Before I turned the backlights OFF, I could easily see the Frog's backlight during daylight but could barely see the GT Nano's backlight even in the dark.
0.17mA is good for red, but it must be pretty dim though. So that’s about 20 days with the 10880 battery.
Green is roughly 6 times more efficient than red, at least that’s what I’ve measured with my lighted tailcaps. Green looks just as cool as red, or any other colors, but is the efficiency champ when it comes to lighted switches.
Actually, I don’t think that the light is brighter, but the rubber cover is more opaque in the GT Nano They probably corrected it when they did the Frog given the complaints received about the Nano
Well, actually is not that dim, on the Frog (on the Nano, yes, due to the switch cover).
Here’s a comparison between the switches of the
Astrolux EC03 > GT Nano (that small red dot) > FROG
About the draining time, I am not that good at those calculations, but…I’d rather have the flashlight without the switch led activated, so that it didn’t drain that “fast”
Thanks for the information about the green led too, maybe they can change this feature in future “incarnations” to spare some battery juice!
For me, my red/orange run around 0.46mA at 4.1v, which is about the same brightness as my greens that run at around 0.07mA. Mine are with clear silicone switch covers.
Ahah, dim is relative indeed. For me the Frog could be slighly dimmer in this case
But your green have a really low consumption when compared to the orange/red. I feel that green glow brighter, better to locate in the dark, but less friendly for a “stealth” use . So it is kind of a dilemma
Thanks for the calculation
BTW, I am not sure if the battery level for the parasitic drain measurements are important, but it was around 3.51V back then. If a empty vs full cell makes a difference, I can remeasure again.
This looks to be a fun, novel light that admittedly I don't need and rather just "want."
Other than the Lumintop EDC Pico my lights have replaceable cells--if one dies I put in another and keep running (to me that's important). Cells are easily replaceable in the Frog. (That's not happening with another popular small keychain light I was considering, the RovyVon Aurora A23 as it has a pouch cell.)
Another concern is activating the light via putting it on a keychain in my pocket and the keys getting pressed against the switch (people who wear loose clothing don't have that issue I'd guess). I now understand how the RovyVon double-click lockout works, so that would not be an issue. On the Frog it works from ramping mode in either the On or Off position by four rapid clicks, so all good there.
One of the big draws is the swappable tubes--I was able to order three from Lumintop for $35:
4K LED (neutral white), charge head
10180 tube + battery
10440 tube + battery
AAA (x3) extension tube (use with 10440 tube)
Admittedly battery life is "short," but potentially better than my Lumintop EDC Pico using ramping:
Pico
15 lm / 4.75 hr
130 lm / 0.4 hr
Frog 10180
1 lm / 14 hr
35 lm / 1.4 hr
175 lm / 0.4 hr
Frog 10440
1 lm / 58 hr
40 lm / 3.0 hr
220 lm / 0.7 hr
Since it's making a long trip it's going to take a while to get here (especially with the holiday), a much faster option is ordering from www.nealsgadgets.com(which I later discovered).
As portrayed above, in the review, this is the length of the Frog with the included battery tube. It will be a bit shorter with the GT Nano 10440 tube, since it doesn’t have that loop but has a flat tail.
This is the difference between the tails:
Maybe you can reach Lumintop or Nealsgadgets and see what shipping options they have
Thanks again for the great review. You’re measuring the length and weighing the light with the battery helped me a lot. That was the determining Factor on my decision between the frog and the tool.
The tool is a great light but I don’t think it’s considered a keychain light. It’s 47.5 G with the 14500 battery in it. The frog is only 25 G with a 10440 battery in it. The tool weighs almost twice as much. And it’s 3/4 of an inch longer.
Pulled the trigger last night and got the FROG.
The flashlight, the 10440 extender and shipping for $34.89 from flashlightbrand. I bought a few lights from them before they got here in 11 or 12 days. Here is usa.
EDIT: With the 10440 battery/Extender it is still shorter than my Ultratac K18. The one that broke.
Nice to know that the Frog is even shorter. I never used it in the keychain, but only as EDC in the pocket and I was happy with it, although it tends to “disappear” when I have other stuff in the pockets
I cannot remember if the default UI was ramping but I can be almost sure it was since I needed to mess with the configurations to try to use it in stepped levels.
Did you make sure your version is the one with Narsil and not the new UI? There were some modifications since I bought this light. There are some thread around talking about it!
If yours is using Narsil, then yes, it goes to Turbo when using the ramping UI. As for the stepped modes, I guess it works differently.
Again, if you or someone needs a video to show the UI configuration and also the switch light configuration, etc, please let me know!
Unfortunately I have have not. It’s lost in some balloon somewhere over antarctica!
Actually they haven’t sent it. they said they should arrive tomorrow from the factory.
I’ve ordered from them three times. Two other times the same thing they have it listed in stock and then all the sudden they don’t have it. But the last time they had it two days later. I’ve been waiting weeks for this. I told him if it’s not there tomorrow I want a refund.