We all get a light that doesn’t measure up to our expectations now and then. What are your let downs and why? I will start with a few.
1. Terralux Lightstar 80 penlight.
Not as bright as claimed, sickly yellow tint, way too fat for a 2AAA light.
2. Kingpower K1.
It’s a fairly expensive 1AA light that just doesn’t do anything for me. Slightly green tint, no clip, no real difference in modes. I can’t tell what is high, med or low? Has strobe, boo! Kind of heavy with a stainless steel head and feels front heavy. My old Rominsen RC-G2 is better.
3. Princeton Tec Eos headlamp. I don’t get why this is considered the best headlamp for the money. It’s ok but that’s it.
4. Streamlight Pro-Tac 2AAA penlight.
HORRIBLE UI! What blooming idiot thought to give this penlight a strobe mode? What worse, to get to strobe you need double press the switch half way within a short time like 1/2 second or something. To make matter EVEN worse, the low is nearly impossible to get. You need to triple press the switch halfway within 1/4 of a second. The result is, every time you attempt to get into the low mode, you end up in the idiot strobe mode. It’s frustrating and a waste of time. Had this just been two mode with high and low, it would have been a good light.
1. Quark AA Ti
Dimm, green tint, gritty threads.
2. Sunwayman V20C
Dimm, very floody (which made it look even dimmer), ugly tint (very cool white, not exactly blueish but made everything look very pale), control ring - non-linear ramping, imprecise at very low brightness.
3. Xtar WK30
Dimm, blue tint, bright low mode, unreliable mode changing.
I'm probably one of the few here that thinks so, but my Shiningbeam S-mini was a disappointment right out of the box. Even with the XM-L version it had anemic output, green tint and the body tube was so light it felt flimsy in comparison to other lights. I have never been so let down, as I had really anticipated buying it for some time. Because of it's small form factor, I was going to use as a helmet mounted light for night riding. The output was so weak it was totally useless for that purpose. I guess it might make a handy light for walking the dog. I ended up selling it to fund another light purchase.
Many of the recommendations were based on what was available at the time…3AAA battery headlamps that cost $50-$60 with certain bad designs and only marginally brighter… or a well designed EOS (mine even has a good neutral tint).
The negatives are low isn’t low enough and strobe mode isn’t hidden. The overall design is good, the button is easy to get too, it looks attractive, it’s waterproof and regulated. I have mine diffused as well.
I have several headlamps and keep the EOS in my car glove compartment. For that it works well and is a good deal for the money.
Some people like them as well because they are easy to mod.
Jetbeam BK-135a - great looking silver orange camo pattern light. Felt great in hand. Nice programmable interface. But it overheated and died after just 5 minutes running on high. Took 3 months to get it back from warranty repair. And the new driver they put in is the same as that on a PA01. No more programmable interface. And the light flickers.
Jetbeam PA01- extremely ugly green tint
Quark mini AA - feels really thin and flimsy. Extremely ugly green tint.
Sunwayman V10a XPG - rather large for a AA light. Dropped the head 3’ onto wooden floor while changing battery and something broke and the light no longer works.
Lenslight mini - extremely large and solid despite small size of battery. Worst clip I’ve seen on a light. Can’t tailstand. Only 2 modes and loses one of them when running on RCR. protruding forward clicky tailcap button without tailcap lockout makes it unsuitable for pocket carry. Too much grease in zoom mechanism causes a layer of grease to be deposited right where my hand sits when the zoom is cycled.
I also have assorted much cheaper budget lights that didn’t pan out. But I don’t expect much from a budget light so am not as disappointed when one turns out to be junk.
1. X2000 zoomie - super weak, dinky, and horribly cheap. Worst ever.
2. Coleman 500 Lumen MC-E - green, ugly beam, no regulation, bulky, almost no throw, have to cycle through modes always, and when I got it home and compared it to a TK11 with R5, I knew its specs were bull. And even at $52 on Amazon, it wasn’t worth it.
