sdc100 wrote:I don't understand the point of this flashlight. It's huge at 8", and rather dim at 17 lumens, and doesn't have any special features like strobing, SOS signally, Hi/Lo modes, beam focusing, etc. Nor does it seem especially durable or waterproof (it's just "weather resistant"). Nor is it especially energy efficient, i.e. some models strobe their LEDs at an extremely high rate to save energy.
Finally, the fact that it uses 4 LEDs is a serious flaw. It's an indicator that these are probably cheap generic LEDs, instead of a CREE. Cheap white LEDs often have a bluish tint. But there's an even more important reason to use a single LED. It gives a sharper more defined light. When you have multiple light sources (in this case, 4 LEDs), you get interference and weird shadows are cast and fringing results.
You can get a much better flashlight on eBay for about $6.
Several people seem to not understand application specific lights. This is suited for emergency lighting so given that, these are the desirable features:
1) Better quality than the generics = more reliable. Most of the generic lights will break if dropped onto a hard surface a few times.
2) 3 different battery size options - in an emergency you want this versatility, though of course you have that also with a D cell light and adapter cartridges instead.
3) High efficiency Nichia LEDs, these are not generics, if it were then it'd be closer to half the brightness at same current and the LEDs would degrade driven near the same current.
4) They seem to be (from Nichia spec sheet) 70mA LEDs, so with alkaline C cells having around 8000mAH capacity, that's close to 29 hours, even longer if you count the couple days longer it runs dimmer as the cells drop in voltage.
5) Strobing doesn't really save energy unless it's a linear voltage drop or switching boost type design which this isn't, and that also means elimination of one failure mode, again desirable in emergency use. You can buy good lights suited for emergency use but with equal or better runtime and durability most of those cost over twice as much.
6) It's not built to be a long distance thrower and the 4 LEDs have a custom molded optic in front so the beam pattern isn't bad.
7) While it is ironic that in many ways it looks similar to cheap generic lights, it gets right a lot of things that the generics don't and should last many years while I've never had any generic put to regular use, last more than 1. It won't win any contests but has the mix of features you'd want for a low cost emergency light, not an every day carry or sporting light.
Why post all this NOW? Because if a search engine can find it, some will still want to know what the purpose is for something like this, why it is more desirable in some uses than a little generic light that tries to be as bright as possible for a short period before failure.
