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- HOTNESS UNHOT
Meritline has the Focus Zoom Lens Cree Q3 Flashlight in Silver (also in Black) for $10 with free shipping. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster, it features advanced focus system with a fisheye lens, 200 Lumens of output power from a white LED Cree Q3 bulb, and a black aluminum body.
$10
Got it, like it.
Square output rather than round, but it's bright and functions well.
is this a fake cree like most?
still bright, but not as bright as real
Color differs from light to light. Don't know if it's real or fake, but light output compares favorably to Fenix. I use mine with Eneloop NiMH. I wish it has variable light output. The head slides forward and back - works (a little rough though) but I wouldn't call it "advanced focus system".
You might be able to find it for $1 less getting it from FocalPrice or one of those direct-from-Asia site. Mine (from Meritline) was sent from Singapore.
Best little lite for the money, uses 1 AA battery, very bright. I keep one in the glove box and one on my desk. I'm sure their are better lights,but for the money you won't go wrong with these.
Square output rather than round, but it's bright and functions well.
Any light that has full zoom range will produce a square beam when focused on a square LED die.
#2, even with generic lights, most that claim they use Cree LEDs, really do, although there is some question as to whether they use the LED bin claimed, and almost all of them do not come close to their claimed lumen output, nor drive current when that is listed.
However I would expect this does use a Q3 bin LED, today that's on the low end of what Cree is producing, how they manage to sell the light as cheap as they do.
Although China clones a lot of things, AFAIK they have not made LEDs that look like Cree's do, the generics have different dome, mounting base, die and bond wire which you can distinguish with the naked eye. However, Chinese generic high(er) powered LEDs have gotten a LOT better over the past few years, I wouldn't pick one for a medium to high end flashlight but for something dirt cheap, I'd rather they spent the money on the flashlight body machining, better quality switch, thicker lens, more robust waterproof oriented design, etc so it would have a longer lifespan.
Beware of the meritline reviews though, they don't know much at all about flashlights. Take the one by "Clint" which was full of misinformation and still 19 out of 22 people found it helpful. lol. Clint did give one good example though, on these 1 x AA lights, using a NiZn chemistry AA is a good, safe way to get more light without the huge risk of failure many take when they try using a Li-Ion cell instead, though of course using NiZn means the already short runtime is all that much shorter compared to NiMH.
I would rather spend $8 more and get the 3 pack from Costco
Dealextreme has a new flashlight that on paper beats current crop of 1xAA flashlights:
Small Sun ZY-A29 CREE Q3-WC 3-Mode 150-Lumen White Zoom Convex Lens LED Flashlight (1 x AA)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.90635
Note: In Dealextreme, this 200-lumen is speced as 120-lumen.
^ I would not trust DX's specs much. The 150 lumens is probably only with a Li-Ion cell at 3.7V, not 1 x AA at ~ 1.5V or lower.
Might be a good thing too, a different Smallsun I bought awhile back didn't even have the back of the LED star heatsunk at all, it was just pressed into a round threaded ring with only the sides touching... I blinked a few times in disbelief when I first saw it.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/smallsun-zy-c41-cree-q3-wc-3-mode-130-lumen-led-flashlight-1-aa-1-14500-26930
I ended up scrapping that light, putting the LED and the driver board in an LED headlamp running it off 3 x AA Eneloops. Don't get me wrong, these may be worth the money, I'm just expecting things that can't all be had for dirt cheap. Anyway the one I linked above was rated for 130 lumens and was really about 75 lumens on a AA NiMH cell.
I wondered about whether the spec is with Li-Ion as the specified input voltage is 1.2~ 3.7V <===. But the current output is 700 mA (150 lumen) while it's 600 mA (130 lumen) with Torch Light C78 (sku.29095), thus 150 lumen seems not inflated.
Will find out in about 3 weeks and if it does not meet the 150-lumen brightness, going to inquire about their "100% satisfaction guaranteed". Will keep fingers crossed it will not have the ZY-C41 problems.
(Thinking priced low to clear out any remaining stock of Q3.)
-- This deal was posted earlier, but no one commented. Nice to see some relevant comments.
http://bensbargains.net/deal/201394/
Previous deal discussion:
http://bensbargains.net/deal/172947/
Click the History in that threat.