Got my Cree flashlight today Equip Review

Off-topic crossposted troll...

Actually, a flashlight review is very much on topic in two of the three newsgroups Gunner posted to. You of course found it necessary to spam your thoughts to two additional groups.

...

...

Some other auctions linked from those show that the second button-like bit is a cover for a charge port, apparently so the flashlight can be charged without opening it. Eg, third picture at

I had two similar s**ts.

Advertised as premium units, "aircraft aluminum", many lifetime run hours promised.

Bought on Amazon.

Both broke after a month of moderate use.

i

James, I believe the 3-mode flashlights are actually a different chip, a Q5. The XM-L has 5 modes: high, medium, low, flasher, and SOS, and are 60% brighter, a very noticeable difference. You can't trust the advertising at all when it comes to LEDs from China. I've been having fits for years now about that, and have received numerous refunds when the lamps don't put out what they should. Caveat Emptor. I now have about 18 different types of LEDs in various formats.

These

are much, much better lights, so make one your next purchase. I got one for $4.50 and another for under $6. I adore the zoom mode of the body, which makes the light -much- more functional, going from spot to flood in a second. Look for the bulbous zoom hood if you want to make sure it's an XM-L T6. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the external charging port, but swapping an 18650 is quick and painless. The 18650 batteries are lighter than their 3 AAA equivalents, too.

"Ignoramus20656" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

Are they repairable?

A few weeks ago I checked the 2xAA Maglite in the glove compartment and found it had jarred itself On, and the batteries had leaked and corroded the insides. I wrenched it open, removed the bulb and "Do Not Remove" part of the holder and pounded out the batteries, scrubbed out the oxide, reassembled it and it works fine now.

-jsw

Easy peasy, mon.

Pay your buck, wait your

3-6 weeks, and your new ChiTech unit will be in your hands.

I looked at how I use flashlights and realized I don't need alkalines' long run time from the ones I leave scattered around for emergencies or finding something in the shed. There isn't much you can do to fix a car beside the road without spare parts. When I was attending night school I replaced the bulbs as part of winter car prep each fall, and carried a set of the used ones as spares to give away to needy friends.

I put cheap windup flashlights in the sheds. They don't go bad and I can usually find what I'm looking for on one brief winding.

A dim lantern that shows the ground all around serves me better at night than a bright flashlight that ruins my night vision.

-jsw

Is the light zoomable ? I got 2 for $12 with batteries and chargers , 3 mode and zoom - then bought spare batteries at about a buck each . Much better clip on these too , plus the button is on the butt end .

We'll have to see on the zoom reliability , it moves the whole LED board on a coarse thread in the head . Here's the ebay auction for what I bought :201373278649

I bought one (other vendor) for a mobile charger base and it fit both the cheapie Q5 (which is what I think you got) flashlight and the base. Neither of my two T6es has a charging port. I think this is the kit I bought:

, but not sure of the vendor. I'm almost certain that every one of them sells the same brand unit, januwine NoName brand. ;)

I suggest you get the brighter flashlights, the above kits for charging, and a 10-pack of 18650s.

looks like the mfgr for mine. Bid a few bucks on a few of these low auctions and wait until you get a low one to win. It's almost certain that none of the high-capacity batteries has anywhere near that capacities, so the buck-a-batt stuff is just great. They run these flashlights for a couple hours straight, on high beam, so they just slightly outlast the triple AAA setups which also fit them.

Oh, just found the deal for you, BIN $4 with FS

The 5800mAh is probably 2500 in reality. Labels are cheap in China.

Not a bad idea. I like the new LION batts because they don't have the short shelf life of nicads.

That's why people keep flashlights in the house, so they can see to get back from the shed. OTOH, you can set the better (cheap) flashlights on "low" and keep them pointed to the ground, retaining much of your night vision.

It was "something similar".

I think that CREE is not a brand name, but a LED technology.

WindFire® 1800 Lumens Zoomable CREE

Cree is a well-respected name in the fishing lure business, too.

Cree-Duk:

I think that CREE is not a brand name, but a LED technology.

WindFire® 1800 Lumens Zoomable CREE =======================================================================

Not sure if you are kidding or not, but Cree is one of the leaders in high power high quality led technology; see

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

No, there is a "Cree Inc." that makes LEDs, and sells both the individual IEDS and complete lighting fixtures.

Couple days later. How is it holding up?