As I wandered through the sporting good section at Wally World the other day, I broke down and bought the triple LED adaptor for the 2-AA Mini-Mag. I installed it today after seeing how much light the beastie put out. Mastech MS 8209 megamultimeter.
The standard Mini-Mag bulb gives 480 Lux at 1 foot with the focus to tight beam. The NiteIze adaptor gives 2,160 Lux at 1 foot. I could see (subjectively) a great diffference quite clearly but the lightmeter (albeit a fairly cheap one, the MM was only $80 or so) gave it more objectivity.
I got rid of my upgrade because most of the stuff i need to see with the maglite is in the 4-8 foot range where the focal power gets more light where i need it than the wide shot nite Ize
Lux at 1 foot is relevant if most of your applications are at 1 foot. It might be a lot less relevant in some other apps. Lumens is lumens, spread as useful.
On Sat, 06 Oct 2007 23:17:45 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Richard J Kinch quickly quoth:
No. I already have a superlight (tactical which runs on 123 batts) and wanted something that _sipped_ electrons. I imagine that the Luxeon is similar and puts out gazillions of Lux, too, besides guzzling batteries by the handful. ;)
-------------------------------------------- -- I'm in touch with my Inner Curmudgeon. -- ============================================
On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 01:45:45 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Foreman quickly quoth:
I tried it in the coat closet yesterday morning and it lit up the place like a 60W bulb. It should do just fine most places.
Hmm, I just realize it was still dark as hell outside so I took my upgraded light for a walk around the house. I can see the end of my driveway (55'), the top of my sweetgum tree (60') and my leanto at the other side of the yard (150'), so this is definitely better than I had imagined for a cheap upgrade.
It also lights up the ground better while I walk.
I'm still sold. 2 Thumbs (and another appendage) Up!
-------------------------------------------- -- I'm in touch with my Inner Curmudgeon. -- ============================================
On Sun, 07 Oct 2007 12:48:13 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Pete C." quickly quoth:
They were out of the combo, but I'm keeping the mini in the truck, so I didn't want it accidentally turning on. I probably wouldn't have bought it anyway, though at $8.97, it would have been tempting had it been in stock.
Oh, after spending far too much on some Maas metal polish via mail order, I noticed it on the Wally World shelves. Drat! Well, next time...
-- Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself. -- Elie Wiesel
A Luxeon can run on any current from a wee trickle to max rated. The mini-mag AA's use a 3-watt Luxeon but they don't run at 3 watts and they're about the same on batteries as an incandescent minimag AA. I don't like minimag AA's because they're too long for convenient pocket carry.
If one or more conventional 5mm white LEDs running at 20 to 50 mA is "enough", there is no advantage to using a power LED (Luxeon or Cree) except perhaps in a light whose power level can be adjusted to suit the need. Conventional LED's don't need a reflector or collimator, power LED's do.
I carry a very small pocket light that has 4 power settings. Most of the time I use "low". I use it daily, sometimes several times a day, but seldom for very long. A single 123 cell lasts me at least a couple of months. At max power it is as bright as most tactical rail lights but battery life would be about an hour total.
On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:26:15 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Foreman quickly quoth:
Mine's a 2AA and is still pocketable. I had forgotten that most of the Luxeon-fitted devices also incorporated the power saving electronics. Then again, none of that comes cheap. You're talking with a man who owns a Scotch wallet.
Agreed.
That's about what my tac light does, but I seldom use it. Flashlighting is one of the tool sections I don't go crazy over. In fact, my most often used light is a $2.50 Gordon headlamp from HF. I have them all over the house and in several of my toolbags for use anywhere. You must have a grand or three tied up in LED lighting, not to mention the sweet little bike light you made for your daughter (or was that the other Don? You all look alike on the Internet. ;)
That was me. I have spent maybe a couple three hundred on flashlights over the past few years. I do like flashlights, but not enough to blow the toy budget on 'em. Luxeon III and Luxeon K2 emitters were only about $6.50 each last I looked.
I put Luxeons in a couple of those Gordon headlamps. A bare Luxeon (no lens or reflector) lights up everything I can reach with my hands or tools, as in under hoods, under sinks, in switchboxes, etc. There is no "spot".
Today I am building a single LED light using a single 5mm white LED. I bought a Chinese LED flashlight with 25 bright white 5mm LED's for 9 bux, cannibalized it for the LED's. I'm coupling the LED to a piece of 1/4" clear acrylic rod that I turned down to .218" on one end, polished, and then bent with a heat gun. It'll be used for inspecting the bores of .22 and .223 rifles and handguns. Lites 'em right up, it does! Hoppe's makes such a thing using a penlight bulb, but the LED works a lot better.
On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:49:44 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Foreman quickly quoth:
Oh. That's not nearly as bad as I'd expected, but still pricy. What about all the tools and such you bought for doing your daughter's LED bike light, hmmm? You forgot to add those.
Hmmm...thinking about new toys once the workload slows a bit during this rainy season...
That sounds like a handy gadget to have around. I bought a few of the bright white LEDs last year and never got around to playing with them. That bore inspection lamp looks like a winning idea. Thanks.
I don't think that way. I allocate so much a month that I can spend on "toys" or "amusements". When it's gone, I'm done for that month. That includes tools, electronic stuff, shooting stuff, flashlights, supplies and materials, yada yada. I very rarely buy anything very expensive (more than $100) anymore because I already have pretty much all of the major tools and machines I want or have room for. Took a while, about 40 years while I was working.
Our newest vehicle is a '97, the others are '95's. They run and look just fine.
Sometimes I "save up" my toy budget for a little while for a medium ticket item, like a new (to me) handgun or rifle. I don't have many of those and don't need many but I sure enjoy the ones I have. When I occasionally pick up a little consulting job, the proceeds go directly into the toy budget. I really spent very little on Karen's bikelight because I could piggyback the printed circuit board on a layout for a consulting gig I had at the time. Incremental cost there was about a buck, maybe two. Elex parts were maybe 15 bux max, including the Luxeon, and it was an Xmas present. I made nearly everything else out of stock I had on hand.
I don't even have a clothing budget. Buy a pair of Levi's and a flannel shirt at Wally's once in a while.
We retired fixed-income pensioners think of money very differently from when we had incomes. We don't need much cash flow because we don't have any debt and we keep it that way. We have all the nest egg we're ever gonna have and we need to make it last for the duration, but in fact it's time to be enjoying a little of it now and then. Otherwise the kids will just give it to the damned democrats, right? The only type tighter than a Scotsman is a frugal Finnish engineer. I'm workin' on getting my inner Phrugal Phinn to shut the hell up once in a while. Goal is for the last one in the house to check out with no bills and a nickle left.
On Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:36:26 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Foreman quickly quoth:
I'll ditto the "have room for" concept but I'm still constantly buying tools for gawd knows what tasks. Even tools specialized for one use can have many offshoots. I use a weeding tool for hard-to-get-to paint scraping, f'rinstance. And I haven't come close to stocking the metalworking side of my shop.
Mine's a '90, soon to be replaced by an '08. My '90 doesn't look fine but runs like a champ.
Grok that.
Um, no comment. ;)
Smart!
Since your kids are Demonrats, I applaud your line of thinking. Har!
Engineer, eh? Here's one for you:
--snip-- An engineer dies and reports to the Pearly Gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, you're an engineer--you're in the wrong place." So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy.
One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and says with a sneer,"So, how's it going down there in hell?" Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next." God replies, "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake --he should never have gotten down there; send him up here." Satan says,"No way! I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him." God says, "Send him back up here or I'll sue." Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"
Was in a Camping store yesterday, and found the Nite Ize stuff there (first time seen).
$9 for the 3 LED unit. $26 for the Luxeon with the smart switch. OOoof!
$26 seems a bit over the top for an upgrade to a $15 flashlight. JMO
I picked up a 1 watt Chinese made unit from our local equivalent to Harbour Freight, Princess Auto, for $8. 3AAA cels in a holder for power, no electronics that I could see.
No just a semiconductor designer type that designed in materials and played with LEDS when they were experiments. They have really changed from the 70's.
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