OT: new LED 2AA Maglite at Walmart

Every tool or related thing that I bought at Walmart in the last 2 years was complete crap, unable to stand up to normal use. I would stay away. Bought some 2" tiedowns there and one already had a seam come apart. I try to buy as little as I can there now (which is sometimes difficult)

i

If you watch the brand you buy through wallyworld you'll probably be alright. I have a Stanley crescent wrench that's been savagely abused for ten years and still going strong. Only has a few tears in the grip, where I was beating it with an air hammer. Most of my tools at work are Proto, which is Stanley. Maglite makes good stuff, should be alright. If their own LED versions are as good as the drop-in conversion bulbs, then it's worth getting. In fact, gonna go buzz by walmart right now.

$?

dennis in nca

Haven't tried it yet but will note the following:

At $25 or so, it's a good buy for an electronically regulated 3-watt Luxeon flashlight. They're $25 at Amazon, don't know about Wally's.

With 2 AA Energizer E2 cells, battery life at 3 watts would be a bit over 3 hours. Don't know if they're running it at 3 watts, but they claim it to be a 3-watt light. It probably gets a bit warm after running for a few minutes.

For an everyday pocket "carry", I prefer a 1-watt regulated Luxeon powered by a single CR123 cell. It's a lot smaller, plenty of light for most pocket-light uses, good battery life. In daily use, a battery lasts me a couple of months. The CR123's are very pricey at Wal-Mart, but pretty reasonable at Cabela's if bought by the dozen.

A 3-watt light is noticably brighter, but doesn't look anywhere near

3X as bright. Maybe half again as bright. This is because of the logarithmic nature of our senses. A 1-watt Luxeon is still noticably brighter than the standard AA minimag flashlight with fresh batteries

-- and the standard minimag gets dim pretty fast as batteries age. A regulated Luxeon will maintain constant brightness for the entire life of the batteries, and the Mag-LED light must contain electronics because it uses only 2 cells. I think they say it's regulated. Most of the 3 AA cell Luxeon lights are not regulated. They dim as batteries age and are unusably dim when the batteries are only about half-depleted down to about 1.2 volts per cell. (End of life is about

0.9 volts per cell)

Don, do you have a source for a recommended 1-watt Luxeon LED flashlight?

GWE

See

I have no idea where to get one though. The place I got mine no longer carries them.

I really like this little flashlight. Jerry Martes also has one and carries it with him all the time. It's surprising how many times a day I use that light, usually for just a few seconds while looking for something. Just one example: setting compound angle on the lathe is a lot easier with a bright light shining on the graduations.

its not worth the $25 that walmart charges for it, the $19.97 Home Depot charges is a better deal.

I had to go get one.

It is definitely a bright flashlight. It says 3 watts on the package, but somewhere in the fine print it probably says something like "manufacturer's LED rating" because it only draws 531 mA from fresh batteries -- that's about 1.6 watts. The elex certainly aren't 100% efficient, but they're probably pretty good. Later I'll see how it does with lower supply voltage and measure actual LED current. LED current will be less than 531 mA because it has to be stepped up to about 3.6 volts by the elex.

At 1.6 watts of drain, a pair of Energizer e2 AA alkies should last about 4 hours of run time.

I think it's a very good LED flashlight for under $25. Whether it's "worth it" depends on if you want a good flashlight enough to pay that price, since you can get a standard mini-mag for about 8 bux. This one is far brighter, and I expect it'll maintain nearly constant brightness down to 0.9 volts per cell or so. (We'll see.) It's bigger than I'd like to carry around routinely, but it uses cheap batteries efficiently and it is plenty bright for a small light. Good tool drawer or tacklebox flashlight. I've no doubt at all that one could read a housenumber from the street (50 feet or so)at night with it.

Grant, if the size is acceptable, I'd give this one a definite thumbs up. It's a lot better than the Streamlight 3-AA job Grainger sells for about 50 bux. That one has no regulation and it isn't as bright.

Thanks, Don. FYI, these are $24.99 online:

I ordered one.

Grant

D>>

.

Also check out the batteries that have 2 CR123 cells inside. My 5 LED light used two of the CR123's but for about a buck more than the price of the single I can get one of the double ones, break open the case pry off the tabs and have tow 123 cells.

What's that Lassie? You say that Don Foreman fell down the old rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Tue, 19 Sep 2006 12:50:48 -0500:

Me too. So much so I made my own.

Dan

What's that Lassie? You say that Roger Shoaf fell down the old rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:46:59 -0700:

I used to do that too. But then I found that I can get them cheaper at:

About $1.25 ea house brand.

Dan

Thanks for the URL. If I lost mine I'd certainly want to replace it. I think the 2AA MiniMags, LED or otherwise are too long to carry comfortably except maybe in a jacket pocket.

Please say more, Dan! Photos? What did you use for electronics?

The only thing I've found there in a long time that actually worked was a large, curved plastic pizza cutter. It actually works, by simply rolling the cutting edge across the pizza and it was made in the US. Easy to use, easy to clean, and doesn't bother my Carpal tunnel like those crappy rolling blade pizza cutters.

I think $27. Karl

rigger wrote:

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 05:21:16 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Michael A. Terrell" quickly quoth:

I was getting CT problems years ago from my mouse, so I tried a Logitech Trackman Portable. It's a sideways trackball actuated by your thumb and totally eliminated my wrist pain. When it died a few years later, I found more at a surplus store and bought 5. The last one died a few months ago and I just now found more on eBay for about $11, delivered. (link below, std disclaimer applies) I bought 3 for $25 and they're on their way to me now. You might try one to help your wrist problems. They're great for Usenet because you can mouse from your lap or chair arm. I -adore- these things.

------------------------------------------ Friends don't let friends read "Wired"

Wondrous Website Design =============================================

A box of twelve CR123 batteries weighs a bit less than 8 oz. Postage via USPS first class mail from Minneapolis (or probably anywhere else in CONUS) to Honolulu would be $2.07.

I think this guy is in Hawaii:

He might stock CR123 batteries.