rookiedaddy
Enlightened
Bought this from Harvey Norman store. With today's conversion rate, that's USD 16.29, a pretty good deal I would say, considering elsewhere these are going slightly higher. This is 2016 version though, as Energizer has updated the 2017 version from 300 to 400 lumens.
what prompted the spending was this...
everything else was blurred (like in the picture) until I parted my money... yea... you know that moment that things started to come clear one after another?
as usual, light is made in China while batteries in Singapore... and if you wanna check out the data sheet, the model number is PMHH21. Actually, Energizer's model number is anything but helpful especially when they updated the model... there is no revision number nor letter to indicate it's a different version or different make. Good luck figuring out the original specifications after a few years. and see below for the model number printed at the tailcap...
ok now, the main reason for this review...
do you see that beautiful Energizer's Daylight tint?! Yup! That's a beautiful neutral white tint! In fact, this isn't the first Energizer light that feature such a nice neutral white tint, approximately 2 months ago I bought an Energizer Hardcase PivotPlus 2xAA flashlight that features similar tint and I absolutely love it!
The only downside to this Vision HD 2xAA is the low mode that features really low frequency PWM. Even the slow strobe that's hidden (you need to press and hold for 2 seconds when flashlight is ON to activate the strobe) I consider as OK-design!
The UI is very simple mode cycling using the electronic switch: OFF > Click once to High Mode (300 lumens) > Click once to Low mode (85 lumens) > Click once to OFF. Again, strobe is hidden and can be activated by turning on the flashlight and press and hold the switch for 2 seconds. To turn off the strobe, click once and the light will be switch off.
Let's take a look at a few more pictures of the light...
the e-switch is quite small
the body knurling pattern looks smooth at first, but it does provide good grip in use. tailcap is smooth but I have no issue unscrewing the tailcap at all (in contrast to those comments from Amazon).
The positive contact point at the head... it's spring loaded although it doesn't appear at first. I had a surprised when first inserted the battery.
No spring contact at the tailcap, just a slightly raise washer type button to make the battery negative contact.
The tailcap threads and the O-ring comes pre-lube, no excessive amount of grease like other manufacturers, but just a nice lube around the thread and the O-ring.
The second AA battery is exposed and only cover upon screwing the tailcap back to the body.
This flashlight's wall is thick! and if you are into modding, you could shorten and enlarge the tube to fit single 18650 size and I don't think it will compromise the body integrity.
A bit of rattling when shaking the flashlight, but easily fix with a piece of rolled paper around the batteries.
and finally, the business end of the flashlight...
first time seeing this type of optics, 2 TIR + 1 diffused optics, weird but somehow it works! The beam profile is actually a good balance of throw and flood.
bykfixer coined a phrase: "even a bad flashlight aint bad these days", although I don't think this is a bad flashlight, but a consumer grade flashlight it is (probably budget range too), and bykfixer's phrase is equally relevant here especially given big name consumer product producer catches on with phrase like "DELIVERS A WIDE, POWERFUL BEAM TO IMPROVE HIGH-DEFINITION VISION"!
I guess Energizer may be on to something here... and we probably need to re-term High CRI flashlight to Full High Definition (Full-HD) like in Flat-screen TV to gain market traction...