# Brinkmann Corporation 3W CREE digital dimming flashlight



## Handlobraesing (Mar 26, 2008)

Summary, better dimming function than any Fenix(so far one of the very few competitors with variable output for <$100) more output than my Lowe's Task Force 2C CREE, but poor build quality

The Brinkmann 3W LED flashlight is the first dimming light I have seen in the mainstream market. 
I found mine at a Target store for $25. 

Model 809-3000-1

















This is an LED flashlight powered by two D cell batteries with 4-level dimming control and a LCD indicator. 

In my opinion, the performance is good and beam quality is good. The four dimming levels provides a relative wide range of output with each level providing clearly noticeable dimming. 

Operation is very simple. Install two D batteries. 

- Use the power button to turn on and off independently of dimming.

- + and - buttons provides dimming control, independent of power switch and the setting sticks after power cycling.

- Test button gives a battery level read-out while the flashlight is turned off. The battery status remains lit whenver the light is turned on. 

CREE X-Lamp® 7090 gives this product a technological leap over the many now common Lumileds Luxeon® based products. 


The one and only major downer in my opinion is the build quality. This light is supposed to be openable, because the two halves are glued together. Well the gluing sucked on mine. It was no harder to split apart than pulling the foil lid from a cup of yogurt. The plastic has that CHEAP steoreotypical "Made in China" and my gut feel is that if you drop it 3' onto cement, it will shatter and disintegrate. 

This flashlight is powered by two D batteries and has a push button operated dimming control with LCD indicator showing current output setting and status of battery. The battery indicator is similar to the indicator on cell phones, with three status bars. 

There are 4 buttons:
-on/off 
- "+" 
- "-" 
- Test (used to test status of battery while the light is off)

Buttons have a definite feedback like the buttons on VCR. They do need to be pushed pretty hard and if you use your fingernail, the finish gets scarred. It's purely cosmetic, however.







*LED:*
CREE X-Lamp® 7090 Star. The star is riveted onto an aluminum heatsink with some thermal compound. There are vent slots cut on both sides of body by the heatsink to help keep the LED cool. 






*Driver:*
Proprietary digitally regulated boost converter. Some competitor products, such as Fenix uses 100% duty cycle variable current drive which can shift the color of LED. This one uses PWM, pulse-width-modulation at ~850 Hz If you swing the light rapidly you can see the flicker, but under normal use it should not be a concern. I should have taken duty cycle measurements at the LED for each setting, but I forgot to do that. Oh well. 

Current levels at input with fresh cells in ascending order of dim settings are: 
0.1A
0.3A
0.5A
0.85A





*Reflector:*
Deep, textured plastic reflector with vapor deposited metal reflector.


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## Phaserburn (Mar 26, 2008)

Very cool pics and review. Nice to see this type of light hit the marketplace. Funny how everyone else seems to be the innovators with new product releases, but no one has equaled Mag's build quality as of yet in the consumer retail channel.

How do the buttons feel when pressed; do they click?


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## jirik_cz (Mar 26, 2008)

Beam looks nice and smooth. But what about overheating? Plastic body is not very good for cooling high power LEDs. And if the build quaility is so low, it is probably better to buy something from DX than this.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 26, 2008)

jirik_cz said:


> Beam looks nice and smooth. But what about overheating? Plastic body is not very good for cooling high power LEDs. And if the build quaility is so low, it is probably better to buy something from DX than this.



The star is mounted on an aluminum heatsink with heat sink paste and there are vent slots cut on the body on both sides of the heat sink.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 26, 2008)

Phaserburn said:


> Very cool pics and review. Nice to see this type of light hit the marketplace. Funny how everyone else seems to be the innovators with new product releases, but no one has equaled Mag's build quality as of yet in the consumer retail channel.
> 
> How do the buttons feel when pressed; do they click?



It is aimed at the mainstream consumer. After paying CREE their asking price for the LED and using a rather high-tech PWM regulator, I think they have to cut corners on construction to quality to be able to sell for $25 and still have a reasonable contributing margin.


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## jirik_cz (Mar 26, 2008)

What is so high tech on PWM? According to Newbie's results it can be twice less efective than constant current dimming.


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## rotototo (Mar 26, 2008)

That LCD indicator...is it backlit?


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## Cydonia (Mar 26, 2008)

rotototo said:


> That LCD indicator...is it backlit?




That's a good question. If it's not, then how does one see the display in the dark? :duh2: Or do you require a second flashlight to read the display? :laughing:

Nice review Handlobraesing on an interesting light :thumbsup:


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## DaveG (Mar 26, 2008)

Thanks,for the info.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 26, 2008)

Cydonia said:


> That's a good question. If it's not, then how does one see the display in the dark? :duh2: Or do you require a second flashlight to read the display? :laughing:
> 
> Nice review Handlobraesing on an interesting light :thumbsup:



I find the LCD rather useless and I think the better allocated on improving the body quality.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 27, 2008)

rotototo said:


> That LCD indicator...is it backlit?



No, it's not. :nana:



jirik_cz said:


> What is so high tech on PWM? According to Newbie's results it can be twice less efective than constant current dimming.



He also says that there's less color shift in PWM dimming. What he's saying is that the LED itself becomes more efficient at lower current, however a PWM dimming circuit is usually more efficient.

I have not taken the effort to purchase a Fenix to reverse engineer the regulator topology and I'm not certain what it is, however the owner of Atlanta, GA based Fenix products dealer says that it is not a linear dropper regulator.


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## HKJ (Mar 27, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> however a PWM dimming circuit is usually more efficient.
> 
> I have not taken the effort to purchase a Fenix to reverse engineer the regulator topology, but if it's a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat.



A pwm circuit only have a high efficiency when output and input is working at the same voltage, if your need a resistor to drop output voltage, the efficiency will go down.

I your look at the specification for P2D and P3D, your will see that P3D has nearly twice the runtime of P2D and with a higher light output, that would not be possible with a pwm, but requires a buck regulator.


I am a bit curious about the flashlight your are testing, I can not see a inductor (coil) on the PCB in your photo. Does it have a inductor?


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## jirik_cz (Mar 27, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> I have not taken the effort to purchase a Fenix to reverse engineer the regulator topology, but *if it's *a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat.



I didn't say anything about Fenix so I don't understand why you are still talking about it. Btw. your claims look quite speculative to me :shakehead


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 27, 2008)

HKJ said:


> A pwm circuit only have a high efficiency when output and input is working at the same voltage, if your need a resistor to drop output voltage, the efficiency will go down.



A PWM circuit can use inductance to limit current instead of resistor since inductance limits dv/dt. 



> I am a bit curious about the flashlight your are testing, I can not see a inductor (coil) on the PCB in your photo. Does it have a inductor?



The inductor is quite big and it's externally mounted with wires and dangling inside the case. I should have posted that pic.


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## HKJ (Mar 27, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> A PWM circuit can use inductance to limit current instead of resistor since inductance limits dv/dt.




If that is the case, then your statement:
"but if it's a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat."
does not apply. 

Anyway, the P3D (2 batteries) puts out about twice the energy of the P2D (1 battery), that means that the regulators has about the same efficiency.


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## HKJ (Mar 27, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> The inductor is quite big and it's externally mounted with wires and dangling inside the case. I should have posted that pic.



I forgot: Thanks for the picture. 
Your get a lot of electronic and assembly work for the $25 that the light cost.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 27, 2008)

HKJ said:


> I forgot: Thanks for the picture.
> Your get a lot of electronic and assembly work for the $25 that the light cost.



I wasn't even supposed to be able to take the light apart without destroying the case but I was able to, because the gluing between the two halves was not done adequately. As I said, I'd give up on that silly LCD in exchange for a better construction.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 27, 2008)

HKJ said:


> If that is the case, then your statement:
> "but if it's a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat."
> does not apply.
> 
> Anyway, the P3D (2 batteries) puts out about twice the energy of the P2D (1 battery), that means that the regulators has about the same efficiency.



And I said that I do not know, because I've yet to reverse engineer it.


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## HKJ (Mar 27, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> And I said that I do not know, because I've yet to reverse engineer it.



Based on the efficiency of P3D compared to P2D, I do not need to reverse engineer it to say that the circuit in P3D is not a just a resistor and a pwm control.

I am curious: Have your seen any quality lights that uses 6 volt input, that do not use an inductor to drop the voltage (I suppose they exists, but I have not seen any yet)?


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## PlayboyJoeShmoe (Mar 27, 2008)

I saw that light at two different Targets and it looked interesting.

But I was after an X5 and finally found one at 10 bucks off.


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## Phaserburn (Mar 28, 2008)

Checked two Targets near me, and no luck. 

Does this light have the same external build as the Maxfire lights from Brinkmann?


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 28, 2008)

Phaserburn said:


> Checked two Targets near me, and no luck.
> 
> Does this light have the same external build as the Maxfire lights from Brinkmann?




Oh no. I think the Maxfire is made of nylon. This thing is made of two halves of some cheap plastic (ABS with cheap casting maybe? ) glued together. 

It is a very new product and I've only seen it at one Target. Mine was buit on the 9th week of 2008.


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## Canuke (Mar 29, 2008)

I saw two of these at my local SoCal Target. The only difference was that the emitter in them were the ones with the phosphor only on the die instead of everywhere inside as we see in the one pictured here.

Does that mean some of these shipped with Q5's?


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## Khaytsus (Mar 29, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> No, it's not. :nana:
> 
> *I have not taken the effort to purchase a Fenix* to reverse engineer the regulator topology, but if it's a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat.



Until you do, how about giving up on the Fenix bash, period.


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## 4sevens (Mar 29, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> I have not taken the effort to purchase a Fenix to reverse engineer the regulator topology, but if it's a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat.


Wrong answer.

Please do not spread dis-information through vague guesses.

Fenix drivers are NOT electronically controlled variable resistors.
They also do NOT dump excess energy as heat.

And what does "topology" have to do with regulators? Do you even know 
what that word means? Or are you just dropping fancy words that have no 
relevance? Linear dropper type regulation? What is that?

Perhaps you should do some studying so you don't appear like an armchair 
electrical engineer. If you're going to poo-poo Fenix, at least do it with
facts and NOT insult people's intelligence here.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 29, 2008)

4sevens said:


> Wrong answer.
> 
> Please do not spread dis-information through vague guesses.


Hence the conditional statement "if it is". I didn't say it is. 

Fenix drivers are NOT electronically controlled variable resistors.
They also do NOT dump excess energy as heat.



> And what does "topology" have to do with regulators? Do you even know
> what that word means? Or are you just dropping fancy words that have no
> relevance?


No relevance? You got to be freaking kidding me. Circuit topology is the electrical layout of a circuit. You should know better than saying it's a word of no relevance.
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ml/sluw001a/sluw001a.pdf




> Linear dropper type regulation? What is that?


A type of regulator that monitors the current/voltage at the load, then use it as a feedback to control the series resistance to maintain the current/voltage to the load at a desirable level. A series transistor/MOSFET based constant current regulation and LM317 based voltage regulation are some common examples of linear dropper topologies. 




> Perhaps you should do some studying so you don't appear like an armchair
> electrical engineer.


I think that goes for you. You haven't a clue what you're talking about other than the product specific information that the Fenix' regulator is not a variable resistor (linear regulator), but I didn't claim it is.


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## 4sevens (Mar 29, 2008)

Handlobraesing said:


> Hence the conditional statement "if it is". I didn't say it is.


*Exactly!* I said you are *spreading dis-information* through *vague guesses* 
(i.e. you suggested fenix drivers being variable resistors)



Handlobraesing said:


> http://focus.ti.com/lit/ml/sluw001a/sluw001a.pdf


Whoopie doo. So you found some pdf that uses the world topology.
Topology is primarily a geographical term that Ti used. It's not common.

So can you google again and define what you mean by *dropper type regulation?* 
hmm? My kids can google anything too.




Handlobraesing said:


> I think that goes for you. You haven't a clue what you're talking about other than the product specific information that the Fenix' regulator is not a variable resistor (linear regulator), but I didn't claim it is.


Well I happen to have a degree at one of the top engineering schools.
And you?

By the way, I didn't say you claimed that. I said you *SUGGESTED*
something that is absolutely not true. Just fess up and admit your statement
was wrong.

You had nothing to go by anyway - so why would you suggest such except
to poo-poo Fenix. I make a factual statement to refute your guess and
Ask you nicely not to spread dis-information. The spread of dis-information
doesn't necessarily have to be truthful - it could be lies, or simple baseless
guesses designed to damage - such as what you have done.

btw - I don't think I'm going off topic since the very first post mentions
Fenix as a comparision. But if I am OP can correct me.


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## PlayboyJoeShmoe (Mar 29, 2008)

I can't see what the last three posts have to do with the Brinkmann light in the title.

I almost bought one, but now that I know it's made of icky plastic I will pass for sure.

It sounds like a neat concept. Just seems like the execution leaves a lot to be desired!

Poor Fenix haters. Don't know what they are missing. But it does leave more for us....


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 29, 2008)

4sevens said:


> Exactly, I said you are *spreading dis-information* through *vague guesses* (i.e. you suggested fenix drivers being variable resistors)


I'm free to guess what I want and it is not spreading disinformation unless I claim it as fact. 



> Whoopie doo. So you found some pdf that uses the world topology.
> Topology is primarily a geographical term that Ti used. It's not common.


Says you. It's quite a common term in power supply, ballast, etc designs. 



> So can you google again and define what you mean by *dropper type regulation?* hmm? My kids can google anything too.



I didn't have to Google anything to tell you what a linear dropper regulator is. Bugger off. 




> Well I happen to have a degree at one of the top engineering schools.
> And you?


So you can be a flashlight salesman? hahahahaa!



> By the way, I didn't say you claimed that. I said you *SUGGESTED*
> something that is absolutely not true. Just fess up and admit your statement
> was wrong.


I don't feel that's necessary, because I wasn't wrong. Had I said "Fenix' so and so is this" I'd be in the wrong, but that's not what I said. 



> The spread of dis-information
> doesn't necessarily have to be truthful - it could be lies, or *simple baseless
> guesses* designed to damage - such as what you have done.


I'm free to guess what I want. You're not being nice by trashing my review thread. Do I go to your MarketPlace Dealer's thread and trash your stuff?


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## 4sevens (Mar 29, 2008)

I'm not trashing your thread.

Just pointing out that what you're suggesting in this thread is grossly wrong...
It cannot be further from the truth. You brought up Fenix in the first post.

You said...


Handlobraesing said:


> If it's [Fenix] a linear dropper type regulation, it is basically an electronically controlled *variable resistor that dumps the excess energy as heat*.



Keep in mind libel law does not require the accused to make a statement of
fact. Actually, any false malicious public statement published that 
damages a person or entity's reputation is a case for a libel suit.


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 29, 2008)

4sevens said:


> I'm not trashing your thread.
> 
> Just pointing out that what you're suggesting in this thread is grossly wrong...
> It cannot be further from the truth. You brought up Fenix in the first post.
> ...



Your false malicious implication that UE = crime falls under that category as there are plenty of ways to UE legally, clearly posted in retaliation to comments I make that you see as unfavorable.



4sevens said:


> Um I hope you didn't keep it. Just because it's blown doesn't make it
> up for grabs. Thats called stealing you know?
> 
> Another name for Urban exploring = criminal trespassing.
> ...


https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1630746&postcount=23


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## js (Mar 29, 2008)

OK. 4sevens you've made your point. Handlobraesing has even edited his post. Enough with this. You *are* trashing this thread at this point--not by correcting a factual mis-statement, but by the insulting and arrogant and condescending manner in which you are doing it.

Stop.


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## js (Mar 29, 2008)

And Handlobraesing, please return to the flashlight review part of this thread. Thank you.


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## qip (Mar 29, 2008)

anyway you think its possible to mod & fit the circuitry in a maglite


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## Handlobraesing (Mar 29, 2008)

qip said:


> anyway you think its possible to mod & fit the circuitry in a maglite



You'd have to use a dummy D cell to fit the circuit since there's no room elsewhere... I'd say use a 2D body, one dummy D cell w/ the circuit and drive it with one Li-Ion cell.


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## L.E.D. (Apr 12, 2008)

Well, I picked up one of these today at Target for $24.99 excluding tax. Pretty awesome to actually hold in my hands, funny to hold both this and the 2AA "Long Life" and look at Brinkmann's evolution! Initially judging from the reflector's width and depth, I thought it might outthrow the 2C Task Force Cree. It doesn't, the TF still has a slight edge, though the Brinkmann produces a slightly wider beam with a little bit more overall output on ceiling bounce. Very smooth due to the OP reflector though. Build quality is not as bad as you might think. It could probably survive a pretty bad fall if it landed on the thick rubber head area. A fall on the tailcap would prove to be a different story, though...

Edit: A strange and most likely awesome thing I noticed is that the Cree in here has that "silver core" appearance, different than the one from Handlobraesing's light! Like, only the die is yellow and all the metal around it is just that, bare metal, or silverish appearance. Aren't silver cores only available in R2 and above???


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## jirik_cz (Apr 12, 2008)

L.E.D. said:


> Aren't silver cores only available in R2 and above???



No.


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## 4sevens (Apr 13, 2008)

L.E.D. said:


> A strange and most likely awesome thing I noticed is that the Cree in here has that "silver core" appearance, different than the one from Handlobraesing's light! Like, only the die is yellow and all the metal around it is just that, bare metal, or silverish appearance. Aren't silver cores only available in R2 and above???


No, silver cores do not indicate a certain bin. We have Q5's with the silver core.
Two Cree employees came by our booth at shotshow and told us the definitive
answer. The silver backed Crees are simply Crees that are assembled in china.
All the dies are made in usa however, not all are mounted on the heatsink
in the same place. The original yellow dies are mounted in NC in the USA.
The silver ones are mounted in asia


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## L.E.D. (Apr 13, 2008)

Ah, understood. Thanks much for the info!


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## Patriot (Apr 13, 2008)

4sevens said:


> No, silver cores do not indicate a certain bin. We have Q5's with the silver core.
> Two Cree employees came by our booth at shotshow and told us the definitive
> answer. The silver backed Crees are simply Crees that are assembled in china.
> All the dies are made in usa however, not all are mounted on the heatsink
> ...




Ahh....ok. I've been curious about that. Thanks.



Handy, interesting lights...thanks for posting them. :thumbsup:


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## jayflash (Apr 13, 2008)

opps, mistake.


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## L.E.D. (Apr 13, 2008)

The method of viewing the LCD screen in complete darkness is really quite ridiculous, really, owing to the fact that it's not backlit. You have to hold the light by the rubber bezel, with the palm of your hand having some space between the window. With your other hand, cup it over the hand holding the bezel, so the light bounces from palm to palm onto the screen. What can you expect for the 25 buck price I guess, but a little green backlight, maybe switchable, would have been very much appreciated..


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## AlexGT (Apr 13, 2008)

I noticed that this light has a deep textured reflector, can someone comment on the beam's throw compared to other lights?


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## L.E.D. (Apr 13, 2008)

The beam outthrows my Fenix L2D (P4, 135 lumens) on turbo by a wide margin, but surprisingly my 2C Task Force Cree outthrows the Brinkmann by a slight margin. One thing to note is that the beam of the Brinkmann is wider, say 7 foot diameter hotspot at about 200 feet. If they had made the parabola of the reflector a little tighter on the Brinkmann, it would probably outthrow the Task Force.


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## husky20 (Apr 15, 2008)

I am sofa king we todd Edd.:nana:


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## L.E.D. (Apr 15, 2008)

husky20 said:


> I am sofa king we todd Edd.:nana:



Nice to know.


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## EvilLithiumMan (Apr 20, 2008)

I picked one today at the local Target. For the money, it's kind of a nice light, and I'm a sucker for the gimicky but functional LCD. I put mine in a sink full of water, in the hopes it may have been somewhat water resistant. As first it actually floated. But before I could even think to myself: "Cool, it floats!", large streams of bubbles came from around the bezel and down it went. All hands lost at sea. Geez, even the Titananic managed to linger on for a few hours. It's drying out on the patio now. I did not see any bubbles at the tailcap or LCD display, so perhaps a little sealant around the bezel is all it needs.

Whoops, what an incredible dumbass I am! I realize now there huge vents on each side to aid cooling the LED.

"OK, OK, no need to panic. Just tell the nice people you wanted to see how cold the LED would run when it is water cooled. Yeah, they'll buy that. See, we're all better now."


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## Phaserburn (Apr 20, 2008)

EvilLithiumMan said:


> Whoops, what an incredible dumbass I am! I realize now there huge vents on each side to aid cooling the LED.
> 
> "OK, OK, no need to panic. Just tell the nice people you wanted to see how cold the LED would run when it is watered cooled. Yeah, they'll buy that. See, we're all better now."


 
ELM, that made me laugh out loud! 


I bought one of these the other day, and almost did the same thing. I noticed the vents at the last moment...

Surprisingly good performance from this light; the levels are well spaced and draw 80ma, 240ma, 390ma and 650ma. The build quality and led design betray it in the end, though. The light isn't super easy to switch on and off, and in the dark it's actually difficult; not great. And as already mentioned, a big drop might prove the end of the unit's hull.


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## Pellidon (Apr 22, 2008)

I bought one when I was up in Gurnee Illinois. I wish it were a C cell as I personally find it a bit large. I like C sized mags and similar just because they fit my hand better. This one seems a good unit but chunky.


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## Handlobraesing (Apr 22, 2008)

EvilLithiumMan said:


> so perhaps a little sealant around the bezel is all it needs.



This light is definitely not meant to be water proof. There are slits cut on both sides surrounding the LED heatsink to promote airflow.


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## L.E.D. (May 7, 2008)

Hey Handlobraesing, I was wondering if I could bother you to please do a runtime plot for this light on the highest setting.


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## TNRonin (May 31, 2008)

Good review thanks!


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## Bullseye00 (Jun 10, 2008)

I've started a run time on this one versus a 2D MagLED. I used setting 3/4(second brightest) because that was closer(but still a little brighter) than the MagLED. The MagLED dimmed down much quicker until some time after about 60 hours, then the Brinkmann's output dropped off steeply, becoming significantly dimmer than the MagLED. I think I'll do the test over to make sure there's nothing weird going on. The batteries are a year or two old, but they're good Duracell alkalines. I think it's weird for the Brinkmann's output to drop so steeply, though.
Shortly agfter the 48 hour mark, I noticed that the battery indicator was at 2/3 segments. Now it doesn't even display at all.
Has anyone else done a run time on the Brinkmann 2D digital 3 watt LED flashlight?


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## AlexGT (Jun 11, 2008)

I wonder if that deep textured reflector could be used to focus a P7 led in a custom bezel to a nice spot... hmmmm anyone want to try it? before I do :naughty:

AlexGT


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## AlexGT (Jun 12, 2008)

I decided to check out the light, but basically I wanted to know if the deep reflector would work with the P7 led pics to follow.

The light feels cheap to me, I think that if it is dropped it would totally dissasemble itself not worth the $25 IMO.

Now the pics. the camera settings are the same in all the pictures, camera distance is 16 feet.

To the left we have the brinkmann 3W on higest setting against a VB-16 USWO SSC led on high to the right.







Now we see the brinkman on lowest setting against the VB-16 on highest setting






A pic of the inside of the brinkmann, cheap IMO





P7 SSC led in a Custom Mag FM 2.5" reflector being run at 3 amps, VB-16 highest setting on the right, impressive hotspot Eh?






Now same Custom Mag P7 using the brinkman reflector in its stock form, hey not bad! but not as good as the FM 2.5" reflector.









Now I decided to drill the opening of the brinkman reflector to sit the SSC P7 deeper into the reflector, result not good, compared to the same VB-16 on the right.






Well there you have it. Using the Brinkmann reflector gives a nice spot but not as bright or concentrated as the FM 2.5" reflector, I think that a deeper reflector would give better results for the P7 Led.

AlexGT


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## rmteo (Feb 18, 2009)

My local Target has these at a reduced price of $15.99 - good value for the price.


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## rmteo (Mar 22, 2009)

May be your last chance to get one of these. My local target has them on clearance for $7.98 :twothumbs


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## jasonck08 (Mar 30, 2009)

Mine has them for $10. Not bad. I was thinking about possibly putting the driver and LCD screen in a maglite... Any comments?


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## rmteo (Mar 30, 2009)

One of my Targets had them for $11.98 while the others were at $7.98. Regarding putting it in a MagLite, I see 2 issues. One is that the reflector is quite a bit smaller in diameter and two, where to locate the LCD control panel. I am looking at converting one of my units into a 2 piece general purpose light (with a separate battery/power pack) that can be used as a headlamp, bicycle light, etc., with good output and long run times.

One a side note, there seems to be 2 versions of the light available. An earlier version with coarser tail cap threads is the one reviewed here. It is lightly glued together and is really easy to take apart. The later version - with much finer tail cap threads - is very well glued together and I was not able to take one apart with damaging it.


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## jasonck08 (Mar 31, 2009)

Well for one, the reflector would not be used in the Brinkman...

LCD control panel would be cut out of a 3D maglite body and glued in. If I end up screwing up the 3D mag, I'll just do a cutdown and turn it into a 1D.

I think I might stop by target to see if they have any left @ $10.

I picked up a decent 130 cree lumen headlamp there for $10 last week. Came with two CR123A's.


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## PlayboyJoeShmoe (Mar 31, 2009)

I saw a light at Target that had a scroll wheel poking out of it. Said it could be as little as .5 up to 3W.

Looked cheap and runs on 3AAA... no thanks.


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## rmteo (Mar 31, 2009)

This is the one with the scroll wheel:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/203706


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## Poppy (Aug 29, 2016)

I bought this light a number of years ago, and my NiCads aren't holding a charge too well anymore. I'd like to run it on a single 18650. I'm thinking a quick, and easy way would be to make a 53mm spacer with a resistor. I'm sure it won't be the most efficient, but the light gets used for minutes at a time, and my charger is very near by. Would that work? What size resistor should I use?


Thanks

EDIT:
After realizing that this was a review, I figured I posted in the wrong section.
I re-posted in the mod section, and Lynx_Arc helped me out.
He suggested a 1.5 - 2 ohm, 2watt resistor.

Once I took the light apart I found that it was a really easy mod; there was plenty or room for the resister, and I didn't have to put it in the battery compartment.

I soldered it between the positive pole connection and the wire that led to the circuit board.

I couldn't get a 2 watt resistor, so I got a 5 watt one.


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## Poppy (Jun 3, 2022)

I bought this light at Target on clearance for about $10.00 so I guess it was around 2009 when others in this thread got their's at that price.

At any rate, as I posted above, I modded it to run on an 18650. Here we are 12-13 years later and it still performs flawlessly. It has been gently abused, like tossed under the car to the other side, and it has certainly been dropped a number of times. The rubber head, and the fact that overall, it is pretty light in weight, must have helped its durability.

The head and the tail cap is what holds it together, and I used clear packing tape to reattach the plastic control cover that has the printing on it, describing what the buttons are.


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## sween1911 (Jun 6, 2022)

Epic thread resurrection! 2009-2016-2022. 

Love to see old lights converted to work with newer tech. Nice work.


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## hamhanded (Jun 6, 2022)

Any idea if the circuitry inside has had its corners cut over the years? Or is yours actually new-old-stock from the late 2000s?


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## Poppy (Jun 7, 2022)

arrgh my eyes!! said:


> Any idea if the circuitry inside has had its corners cut over the years? Or is yours actually new-old-stock from the late 2000s?


I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.
I think that I bought it around 2009.


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## hamhanded (Jun 7, 2022)

Poppy said:


> I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.
> I think that I bought it around 2009.


Sorry. I thought you found one still being sold.


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