# [Review] MASSDROP BRASS AAA POCKET FLASHLIGHT (Nichia 219/ 1x AAA)



## _UPz (Jan 26, 2017)

*MASSDROP BRASS AAA POCKET FLASHLIGHT* 
*LED:* Nichia 219 NW (CREE XP-G2 CW version available) 
*Battery:* 1x AAA 
*Modes:* 3 (M, L, H) 
*Switch:* Digital, in the tailcap. 
*Date:* January 2017. 



*INTRODUCTION* 
Massdrop, the US-based group shopping discount platform, and more specifically its EDC community has just released its first custom AAA flashlight. 
This is a flashlight that many will find familiar, as it is produced by Lumintop.





The flashlight comes vacuum sealed bag, to protect the brass from contact with oxygen, thus preventing its premature corrosion.



 



In addition to the flashlight, we will find in the practical plastic box an alkaline AAA battery, a pair of spare o-rings and a key ring attachment.


*EXTERIOR FINISH*
The Massdrop Brass AAA is a small and elegant AAA flashlight machined in brass, with a polished finish very bright and homogeneous throughout all the parts that compose it.








It is made by Lumintop, and you could say that it is a Tool Ti, with the head of a normal Tool.













It has almost identical dimensions to a Tool Ti, and a weight similar to that of a Tool Cu.


 



The optics consists of a neutral tinted Nichia 219 emitter, with an OP reflector and a glass lens with AR treatment. The o-ring sealing the optics is green and glows in the dark.





One of the main aspects of the machining of this flashlight is the knurling that covers the three sections of the body. Although it does not have a very aggressive feel, it greatly improves the hand feeling and grip of the flashlight.





Inside the head, we have the driver visible which will be familiar if we have seen before a lumintop tool or worm.





The threads have an excellent finish, and come perfectly clean. The feel of threading and unscrewing is very pleasant, as is usually the case with brass.





The clip has been gold-plated to perfectly match the golden color of the brass flashlight. In addition to being reversible by having a track on the opposite side of the tube, we can simply swap the tailcap with the head as the threads are identical on both sides.





Speaking of compatible threads, if we have other lumintop tool we can make interesting combinations between them, since they are completely compatible.





The tailcap hides inside a tiny electronic switch, covered by a small titanium button. This type of digital switch was first used by Lumintop in its Tool Ti, and has the peculiarity of needing a few minutes with the battery installed inside to work properly in its first use, so don’t panic if your massdrop brass AAA light is not working straight out the box! 
At the edge we find a small hole for the installation of the key ring. The base of the tailcap is completely flat, so the flashlight can be placed in tailstand.



*USER INTERFACE* 
The Massdrop Brass AAA features a common user interface with its Tool AAA sisters, simple but effective.



*Switching on and off:* To switch on, simply click on the switch on the tailcap. To turn it off, simply repeat the operation.


*Changing modes:* To switch between modes, turn the flashlight off and on (within 2 seconds) to jump to the next mode. The order of the modes in this sample is Medium – Low – High, although I think the production units will have Low – Medium – High sequence.


*Memory:* The Massdrop Brass AAA has no mode memory, and two seconds after it is turned off, it will always return back to Medium mode in the next activation.


*Block-out:* Although the type of switch is not prone to unintentional activations, the flashlight can be locked by slightly unscrewing the head of the flashlight.





_(All measurements are taken following the ANSI NEMA FL1 procedure, taking as value the highest point of the reading between the second 30 and 120 after activation. More info here.)
_
The distribution of modes is quite good, without great differences between the specified and the measured. This neutral tint version with Nichia LED emitter is significantly less powerful than the cold tint version and CREE LED.



The modes are achieved by regulated current, without PWM traces in any of the modes.



*PERFORMANCE*




The performance and efficiency is quite poor, as has been seen in recent releases by lumintop. During the first minutes with an Eneloop the flashlight seems to try to maintain a regulation and we see as even the output grows slightly before falling and start a second unregulated phase in which the output is gradually decreasing. With the alkaline is much worse, and just 30 seconds after turning it on, we see a marked drop in performance.





Compared to other Lumintop flashlights, the performance is similar. Lumintop seems to have created a whole generation of very inefficient AAA flashlights.
*


BEAM PROFILE*
The beam profile is exactly the same as that found in Tool AAA.
















The Nichia emitter tint is very nice, with a really good neutral tone.





Very similar to that found in the Tool AAA Copper Nichia, and (_thanks god_) far from the green of my old Tool AAA aluminum.





More details in the Tool AAA Copper review.
*


PERSONAL CONCLUSION*
This type of EDC flashlights on not so common metals are becoming increasingly popular within the community for daily use flashlights. Not very long ago it was hard to find a keychain/EDC flashlight that was not made of anodized aluminum or steel, but little by little copper, titanium and, why not, brass flashlights are making their way into the already saturated AAA flashlight market.





The brass, as a copper alloy, has an high density and therefore a weight significantly greater than the one would be obtained with light metals such as aluminum, but on the other hand offer excellent thermal conductivity, which makes it able to dissipate much better the temperature generated by the LED, and therefore reduce the stress on the emitter.






 
*DQG AAA Ti II · EOSLAMP SP11-S · MARATAC AAA Rev3 · OLIGHT A3T · Olight i3S CU · Klarus MiX6 Ti · Lumintop Worm Cu · Massdrop Brass AAA
*
*Negative aspects:* The poor performance is undoubtedly the aspect with more room for improvement of this flashlight. I do not know if it is due to being a pre-production sample, my own bad luck or an error when specifying the modes/runtime by the engineering team of Lumintop, but the truth is that all models of this brand that have gone through my hands in recent times share this unattractive feature.
*
Positive aspects:* The mechanical finish of the flashlight is excellent. The detail of bathing the golden clip to match the brass tone of the body of the lantern has surprised me very pleasantly. The design, although inherited from Lumintop’s Tool AAA, is really good, and I personally always feel attracted to those lanterns in which the knurling is a predominant part of its external appearance. As always, the fact of offering two tints is something to be valued very positively.
_


Review sample provided by Massdrop for analysis, test & review. Thanks!_​


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## Ryp (Jan 26, 2017)

Thanks for the review!



_UPz said:


>



This is really cool!


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## Dubois (Jan 26, 2017)

Great review, UPz, as usual. Thanks.


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## kreisl (Jan 26, 2017)

I think i like the Tool Ti best!

Thanks for the great review UPz as always :huh:


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## LightObsession (Jan 26, 2017)

Good review. It's a beautiful light.

Too bad for me that they kept the MLH mode sequence. I much prefer LMH. Heck, I'd even prefer MHL. I don't like dropping from M to L on my way to H.


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## Timothybil (Jan 26, 2017)

LightObsession said:


> Good review. It's a beautiful light.
> 
> Too bad for me that they kept the MLH mode sequence. I much prefer LMH. Heck, I'd even prefer MHL. I don't like dropping from M to L on my way to H.


On the other hand, I kinda like the MLH sequence. I find that I use the medium mode much more than either the low or the high, and it is nice to have it come on first, since there is no memory to keep it there.

I don't remember who it was by, but there was a review of the Tool Ti not too long ago, and it showed that the electronic switch of the Ti had a measurable impact on output and run time compared to the Al and Cu versions. While I would like to have my Tools have the ability to tail stand, I am not willing to put up the the parasitic drain and reduced output that variation brings along.

I saw the Massdrop announcement today, and was seriously considering joining in on the drop, but now that I know it is a variant of the Ti version and not the Al or Cu, I will not be. So thanks for bringing that to my attention.


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## Newguy2012 (Jan 26, 2017)

LMH is what Massdrop will be doing. Only the Pre-Production sample is MLH.

@UPz 
The issue with the Ti is it overheat on high. I was wondering if the result would different if you put in cold water or something. Is the high brightness time better if you let it cool down after 4mins. I think realistically you want to burst the high and not run it continuously.


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## jon_slider (Jan 27, 2017)

Timothybil said:


> there was a review of the Tool Ti not too long ago, and it showed that the electronic switch of the Ti had a measurable impact on output and run time compared to the Al and Cu versions.



actually, it was not the switch here is the link #1


maukka said:


> Some interesting findings were made especially in the highest mode. The Ti seems very inefficient compared to the Copper. The problem lies in the driver or the titanium body, since the copper version works well with the electronic tailcap from the Ti.



IF the issue is related to the body being Titanium, and the fact that Ti conducts electricity very poorly, then the Brass might be similar because it also has poor conductivity, but not as bad as Ti

There may also be differences in the drivers in maukkas CuTool and UPzs. You can see UPzs Worm is regulated, but not his CuTool, and not the Brass. maukkas CuTool IS regulated.

I think we need to dig deeper and look at the images of the drivers, to see if there are differences. But the bottom line from UPzs efforts, is the Brass is NOT regulated, and seems to have shorter run time than UPzs Copper Worm.

bear in mind the issue is with High mode specifically, and I dont use High mode much. I mostly use Medium. I like MLH for that reason (especially when gifting to non flashoholics). But LMH is very popular with flashaholics, which is fine, so long as youre OK with 3 clicks of the switch to get to medium. 

weight comparison
copper 100%
aluminum 30%
brass 95%
titanium 51%


electrical conductivity
copper 100%
aluminum 61%
brass 28%
titanium 3% (Ti data from here)


thermal conductivity
copper 100%
aluminum 53%
brass 29%
titanium 6%


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## LightObsession (Jan 27, 2017)

Interesting comparisons, jon_slider.

It looks like copper is best for an efficient light with longer runtime at higher light outputs.

I do much prefer the weight of aluminum.


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## easilyled (Jan 27, 2017)

Thanks for the review and great pictures.
Do you happen to know which Nichia 219 is in the light - (A or B or C)?


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## Newguy2012 (Jan 27, 2017)

I think it's Nichia b. They used that for the Ti tool.


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## Sir Lightalot (Jan 27, 2017)

_UPz said:


> The tailcap hides inside a tiny electronic switch, covered by a small titanium button. This type of digital switch was first used by Lumintop in its Tool Ti,



I think it was first used (in 1xAAA format) by the famous Liteflux LF2XT back in '09.






But I'm glad some company is bringing it back. Twisties are hard to use at this size. 

I'm wondering how it works in this case though. Liteflux used an inner-battery-tube to create a return-path for the switch without breaking battery contact. But this doesn't seem to have one. I'm guessing its an always-closed switch and pressing it opens the circuit momentarily. That would explain why it needs to charge for a few minutes too.


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## jon_slider (Jan 28, 2017)

*Check out the Massdrop marketing blitz:
2079 users have requested this product.

Community Reviews*

"I mean, this absolutely is, in my opinion, one the best sub-$50 AAA flashlight one can buy today! Heck, it's one of the best sub-$75 or even sub-$100 AAA flashlight one can buy today!" - Bobraz (Massdrop community member)
"The brass, as a copper alloy, has an high density and therefore a weight significantly greater than the one would be obtained with light metals such as aluminum, but on the other hand offer excellent thermal conductivity..." - *UPz (Candle Power Forums contributor) *
"A solidly built and great looking AAA light that combines uncommon material with familiar looks, performance and reliability. " - *will34 (Budget Light Forum contributor) *
"Feels very compact and well built , and the light’s material , Brass , helps a lot in the “quality” feeling . It has a shiny look , which of course will develop a nice patina over time ." - *giorgoskok (Budget Light Forum contributor) *
"Overall the fit , feel , and finish of these lights is exceptional , especially to be such a small little light, The best build quality little EDC I have had the pleasure of owning to date." - *robo819 (The Flashlight Forum contributor)*
"Massdrop commissioned it from Lumintop to appeal to their EDC community and as such, I do believe it’ll be a hit. From the gold plated clip to the titanium button in the tail, a lot of thought has gone into this one." - *DB Custom (Budget Light Forum contributor) *
"...I was sent an early sample and was already impressed by the overall design. Brass flashlight AND a tailswitch? As a collector of Surefire and various solid metal lights, this is my ideal combination." - Cyphre (Massdrop community member)

and the news:
"_$25 + free domestic shipping_
_DB Custom suggested we have them start in low, cycle to medium, then high. ...Lumintop will be programming the production units as such. _"

There you have it, a $25 ReyLight Brass Tool (LMH modes)

FWIW, I believe this Brass Tool head will lego to Maratacs, creating a Nichia "drop in" option for the Maratac body. This Lego should also create a Maratac Clicky option. 

If youve ever wished your Maratac could be High CRI, or your Tool could tailstand.. nows your chance


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## gunga (Jan 28, 2017)

Wow. Great price and l-m-h. Impressive.


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## phosphor22 (Jan 28, 2017)

As I read about the materials (brass!) and features (LMH, no PWM and clicky tailswitch!) and LED (warm -- I am hoping around 4000K --- Nichia 219!) all together in an AAA package for that price I knew that  I'm in...


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## _UPz (Jan 28, 2017)

A new pic showed up today in the drop page:


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## jon_slider (Jan 28, 2017)

I wonder if they will keep the Nichia version Low at 3 lumens or change it to 1 Lumen like the ReyLights

Prediction: There will be a Copper Tool with Electronic switch after the brass ones sell out.


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## Tana (Jan 28, 2017)

Why couldn't they use this design on Ti version? I hope they do revision on it and make it exactly like this brass version looks like - with removable head (which can be used as twisty and clicky)...


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## gunga (Jan 28, 2017)

I agree. Maybe the poor heatsinking of ti. Doesn't hurt my preon though.


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## kreisl (Jan 28, 2017)

jon_slider said:


> *Check out the Massdrop marketing blitz:
> 2079 users have requested this product.*



The number is live at this URL:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-brass-aaa-pocket-flashlight*?mode=guest_open*

80 lumens Nichia output is nothing to sneeze at. 

that's brighter than my LD01 R4 Fenis flashright :thumbsup:


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## easilyled (Jan 28, 2017)

kreisl said:


> ....80 lumens Nichia output is nothing to sneeze at.



Especially considering that it has a high CRI led which means a sacrifice in output for excellent color rendition instead.


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## jon_slider (Jan 28, 2017)

For those who are concerned about the Electronic switch in the Brass Tool, you can still get a Copper Tool w Nichia for <$24, with the mechanical switch. fwiw, Brass is actually a pretty poor conductor, Aluminum is 2x more conductive, and Copper is over 3x more conductive. Of course buy them all 

Im a huge fan of the AAA Tools with Nichia, not to use on high mode, but to use on Medium and Low.. The TiTool has issues on High, but not on Med and Low.. same will be true for the BrassTool imo. 

To me, its a killer deal any time a Tool w Nichia goes for <$25


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## Nichia! (Jan 31, 2017)

+1 for copper version of this one..


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## LiftdT4R (Feb 1, 2017)

Just signed up for one with the Cree. Are you guys preferring the Nichia on this? If so I may buy one as well. $25 shipped is a killer deal.


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## dansciurus (Feb 1, 2017)

Nichia for sure. Tint is everything.


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## Timothybil (Feb 1, 2017)

dansciurus said:


> Nichia for sure. Tint is everything.


While tint is important, and the Nichias I have seen have a very nice tint, the important part for me is the high CRI. I will admit that the 6000K of the Cree emitter turns me off as well, but if I had to put up with that to get the high CRI I would.


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## jon_slider (Feb 1, 2017)

LiftdT4R said:


> Just signed up for one with the Cree. Are you guys preferring the Nichia on this? If so I may buy one as well. $25 shipped is a killer deal.


I only buy the Nichia versions
this is a Nichia in a Tool, click the pic for the full story (images thanks to maukka)




here is an example of a cree, notice how little red the LED makes




the cree version is brighter, with less red, the nichia version is less bright, with more red
buy both.. learn the pros and cons of each.. there is no wrong way to spend money on toys


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## Timothybil (Feb 1, 2017)

If you want to do a side-by-side comparison, go to GearBest and pickup a Singfire 348, which is a CREE, and a BLF 348, which is the same light with a Nichia instead. They usually sell for around $15 for both of them.


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## iamlucky13 (Feb 1, 2017)

jon_slider said:


> I only buy the Nichia versions
> this is a Nichia in a Tool, click the pic for the full story (images thanks to maukka)
> 
> 
> ...



Notice the Nichia is stronger in the teal range, too. On occasion I've noticed this making a difference in scenes with bright colors right in that range.

Of course Cree makes high CRI emitters (Zebralight uses them), too, but Nichia seems to dominate the high CRI sub-market for flashlights. My 90+ CRI Armytek seems a bit more golden, compared to the more truly neutral tint of the Nichia. I think Nichia might have an extra ingredient in their phosphor formula that gives them a slight edge in most situations (notice the double bump).

Technically, a closer color temperature makes for a better comparison. Here's another measurement from Maukka of a 4530K light shown in the middle. With more phosphor involved in getting a lower CCT, the CRI also climbs a hair, but the main point is the warmer color temperature naturally includes more red. If viewed on a large monitor, shrinking your browser size should force the images to display at the same size:


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## jon_slider (Feb 1, 2017)

iamlucky13 said:


>


I do not believe a 4500k LED at CRI 72 is very close to a 4500k LED that is at CRI 92. Warm does not = high CRI

Just to tie back on topic
I buy Lumintop Tools with Nichia because I want an LED like the picture, showing very Tall red graph (93 CRI plots a larger volume under the curve than a 72 CRI led),

it is my personal preference to have High CRI
not saying the neutral white at lower CRI is any less fun for someone else
do whatever makes you grinnn


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## iamlucky13 (Feb 1, 2017)

jon_slider said:


> I do not believe a 4500k LED at CRI 72 is very close to a 4500k LED that is at CRI 92. Warm does not = high CRI



Very much agree. The Thrunite above still plainly has far less red in its beam than the Tool with Nichia, but the Olight was at a bigger disadvantage due to being cooler.


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## SonnyJim (Feb 3, 2017)

I've got a Nichia on the way, and I'm excited to try this tail cap clicky. I have the Copper Tool, and am feeling so-so about it's big rubber boot. I'm also hoping the Brass Tool head will work with my Maratac Brass for a nice compact twisty. I tried the Copper tool head on my Maratac Copper, but I think spacing of the threads were too far down the shaft to make contact : ( The Maratac worked on the Tool body, but not vice versa. I'm wondering if I could grind the leading edge down (on the Tool head) to shorten the distance...


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## StudFreeman (Feb 3, 2017)

About 18 months ago Lumintop switched from a very efficient 2-board sandwich driver to a 1-board driver with smaller inductor. Upz's pics show this brass Tool has the latter. Some of their lights evidently still come with the efficient 2-board driver though - seems like a lottery.

Neat review, UPz. Shame Lumintop dropped the ball on efficiency. They used to lead the pack in AAA efficiency.


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## gunga (Feb 3, 2017)

I've been using the single board driver in a few lights (because I got l-m-h mode order). Love the order, lack of pwm, levels are quite good. But man, efficiency is terrible.


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## jon_slider (Feb 3, 2017)

Has a decision been made on whether the Low on the Brass Tool will stay at 3 lumens, or drop to 1 lumen like ReyLights?


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## LiftdT4R (Feb 3, 2017)

In case anyone doesn't want to wait for the MassDrop Gearbest has Titaniums on sale for $31.99 and Coppers on sale for $22 shipped.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Deals-collection-(update-continually)/page18


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## SofubiShogun (Feb 6, 2017)

Excellent info and review, I see I have come to the right place for torch info and discussion.


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## jon_slider (Feb 8, 2017)

Here is a comparison of the driver traces of the Brass Tool, Copper ReyLight Tool, Copper Maratac, and Copper Worm







Im trying to "see", if there are differences.. None of the lights has PWM, but Im trying to figure out why UPZ's Brass Tool is not flat regulated like his Worm.. I dont know if the 3 lights on right (mine) are flat regulated on high. Im hoping to get a pic of maukkas CuTool, which IS flat regulated and runs for an hour on high, while the Brass Tool UPZ has only runs for 1/2 hour.. (Maukkas TiTool only runs 1/2 hour, and is not regulated, it matches the poor efficiency of the Brass Tool)

what Im trying to figure out is why maukkas CU tool IS Flat regulated, and UPZ's CU Tool is not..

here is UPZ's CuTool and CuWorm w nichia, note the worm has flat regulation and the CuTool does not, although both are NoPWM versions… (iow, "efficiency" differences are NOT due to one having PWM and the other NoPWM.. there is something else going on)





contrast with maukkas CuTool that IS flat regulated (and has twice the runtime)





Im waiting for a pic of maukkas driver to compare to the others.. fwiw, maukkas CuTool is one of the newer versions with NoPWM..


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## gunga (Feb 8, 2017)

If anyone is getting one of these and really wants m-l-h. Pm me and we can work something out.


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## khaleeq (Mar 21, 2017)

Great review! Was just about to pull the trigger on Tool AAA and Colored worm based on what I had seen in relatively older reviews. Now that I have seen your run time graph, will hold back and buy Copper Worm instead. I only prefer lights that have flat, good regulation on high. You saved my skin. Thanks


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## troutpool (Apr 11, 2017)

Mine arrived yesterday. Here it is with a Maratac AAA Rev 4, a Lumintop Worm, and a ReyLight Tool Ti, all with Nichia 219 LED.


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## jknut (Jun 18, 2018)

I really like this light. I have a piece of thin first aid tape over the end to act as a diffuser. The low first setting is nice for me since I often use it to check on the kids while sleeping.


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