# The UPS light



## bykfixer (Jul 21, 2018)

My step son has been with UPS for a few years now and hopes to become a driver soon. Yesterday he saw that they now issue flashlights to drivers and thought of me. 

Now keep in mind they run a tight ship. So the equipment they issue such as ink pens are going to be the very inexpensive type. Well same goes for the plastic body'd 3 triple A number with a reverse clicky and map reader type dome lens. 






It starts on high, with what appears to be about 15-25 blumens with a max throw thanks to the convex lens. A low looks to be about half that. Then it has a flash setting. It works like this. Click for high, click again for low and third time is flash. It seems like a mechanical thing as it moves to the next setting no matter how long you waited from the previous. Even if you remove the batteries. 
Kinda annoying really. 

Getting beyond the interface it's got some cool features for a 29¢ flashlight. Like I said it throws like a much brighter light. Even on low it tosses light forward well. It tailstands at either end so in the case of a glass table top it'll light up the floor area. Tailstand it bezel up for a lantern.

A few photos:




The convex lens





The tail cap. Recessed button.





High beam





Low beam





Lantern mode high





Lantern mode low. 

To me the flash is good if a break down occurs after dark, the high mode can spot a house number and low is good for spotting packages in a darkened cargo portion of the truck. 
More of a novelty to this flashaholic and I will definitely not store the supplied batteries in the thing. 
Oh and it has a nail hook at the bezel end. I suppose the intention is a ceiling bounce thing indoors. But it also acts as an anti-roll device.

Edit: 
It runs off an 18500.


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## LiftdT4R (Jul 22, 2018)

Very cool!! Looks like the bare minimum to get the job done but works nonetheless. I wonder who makes these for UPS? I bet UPS went through a good but to get these designed for their specific purpose. Too bad they couldn't have at least done them out of aluminum.


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## bykfixer (Jul 22, 2018)

I gave it a good test last night... let the 2 year old warranty voiding grandson carry it around. 
He dropped it several times, kicked it, chewed on it and tried to feed it to the dog we call "the de-bleeted goat" because he eats stuff like candy bar wrappers....

It still works this morning.

It kinda reminds me of the Delta USN map reader from the 1940's. Also all plastic but very durable.


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## aginthelaw (Jul 22, 2018)

Made by dorcy? How about including that in the fsw giveaway? Oops! Was I supposed to mention we have giveaways?


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## idleprocess (Jul 22, 2018)

A light that I get a real kick out of every now and then is the $10 Ray-O-Vac retro steel light. Similar to the classic from decades ago down to the switch and the low output, but with a low-power LED instead of an incandescent bulb. I've no idea what the runtime is - probably days. I swap the eneloops in D adaptors periodically but otherwise it's a great junk drawer flashlight.


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## rookiedaddy (Jul 22, 2018)

hey, that looks like the light that stopped bullet reported at this thread >>> https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...t-anyone-know-what-kind-of-flashlight-this-is

here are mine... but like the linked thread, it's aluminum. the mode will reset itself after 10 seconds too...




(more pictures in the linked thread... now updated with Imgur links)


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## xxo (Jul 23, 2018)

Looks good - should come in handy for making deliveries after dark. A head lamp would probably be best, but a decent one is going to cost a bit more than this one, I guess. Not sure why they wanted the lantern mode?


Bykfixer, 

You might want to be careful with those 18500's; many of cheap 3 AAA lights are direct drive and depend on the high internal resistance of AAA heavy duty or alkaline cells to limit current and the LEDs can quickly over heat when you run low internal resistance Li-Ion or NiMH cells in them.


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## Cerealand (Jul 23, 2018)

A headlight is good, but I can see the drivers accidentally shining the lights into the customers eyes. As for latern mode, it make it eaiser to navigate in the back of the truck in the evening time.


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## bykfixer (Jul 23, 2018)

Thanks for the tip xxo. As a rule I use Rayovac alkalines in cheap lights. Carbon zinc type. Dirt cheap and thus far I've had zero leak in 3 years.

I was just pointing out that it can run on an 18500.


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## xxo (Jul 23, 2018)

Cerealand said:


> A headlight is good, but I can see the drivers accidentally shining the lights into the customers eyes. As for latern mode, it make it eaiser to navigate in the back of the truck in the evening time.



Some flashing lights on the driver's and helper's vests might be a good idea for deliveries around the holidays - I've seen them out past 10 PM running around trying to finish their deliveries!


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## xxo (Jul 23, 2018)

bykfixer said:


> Thanks for the tip xxo. As a rule I use Rayovac alkalines in cheap lights. Carbon zinc type. Dirt cheap and thus far I've had zero leak in 3 years.
> 
> I was just pointing out that it can run on an 18500.




I figured you knew that, but I see people running Li-ions in 3 AAA lights, not realizing that they are burning out the LEDs.


I wish some of these cheap lights were designed to run on a single C cell - would be about the same size as the 3 AAA lights with much better run times and it would be easy to run them on a single AA as well.


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## bykfixer (Jul 23, 2018)

C cell is a great flashlight fuel. Easier to hold a C cell light versus those 3aaa type too.


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## koenigsegg (Aug 17, 2018)

At least the beam pattern is even and not like an old incandescent light. I also like that the light glows green when turned on that gives you some more visibility


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## snakebite (Aug 28, 2018)

looks like it converts to a lantern.
pull out the lens end.


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## Bicycleflyer (Aug 29, 2018)

When UPS shows up to load my plane they use two flashlights with traffic wands to direct the trucks as they back up to the airplane. Never seem to have but one working at a time. This holds true for most companies I have worked for. I am truly amazed how multi billion dollar companies can never seem to find two working flashlights. 

The loaders seem to like using their cell phones as flashlights.

Maybe this new light will change that. To me, anything beats using a cell phone. But I doubt the plane handlers/loaders will see them.


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## xxo (Aug 31, 2018)

Bicycleflyer said:


> When UPS shows up to load my plane they use two flashlights with traffic wands to direct the trucks as they back up to the airplane. Never seem to have but one working at a time. This holds true for most companies I have worked for. I am truly amazed how multi billion dollar companies can never seem to find two working flashlights.
> 
> The loaders seem to like using their cell phones as flashlights.
> 
> Maybe this new light will change that. To me, anything beats using a cell phone. But I doubt the plane handlers/loaders will see them.



I'm kinda surprised that they don't have lights on their loading bays to shine into trucks when loading.

For the driver's maybe a LED light mounted on the boards that each driver carries might not be a bad idea since a little light is a lot harder to lose than a board!


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## RedLED (Oct 24, 2018)

Where can I get one? I drive like Jim Rockford, so I not employable at UPS!


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