Neiko Super-Bright 9 LED Heavy-Duty Compact Aluminum Flashlight - Gunmetal Silver
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Neiko Super-Bright 9 LED Heavy-Duty Compact Aluminum Flashlight - Gunmetal Silver
Customer Review: excellent price to quality
Summary: 5 Stars
(Edit, addendum 10/13/07)
Now after several months of extended use, it's time to add to the review in light of experience. There is a downside and that is in the (electrical) contact on the back of the LED PCB (printed circuit board). The solder paths create a single lead/tin "button" in the center of the PCB. The positive terminal of the battery holder contacts this "button." This solder "button" tends to oxidize as time goes on, and that makes the passage of current from the battery holder either absent or intermittant. In most cases, whacking the flashlight against the palm of your hand lengthwise will bounce the battery housing enough to break the oxidation layer and everything goes back to normal function.
On the (now many) lights we've purchased and distributed, I took the time to removed the LED pcb and solder multple strands of copper acrosse the end of the button, or, simply solder a small copper circle to the button. In EVERY case, the problem vanished and hasn't returned.
While this is a minor problem, the pricing is such that it can pretty much be ignored. If one is so inclined, the time and effort necessary to effect a permanent repair is minimal and well worth the small effort involved.
geoff
Through an Amazon special, I grabbed two of these along with two of the same company's 21 LED lights (also three AAA's). As another reviewer mentioned, these are "field" units and are susceptible to getting lost or damaged. Fundamentally, that requires that they be of a "disposable" prices.
After receiving the initial order, I ordered another 6, one for each car, one for each child, one for the wife's purse and a couple of spares for me, etc, etc.
Good quality, good light, good design for the prices. VERY good.
The future will tell if the longevity matches the other qualities.
geoff beneze
Customer Review: Good item, recommended from EtoolsCity
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great flashlight for everyday use at an affordable price. I keep on seeing that a lot of people claim it's defective, but you gotta watch who you buy from. My recommendation to you is EtoolsCity. They send you a reliable flashlight, a pouch, a lanyard, AND the batteries. Other merchants I've bought for have only sent me the flashlight. On one occasion, the flashlight I purchased came with one of the little led bulbs already blown out.
Now onto the actual flashlight performance:
Pro's:
Great light, brightens a large area. It's LED lights provide powerful illumination, and since it's LED, it won't wear your batteries down so fast. It emits cool light and it won't heat up the lenses. The flashlight is portable. You can take it with you anywhere. It's a great tool to have on your nightstand and glove compartment. It is visible from far away. The more Led lights your flashlight has, the more it will illuminate. It can be used as a last resort in self-defense by blinding an attacker.
Con's: The more LED lights your flashlight has, the wider the head will be. Eventually it will start looking like a shower head, so although you get more illumination, you'll be walking around with an awkward-looking tool. The flashlight is mainly for everyday use and for power outages. I would not recommend it for tactical use, given the fact that its beam does not travel too far (it only shines up the immediate area). The only law-enforcement use I would give to this flashlight would be for bouncers or security guards at night clubs that need to 'impress' the rowdy people by shinning this bright light into their eyes before kicking them off the premises.
Overall it's a great tool to have around. It's better than the average flashlights. It'll come in very handy. Just remember it's not suitable for tactical use.
Customer Review: Great Little Light
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this light not expecting much, but when I received it, this little thing is amazing. First off this thing feels as though it will take quite a bit of abuse. It's made of a fairly heavy duty aluminium, so it should resist most shocks. It is also much brighter than my pocket mag light. The only problem I can see with it, is the lens or crystal on the front is, I think, a fairly thin plastic. I'm not sure how much abuse that would take, but what other $4-6 flashlight do you know of that would be any better? Over all this flash light is bright, sturdy (except for the lens), and inexpensive. You won't find anything better than this in it's price range. In fact, you probably won't find much better until $20. Also, I noticed most of the bad reviews for this thing cite problems with the mechanics or how functional the flashlight they received was. Mine works perfectly, so it is not a design flaw but rather a manufacturing flaw, and if you receive one that doesn't work, send it back and get one that does. These things are worth it.
Also, I have no plans to test out the water-proof aspect of this flashlight. If that is something important to your decision, it seems as though it should be water proof. It has rubber seals on the back cap, the button is in a rubber housing, and the lens looks to be glued. Like I said, I'm not testing it.
Customer Review: it pays to read customer reviews
Summary: 5 Stars
Dear Review-Readers,
I'm quite happy with this little flashlight.
I use it every day.
And every time I use it, I like it better.
Mine came packaged with a set of three OEM (cheap) AAA batteries.
One of them was dead, the other two were good.
Not a problem.
Installed a matched set of three used AAAs and the flashlight works just fine.
I had read about intermittent, unpredictable performance of the flashlight.
People talking about bumping it or shaking it to make it work.
I very gently shook the flashlight a little bit and yes, I could feel the battery pack moving side-to-side.
I had read where one man said that he wrapped his battery pack with a playing card to stabilize it inside of the barrel.
So I did that, not with a playing card, but with a wrap of paper (not too much, not too little, just enough to get a snug fit).
As for the issue of the center contact on the printed circuit board corroding or oxidizing, time will tell.
My reaction to the comments that this flashlight won't survive a drop to a concrete floor off of a stepladder is that I think that we should not drop flashlights off of stepladders whether it's $5 flashlights or $50 flashlights.
C L Smith
Customer Review: Great small flashlight!
Summary: 5 Stars
This flashlight emits a very strong amount of light considering its very small size. Its light is slightly blue tinted (what I found to be nice and comfortable for my vision), with both a central focus beam and a considerable broad peripheral light as well. In a completely dark, medium-sized room, you can get all the place illuminated if you point it to a white ceiling - and I'm using the original, cheap AAA batteries that came with it. I bought 3 of them: 1 for my home, 1 to keep in my car and another one as a spare for anything else. It is light and comes with an attachable hand strap.
The only inconvenience I've realized so far is that the light sometimes fades out or even goes out due to loose contacts inside the flashlight (that requires some shake to get it back on). Despite that, it's highly recommended!
Once you have your first LED-based flashlight, you'll never go back to those ones that still use those weak, antiquated yellow light bulbs.
PS: Just keep in mind that the best (flash)lights to use during intense fog and pouring rain are the yellow ones (that is, those with color temperatures around 2700 ~ 3500 Kš). This highly applies to vehicle lights as well.