3W Cree light in the UK

giantsasquatch

In a quest to find a good value, bright front light from the UK, so i can use it now. A good brightness would be near to 250 lumens

Now that Tesco dosen't have the excellent value torch with 3W Cree LED. I been looking at other possible solutions.

I found these so far.

1W Cree Energizer Extreme Cree Headlight. £19.99 - Not bright enough.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... ADLAMP.htm

LED Lenser P7 Titanium Torch - £37 - 180 lumens
http://www.buyaparcel.com/pageview.php? ... LED8407GTP

I found some DIY stores online advertising 3W Cree torches for approx £15 or less, don't know if genuine Cree or not.

One here.
http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/An ... rch_t.html

giantsasquatch

Here is the 3 Watt Luxon Super Power Torch 3xC Batteries for £11.99. Possibly Cree.

http://www.toolbank.com/p/L-H2C3WATT

http://www.qwikfast.co.uk/catalogue/pro ... ts_id/4350

giantsasquatch

The true lumens of the above torches powered and from those batteries will fall short, and more in the range of 80-150 lumens. Still a good buy.

giantsasquatch

Ansmann S2 CREE LED Torch 130 lumens £35
http://www.battery-force.co.uk/detail_A ... tml?via=fg

giantsasquatch

This is the cheapest genuine 2C 3W Cree i can find from 2 reputable places in the UK from £19.99

http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/An ... rch_t.html

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/produc ... tid=246694

Farnell abit like Maplins only bigger. Other interesting torches there.

giantsasquatch

Another cheap solution is to fit the brightest halogen bulb that can be run on 4 batteries to a standard torch that takes 4 batteries(nimh 1.2V each) thus keeping it compact. That bulb is a 5.2V 4.4W 0.85A halogen bulb. As long as the bulb area and reflector can stand the extra heat. This gives 85 lumens for £4.00. Battery time is a couple of hours.

BrianTrousers

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12660198&highlight=

I know you said UK as these are Hong Kong. I presume you're aware of DealExtreme but just don't want to wait the three weeks for delivery

giantsasquatch

Yes and thanks. I need something to put me on right now. I will probably get something better from Dealextreme or Kaidomain later on. 2-3 weeks is a long time away when i bike everyday.

giantsasquatch

Cree 5-Mode 8 Watt Mini Digital Torch - £17.99 - 120 lumens
http://www.netpcdirect.co.uk/profession ... ee-8-watt-
digital-torch.html

giantsasquatch

As a emergency i recently picked up a 5 LED 3 mode headlamp this week from one of those discount shops that sell everything. It was surprisingly bright. Cars dimmed there headlamps in the distance soon as they came into view. Great for £1.99.

sicknote

The Tesco's near me in North London still has the 1w cree torches for about £8.

Plus have tried ebay as I have seen a few on there too.

giantsasquatch

Those P7's last only an hour. Try to get home before it dies. That's one way to improve your fitness, laughs

andy_wrx

Well, my DX Cree Q5 does only last an hour

But my DX P7 lasts at least two hours (and dunno how long ultimately, I've never run it to flat...)

Either way, a spare battery in the back pocket is easy enough to manage.

Some stuff I've ordered from DX has arrived in 8 days. Other stuff has taken the 3 weeks.

giantsasquatch

I visited the outdoor shop Cotswold today. In there they have a
a LED torch that listed on the packet as 2 mode 180/80 lumens for £25

https://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com

It is the Silverpoint X-Glow Cree 2xAA LED.

This maybe the same model below for 19.99

http://www.glowgadgets.co.uk/osc9005/si ... p-209.html

merlie

andy_wrx wrote:

Well, my DX Cree Q5 does only last an hour

But my DX P7 lasts at least two hours (and dunno how long ultimately, I've never run it to flat...)

Either way, a spare battery in the back pocket is easy enough to manage.

Some stuff I've ordered from DX has arrived in 8 days. Other stuff has taken the 3 weeks.

which P7 light did you get from DX ? there seem to be a number of varieties

cougie

P7 lasts an hour on full beam - you really dont need full beam unless you're off roading.

The Spiderman

cougie wrote:

P7 lasts an hour on full beam - you really dont need full beam unless you're off roading.

My 2 mode P7 lasts over 2 hours switching between low and high.

andy_wrx

merlie wrote:

which P7 light did you get from DX ? there seem to be a number of varieties

I agree with you, using the DX search for SSC P7 comes-up with dozens of them, and an awful lot of them look practically identical

I'm pretty sure I have this one
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623

Quality seems good, although I've not disassembled it or anything, it has decent water seals.

The battery rattled inside slightly on rough roads, but this sorted by just putting a slip of paper around the battery before putting it inside - rather have this than too tight so can't get battery in and out

I'd recommend only getting 2-mode : full power & low - I use full when it's dark i.e. country lanes or poor streetlighting, and low when in town.
I don't see the point of lots of other modes you'd never actually use, but have to cycle through to swith the thing on and off - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060 looks like same torch but with lots of different 'strobe' effects : why ? it's just too powerful to use as a flashing 'be seen' bike light.

Get some of the protected 18650's - they have circuitry to protect against overcharging and short-circuits, etc : unprotected Li-Ion cells have been known to catch fire...
First time I used it, I plugged-in the charger in the kitchen and put it on a breadboard, rather than into a wallsocket and on the carpet, but it didn't get more than warmish and so I'm less concerned now, although I still wouldn't charge it when out of the house or upstairs asleep.

rake

what is cree. i have lumileds luxeon star leds are they cree.

ademort

The Spiderman wrote:

cougie wrote:

P7 lasts an hour on full beam - you really dont need full beam unless you're off roading.

My 2 mode P7 lasts over 2 hours switching between low and high.

I also have the 2 mode and can confirm it does last at least 1.5 hours on full power.
Ademort

redvee

The Tesco extra store in Cribbs Causeway Brizzle had 2 or 3 this morning.

sicknote

redvee wrote:

The Tesco extra store in Cribbs Causeway Brizzle had 2 or 3 this morning.

I think the ones they do now are not the 3cree ones but more than likely 1watt ones.

I could be wrong :?

merlie

common mr tesco ... where are they ?

redvee

Sicknote wrote:

I think the ones they do now are not the 3cree ones but more than likely 1watt ones.

I could be wrong :?

Packaging is the same as the ones I've bought previously.

sicknote

redvee wrote:

Sicknote wrote:

I think the ones they do now are not the 3cree ones but more than likely 1watt ones.

I could be wrong :?

Packaging is the same as the ones I've bought previously.

The ones I bought came with batteries but look the same as the ones you can get now.

I will be getting one of the Dealextreme torches as I sometimes ride were there are no lights and the ones I have just dont cut it.

giantsasquatch

Other good P7's to get are Ultrafire and Aurora models.

Someone makes external battery packs for P7's so you can run it longer than 1 hour. http://www.turboferret.co.uk/Index.htm

giantsasquatch

rake wrote:

what is cree. i have lumileds luxeon star leds are they cree.

Cree are one of the leaders in producing LED's with the highest lumens per watt. SSC is another leader on par with Cree.

Watch out for the new torches with the new Cree XP-G LED. They will be better than the P7. Out real soon.

To put that into perspective. You get 350 lumens instead of 200 lumens for the same watts of the XP-E.

No, Luxeon are abit behind Cree and SSC nowadays but good beam patterns.

giantsasquatch

This is a good favoured P7.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14451

and forget 5 mode go for 2 mode which is enough and less to go wrong.

amaferanga

giantsasquatch wrote:

This is a good favoured P7.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14451

and forget 5 mode go for 2 mode which is enough and less to go wrong.

No, that's far too big - 9" long FFS!

I don't think you'd want that on your bars.

If you want bright with decent burn time you need to go for a light with a separate battery like the Magicshine.

giantsasquatch

amaferanga wrote:

giantsasquatch wrote:

This is a good favoured P7.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14451

and forget 5 mode go for 2 mode which is enough and less to go wrong.

No, that's far too big - 9" long FFS!

I don't think you'd want that on your bars.

If you want bright with decent burn time you need to go for a light with a separate battery like the Magicshine.

Alittle on the big side but doable, the quality is better and doesn't get hot. This one is smaller. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12588

Yeah just get a Magicshine, but a couple of P7's be very handy for off the bike as well.

If you get 2 P7's and run them on low setting you get around 3 hours. I like this one. 2 of these be fine. Good price and run for 2 hours. 3-Mode 430-Lumen LED
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18857

giantsasquatch

Ansmann S2 and Ansmann 2C are about the cheapest 3W Cree in UK but not ideal. I come to conclusion you better off paying abit extra around £40-50 for a LED Lenser or Fenix. You get a smaller torch with much better build quality with variable focus beam, with just as much power. That or go Hong Kong. Ansmann also make decent battery packs for DIY lights.

http://www.netpcdirect.co.uk/profession ... rches.html

https://www.buyaparcel.com/pageview.php ... h_category

2xAA torch round up review
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... p?t=214890