Energizer Hard Case 2xAAA Inspection Light
General Stats:
Available from Lowe's Home Improvement Center this light is one of the first mass market 2xAAA CREE lights. It retails for 14.97$ and is slowly becoming available nationwide. The light is contructed of plastic and is fastened together with Philips head screws. The lens is plastic and slightly recessed, behind which sits a small smooth reflector and the LED. The light is activated by a side-mounted reverse clickie switch and unscrewing the tail any amount at all will lock-out the light. Overall output is advertised at 30 lumens and ceiling bounce tests confirm that the light is near this claim. A vertical belt sheath made of ballistic nylon and sealing with velcro is provided. The light is fairly slim and rides in the pocket well, fit and finish are fair with some obvious injection molding marks and seams present. Place of manufactuer is China.
Opinion:
Before turning this light on I was super excited about it, being that I just spent an hour on a Friday night finding it is evidence to this fact. It seems to have all the right things going for it, 2xAAA batteries, nice slim profile and a CREE LED. However my excitement melted away like a castle in the sand when I actually turned the light on. I was expecting a nice smooth hotspot with the typical CREE rings and the excellent CREE tint I was used to from my Fenix and Lumapower lights. What I got was actually not that bad, the beam has a nice round hotspot with a few artifacts and a slightly colder tint than a higher end light. In direct comparison with a pure white CREE it doesn't look blue like the old Luxeon lights, it just looks less white and colder. So the tint is okay, the brightness was suprisingly good, have manufacturers stopped misinforming the buyer about brightness by giving the Lumens at emitter numbers? Maybe, because this light is claimed 30 Lumens and from ceiling bounce tests and general feel it looks pretty close. Tint okay, brightness good, but the hotspot is odd. It seems busy, kind of cloudy almost. Most of the beam artifacts are contained within the hotspot, I'm not sure why. The tiny reflector may be the cause of this, it barely measures 13mm wide. Below is a picture taken at a low exposure that shows the artifacts in the hotspot. I didn't notice any adverse effects during actual use but it will show up on the ol' white wall test.
Overall I am liking the light the more I use it, it is a good size and feels good in the hand. The packaging states it will survive a 15 foot drop and that feels about right with the plastic and screw construction. User disassembly seems like it should be no problem, once I decide to keep the light I'll pull out my tiny drivers and see how far I can break it down. The clickie can be very sensitive and at times requires that you remove your thumb from the button all the way so the spring can fully extend and click on the light [Upon disassembly I found that a small piece of rubber was hiding between the activation knob of the clikie and the rubber sleeve, upon removal the problem was resolved]. I am unsure of regulation or battery life but I would give an estimate of 4 hours or so of declining brightness with a long tail of useable output (moon mode). Rechargeable batteries should be good to go with this light, Lithiums would probably not be a good idea.
This is the first time I've even said it, but; the sheath is garbage. It sucks.
The way the batteries are stored on the package is actually a small bonus. Clip the holder out with some scissors, and you have a safe secure way to carry 2 AAA batteries.
The bezel shape influences the spill shape but it is hardly noticeable during use.
Hotspot underexposed to show cloudiness. Odd.
2xAAA on the left, D-Mini on the right. I know there is a major price difference but note the tint difference, just for informative purposes.
Pro:
+Under 20$ out the door and available at major nationwide retailers.
+CREE combined with 2xAAA is a huge plus to a lot of users.
+Beam shape and style is superbly useable.
Cons:
-Slightly cloudy hotspot, only present in white wall hunting though.
-Sensitive clickie at times, may be limited to my sample.
-Bezel has a lot of wasted space, this limits reflector size.
::Update::
I went ahead and broke the light down a little bit. The bezel is held in place by three screws and after removal of said screws it unscrews from the body like a normal bezel. The light engine is pretty sealed up but I included some pictures below if anyone spots anything noteworthy.
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