Decent cheap LED torches?

I know it's slightly off topic, but I'd appreciate any suggestions for LED torches (flashlights) that don't cost an arm and a leg, e.g. for doing DIY jobs in dark corners or walking along paths at night. Around the house we have a motley collection of old torches with incandescent bulbs that I'd like to replace with modern ones using LEDs.

Last year on impulse I bought one from Poundland with 3 LEDs which was very good initially, but after a week one of the LEDs had failed and another was flickering, so I took it back and (after a struggle) got a refund. I then got one from Maplins for under £5, which only works intermittently as it has a very dodgy switch. If I could find the receipt I'd take that back too.

Searching online including ebay I find posh brands with prices up to astonishing levels, e.g. 465 Euros. Many of the cheaper ones, I mean up to £20, seem to work with Li-ion batteries, e.g. type 18650. These seem to need a special charger. All I know about Li-ion batteries in laptops etc is that when not used they lose charge over a matter of weeks. I can foresee that when I really need a torch, after not having used it for a time, it will be totally discharged. So I'd really like one that can take ordinary alkaline (or hybrid NiMH) AA cells.

Are there any at reasonable prices that are any good?

Reply to
Clive Page
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Drop into Lidl sometime - some perfectly acceptable ones at reasonable prices.

Fairly inexpensive chargers for 18650s readily available from the likes of Deal Extreme - though I cannot vouch for quality of cells or chargers.

Reply to
polygonum

Bought one of these=20

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Halfords. Has two functions. Torch and flood. Liked it so ordered two = more from eBay (for less than the price of the one from Halfords) Only downside is the switch requires a very firm prod to function. Note the= hanging hook and the magnetic plate. Makes it very handy to leave in place= s like the loft hatch etc.

Reply to
fred

o more from eBay (for less than the price of the one from Halfords)

he hanging hook and the magnetic plate. Makes it very handy to leave in pla= ces like the loft hatch etc.

In fairness to Halfords theirs did come with the batteries

Reply to
fred

LIDL or Aldi (I can never recall which one had the nicer ones) had a turned aluminium case compact torch with a 1W LED in not long ago. Quite well built and with a good focussed beam I think ~£5.

You want one where the power is 1W or 3W in a single chip die with a dome lens looking yellowish when off with a metal casing or heatsink of some sort to take away the waste heat. Some are better than others.

Forget all the ones with multiple ordinary 5mm LEDs for torches.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Maglite do good ones and if you shop around you can get them at a reasonable price.

Reply to
Peter Crosland

Clive Page :

For those purposes I suggest a head torch rather than (or perhaps as well as) a hand torch.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

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>>> from Halfords. Has two functions. Torch and flood. Liked it so ordered two more from eBay (for less than the price of the one from Halfords)

hanging hook and the magnetic plate. Makes it very handy to leave in places like the loft hatch etc.

Aldi also have an apparently identical unit for a fiver or so. Very handy, they are.

Reply to
John Williamson

They've got one this Thursday. 3 watt Cree so should be good. Dunno what batteries it uses - it isn't a rechargeable type.

Have one of their earlier ones made from solid ally. Has 5 LEDs and uses 3 AAs. Which seem to last forever. The type where you screw the front to switch it on - so no switch to break. Very pleased with it.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

On Tuesday 29 January 2013 10:46 Clive Page wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Double AA Maglite is surprisingly bright at around 25 quid. Alkaline cells last quite a while.

Only thing is it is "twist to turn on" (no button) and a bit too easy to knock off.

Personally, unless you want a pocket torch, I would get one of these:

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cell LED Maglite. Bombproof, waterproof, will last for years with abuse if my 4 cell is anything to go by and if it had a problem, you can buy parts (mine needed a new switch after 15 years).

A belt ring is a welcome addition if you only need it on sometimes whilst walking.

I will never buy another cheap torch again (I said that 15 years ago and I've stuck to it).

Reply to
Tim Watts

If they're working, why replace them?

The only LED torch I've used was recently in the pitch dark of a mountain road which needed gritting so I could get 'out' of the area I'd been visiting. It was loaned to me by the man who helped me grit the road, because unlike the ones I have in my car, it was a head torch with straps to sit it on the forehead like a miner's lamp. It was very good for that job. He said he'd bought the two for £1.49 each from somewhere, though later I saw the same thing for £14.99 and wondered if he'd misrembered. IIRC, it took 3 x AA. That would be a downer in my book, why not 2 or 4?

My car failed that first major test > Around

Reply to
Java Jive

The secret with the Poundshop ones is to use poor quality zinc/carbon batteries. They rely on the cell internal resistance to limit the LED current. Alkaline cells have too low an internal resistance and heavily over drive the LEDs when new.

Brighter but a short life. Use the cheap batteries from the same source...

Chris K

Reply to
Chris K

I got mine from Wilkinsons, and its a 9 led type with a rubber casing and takes 3 AAA batteries for just £2.50

Reply to
Bob H

I bought 2 of these and 2 of the similar bigger floodlights from the Aldi remainder bin about 2 weeks ago - £2.99 each including batteries.

I also bought up almost their entire stock of the remaindered plastic case Halloween torches a few weeks earlier and distributed them round the family. I think they were a pound including batteries. I keep one in the car, one in the Disco, one by the door in the house, one in the pocket of each coat and so on. So far I'm delighted with them all. The little bit of brass to take the negative to the led array isn't terribly well engineered, but hey.........

Reply to
Bill

Funny that. I said will never buy another expensive torch again. I bought a fairly early LED torch and, whilst basically very pleased with it, even the cheapest ones now are much better.

Inexpensive ones seem to do an excellent job - from £2.99 (plastic) to something a bit over a fiver at Lidl in quite nicely finished metal. In my opinion, the beam from my current favourite Lidl model is excellent.

With current technology, LEDs are beating incandescents, but we still have question marks over longevity and efficiency. Quite possibly by next year they will again have improved significantly? So I shall not be spending more than a modest amount.

Also, I'd rather have a few torches lying around than piling all the money into one which could fail when most needed.

Reply to
polygonum

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Mostly good.

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Some crap.

Also, check out

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Some great stuff, some real shit.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Dangerous pieces of shit. The x-fire cells are to be avoided as many fakes abound and many of the cheap chargers are deathtraps.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

A head torch is very good for DIY and wandering about as you have your handsfree.

I got a pack of three TechLite Lumen Master hand torches from CostCo for= about =A315 inc VAT. 3 x AAA, ali body with O ring seals, Cree LED F.bright! My torch of choice these days over 4 or 6 D cell Maglights. On= e has suffered leaky batteries and needs a bit of TLC. This maybe down to =

the switch being a "soft" switch rather than a real one and the controller chip in this particular torch having a high leakage. It did flatten a set of AAA's in a couple of months. The other two are fine.

One thing to watch out for with LEDs is a far to focused a beam and not =

enough wider angle spread. If you are trying to see something the otherside of a field a powerful beam is useful but not for general illumination when trying to perform a task.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

On Tuesday 29 January 2013 11:49 polygonum wrote in uk.d-i-y:

You sir must be one of the lucky ones.

All I've ever had with cheap LEDs (inc torches) are failure in less than a couple of years.

I torch that cost me maybe 25 quid at the time and has lasted 15 years with one 5 quid repair is, in my books, good value.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Quite an incredible choice these days

Anything with a single CREE led is worth buying

at the other end of the scale i bought a big 9 led head torch in poundland last week, it had the newer yellow looking leds incredibly bright.

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Reply to
Mark

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