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[Closed] You know those Tesco torches.... (talk to me about...)

 Olly
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[#1036878]

In my lunch scavange in tesco (chicken tikka pasty thank you very much) i noticed they have some 1Watt LED torches again, that i was looking for for months.

except i seem to remember, the head lamp ones have a big LED in them?
this one appears to have a regular boring "electronics club" LED in it, though appearences may be decieving i guess

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-8191.aspx

this is the C batt one, and there is an AA battery one there too.

are they any good?
worth 8quid for the AA one?
what can i expect from it?

if i get some high quality rechargable batteries, and 2 of the torches, are they off roadable?
or are they more of a helmet secondary light?

input appreciated!
thanks 🙂


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:13 pm
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helo there last year how is it?
They work ok - good enough just for off roadin but nothing special I keep one in my camlbak to get home in an emergency battery/light problem.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:15 pm
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I'm using one of the 1W AA battery ones as a head-torch, cable-tied to the helmet.

It's ok, but not bright enough for use as a primary light. It was more use when I was using halogen Lumi's but it's pretty much swamped by the DX light.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:15 pm
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I am pretty sure they are 3 watt( but they say they are 1 ) I have one and do not think you will get brighter for the cash. Beam seems quite narrow though. They do them in AA and C


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:19 pm
 gazc
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definately worth a punt for 8quid. if you have the time (plus patience/skills) you can run cables to external aa battery holders. if you run 2 sets of 2 batteries in parallel they are much brighter and will get about 3 hours burn time with decent fully charged aa's. maplin good for all those bits


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:42 pm
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i use one as a head torch. all good.

not good for an only light though


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:45 pm
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Got one about a year ago as a head torch, very good.
Last time i went out down a bit of fiddly bridgeway and forgot to put my main light and it wasnt half bad on its own. For tenner they're worth it IMHO.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 2:52 pm
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I have one that I modified to use 3 x rechargable AA's in series on (3.6v as opposed to 3v of 2 x ord batts). Works well as a spot to supplement my bar mounted hopes.

Batteries and on/off switch now in my chest pocket and I just turn on as required.

Works well considering it cost less than £20 with rechargables and all.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 4:39 pm
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Meant to say used Standard Tesco AA version on helmet but switch was pretty crappy and didn't like the winter nights - that's why I started experimenting.

When it worked, it worked quite well.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 4:41 pm
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I've got a 'c' cell one shortened and running off an external 3xAA battery holder with a cateye helmet mount etc. Works fine, bit more 'spotty' than the AA one but that's good for a headmount, imo.

yours for £15 posted, sans batteries?

email if interested and I'll do some pics.

lukeDOTburstowAThotmailDOTcoDOTuk


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 4:45 pm
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what recargeables fit inside without resorting to a dremmel?


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 4:48 pm
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The 1W AA one I have has been fine with various different re-chargeables.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 4:52 pm
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Getting the rechargables inside without damaging the outer cover/insulation was also another problem that made me dabble with a seperate battery pack. The rechargable Duracells I tried certainly didn't fit without a lot of huffing and puffing - then you couldn't get them out!


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 4:52 pm
 Olly
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balls to it, bought me a DX light after god knows how long of umming and ahhing.

any ideas on current delivery times?
x


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 5:02 pm
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I have one that I modified to use 3 x rechargable AA's in series on (3.6v as opposed to 3v of 2 x ord batts)

I did this, which blew mine up.

I got one of these (zip-tied to helmet)

[url= http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7934 ]http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7934[/url]

and have never looked back. Small spot, as bright as the (larger) spot from a P7, 3 hrs run time from a single 18650. Oh and it's light weight too.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 5:09 pm
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They had some Cree torches the other week.


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 5:12 pm
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Bought a torch from Tesco last year which was a 3W and cost £12 , went to get another to use on the bars along with my Hope 1 and could only get the 1W torch as the 3W is no longer stocked. Good light but not a par on the 3W jobbie.
Ordered a DX light on 13/10 and arrived 11/11 most of this time was spent waiting on suppliers , postage took 11 days.

da funk


 
Posted : 13/11/2009 10:38 pm
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There was a period last year when the 3 watt Cree LED was used in the torches, this was pretty high spec for 8 quid! I bought a load of them and used a set up of three for my first few night rides. Also got the misses into night biking with them too. You can ride round the woods with three no problem. Until someone comes up behind you with a proper light that is, then all you can see is shadow... Also having 6 batteries each ride is a pain, and as mentioned before the barrels of the torches were all different size tolerances so some would fit rechargeable batteries and others wouldn't!

You could also remove the columnator *sp to make them have more of a flood beam...

Tescos carried on making them but without the Cree spec emitter, they were never as good again. You can unscrew the front of the torch to see if it says Cree next to the emitter...

Worth a punt for 8 quid if you don't want to wait on postage times...


 
Posted : 14/11/2009 12:25 pm
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The two I have are the Cree ones - didn't realise they did a lesser model.

That's maybe why mine hasn't blown up with the 3 battery setup.


 
Posted : 14/11/2009 8:02 pm
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olly a mate of mine ordered our dx lights 3of them 2 weeks ago still not here yet i wish they would hurry up lol, gaz


 
Posted : 14/11/2009 9:51 pm