Cheap Tac light

[Slick]

Was browsing through Sams Club in Vaughan and came across an interesting item.



At first I was sure it was a Tac light and claims to be 150 lumens. I thought wow sweet and only 24.98 for two! Noticed that it only used three AAA battery I was fairly skeptical. Checked out the picture on the back of the box showing all the parts and noticed the tail cap. Looked like it had an extra long spring. Thought that maybe the flashlight was a clone of some name brand tac light and they just put on an extra long spring so they could use a AAA pack. My plan was to chop it down and fit in some 123s.







Once I got it home and popped in some batterys I was quite impressed. The lamp on my Pelican M6 blew out so I have nothing to compare it to. But to me it seemed to put out a lot more light then I remember my M6 putting out. Plus the light is a pure white.

When comparing the two lights side by side I notice that the Element is thicker. Checked it out on a caliper and it measures 1 1/8". So unfortunately will not fit with a standard flashlight mount. You might be able to use a universal mount though if you have one. But in my opinion makes this just a regular flashlight and not a tac light.

Some downsides to the light. Reflector and lens are glued on. Lamp looks like it cant be replaced. Tail cap cant be disassembled. Its a cheap light, once its busted you have to throw it away.

Upsides: Its 15 bucks!




Still figured I could add some 123s to boost this up to 6 volts. I chopped about half an inch off the plastic on the tail cap and about 1/8 an inch off the spring. Then put a few O rings on the batterys to make them fit in properly. Nice thing is I can still put in the AAA pack if I want to and use it with either type of battery.



Here I did a quick and rather unfair comparison with a few other lights. Well not completely unfair, both lights on the right use the same 3 AAA packs.
From left to right in both pictures is goes; Garrity 3 led headlamp(watch battery), Garrity?(2 AA), Garrity 9 led(3AAA), Element K2(3 AAA)

Couldnt test the 123s next to the AAAs because my 123s are almost dead. I might try and pick up a pair later and do a comparison.


On a side note does anyone know what type of lamps I can use to replace the one on my M6. Surefire, G&P and so on?