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Crazyfire 2000 lumens Red LED torch Review


Fozzie

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I picked up this red light torch from Amazon for obvious reasons, retailing at £7.99 with £3.30 P&P (I don’t have amazon prime)

It works with 3 sizes of batteries, two are odd sizes, 26550 & 18650, and will require you buying rechargeable ones and charger.  The third  option is an adaptor to 3x AAA batteries which is supplied in the package.  (mine wasn’t actually but I sourced one and got credited back)

post-33699-0-46632000-1438249709.jpg

So i thought I’d write a quick review, of what appears to be a very well made torch, perfect for astro use..

IT’S REALLY VERY BRIGHT AND RED.

Thanks for reading.

Ta

Fozzie

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i looked at that very flashlight last night. the 26650 and 18650 batteries are Li-Ion batteries. they can be pricy 10-15 dollars for an 18650 and upwards of 30 for a 26650.  the reason i know this is i use a personal vaporizer that is powered by 18650's if you want a real long run time go with the 26650 just be sure to have the correct type of charger for it.  also Li-Ion batts can be very volatile, so its better to get IMR batteries  they usually have higher Mah and Amp ratings, and generally are much  more safe to use

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Trust me , you want the dimmest red light that you can use to find your way around NOT the brightest , try waving that around in the company of other astronomers at a gathering and I'm fairly certain of the kind of reception you'd receive ...  :smiley:

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Well if anything hopefully somebody else won't buy for the astro use.. although guiding helicopters might not be using it to its full potential..

At least the review was accurate, if not tinged with a tad of attempted humour..

Might tape some solar filter paper over the front hopefully it'll be dim enough, although I have my doubts..

Lol... great buy eh!

Ta

Fozzie

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A "really very bright" torch will win you no friends at star parties, even if it is red :(

Mark

I bought one of the Ultrafire WF-501b's (it's a red light) similar I guess to that in brightness for the reason one person complained I had a small white light once. :huh:

We were not even observing but checking out equipment and that things worked, white flood lights 20 feet high would have been useful for what was being done. :mad:

They complained even more when I had the red UltraFire. :grin: :grin:

I want one of those, it is focusable.

Another toy.

OK, ordered one.

I see it is the 5 mode type, if you really want to annoy people put it on the Strobe setting <- they object to a bright red light, however they try to lynch you for a bright red strobe light. :eek: :eek: :eek:  And assorted other verbal insults.

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For a better size and brightness try:

Torch Direct

They have a couple but the other one costs more and this one is the better.

I bought 3, use one, gave a friend one who needed it for an astro club (comments about a white light on her first night), and the other one is waiting for me to lose the first.

Mind you the other one that costs a bit more is a red light and the body is anodised red as well.

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One thing which seems to be overlooked when talking about using red lights is the type of light.

The original idea was to use a light that caused as little as possible effect to the persons night vision. This dates way back to the military and the use of low level lighting used in the likes of submarines, also war vehicles such as in tanks, where it was a matter of life and death.

We as astronomers took up this idea but it seams that the original concept is being overlooked for the sake of better seeing of our gear in the dark. I admit it is very nice to be able to do and see what we are doing in some visual comfort, but never the less it should still preserve our and others, night vision. Bright red lights do not preserve the night vision! They affect it almost as much as a dim white light.

To further negate the original aspect of using red light, the new red LEDs are worse than using a red filter over an incandescent bulb. The red LEDs output light at usually 656nm. The spread of light is extremely small, I.e. Narrowband, but extremely intense. The red filtered incandescent light was spread over a larger wave band dependant on the filter material, but of lower intensity.

A red LED is worse for our imaging as it is picked up by the CCDs much easier than the old filtered red light. So use low powered LED lights please or you are defeating the whole objective of using red lights in the first place.

I try to point mine at the ground whilst walking around the star parties and use a much smaller head light when working on the telescope and ancillary gear. The last thing I want to do is to inadvertantly ruin someone's images or my own.

Bright red LED lights are not suitable for astro star parties, in your own garden it is up to the individual.

But personally I prefer to keep my night vision !

Derek

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Obviously we established rather early in the thread that the brightness of the torch, which may I add was advertised as suitable astro activity torch, is totally unsuitable for the astro activity it was bought for... (most likely getting me to the toilet and back in one piece.)

However anyone following on or searching for a review of the torch in the future will, i'm sure, be under no miscomprehension that the torch is not suitable for anything other than landing helicopters in thick fog.  Which is essence is what a accurate review & follow on debate/sharing of experience is for and welcomed.

Personally would like to say at the time of buying I had no idea that it would be unsuitable and that any kind of, let alone ridiculously bright, red lights were damaging to night vision, however it is something I have learned (after all they don't put it in the small print  :rolleyes:  ). 

Also under any circumstances I wouldn't go branding any kind of torch around at an astro party, that's just bad form.. :eek:

So for the avoidance of doubt, in conclusion of my review.. (with added attempted further humour on a similar theme)

The torch is very, very, bright and red & will upset anyone or thing imaging it comes in contact with and will win you zero friends..

DONT USE FOR ASTRONOMY.

Should put that to bed now..

Thanks

Fozzie :smiley:

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Email says mine is out for delivery. Geting impatient waiting now. Want to play.

Oddly there is a "use" in astromony but not for flashing around.

They are good to guide people/groups around with but you have to direct the thing at the ground.

That way the route/ground is illuminated for people and they can follow easily and in general night vison is maintained. However if you are guiding groups it is a public affair and not as such a strict astronomy situation so somewhat less of a problem.

So as Fozzie says good for finding toilets and remaining red, but away from the observers.

I suppose that I cannot attach it to the scope, focus it to as narrow a beam as possible and use it as a pointer to objects?  :eek:  :eek:  :eek:  :eek:  :eek: 

:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

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It's bigger then expected, the Ultrafires are smaller.

At least the 18650's work in it but even they seem slightly on the narrow side.

Suspect the Ultrafires are actually more annoying on the brightness aspect as they maintain a brighter central area that is not present on the Crazyfire.

Equally that is with a 18650 battery that is rated at 3.7v, I see they accept 3 of the 1.5V batteries that make up 4.5v.

Wonder what the Blue and Green ones are like?  :icon_colors: :icon_colors: :icon_colors:

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Find the Crazyfire is likely to be good for aspects of astro use. The red beam is actually well controlled, it has well defined edges and so little (no) sort of over spill - someone outside the circle of light is not going to get an eyeful. They would with the Ultrafire.

People with a torch do not tend to go round shining it at peoples faces which oddly is not uncommon with a head torch. Torches tend to be used for walking round - usually aimed towards the ground illuminating it so you do not trip over something. Aiming one around at head level is of little use, you tend to fall over things.

It is too bright to illuminate a book with, although the dim setting and a bit wider beam should be OK for this - like the Ultrafire getting to the dim setting is a bit of an effort.

Suspect it will be more usable then many would expect, with the proviso that a bit of common sense is applied.

Just need a 26650 battery for it now.

So that is a 2000 lumen red torch, anyone located a 5000 lumen one yet ? :eek: :eek: :eek:

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