Short Description:

The Ultra Bright LED clip light was provided by Greg Y., an independent flashlight dealer I met at the Metrolina Expo Center in Charlotte, NC. As a pilot, Greg Y. became very interested in the utility provided by LED lights in the cockpit, and liked these lights so much that he decided to sell them. The lights themselves are LED lights designed to be clipped onto any relatively thin surface for providing directional light. The light bodies come in a variety of colors, generally indicating the color of the LED. The LEDs are available in single blue, green, red, or white LED as well as 3 white LED or 3 blue LEDs. The light reviewed had a red body and single red LED.

The body of the light is translucent plastic. The bezel is armored with a rubber cover and has a protective clear plastic lens in front of the LED. The LED is surrounded by a smooth silver reflector. The tail end of the light can be twisted off to access the battery compartment and is sealed with an O-ring. Also on the end of the light is the ball-and-socket connection to the clip and a lanyard loop. The clip can be removed with some difficulty. Inside the socket is a very small O-ring to give some resistance to the motion of the clip joint.

The beam projected from the light is a narrow beam, with the central component slightly off-center from the outer wash of light produced.

The light is turned on and off by twisting the head about 1 cm. For batteries, the light uses 3 AAA batteries in a "carrier" identical to the carrier used in the Streamlight headlamps reviewed on this site. Included in the package are 3 AAA Panasonic "Heavy Duty" batteries.

Sales information is pending from Greg Y. on how you can get these lights.

Reviewer's Impressions:

The Ultra Bright LED Clip Lights are pretty neat little lights and a good value, in my opinion, for the average consumer. They can be clipped almost anywhere and the light directed to the work surface with ease. In my experience, at this time Greg Y. is the only person I have seen that sells a 3 blue LED light that runs on common alkaline batteries at a reasonable price.

Fit and finish is actually very good! I was surprised by the quality of the lights. There are no sharp edges, the joints are all tight fits, and the clip is very strong. The battery compartment door snaps on tightly and creates a good water resistant seal.

Both the battery compartment door and the battery cartridge will only go into the light one way, preventing any worries about reverse-polarity with the batteries. However, you may need light to change the batteries since placing the batteries in the carrier requires attention to polarity. You can replace the batteries in the dark if you feel for the springs and put the "-" end on the springs, but when I tried this I found it to be a bit tricky. Better would be to carry a couple of extra pre-loaded battery cartridges if you needed them for quick replacement. Extra battery carriers were available from www.brightguy.com for about $3.00 each at the time of this review. Look for them under the Streamlight Septor or Trident accessories.

As mentioned earlier, the bezel is surrounded with a rubber cover which is not removable. This gives good protection against drops and bangs. The body of the light is resistant to the usual abuse that a flashlight would see. Because of the design of the ball-and-joint socket on the clip, the light can be positioned in almost any direction once it is clipped to a surface. With a little attention to its balance, the light can stand on a flat surface by resting it on the back of the clip. This way you can direct the light anywhere needed.

Output on the light reviewed was adequate for completing tasks in a darkened environment. With new alkaline batteries I was able to get 12 lux on the meter - about equivalent to a white Photon 2. However, this light is advertised to last for 80 hours. Of course, this means that the light will actually in all likelihood run about 20 hours before you would like to change the batteries, with diminished output after that. Still, 20 hours is quite good.

Beam quality was acceptable for a single LED light. The LED is slightly off center in the reflector which resulted in an off-center ring around the center of the beam. This really does not make the light any less usable, but is noticeable. This effect was noticed in all of the single LED lights I handled, but the 3 LED lights did not seem to have this issue due to overlapping beams.

Water resistance is very good, as can be noted by the picture above where I turned on the light and placed it in a sink basin of water. There were no signs of leakage at all.

+ + + Pluses: Watertight, Tough/impact resistant, Long battery life, Lightweight, Stands up

- - - Minuses: No regulation, Battery change difficult without light

UPDATE: From Greg.

I thought to mention I can assemble these lights in the dark if I feel for the springs and put the "-" end on the springs as I assemble.

Thanks, Greg!

UPDATE: From a reader, Jeff L.

"I noticed that you added a review of a torch Ultra-Bright Clip Light. I bought this torch (3 LED white version) from a local electronics store in early December and found it to be a pretty good torch, good output and cheap. However, over the last few weeks, I've noticed the circuit board had worn out where the battery holder's contacts rub against it. For the last few days, the light has been a bit unreliable, sometimes only being able to touch the contacts when I bang it a bit. I took it apart and cleaned the contacts and works reliably for the time being."

Thanks, Jeff! I would recommed placing a drop of liquid teflon lubricant on the top of the contacts on the battery carrier and then placing the carrier in the light and turning it on-off several times. This will coat the board's contacts and reduce friction and wear.

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