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The Dorcy Luxeon 3D is, in my opinion, the embodiment
what that large and very popular aluminum light company
here in the US should have done a long time ago. The
Dorcy Luxeon 3D uses, as the name implies, 3 D alkaline
cells which power a single Luxeon I LED. If you need
a durable, very long running light, this is a great
choice.
The body of the light is made from anodized aluminum and is checkered around the middle of the battery tube for grip. Around the bezel and the tailcap are ridges to allow for easy turning of either section. The tailcap has a metal flip-out hang ring that folds conveniently out of the way when not in use.
The bezel and polycarbonate lens protects the plastic
silvered reflector and Luxeon I LED inside the head.
Since we're working with a Luxeon LED here, dropping
the light won't cause the bulb to "blow" like it can
with regular 3-D cell incandescent lights. The reflector
has a very large hole to accommodate the Luxeon LED,
but it does a good job of focusing the emitted light
into a tight beam.
Output is in the form of an adjustable beam of light.
Twisting the head allows you to go from a narrow focus
to a wide focus. Of course as should be expected with
a smooth reflector you will get the famous "rings and
holes" in the beam when working with a wide focus. On
a narrow focus you can dial the beam down to a very
narrow beam. Beam color on the sample I received is
VERY nice. The photos below are completely unretouched.
Sometimes the camera overemphasizes the color in a beam
and I have to do a little digital magic to get it to
look as close as possible to the real thing. Not this
time - what you see is exactly what I got.
Here's an extra little hint - your monitor is by default probably set to about 9300 K color temperature which is very bluish - like a 5mm LED's light. Adjust your monitor using the monitor front panel controls (NOT your operating system "display properties" window) to about 6500 K which is the color temperature of sunlight if you want to see colors the way they're supposed to be seen.
Note that the beam does have some artifacts and rings of darker and lighter areas even on a narrow focus. Such is often the penalty for using a smooth reflector.
Beam at one meter at target center and at target edge
to show spillbeam - narrow focus.
The runtime plot shows about 21 hours to 50% starting output. Now it can be a bit hard to see, but within a few minutes of turning the light on it dropped to about 60% of its starting output. Over the next few hours it rebounds back up to about 83% and then drops. So for the first 4 hours you'll see a sharp dip initially and then a gradual increase in output. After the 4 hour point the output slowly diminishes and you should still get light out of this torch many, many hours after the 50% point is reached.
Runtime
completed with Rayovac batteries. More information on
runtime plots is available HERE.
Ever wonder why I run all these tests and take all these readings? Read this!:
Just for reference, a 3-D aluminum light that uses a normal bulb was tested for runtime and it dropped to 50% of the starting light output in 1 hour 2 minutes. The Dorcy 3-D Luxeon light takes about 21 hours to reach 50% starting light output. However, they both start with darn close to the same overall light output! (If anything, my readings show that the Dorcy starts out brighter!) Since it takes the Dorcy 21 hours to drop to the level of output that the "other" 3-D light gets to in 1 hour, this constitutes having 20x the effective runtime of the common "other" 3-D aluminum light.
Let's look at this from a battery cost perspective. Let's say you replace the
batteries in both lights when the light output drops
to 50% of the starting output. At $1 per battery for
an alkaline D cell, you would have spent $60 on batteries
for that normal bulb 3-D light before you would have
to change the batteries ONCE for the Dorcy 3-D Luxeon.
After 1 battery change the Dorcy has literally paid
for itself relative to those popular 3-D aluminum lights
that use a normal bulb.
Need more evidence? Let's do a direct comparison, shall
we? Here are overlapping charts of the Dorcy vs. and
off-the-shelf current model Maglight 3-D. The Dorcy
starts at 2800 overall output, the Mag at 2300 overall
output per my readings.
The first hour closeup shows that although the Dorcy
drops dramatically during the first minute, in 5 minutes
it has already rebounded to a point where it is putting
out more light than the rapidly diminishing incandescent
comparison light.
The switch is a common rubber covered click switch.
Click on and off with your thumb or finger. Nothing
special to see here.
The Dorcy 3D is sealed with O-rings at the bezel, head,
and tailcap. It should withstand splashes without difficulty
and a quick dunk shouldn't have much of an effect. If
it gets wet inside simply disassemble as far as you
can without tools and let it dry. Keep the O-rings lubricated
with silicone grease and they should last for years.
Ergonomics: It's a big and relatively heavy light since
it has to accommodate three D cells. Other than that,
it's not uncomfortable to use at all.
Size compared to a common 2AA aluminum light
For batteries, use three D alkaline cells. No other
battery formulations are mentioned as acceptable by
the maker.
What I Liked: Water resistant,
Tough/impact resistant, Looooooong battery life,
Bright, Easy battery change, Stands up
What I Didn't Like: Construction
/ Machining is a bit "rough around the edges", but generally
OK overall.
Other Things I Noticed: Now I do want to make you aware of a problem with the light that surfaced while prepping for the runtime test. I turned the meter on that reads the light output, started recording, turned the light on and noticed right away that it flickered randomly despite the fact that it was locked in place on the test rig. I quickly stopped the test and shut of the light and went into diagnostics mode. Unscrewing the head reveals a silver heatsink plate upon which the Luxeon LED is attached. That plate is fairly thick and has ridges around the edge, implying that it can be gripped and screwed in and out. I took a pipe wrench, sized it to fit the plate diameter and carefully gripped the outer edge of the plate. I put a little clockwise pressure on the wrench to see if I could tighten the plate. Sure enough it moved about a 1/4 inch. Problem solved! It appears that the plate wasn't snugged down enough to make good electrical contact. Now you know if your Dorcy 3D flickers, try tightening the Luxeon heatsink plate first before spending the money to send it back.
Conclusions: Great "beater" light. Use it and abuse it. The long runtime leaves that other popular 3-D aluminum light in the dust. Industrial/commercial/contractor use will reap great savings on battery replacement costs over time. Get one for the car and for the house and you should never have to worry about the batteries going dead in normal use.
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