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Reviewer's
Impressions:
The LEDtronics KeyLED is a cute little keychain light with
a suprisingly bright output.
The construction and design of this light is similar to the
Mini-FlashLED from the same manufacturer. The head of the
light can be removed, exposing the single LED. The LED can
be removed and replaced with any 5mm LED you like.
As you can see in the picture above, the lens in the bezel
is quite good - almost too good. It projects an almost perfect
image of the LED die on the target. Although the shape of
the beam can be distracting, it does project a lot of light
for its size.
These lights are rugged, able to withstand drops, bangs,
and general mild abuse.
The batteries can be a pain to replace. They're easy to remove,
and not too difficult to find in stores (just go to the watch
battery or jewlery counter), but putting them back in can
be tough. You line up the first battery, drop it in, and every
single time it flips over. When you go to replace the batteries,
try putting the first battery in backwards. When you drop
it in, it'll flip over into the correct position.
Something strange I noticed was that when the light was turned
off it emitted a slight glow in a dark room, noticable only
when looking straight into the lens. The glow would appear
and disappear when shook. It appears that there is some slight
contact inside the case or tailcap. I tried placing insulating
materials around the batteries, but it would still glow dimly.
This would, of course, result in a constant slight drain on
the batteries.
The KeyLED really requires 2 hands or a really good grip
to operate one handed. The barrel of the light, as well as
the tailcap have rather slippery surfaces and can be hard
to grip. Some grip-tape should fix this, allowing the light
to be more easily used one handed.
+ + + Pluses: Bright for a keychain light, LED is
replacable
- - - Minuses: Constant drain on batteries in unit
reviewed, slippery body/tailcap - requires 2 hands to operate,
Tailcap push-button not watertight
Update from LEDtronics: Regarding the KeyLED
staying on or glowing, This is the first time I'm hearing
this. Make sure that the unit is turned off completely, you
may need to unscrew it some more or stretch the spring inside.
Just a suggestion. Putting the batteries in the KeyLED unit
is very simple, stack the batteries on top of one another
positive to neg, place the KeyLED over them, slide to the
edge of a table, or lift one side place finger under and turn
over. You can also drop all three in at one time.
Update: After tinkering with it for a while more,
the glow went away - I'm not sure how...
Update: As it turns out, the glow never really went
away and the batteries have died. This is an unacceptable
flaw.
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