The first thing that caught my eye when I pulled this one out of the box was the head of the device. Is this a new shower head? Perhaps it's a hamburger patty press? Nope, it's a photon hose! 100 LEDs, powered by 4 AA cells in a special carrier, producing about the same amount of light as a well-driven Luxeon III or a Surefire E2e.

Body: The body is anodized aluminum and consists of a very large head, a ringed step-down area in front of the side-mounted switch, a ring of knurling, some decorative rings, a rubber body tube cover, more decorative rings and finally a grooved ring on the tailcap for grip. Overall construction was found to be.... ummm.... adequate? The machining was fairly rough, and the threading on the tailcap was very rough. The tailcap tends to bind the first few times you use it until you manage to shave off the burrs through use. The tailcap is flat, and you can stand it on end for "candle mode" use if you would like to light an area by bouncing the light off of the ceiling.

Bezel/Head: The head is the interesting part. 100, yes I counted them, 100 LEDs recessed in a faceplate. Now it is important to note that it says on the side of the box, "For normal working, please don't open the head of flashlight." Well folks, they mean it, as I found out. Being the inquisitive type, I chose to ignore the instructions. After hearing a gentle "snap" when the head was almost completely unscrewed, I realized I may have made a mistake. Inside the head is a single huge resistor sticking straight off of the board that holds the LEDs. This is wired to the switch. A second wire comes from the edge of the plate and goes to the contacts as well. Unscrewing the head twists the wire attached to the end of the resistor and snaps it off. Soldering the wire back onto the resistor doesn't do any good since you have to twist the head about 15 times to screw it all the way back on. After making a really good solder joint onto the resistor, the resistor itself decided to snap off of the board. So we try again.... This time I used about 3 inches of wire to connect the resistor to the board so there was lots of slack to twist up inside the head. Bingo - we were back in business. It looks like the light is assembled so that the head is screwed in place minus the LED board and faceplace. The switch, LED board, and faceplate are then placed directly into the head and pressed into place so there is no need to twist the wires inside. End result: Don't unscrew the head unless you are ready to do some substantial soldering to get it to work again.

Output: The white light produced by the LED is a high color temperature and produces good color rendition weighted toward the blue end of the spectrum. A very slight bluish tint is detectable when compared against a near sunlight-white source, but this tinting is not noticeable during normal use. The spot is a very even round spot of light with a slight spillbeam and a distinct ring at the very periphery of the output area. Overall it provides a very well defined spot of very even light. Note that all of the LEDs are not exactly the same in output. Some are brighter, some dimmer. The fact that there are 100 of them allows the beam to be very smooth with no noticeable brighter or darker areas.

Beam at one meter at target center and at target edge to show spillbeam.

Runtime Plot: The runtime wasn't all that bad. Pretty typical of an alkaline cell powered light. You'll get about 1 hour and 20 minutes of continuous output before hitting 50%, and a distinct drop in output around the 1:45 mark.

Runtime completed with Rayovac brand batteries. More information on runtime plots is available HERE.

Switch: The switch is a rubber covered "reverse" clickie. Press until it clicks for on, then press gently to blink the light. Press fully until it clicks for off. The button is fairly well protected by the protrusions in front and behind the switch, so accidental activation is fairly unlikely.

Seals / Water Resistance: I don't see any real evidence of serious water resistance incorporated into this light. Keep it dry.

If it gets wet inside, just disassemble as much a possible without tools and let it dry before using again.

Ergonomics: It's fairly large, but not excessively heavy. This is a "carry around" type light, not a "put in the pocket" type of light. The large head diameter (7.5 cm, 3 in.) makes it a bit awkward.

Size compared to a common 2AA aluminum light

Batteries: Four AA alkaline cells power the light. They must be placed into a special carrier that is keyed so that it can only go into the light one way. The carrier is not all that well made, but it works. Put two cells in pointing one direction on one side of the carrier, but the other two in pointing the other direction. Negative goes against the springs in the carrier. Drop it in and if it doesn't go all the way in, twist it around until it drops in place.

To change out the batteries: unscrew the tailcap, drop out the carrier, remove the old cells, place in new cells observing proper polarity and drop in the carrier. Reattach the tailcap and you're ready to go.

Accessories: None

What I Liked: Good output, decent runtime, nice "wow" factor with 100 LEDs.

What I Didn't Like: Construction is coarse in some areas, Can't unscrew the head without causing damage, Not water resistant.

Picky Little Things: Uses a battery carrier (I just don't like these - one more thing to break)

Conclusions: Despite the manufacturer's name, it isn't a total piece of Shitiao, but it's not a very high quality light either. Good for around-the-house tasks but I wouldn't depend on it as my only light when safety was an issue. I expect that this may be the most extreme use of an array of 5mm LEDs we'll ever see, especially considering that there are now arrays of Luxeon LEDs appearing on the market, and a single Luxeon III can produce as much light overall as this 100 5mm LED flashlight.

Quick Facts Table: