Comments on: Rex The Rechargeable Micro-Light http://toolmonger.com/2009/03/19/rex-the-rechargable-micro-light/ All tools. All the time. Your source for news, information, and reviews of hand tools, power tools, and tools of all kinds. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:29:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Bitt Faulk http://toolmonger.com/2009/03/19/rex-the-rechargable-micro-light/#comment-859377 Bitt Faulk Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:38:34 +0000 http://toolmonger.com/?p=21786#comment-859377 I never have understood what people think the advantage of a portable device with rechargeable instead of "regular" batteries is. I would think that if it's a device that you're keeping in your pocket, you're much more likely to be able to get your hands on a battery than a recharger. Yeah, okay, this one recharges from a battery, but would you rather put the battery in and use it immediately or wait for the thing to recharge? It's not like it's more environmentally friendly (despite what LRI's 4-color glossy says); you still use up batteries, and, in fact, there's bound to be more loss with the recharging electronics than just using the battery directly. Neither Photon nor Laughing Rabbit says how bright the thing is, but I've been more than happy with my Fenix LD01, which is only just bigger than the AAA battery that powers it, and has three output modes of 10, 27, and 80 lumens. (For comparison, a 3 D-Cell Maglite is 76.8 lumens.) I never have understood what people think the advantage of a portable device with rechargeable instead of “regular” batteries is. I would think that if it’s a device that you’re keeping in your pocket, you’re much more likely to be able to get your hands on a battery than a recharger. Yeah, okay, this one recharges from a battery, but would you rather put the battery in and use it immediately or wait for the thing to recharge? It’s not like it’s more environmentally friendly (despite what LRI’s 4-color glossy says); you still use up batteries, and, in fact, there’s bound to be more loss with the recharging electronics than just using the battery directly.

Neither Photon nor Laughing Rabbit says how bright the thing is, but I’ve been more than happy with my Fenix LD01, which is only just bigger than the AAA battery that powers it, and has three output modes of 10, 27, and 80 lumens. (For comparison, a 3 D-Cell Maglite is 76.8 lumens.)

]]> By: David Bryan http://toolmonger.com/2009/03/19/rex-the-rechargable-micro-light/#comment-852756 David Bryan Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:13:43 +0000 http://toolmonger.com/?p=21786#comment-852756 According to the information on photonlight.com one AA alkaline cell will get you an hour to an hour and a half of run time. Unless you're using rechargeables, you're going to be using a lot of cells. They say they're going to have other charging options available one of these days, like a USB charger and a solar cell. The little inverter that's in there somewhere is likely to be fairly forgiving of variations in voltage, so it might be pretty easy to adapt a power supply to charge it. At any rate, you're most likely still going to be spending money on batteries. According to the information on photonlight.com one AA alkaline cell will get you an hour to an hour and a half of run time. Unless you’re using rechargeables, you’re going to be using a lot of cells. They say they’re going to have other charging options available one of these days, like a USB charger and a solar cell. The little inverter that’s in there somewhere is likely to be fairly forgiving of variations in voltage, so it might be pretty easy to adapt a power supply to charge it. At any rate, you’re most likely still going to be spending money on batteries.

]]> By: Nick Cody http://toolmonger.com/2009/03/19/rex-the-rechargable-micro-light/#comment-852546 Nick Cody Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:09:58 +0000 http://toolmonger.com/?p=21786#comment-852546 Every once in a while I see something that causes a head slap why didn't I think of that moment. The charger for this is one of those. The little white things are simple rare earth magnets that just attach to each pole of an AA/AAA/C/D battery. No clips, fits all sizes, simple design. I guess you could put them on backwards so they aren't idiot proof. Is this a common idea, I've never seen it used before? Every once in a while I see something that causes a head slap why didn’t I think of that moment. The charger for this is one of those. The little white things are simple rare earth magnets that just attach to each pole of an AA/AAA/C/D battery. No clips, fits all sizes, simple design. I guess you could put them on backwards so they aren’t idiot proof. Is this a common idea, I’ve never seen it used before?

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