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Old 04-14-2008, 10:22 AM   #14 (permalink)
BSea
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Join Date: 07/15/2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mangrovejack View Post
I posted this same message on the scubaboard forum, so I thought I'd post here too:

I received two of the new (black) Oxycheq 3 Watt LED torches (uses 3 AA batteries) as my backup torches, and I thought I'd post my thoughts.

They seem well constructed, nice and solid in feel. A bit bigger than I expected, but for me that's a good thing as I like to hold a solid torch as I have large hands. I like the double o-ring seal as well. The light output was beyond what I expected too, very bright and perfect for my use as a backup when I use my HID canister torch or as a primary when I don't need the canister.

I have a few issues though for Patrick to possibly look at:
1) The outside even though it has finger "holds", can still be slightly slippery. Knurling would fix this easily.
2) Where the front glass is bonded to the aluminium looks a little untidy and unfinished to me. A little more of the silicon sealant (sikaflex?) would make this look a little nicer. This is only a cosmetic thing, I don't think it will impact usage in the real world though.
3) One of the torches wouldn't turn on when I received it. I swapped the battery harness with the other one that did work to ensure it wasn't the batteries or harness that was at fault, but it still refused to turn on. I did further checking and it appears the solder "blob" that the battery terminal presses against was not large enough and was slightly off-centre which didn't allow the battery terminal to fully press into it. I haven't returned it (shipping it from Australia to scubatoys in the USA will cost more than its worth I think), but I'm thinking of adding more solder to allow a decent connection. Perhaps this can be fixed in future by soldering a brass battery spring terminal or something similar instead of relying on the solder blob which looks like over time would wear out rather quickly?
4) The hole in the end for the lanyard or in my case the cave line to bolt snap connection is a little rough. It needs to be deburred otherwise I can see the cave line slowly getting chaffed to the point of cutting the line. Not sure how long this would take realistically, but the edges are rather sharp and protruding. I'm thinking of getting a small jewelers file and deburring it myself and then coating the raw aluminium with some black paint to seal it up again.

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded post, but I thought people would be interested in hearing this.
Sorry to hear you had a problem with yours. I actually tried mine out before I bought it, so I knew it worked. I also agree with your points 1 & 4. It does seem like it will be slippery, but on this kind of light, I keep it on my right d-ring and rarely unclip it. When I use it, I remove it from the rubber band & just keep my hand close to my chest to point the light. This way I never have to worry about losing it. And you are right about the lanyard hole being sharp. I'm going to use my dremmel tool to soften the edges also.

Quote:
Originally Posted by buddhasummer View Post
How many lumens is it?
I really don't know the lumens, and I haven't been able to find any specs on that. But my WAG is about 120.
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