Review - Lightwave Pocket-Bright

DaveH

DaveH

Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Messages
12,249
I received a lightwave Pocket-Bright today. As some of you know it's likely competitor is the Photon series lights.

It comes in a nice clamshell pack with a sheet of instructions and a warranty card, velcro sticky dot and a neck lanyard.

It reminds me of a somewhat squished table tennis ball. It's sturdy and the LED in recessed within the cover.

The battry hatch opens with just .25 inch turn and a quarter works fine. There's an o-ring on the hatch that is slightly oversize, it must be placed carefully when assembling.

It turns on and off with a single squeeze. OK, how bright is it? I'd say approximately 1/3 the brightness of a Photon II white.

So it that an issue? Well think of it this way, for 1/3 the brightness, you can have (stated in literature, but not tested by me) roughly three times the battery life.

I hope this data point is useful.

DaveH
 
I also received my Pocket-Bright today.

I was told it was dimmer than the Photon white so that wasn't a suprise to me. It has almost identical light output to the infinity. The size was a suprise, it is at least 2 times the thickness of a Photon and about 1/2 times larger in diameter.

I would suggest an infinity over a pocketbright hands down. The infinity uses a standard battery (single AA) and is easier to handle and use. The infinity also is constructed much better. I am in the process of checking the battery run times and the infinity ran to 75% of it brightness in 48 hours, and to 50% in 60 hours. I just started running it on a lithium AA for comparison. The Pocketbright is suppose to have a longer run time, but the batteries are about 5 times the price (or more) of a single AA.

I should have a picture of the light output and a short review up on my site later today (6-14-00)

Brock - http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/led.htm
 
I just got a Pocket-Bright last week. I think it's beam reaches farther than the Photo II white light. I like the PB because it's waterproof and the bulb is encased by plastic so there's no peripheral brightness. The battery is easier to change, too. The only "bad" thing about it, IMHO, is that it's bigger than the Photons.

-Greg
 
The BAD THING about pocket bright is the incredibly rude, and obnoxious manner in which these trolls attempted (through several pseudonyms) to 'review' their product on the Photon Microlight Forum. This was before the product had even been introduced into the marketplace!!

For you unfamiliar with Bryan Avery's Photon Microlight Forum site, which has an excellent discussion board, here is the URL: http://www.photonlight.com/index2.html

Pocket Brights? Not for me, even if they were as bright as a carbon arc searchlight, and were half the size of a Photon, and lasted one year.

Walt
 
After my initial post I talked to the retailer I bought it from, and indeed I have what sounds like a typical unit in terms of light output. I will say the beam is very even.

FWIW, my wife likes it, but wished it had a higher initial brightness, like the Photon she absconded with.

DaveH
 
Pocket Bright's insulting, trolling advertising push on Photon's discussion board was indeed nauseating. I too have developed a bit of a distaste for the people behind this product. On the other hand, if it were as bright as Walter said, I would be thrilled to pieces to compromise my principles and buy one
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On the other hand, if it's got plusses and minusses versus the Photon that make it a harder decision, and that seems to be the case, I'll go with the cooler folks every time.

Joe
 
I agree with Joe and Walt about the trolling issue. I lurk at the Photon forum quite a bit, and they were very immature about the whole thing. There are several people making good LED lights, and so far the people at Laughing Rabbit have been very nice to me, AND their light seems to be brighter.

DaveH,
I hope you don't take offense at that. I do appreciate the review.
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------------------
Paul Davidson

Them:"What's that clipped to your pocket, a beeper?"
Me:"Uuh....yeah, something like that."
 
No offense taken, I thought the posts where inappropriate too, and I had to think about that when deciding to try one or not.

Ultimately I hope they learned something, and also I can understand making a mistake and using poor judgement.

DaveH
 
I learned that the manufacturer of Pocket Bright DID NOT posts those ads on the photonlight discussion board. One of their many independent retail distributors did it (without manufacturer authorization). I agree is was very rude of the proprietor to do that.

You can see the genuine Pocket Bright's for yourself at http://www.pocket-bright.com . I have purchased items from Lightwave a few weeks ago and found that the staff I spoke with is very pleasant and responsive.


[This message has been edited by anthony01 (edited 06-16-2000).]

[This message has been edited by anthony01 (edited 06-16-2000).]
 
Yeah, I really know better than to judge people by what I read on the internet. You never really know who anyone is unless it's someone you've actually met face to face. Sounds like I'm still not missing much.
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I've got something Underwater Kinetics on my list next anyway. Not sure what though!

[This message has been edited by Paul Davidson (edited 06-17-2000).]
 
Well, this issue has already taken up more space than it deserves, but a final comment... Those comments on the photon light board not only pissed people off, they were simply unprofessional, and painted a picture of the Pocket Bright folks as being scumbags. If Pocket Bright was truly not behind those posts, it *should* be a no brainer that they should post an extremely apologetic and sincere note to that effect -- perhaps with a quick comment on what action it has taken against the retailer who has threatened their livelihood in this way. If anyone has contacts to those folks, you might want to suggest that -- it's better than having dozens of "Light Nuts" running around the web telling everyone not to buy their lights, and besides, it's the right thing to do.

Joe
 
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