http://store.knifecenter.com/pgi-ProductSpec?PHFMG to see the new photon light. Looks like it has several useful features. I found the III's button hard to use; I hope this one's single button is better.

I bought Photon III and it got lost somewhere. Good riddance. I never liked it that much. Yesterday I ordered some of the Freedom lights. I will post a small review when I get them. But from what I read and saw they seem like much nicer piece of equipment.

Matt

The new Photon is a real nice light, just awfully expensive compared to some of the other stuff you can get:

http://www.countycomm.com/light10.htm

http://www.countycomm.com/super%20Tough%20LED.htm

Rather than one super fancy whiz bang light, I think I'd rather have a half dozen or so of the low cost types clipped to various different pieces of gear.

I like to have many as well. I have one nice light (arc AAA) in my keychain mini psk but the rest of my lights are all 2AA or 2 AAA minimags. For the price of one nice light I can buy a few mags and have a spare in case I loose one. I think I have a 1/2 dozen just in my truck.

I've used the Photons for years and have been satisfied, but at a buck a piece I won't be buying any more Photons. I like the slide ON/OFF switch for use in PSK's. At a buck each I was able to put one everywhere I might need a light. So now all the FAK's have one and the BOB's have one snap linked to the outside. I haven't tried any of the lights that are $2.00 each, the ones at $1.00 seem fine. My co workers prefer the the buck lights over anything else I showed them. CountyComm also sells a small strobe light for $1.00 each. Next time I open up the PSK's for a re-do I may include the small strobe light.

im planning on buying a set of the $1 lights from countycomm when i get the chance to do so.

for those of you who bought them already, have you found one color to be superior in your tests?

buying a few sets of 20 may be a good idea, especially if you have alot of local kids around.
give them out as a safe halloween treat (kids love flashlights) or later on as an xmas stocking stuffer for friends and family.

I haven't bought anything but the white. Been trying to get my friends to do a order of multiple colors and split them up.

The white are nice. The reds aren't that great, the LED's are dim and ringy compared to the red HP leds that Photon uses. I haven't tried the blue.

If you want to fool around with different colors, www.lsdiodes.com is a good reasonably priced source of low quantities of leds. No minimum order, and low shipping charge ($2, I think). Changing the leds in the Countycomm lights is pretty trivial. Note that for longer wavelength colors (red, orange, yellow, and IR) you should use a 3 volt battery (CR2032). The shorter wavelengths (green, cyan, blue, violet, UV, and white which is a blue LED die surrounded by a phosphor) uses two CR2016's for 6 volts (current limited by the internal resistance of the tiny batteries) but that's too much for the long wavelength parts. A CR2032 is just like a CR2016 except twice as thick, so the 2032 is physically interchangeable with two 2016's.

If you put a CR2032 into the white version, it will be quite a bit dimmer than the standard 2x 2016 setup, but still bright enough to find your way around in the dark once you're night adapted, to read something (just hold the light closer to the paper), etc. Because of the lower current and the higher capacity of the bigger cell, you should get tremendous runtime, tens of hours without dimming too much. That might be of some use in a PSK.

I always buy white. One can discuss the pros and cons of white affecting night vision, but I prefer true color for most applications. In the past they through in some red and blues for something I bought, they are also nice. Pete

in a local $1 store i recently found a small light that looks exactly like the pic of the pocket uv lights.

http://www.countycomm.com/uv%20pocket.htm

the light is blue and is pretty bright, lighting up a decent area.
not sure if its the same quality as the C.C. lights but it was a $1 cant go wrong there.

im sure others on here check out the 99 cent stores too, any postive finds there?

I too, find a lot of items at these places. small ziplock bags, 1st aid items etc.

I get Cortisone cream, antibiotic ointment, batteries and cheap "multifunction" knives there. Not to mention all the soap, shampoo, shaving cream etc. Every once in a while they will have something usefull, like velcro ties for cords and cables or tools. The store gets 2 shipments a week , so I stop in once or twice a week.

exactly dave, alot of people just write off the $1 store as a "junk store" with nothing of real value.

i go there once a week if i can and ive gotten tons of things there each time.
usually make a list and fill most of it for disposable items there.

The light that you got is probably the same one that Countycomm used to sell, that I call the "Countycomm 1". It's a decent light, the only problem I know of is the LED's occasionally burn out, but I have to wonder whether that happens with every other type of direct drive 2x2016 light. I posted a detailed review on CPF a while back: review link

And while we're at it, I reviewed the new "super tough" version here.

Hah. Got mine yesterday and got to use one extensively yesterday as well. First of all it is a solid design as everything else that comes of that company. Now all the blinking modes, sos signals and other gizmos are good to have but probably never used, so I concentrate on the stuff that is really cool:

1)you can switch the battery without using a screwdriver.
2)light is waterproof. I’m not going diving with it but one of them will be hanging on my dog tags 24/7 from now on
3) switch is easy to operate yet not sensitive enough for accidental turn on
4) dimness control. I love it. Press it and hold it and light automatically will turn on the lowest brightness setting. Hold it and it will increase in brightness. Or you can just press it once and it is on at full power.
5) new hands free clip that came out with it is also great. It is multidirectional that can be clipped on to your visor, map, notebook anything.
6) new quick release clip. You can take it on and off in a second.

So is it worth $15? I think so.

And how did I use it already. During my break in class yesterday I walked out to get nectar of life (coffee) and while going back I see this Chinese food delivery guy doing stupid stuff on the bike in the middle of the intersection. Before light changed he got hit by a car. In a matter of minutes he had 3 EMTs (2 of my classmates) all over him, proper EMS requested (BLS bus with real date fed to dispatcher and crew), full patient assessment, etc etc... I had my Photon on my neck, gloves in my pouch, Spyderco assist in my pocket... 5 min later when Fire Dept showed up I just hopped on the Engine grabbed collar and board had him immobilized. When ambulance showed up he was just transferred over to the stretcher on the long board, I gave them my assessment/findings and that was it. Great way to break in the light. And could you believe that somebody stole the food and my coffee when we were working on the guy ? I love New York!!!

Matt