Customer Reviews

Dorcy 41-1643 30 Lumen 3 Volt LED Replacement Bulb

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used this to replace the incandescent bulb (size PR4) in a headlamp. I didn't want to spend a fortune or the extra bucks to get a new LED headlamp. At the end of the day, I probably should have just bought a new headlamp. The 30 lumens output is clearly stated by Amazon and the manufacturer, so they are not hiding anything. But for working in the dark, 30 lumens of task light is not much. My educated guess is 50 or more would be much better.

On the positive side, this is a direct replacement for a 3 volt (2 normal batteries) incandescent bulb of the PR4 size. Most LED replacements for this general size are 4.5 (3 batteries) or more volts, so this is one of your few affordable options that I could find in 3 volts. Also, other replacements with more lumens are wayyyy more expensive, prompting you to think you should probably just get a new flashlight or headlamp for the same money.

This LED's light quality is good, fairly uniformly white, not blue, etc.

If you are just experimenting or changing a favorite mediocre large bulb 3V flashlight to LED, this might be what you're after. But if you need intense task light, I would go another route.

This LED upgrade makes a good replacement for the incandescent bulb in an existing flashlight. It is not a super-bright high powered LED but it will give off a little more light than the stock incandescent bulb (50%) and with a crisper, whiter light. This upgrade is made to fit in an existing bulb socket/lens focus and therefore limits the size of LED that can fit. If you have some older but rugged flashlights you want to keep and upgrade then this is the option for you. It will add significant battery life. If you need an ultra-bright, high-powered LED unit then you may want to consider just purchasing a new light that is made to fit the larger LED bulb assemblies. I used these to upgrade some older 2-AA cell flashlights I keep around the house for emergencies and a magnetic 2-D cell flashlight I use in my garage; they did give off more light and seem to run forever on a set of batteries.

Replaced bulb in 20 yr. old Maglite-like flashlite. This new LED is brighter than original and stedier in output, obviously not as bright as higher lumen output bulbs.

Do not take the title of this review lightly. I have any number of flashlights that are old, PR/incandescent bulbs that either need updating or being tossed in the trash. I hate wasting things, so this item is a God send.
It will work in any 2 battery flashlight, like Dad's crunchy old thing that puts out pathetic, weak light even with fresh batteries. I find that older flashlights are of higher quality than current ones, save for the weak light they make.
This dandy replacement for the old bulb will turn your flashlight into a real, useful thing. You will get more light, and the batteries will give you longer life. Yeah, it is kinda like free stuff.
Here is the punchline: for the cost of a replacement bulb, you can update your flashlight into a blowtorch. Do yourself a favor: buy several of these and update every dadgum 2 battery flashlight around the house that you can get your hands on.

The first thing to know is that this low-priced LED bulb is not as bright as competing options which use a "1-watt" LED (often an older Luxeon I or similar generic). Those typically claim 40-45 lumens total (including flood lighting and light wasted on imperfect flashlight design), vs. this one at 30. I am not sure what LED brand is in this unit. It looks like an enlarged version of a generic LED.

That makes it just a little brighter than a generic flashlight assembled from 9 tiny LEDs, with both a brighter flood area around the beam and a tighter spotlight area for longer distance.

The exact beam profile will of course depend on the reflector in the host flashlight, but most 2-AA incandescent flashlights have similar tightly-focused reflectors (to make the most of dim old bulbs).

Overall, I would prefer using this as an upgrade for whatever old 2-AA flashlight might be hanging around. If you already have the old flashlight, this upgrade costs about the same as a generic multi-LED flashlight. However, a better third choice is the brighter version from Terralux.

I wanted to replace the standard bulbs in my standard military issue angle-head flashlights. I bought one of these and a TerraLUX TLE-1F. I put each bulb in a new flashlight with a brand new set of Rayovac alkaline batteries in each, including one with the standard filament bulb to use as a baseline.

The results:

Standard bulb: 47 hours 20 minutes
TerraLUX TLE-1F: 94 hours
Dorcy 41-1643: 233 hours

The Dorcy 41-1643 lasted an amazing amount of time, but was a little less bright than the TerraLUX TLE-1F. Both of the LED bulbs not only outlasted the filament bulb, but also had a significantly brighter and whiter light.

If brightness is the most important thing to you buy the TerraLUX TLE-1F, it has a slightly brighter light than the Dorcy 41-1643 and a much brighter and whiter light that the standard bulb. The TerraLUX TLE-1F also lasted about twice as long as the standard bulb.

If energy efficiency is your primary concern the Dorcy 41-1643 is far superior at a whopping 233 hours of good light, I was stunned at its longevity. The Dorcy also costs much less.

Both LED bulbs also would light to nearly full power after they had gone out and the batteries were given a chance to rest, this amount of good light would last from 5 to 25 minutes.

If you have an old sentimental favourite flash light then yes this will do the job--it will convert it to LED. What it won't do is replace the reflector, focus the lens, etc. For $9 you can go to Home Depot and buy 3 metal multi-led flash lights that will blow this one led away. If you want to improve that old time flash light --then yes --add up the batteries in the light --order the led for that voltage. For instance 2-- 1.5 volt batteries flash light needs a 3V Led like this one. With the LED the batteries will last forever, the light is brighter and longer. But its not a true LED flash light with 2 or 3 LEDs and focus lens....

I purchased this to go in my L-shaped military issue flashlight to satisfy a school requirement. I did not want to go through several incandescant bulbs and have a broken flashlight. This works as listed and is at least as bright as the old bulb. I was hoping that it was a bit brighter, but I am only using two d cell batteries.

Was hoping for the great led light to appear, but as I flipped the switch on my 8 year old faithful ray o vac flashlight nothing but a tiny amount of light. I imagine it was a bad bulb. I sent it back and Amazon refunded me. Larry Fish

This is an excellent replacement lamp for any 2-cell flashlight that uses a standard flange-mount bulb. I chose the 30 lumen bulb because it's relatively weak and therefor uses very little electricity to get the longest life from the flashlight. It produces a nice white light that's strong enough that it's painfull to look at, but should last forever with 2 alkaline C cells.