Customer Reviews

Rayovac SE4W3C Sportsman Xtreme 3C 4-Watt LED Metal Flashlight

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had this flashlight about 6 months now. I keep it in my truck for emergencies. It is very bright, well made and very reliable. The battery
life is excellent so far. Every time I need a flashlight in the house I seem to always go out to my truck and get this one, so I ordered another
one for the house. Amazon price is great to.

This is a fantastic flashlight for the price; so bright, you could blind someone at 30 feet. A nice clear white light, sturdily built, and with just enough heft to "whop" something should the need arise. I bought one, then 3 more, now I'm getting more as Xmas gifts. Even my stepdad, who's really fussy about equipment and a lover of Mag lights, was impressed by the brightness of this. It has a lifetime warranty,too!

The Rayovac SE4W3C Sportsman Xtreme is a solid premium grade LED flashlight that delivers high light output, and good performance, at a fairly reasonable price. Powered by three C sized batteries, the 4vwatt LED light source produces light at two light levels (180 and 75 lumens). The beam is tight and intense, and is not adjustable. The power switch is small, covered with a rubber button, and a little stiff to operate. The rubber grip on the handle is comfortable, and hopefully will be durable. About 1.2 inches in diameter (including the grip), the flashlight is easily manageable, even for those with smaller hands.

LED's have many great features, including high light output, and long life (typically 20,000 to 50,000 hours). While the light output of an LED decreases over its lifetime, unless it actually fails and dies, output of an LED supposedly bottoms out at around 70 percent of its output brand new. Even at this level, performance should be decent. Another great thing about LED's, is that they still produce decent light output, even with batteries that are not at full power.

The workmanship and finish of the Rayovac, doesn't quite equal a Maglite. However unlike a Maglite, the end cap screws in very easily, and doesn't crush the batteries. The color of the anodized aluminum housing has a greenish tint, that clashes a bit with the black rubber handle. The lanyard at the end cap, is a bit on the cheap side.

The well-built Sportsman Xtreme is great for the home, business, or carrying in your vehicle. Typical for most LED flashlights, what is missing the ability to adjust the beam spread. Compared to an incandescent lamp, the LED has a very low profile, making it harder to focus the light output. Hopefully in the near future, flashlight manufacturers can come up with a low cost method to achieve this. Assuming similar pricing, unless you absolutely need to adjust beam spread, LED's are the way to go. Flashlights with an incandescent lamp, are an endangered species on their way out.

I study nocturnal amphibians in Central America and have been using this as my principal light for the past two years. I am very happy with this light in both intensity and duration. I am constantly trying new lights to find the best. I must say that at this time I highly recommend this light to those that need to depend on a durable strong light to work among the elements of the nocturnal world.

Gives a very bright and even light. The difference compared to a regular bulb flashlight with the same battery power is amazing. This one tends to a Q-beam type brightness without the bulk.
I've used it on only two outdoor trips so still not sure how it will endure constant use. The switch is in a convenient thumb position instead of the base but could have been better designed with a sliding switch: off-on-bright, instead of having to click twice (through bright) to switch off each time its switched on. Appears and feels tough except for the switch.

This is a good flashlight for home use, but don't expect Maglite build quality.

Pros:
4W Cree LED
C batteries
can be used as a candle/lamp by removing the head of the flashlight (ala maglite), without lanyard
lots of o-rings for weather proofing
Can unscrew the head of the flashlight to diffuse (spread) light beam

Cons:
Feels cheap
Rubber grip is only a rubber sleeve that comes off
batteries rattle
on/off only
lanyard almost impossible to put back on

This model of Rayovac far surpasses every other make and model of flashlight we've used over the past 25 years, so much so that we just purchased a second one! When used outdoors in the blackness of night, it casts an intense beam of light at least double the distance of all our other flashlights. Its single bulb outshines the best of our other flashlights in terms of brightness and distance, even the 4-LED bulb models. The construction is titanium sleak and sturdy with a rubber grip that feels good in the hand. The use of C batteries allows for a grip that is narrower and lighter in weight than many other flashlights, giving it an addded degree of comfort when holding it for long periods.

The Rayovac SE4W3C yields an amazing 150 lumens. This purchase taught us a very valuable lesson about checking the NUMBER OF LUMENS when shopping for flashlights or lanterns, then buying one with adequate lumens for the task at hand. The only job for which we don't recommend this model is one where you need to shine a light directly into a person/pet's face or eyes at close range.

I had purchased a 220 lumen Coast brand flashlight a while back and recently was out in some pitch black woods where it came in very handy to easily illuminate things over 150 feet away. A friend I was with was impressed with the light output of this Coast flashlight but was not ready to spring for the its $100 price. I said I would try to find a cheaper alternative. I purchased the 150 lumen Ray-O-Vac 4 watt flashlight and found that it puts out a very usable white light with a tightly focused beam and is expecially good at illuminating objects at a distance. The build quality of this Ray-O-Vac is not quite as substantial as a MagLite but the light output is better. And being lighter weight and therefore easier to carry than a MagLite is a plus for me.

The title of my review here comes from the fact that I recently had purchased the Ray-O-Vac Extreem 4 watt lantern and found it to be a very useful piece of lighting equipment. Ray-O-Vac seems to be putting out some good products of late including this flashlight.

The early reviews of this flashlight are for a version that only has a single-mode switch. The packaging says it's 150 lumens with a runtime of 100hr. Additionally, the rubber grip is a cross-hatch design that's rather loose.

The later reviews are for the current version that has a dual-mode switch. Unfortunately, the runtime for either mode is much less than the earlier flashlight. The high-power mode is 180 lumens but will only last 22hr, while the 75 lumens lasts 60hr. That's a far cry from the earlier, single-mode of 150 lumens for 100hr. Does the circuitry for the dual-mode switch really suck up that much of the brightness per runtime? It has a different, thicker rubber grip, too but, unlike the earlier, loose grip, it left a black residue on my hand.

Otherwise, it's an okay flashlight, probably not really worth the $30 it usually costs. The batteries rattle around in the housing.

I've had this light for about a month since I got it on sale for $15. I use it to walk the dog at night and the light is pretty bright in both modes. The body of the light is well made. The LED is not regulated which surprised me given the high manufacturers retail price for a 4W light. It's just a two resistors limiting the current to the LED. Most other "expensive" LED lights use a circuit to control the current, a much better way to make the LED last a long time. But my main gripe is the lousy 10 cent strap they put on a $40 retail flashlight. The strap is so thin and weak that it broke after about 2 weeks of use. The strap is handy and for the money, they could choose a better strap.
Other than that the light is fine if you don't mind not having the strap because yours WILL break after a few uses. Time will tell how long the LED lasts given the el-cheapo circuit they use to drive it. Hopefully it won't burn out.