RAT Jr. -- Wow!

[Teamcasa]

LED has come a long way. I'm sure the HID lights days are numbered.

Yep, but the number is pretty big. It'll be a few years yet.

That all depends on the advancement of technology.

 

[Randy43068]

That all depends on the advancement of technology.

Really? I'm glad you cleared that up for us.

 

[Teamcasa]

Ouch.

 

[wjknobles]

if i remember right ... as technology stands right now, in order to get the birghtness of an HID from an LED they either have to use an array, which you can't focus or they have to push so much power through an LED that it has a shorter burn time than an HID

me thinks we'll be waitin' a few years

 

[Scuba Duba Doo]

I had an opportunity to use my Salvo Rat Jr. in a backup light exit from a cave this week. I was HUGELY impressed with the amount of light this tiny thing threw. It absolutely blew away either of my husband's backup lights (a Halcyon Scout and an OMS LED). It was so bright and so strong, the cave instructor himself was asking me about it when we got out of the water. And at about $100, it's not by any means the most expensive backup light out there. Two o-rings, too. Nice little light -- congratulations to Salvo yet again!

I had the opposite reaction when i used my rat jr. the 1st time as a back-up.

I found the light didn't cut through the water as I expected, and the focus not as tight as I like. But my other back-up is a Heser which in my opinion throws off as much light as a 10W HID and costs 2-1/2 times more then the Rat Jr. What I do like about is the size, price, and construction (double o-rings, delrin body). In retrospect, I should have went with the Rat.

I am going to stick with it though as my 2nd back-up and it will make a great travel light for the Caribbean vacations when you don't want to burn holes in the fishys

 

[TSandM]

The focus isn't as tight as the Photon Torpedo LED, either, but it's almost half the price, and it was more than adequate for a completely stress-free exit. And I'm brand new at this, so if the amount of light had been really marginal, I wouldn't have been very pleased at all.

In addition, this is a VERY small light, which is nice for me, because I don't have much length of harness to put a backup light on. In fact, I don't think I could use a 3 C-cell light very well at all on the right side, because it would be completely jammed behind my can light.

The down side is that the batteries are expensive and not universally available. They're LiIon CR 123As, and we had to go to three stores before we found them.

 

[Scuba Duba Doo]

The down side is that the batteries are expensive and not universally available. They're LiIon CR 123As, and we had to go to three stores before we found them.

Radio Shack(TheSource in Canada) has an extended warranty policy (2 years i think)where when you buy certain batteries (CR123s are included) they will replace them at n/c.

When I am due to replace the batteies in my Rat Jr. thats whose batteries I will use and just before the warranty ends I will let the light run until I use up the batteries and go in for a new set.

 

[CompuDude]

The focus isn't as tight as the Photon Torpedo LED, either, but it's almost half the price, and it was more than adequate for a completely stress-free exit. And I'm brand new at this, so if the amount of light had been really marginal, I wouldn't have been very pleased at all.

$105.00 is half of $138.80?

Either your math is off, or you're getting ripped off one expensive Photon Torpedo's somewhere, or you have a bargain source of Rat Jr's. Care to share?

 

[HenrikBP]

CR123A batteries can be found at decent prices online:

BatteryJunction.com

Titanium CR123A LITHIUM BATTERIES

Here's a review:

Flashlight Reviews and LED Modifications

No affiliation.

Hot dang - just checked Radioshack, and unless I'm *way* off, they're charging $9.99 for a similar battery ... ouch.

Henrik

 

[jtivat]

The Rat jr. uses the same LED module as the UK Q40 eLED so if you have seen this light you have a reference point.