Flashlight Review:

Dorcy K2 Luxeon LED

with battery status indicator

Product Overview

The Dorcy K2 LUXEON® LED Flashlight is an aluminum-bodied, single LED flashlight that features a 120 lumen (manufacturer claim) output and a unique tailcap that incorporates an LED battery status indicator. The light uses a smooth reflector that focuses the light from the main LED to a satisfactory beam with a well-defined hotspot and adequate spill. Although the bezel can be unscrewed to change the beam pattern slightly, the light does not have any true focusing capability.

This compact and lightweight flashlight is powered by three (3) AAA alkaline batteries held in a specially-designed battery carrier. Activating the light is as simple as pressing the tail mounted switch, which features two LEDs of its own that reflect the power status of the batteries. The flat tail cap permits the light to stand on end for room illumination, and the bezel is designed to prevent the light from rolling when placed on a flat surface.

Impressions

Like most Dorcy brand lights we've handled, this light is reasonably well built and feels comfortable when held in the hand. Lighter in weight than it might appear, the light is finished in a HA (hard anodize) II coating that will provide reasonable protection from oxidation. The finish can be damaged by abrasive surfaces and we would expect it to wear under significant use. The three-piece aluminum body is protected by O-rings at each connection point, and the bezel can be removed entirely to permit it to be used in 'candle-mode' for wide-area illumination. While Dorcy does not claim the light is water-resistant (at least not on the product packaging), we have no reason to believe the light won't withstand light exposure to rain or splashing.

The battery carrier that holds the three AAA batteries seems reasonably well made, and we observed no obvious flexing or distortion of the carrier when loading batteries. Unlike some lights that utilize a carrier, this light allows the carrier to be 'dropped in' without the need to line the carrier up with special notches or grooves. While we aren't big fans of battery carriers in general, we found no unusual disadvantages to the design Dorcy used for this light.

The switch has a slightly 'mushy' feel when pressed, and does not permit momentary activation of the light for signaling or tactical use. Having said this, the simplicity of the switch (a simple on/off) means the light is intuitive to use. The switch cap is made of translucent plastic that covers two indicator LEDS. The green indicator activates when the light is turned on and when more than 20% of battery power is present. The red indicator slowly activates as the light's batteries drop below 20% power....a nice feature.

By The Numbers

Output & Runtime

The Lumileds Luxeon® K2 LED that Dorcy has used in this light is very bright compared to conventional incandescent bulbs, although it certainly isn't the brightest LED flashlight on the market today. The light uses a smooth reflector which does permit some slight 'ringiness' to the beam. The lack of evenness to the beam is by no means severe, and should be of no concern under normal use. An 'orange peel' reflector would have smoothed out the beam somewhat at the expense of long-distance illumination, or 'throw'.

The lack of any regulation circuitry in this light is evidenced by the manner in which the light loses output over time. By our testing, the light loses a significant amount of brightness in the first 15 minutes or so of use (almost 25%), but this is typical of lights that don't use any sort of regulation circuit. Because we use rechargeable cells in our informal runtime testing, the output curve flattens out at about 75% of the initial output and holds there for about half an hour, at which time the output gradually declines. When we concluded the test at the 2:20 mark, the light was still producing a usable output of about 5 lux. If you use alkaline cells in this light you will probably see a sharper lessening of output over the cell's life, due to the nature of alkaline cells. At 1 ½ hours till 50% of original output, this flashlight should provide acceptable operating time for most users.

Conclusions

The Dorcy K2 LUXEON® LED Flashlight is a reasonably good quality, medium-duty flashlight for general purpose lighting tasks. Its beam has a decent amount of throw while also generating enough spill light to navigate easily in the dark. While we strongly prefer HAIII coatings for their superior durability, the HAII on this flashlight is just fine for a flashlight at this price point. The battery indicator feature is a good one, and will prevent a user from picking up a nearly dead flashlight without knowing it. However, in actual use the dimming beam will probably alert you to the need for a battery change before the indicator light does. And while we don't see any obvious problems with the AAA battery carrier used, these sorts of systems are not conducive to rapid battery changes under adverse conditions. All in all, however, we can recommend this light for light-duty lighting chores.

Manufacturer's web site: Dorcy.com

Purchase this light at: Amazon.com (Affiliate link)