So far I have a perfect record of immediately replacing the LED in each Pal Light/Safe Light that I purchase. These are great little lights - perfect for purse, nightstand, glove box, safety kit. All they lack so far is a slightly tuned-up UI, a high-output LED and the small size of the original! The lights that come with a lens are of little use for my normal lighting tasks, unfortunately. The lens creates a tiny dot of light (or more accurately, a focused rendition of the LED die) that does throw a long way... but once it reaches out there, you still only have a dot of light to deal with. By tossing the lens and adding in just about any modern white LED from my collection - a fantastically more usable light can be quickly created.. In the original Pal Light that I modded many years ago, I swapped in a BS1 5mm LED (same that was used in the Arc AAA LE at the time). In my latest purchase (a bag of Safe Lights), I used a high-power 25° 5mm LED for even greater output and great beam pattern.
There are now several versions of the UI in these lights, and I don't personally believe it has yet been "nailed." The UI needs to be totally simple to use, and should minimize the frustration of cycling through every mode to get anywhere. The UI has improved with each new iteration though, so I can't complain too loudly. I would like to be able to first turn the light on in "med" or "high." I would like to not have to cycle through off or strobe each time around. This is a great little light that keeps getting better and better.
I'm not sure just when the Safe Lights grew to the current size (were the ones called Safe Light always this big?) but they are simply too big for the job they do. The exterior dimensions of the body dictate that 2x123, plus an extra 123 sideways along the bottom should fit in there! The body is that big... and only holds a 9V battery. The original Pal Light was a slim thing of beauty. Just a thin skin of rubber covered the battery and the circuit. This minimalist packaging is what we need to have back!
Below is the original circuit and LED of the Safe
Light (no longer in production, but still available for
sale). I was a bit concerned about the cold-looking solder joints onto
the battery connectors (huge solder blobs to the right and left of the emitter).
This shows the original SM emitter that just doesn't cut the mustard. The
switch (much harder to break off now than in the original Pal Light!) is to
the rear in this shot).
Here I've swapped in the the high-output LED (positive lead
goes to positive battery terminal side of the circuit) and corrected the solder
blob on the right. You can see the back of the other solder blob still un-touched.
Switch is now in the front.
Last order of business was to hack off the nose of the clear
top. I first just popped the lens off, but the long nose tube was still catching
too much of the beam, so off it came. Now the only problem is keeping junk
from falling down the hole! If there were a perfect replacement flat lens
for these, it would make this part a little easier. I'll likely just pot the
circuit board and call it a day.
Left to right: Older Pal Light (modified with BS1 LED and reflector),
Safe Light modified as above, and latest, unreleased version.
New Safe-Light Review
The new Safe-Light will be released in late 2005. I was fortunate enough to preview the product, and below are the comments that I wrote directly to James Meyer. Though I pulled no punches in what was my private communication with James, he asked me to post this verbatim. It is important to him that his customers know what they are buying, and he seriously wants to avoid dissappointment. You've gotta love that kind of honesty. So here we go - Darell's quick and dirty "review" of the new Safe-Light.
The good:
Toggle glow/off with a press.
Hop from any mode to glow/off.
Bright, great tint, wider-angle output
No lens (flat window)
Smaller than Safe Light.
Durable, tough battery shell.
Easy battery change with coin.
The bad:
1. Can't turn on in high - must cycle button from low.
2. Annoying flash when hopping from any mode to glow/off.
3. Lost photons into black plastic; no reflector, nose too long.
4. Switch "guard" a bit odd feeling. Liked the circle around old
Survivor button better (see image).
5. Still more bulk that I'd like to see.
6. Lacks reverse polarity protection.
Discussion of the Bad:
1. If I were doing the UI, I'd use a press from off for low, and a click from off for high - instant access to both levels without cycling. Click from on goes immediately to off/glow. Press from on goes to blinkie (blinkie will not be used much, if at all, so make it slightly more difficult to get to, but still quite easy). My UI suggestion is every bit as easy as the current one, but with a bit of added functionality. A Typical user would need to do nothing more than click on/ click off. If they want to get fancy, they can try the more advanced "press" for low.
2. Even if you leave the UI the way it is, there is NO need for the blink indicator when pressing to turn off. That the light goes off is enough indication!
3. Add a simple, straight-sided reflector from LED to window. This would lose far fewer photons into the black plastic and maintain the wide, cookie-cutter beam. My semi-educated guess is that we're losing 20% of the photons into the black plastic. Shorten the distance from the LED to window, and shorten rubber nose bumper by half for an even more appealing beam. Again, I really like the wider "lips" version of the nose that the old Survivor featured. The current one is too constricting. By changing nothing else but the width/length of the nose, the current hot spot of light will remain unchanged, while the corona of light would be added. Putting a reflector in there, and changing nothing else keeps the existing spot of light, but makes it brighter. Doing both makes me the happiest. The UI and this recovered photon business are my two biggest "wants."
4. I find that the button is a bit small, with the "guard" a bit too close. I can feel the sharp edges with my thumb, and it just isn't as comfortable as the old Pal. (this change is mostly to prevent accidental on in the pocket and in shipping).
5. While the new one is a more reasonable size now, I'd still like to see it shed some bulk. If the hard battery shell is required for durability, there isn't much to be done though, I suppose. I am still very fond of the old Pal where the battery just had the thin rubber shell around it. That was super-sleek, and I'd love to see that form-factor return. The battery change was a bit goofy, I admit!
6. Doesn't look like the circuit is damaged by reverse battery polarity, but I'm a big fan of mechanically avoiding reverse polarity. Force the user to do it right, and you remove some frustration. Most folks don't know what +/- of a 9V is, or what it even means, so I'm not sure the sticker is of much use. A plastic ring that allows the smaller anode to pass, but not the cathode would make it impossible to insert the battery backwards.
And finally - not sure if it is a good or a bad... This new light is almost
impossible to get into and fiddle with! If it were really "mine"
I'd try harder at removing the outer rubber skin to get at the circuit! (trust
me here, guys. This WILL happen.)