Every once in a while I’ll stumble across something that’s such a great deal that I’ll buy a few – just to have a couple extra on hand for small gifts for friends or family. That’s the case with the ARES SO-LED (“SO-LED” is the acronym for Special Ops Light Emitting Diode). Whatever you call it, this little sucker is bright – way brighter than the Cord Lock Light I reviewed on PH a few months ago.
The light is equipped with a steel spring clip that enables you to clip it on your hat brim, clothing, wristwatch strap, – wherever you like – to illuminate your work. The light rotates 360º on the clip. If you prefer to put the light on a cable lock or other key ring, removing the clip requires a small phillips screwdriver and about 30 seconds; the light has an eyelet for a ring or cable. This is a neat light for travelers, campers, – just about anyone.
Here’s a (somewhat long) video that gives a full rundown on the ARES SO-LED (note that not all of the colors mentioned are still available; the one shown in the photos above definitely is)–
Best of all, the SO-LED is just $1.50! It’s available from County Comm; see it here: ARES SO-LED
The Fine Print: I have no connection to County Comm or ARES
- You may also enjoy these related posts:
- Stuff I like: organize keys & small tools with a rugged yet lightweight cable key ring
- 6-in-1 Utili-Key: Super compact, handy key ring tool
- Limited production release: Photon Micro-Light II Pro LED keychain flashlight
- Superlight, superhandy Cord Lock Light
- Red Oxx adds Pin Mount Key Clip to product line
August 6th, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Does the switch have a pretty firm detent so it won’t shift to “on” accidentally in my pocket? That happened to me on one Princeton Tec keychain light, which kept coming on accidentally in my pocket, making it useless on my keychain.
I also tried the “electronically” activated Photon Light Freedom model, and it didn’t take much pressure to activate the sensor and turn it on in my pocket, also making it pretty useless.
I finally just gave up and switched back to Photon Micro Lite II’s, which have pinch or switch operation, but the switch is a very tiny tab with a firm indent that is very resistant to switching on accidentally.
That having been said, if the ARES SO-LED light has a firm indent, at the price you mentioned I’m certainly going to pick up a few the built in clip looks TERRIFIC.
BTW Photon has a free shipping offer going on at http://www.photonlight.com and a few weeks ago they had some pretty good discounts – I picked up 3 new ones, this time in some colors too (I have a super bright white clipped to a super long lasting red, tossed in the side pouch on the Gator). In addition to a whole slew of colors, Photon also offers IR (infrared) and UV LED lights, good for night vision goggles in the case of IR and for checking for counterfeit money (and scorpions) with the UV.
Finally, although I don’t like the ease with which the electronically controlled versions can be operated, I bit the bullet and bought the insanely cheap (for the brightness of the LED and electronic controls that allow adjusting intensity of the beam) $10 Photon X-Light, which I use for reading books on planes – without the dimming feature, a normal Photon Light is pretty bright and can disturb a seatmate. I just clip the Photon X=Light to the zipper pull on my Gator where I can quickly see if a bump has turned it on.
Oh and I read one tip somewhere on the Photon website – apparently if you swap out the two 2016 lithium cells in the Micro-Lite II for a single 2032, the drop in voltage provides a softer light AND double the battery life, bumping the life from 12 hours up to 24 hours. (If you move to the dimmer, and more efficient, red LED, life is a whopping 120 hours.)
Thanks for the mini-reviews on small but useful items. The mainstream press doesn’t have the time or resources to make sense of items like this, and “customer review” sections on websites are sometimes unreliable – I feel like I have to read 20 conflicting reviews to try to figure out what’s really going on.
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August 6th, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Michael:
Two things: the switch action is quite positive. Moreover, the switch is recessed. It’d be difficult to turn this light on unintentionally.
It used to be $3 each; they’ve halved the price. I bought a few; now that I’ve seen it, I’ll probably buy a dozen or so.
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