Budget buys #1
Added 2025-08-04 09:09:14 +0000 UTCFrom time to time, I’ll post some items from AliExpress that have proven to be a good value.
To start off, here is the Boruit D10 headlamp.
Pros:
Low cost (~9 USD)
Highly moddable - LED can be replaced with any 3V LED, TIR lens can be added although might need to be sanded down to fit
Watertight - has o-rings
USB-C charging (including PD charger support)
Cons:
The driver is of linear type so low brightness modes don't offer as much power savings as the switching regulators
EDIT: After some tests it actually is very efficient in terms of low power modes. I tested with XML2 10W 20mm Size, Warm White 3000K LED:
lowest mode draws 14mA which gives 250 hours of runtime on 3500mAh cell
medium mode (default) draws 280mA which gives 12.5h of runtime on 3500mAh cell
high draws 950mA which gives 3.7h of runtime on 3500mAh cell
Notes:
I recommend adding TIR lens (can be found for Convoy flashlights on Ali) to make the beam pattern smooth
I swapped LED for XML2 10W 20mm Size, Warm White 3000K - initial thoughts:
The beam is nice and warm, but the CRI is not high enough to my liking, I will be swapping the LED for the Nichia 519A 5700K 20 mm from the Convoy store on Ali, which should have the CRI of at least 90
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