Review of Poundland 1W LED camping light.

I guess it was only a matter of time until Poundland played the 1W LED light card. So here it is, a quite pleasingly rugged camping light that houses a 1W LED powered from three AAA cells.
As with all high power LED lights the battery life wouldn't be that great if they actually ran the 1W LED at 1W. In this case it is run at 0.125W which is about an eighth of the 1W capability of the LED. This is good. It means the LED will stay cool, run efficiently and battery life will be high.
The switch is a momentary action button with a control chip on the LED PCB with a 30 ohm resistor. The battery pack is a typical cylindrical three cell holder.
The casing of the light is very chunky and tough. A bit too tough in the case of the diffuser, since it actually attenuates a bit too much of the light. A more translucent version would be nice.
The back of the light screws on to keep the battery pack locked firmly in place, and has a really robust feel with a ribbed rubber-like exterior finish.
The light is not waterproof. For maximum light output it's actually better with the diffuser removed (it unscrews).
With alkaline cells the LED current starts at around 45mA but progressively falls as the cells discharge. With NiMh cells the typical current will be a night-light grade 20mA which will be useful enough. With a set of 1000mAh rechargeable cells the potential run time is going to be about 50 hours before the intensity starts to drop.
So not a very bright light, but well built and totally hackable.