LED Lenser P3 (8403) LED Flashlight Review

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My current favorite LED flashlight is the LED Lenser P7. I love it because it’s so bright and easy to use. But it’s also pretty big and bulky and as such, would not be something that I would carry around with me in my gear bag. I recently received a baby version of this flashlight from the fine folks at Lights and Knives.com. The LED Lenser P3 (8403) from Coast is a dead ringer for the P7, but in a much smaller form factor. Let’s give it a whirl.

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Flashlight Specifications

Light type:  Nichia LED
Bulb: High-intensity .33-watt 13.6 lumens Gallium LED
Lens: Plastic composite material
Reflector: Speed Focus
Beam type: Spot
Case type: Aluminum
Powered by: 1 AAA Alkaline battery included
Water resistant?: Yes
Size: 3.9 x .77 in
Weight (with batteries): 2 oz
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Package Contents

LED Lenser P3 Flashlight
Pocket clip
Belt case
Handstrap
1 AAA battery

As I mentioned above, the LED Lenser P3, looks like a miniature of the P7.

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It has the same style casing and speed focus feature.

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The P3 is the perfect size for a pocket or gear bag. It has a Black aluminum case, with a gnurled grip. It comes with a nylon hand strap and a metal shirt clip.

The head of the flashlight can be retracted and extended about .25 of an inch, to change the light from a regular beam to a spotlight beam. You can actually move the head back and forth with your thumb and index fingers while you’re holding the barrel with the rest of your fingers.

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The tail cap unscrews to give access to the battery chamber. The cap has a rubber O ring to help with water resistance. This flashlight advertises the fact that it will give up to 20 hours of light on one AAA battery.

Installed at the end of the tail cap is the spring loaded power button. Because the barrel of this flashlight is pretty narrow, the power button in turn is quite small. It takes a little effort to fully press it in to toggle power. You can activate the light by halfway pressing and holding the power button. When you release pressure on the button, the light will turn off.

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The head of the flashlight has a dome shaped lens that can be extended and retracted to go from a regular beam of light to a spotlight beam. This is the speed focus feature. The P3 uses a Gallium LED that provides 13.6 lumens. That’s a far cry from the 167 lumens that the P7 provides. But let’s go ahead and see how much light this little guy can give us.

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Here is a picture of my office with no lights on, at night, with the door closed. You can only make out the glowing LEDs from some of my electronics and the screensaver on my iMac. I’m standing in the corner of the room focusing on the opposite corner approximately 16 feet away.

Now let’s power on the P3 and see what it can do…

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Here we see the regular beam of light when the head of the flashlight is fully retracted. You will notice that there is a Bluish halo at the outer edge of the beam.

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Extending the head of the flashlight, puts P3 in spotlight mode where that Blue halo is very noticeable. This is not a defect with my camera and the snapshot, that Blue beam is really there when you’re using this light in spotlight mode. It’s kind of weird to see it and it does cause some distraction.

I’m not really sure what I would use the spotlight mode for because the width of the beam is so narrow. I also think that with the regular beam, the center of the beam is brighter than the spotlight beam…

According to the specs, the P3 has a 0-141 foot light range, which makes it no where near as powerful as the P7. But that really doesn’t surprise me since the P3 is significantly smaller and is powered by one AAA battery. I wouldn’t pick the LED Lenser P3 as a flashlight to take with me on a camping trip, or for tasks that require illumination of a large area. As it is, the P3 makes a decent  pocket flashlight for small tasks like seeing the back of your computer, TV, etc.

Price: $30.00

Pros:
Good bright beam for short distances and small areas
Well made
Comes with a clip, handstrap and a belt case

Cons:
Power button is stiff
Blue edges around light beam can be distracting

10 thoughts on “LED Lenser P3 (8403) LED Flashlight Review”




  1. Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
  2. P3 looks like a good ‘business suit’ carry light. I’ve used the Streamlight Microstream for 2 years with great results. Manufacturer claims 1/2 watt LED and 20 lumens. See: http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=144 Under $20. Julie, would the lens end of the Lenser P3 create too much pocket bulge for a suit pants pocket? (BTW, I have no dog in this fight. I just bought an Eveready 1 watt, 2AA tactical style flashlight from Target. A guy cannot have too many flashlights. 🙂

    1. Lex:

      I don’t believe that the P3 will be noticeable when carried in your suit pants pocket if your pants aren’t really tight. 🙂 It’s a pretty narrow flashlight.

  3. I bought a surefire L2 last year and thought I was happy with my $200! purchase until I recently found the “RaptorLite” at Costco. Not only does it match the L2’s lumens but it has spot to flood AND a built-in battery life indicator lcd screen! Oh, and it’s selling for $24.99. I’ve tried to figure out how long it’s been in Costco and why I haven’t heard of the company until now but came up dry. Anyone know if they have other flashlights and if any other stores carry them?

  4. candlepowerforums.com <–they are to flashlights what fountainpennetwork.com is to fountain pens and what bladeforums.com is to knives. The folks at CPF would call that power switch a tailcap forward clicky with momentary on or something along those lines.

    I’ve got a LED Lenser H7 headlamp that I use outdoors at night and I LOVE it.

  5. I bough one today, so far it seems like a really good pocket flashlight. To me it seems to put out better light than a 2-C cell maglite.

  6. I bought one of these today at Ross Dress for Less for $5. Still a great little light after all these years. I like the momentary on button, the pocket clip, I like that the button is made out of aluminum instead of rubber, and that it seems pretty reliable. The focus feature seems pretty useless to me, but it doesn’t really annoy me being there. Overall, good light.

  7. Hi there how an earth do you get the battery out if this thing??

    I have tried pliers, teeth everything I can it get he battery our od this little thing to change it.

    Anyone else have this issue??

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