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Page 1
<B>Intro</B>:
Over the past few months, I have reviewed many lighting products, including cathodes and lighted fans. All of that seems the norm now, but what if you want to stand out from the crowd (for the time being)? You need something unique. Enter <a href="http://www.flexiglowhk.com">Flexiglow</a>, and they have something truly unique, and it isn't a cold cathode! It is called bubble lights, you'll see why if you keep reading.
<B>Package</B>:
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</center>
Alright, I'll elaborate on this alot, I know you peeps only read the article for this section... It is a hard tubular paper towel looking thing with caps on either end. Pretty simple eh?
<B>Parts</B>:
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</center>
Down to business. Here you can see that parts that come with the dual bubble light kit. You get the two bubble lights, an inverter, the switch/molex passthrough, and some instructions. Now, it is my duty as a future engineer to never read instructions, and maybe I should've, but you'll learn why in another review. I also don't know why an inverter is really needed, since we are dealing with normal LEDs, I bet you can just add a resistor to the 12v line to make it work directly. Don't blame me if it doesn't work though. The lights themselves are 6 inches long each.
<B>Plugs</B>:
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</center>
Everything in this kit is separable. Just remember to put it back together the same way, all the connectors are the same after all. You don't want to plug the molex into something wrong. It is nice to see this in a kit, you can just swap out broken parts, or mix and match lights. The switch is a 3 way one. You have the choice of off, on, and blink (each one think XOR).
<B>Pads</B>:
<center>
</center>
The sticky pads on the bottom of the inverter and the lights are pretty much standard. You see them on all cathodes/lights today. They are also velcroed so you can take it off and switch stuff. A nice touch.
<B>Break it open</B>:
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</center>
I wanted to see what was really going on in the tube, so I stuck it in my vice and I was ready to saw it open, but as I squeezed the vice on the ends, the glue let up and I eventually just pulled the rod out. It took some work, and it won't be sliding out without a great deal of force. As you can see above, the construction of the light is basically two ends and a bubbly rod. One end is a cap, and the other houses the wires and the bright LED. The LED itself is being blocked by some glue (In the rod), I'm sure this hampers the light being put in the tube. And also of note, there is only one LED. Two would have been nice, but as you will see, it is fine as it is. The rod itself is seamless and the bubble placement is random.
<B>Intro</B>:
Over the past few months, I have reviewed many lighting products, including cathodes and lighted fans. All of that seems the norm now, but what if you want to stand out from the crowd (for the time being)? You need something unique. Enter <a href="http://www.flexiglowhk.com">Flexiglow</a>, and they have something truly unique, and it isn't a cold cathode! It is called bubble lights, you'll see why if you keep reading.
<B>Package</B>:
<center>
</center>Alright, I'll elaborate on this alot, I know you peeps only read the article for this section... It is a hard tubular paper towel looking thing with caps on either end. Pretty simple eh?
<B>Parts</B>:
<center>
</center>Down to business. Here you can see that parts that come with the dual bubble light kit. You get the two bubble lights, an inverter, the switch/molex passthrough, and some instructions. Now, it is my duty as a future engineer to never read instructions, and maybe I should've, but you'll learn why in another review. I also don't know why an inverter is really needed, since we are dealing with normal LEDs, I bet you can just add a resistor to the 12v line to make it work directly. Don't blame me if it doesn't work though. The lights themselves are 6 inches long each.
<B>Plugs</B>:
<center>
</center>Everything in this kit is separable. Just remember to put it back together the same way, all the connectors are the same after all. You don't want to plug the molex into something wrong. It is nice to see this in a kit, you can just swap out broken parts, or mix and match lights. The switch is a 3 way one. You have the choice of off, on, and blink (each one think XOR).
<B>Pads</B>:
<center>
</center>The sticky pads on the bottom of the inverter and the lights are pretty much standard. You see them on all cathodes/lights today. They are also velcroed so you can take it off and switch stuff. A nice touch.
<B>Break it open</B>:
<center>
</center>I wanted to see what was really going on in the tube, so I stuck it in my vice and I was ready to saw it open, but as I squeezed the vice on the ends, the glue let up and I eventually just pulled the rod out. It took some work, and it won't be sliding out without a great deal of force. As you can see above, the construction of the light is basically two ends and a bubbly rod. One end is a cap, and the other houses the wires and the bright LED. The LED itself is being blocked by some glue (In the rod), I'm sure this hampers the light being put in the tube. And also of note, there is only one LED. Two would have been nice, but as you will see, it is fine as it is. The rod itself is seamless and the bubble placement is random.
Page 2
<B>Powering up</B>:
<center>
</center>
I felt it was best to show all the colors together. And so I did. The first pic is in sunlight and the second in darkness. As you can see, the green and blue colors are brighter looking than the yellow and red. It has to do with the wavelength of the color of the light, and the LEDs are most likely the same brightness. You can notice a bit of unevenness in the rod due to the single LED, but it looks fine nonetheless. The third pic is a close up of the bubble light in action. You can see the tiny things refracting light all over the place. It really does give a truly unique light pattern off.
<center>
</center>
One thing though, a single LED may not be enough to light up a case, even with the dual kit. I would consider this a secondary lighting in a case with a window, but in a fully clear case these would look hot.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
I think the review speaks for itself. The Flexiglow Dual Bubble Light kit is the newest thing to hit the market in terms of lighting. Get it while it stays unique. Like cathodes, I expect people to have this in each case. The reason? <a href="http://www.xoxide.com/bubblecathodes.html">Xoxide</a> will sell it, and you know they have good market penetration (good word). They sell for $20. This kit gets my thumbs up. Nothing I've seen matches the cool factor of these as of yet.
<B>Powering up</B>:
<center>
</center>I felt it was best to show all the colors together. And so I did. The first pic is in sunlight and the second in darkness. As you can see, the green and blue colors are brighter looking than the yellow and red. It has to do with the wavelength of the color of the light, and the LEDs are most likely the same brightness. You can notice a bit of unevenness in the rod due to the single LED, but it looks fine nonetheless. The third pic is a close up of the bubble light in action. You can see the tiny things refracting light all over the place. It really does give a truly unique light pattern off.
<center>
</center>One thing though, a single LED may not be enough to light up a case, even with the dual kit. I would consider this a secondary lighting in a case with a window, but in a fully clear case these would look hot.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
I think the review speaks for itself. The Flexiglow Dual Bubble Light kit is the newest thing to hit the market in terms of lighting. Get it while it stays unique. Like cathodes, I expect people to have this in each case. The reason? <a href="http://www.xoxide.com/bubblecathodes.html">Xoxide</a> will sell it, and you know they have good market penetration (good word). They sell for $20. This kit gets my thumbs up. Nothing I've seen matches the cool factor of these as of yet.