Atomic keyrings: Just how bright are they?

Since El Reg's merchandising tentacle Cash'n'Carrion responded to reader demand for atomic keyrings and took delivery of a big crate of Nite Glowrings and Mini Glowrings, we've had a few emails asking how bright they actually are.

Indeed, a couple of customers who flashed the plastic for these tritium-powered marvels seemed somewhat surprised that the level of illumination they throw out isn't what they expected.

Well, we got in touch with the supplier, who explained:

Unless the user is familiar with this technology, at first glance in a darkened room, output seems very slight indeed. From time to time, we have calls from users expressing disappointment with the level of light output. However, if the user develops his "night eyes" (that is, he becomes accustomed to the dark) the apparent brightness of these units is very much enhanced.

We have had complaints from military users that our Bivvy Markers (these use the same lamps as MiniGlows) were too bright! Typically, these devices are used by people who are operating in one way or another in darkness and, under these circumstances, they are see to be performing at an optimum level.

Specifically, the Nite Glowring and Mini Glowring produce a minimum of 400 microlamberts and 200 microlamberts, respectively. These are the figures for the newly-manufactured green flavours, which are the brightest.

Other colours throw out a percentage of that, as follows:

So now you know.

The £10.99 Nite Glowring comes in yellow, red, white, purple, ice blue and UV blue, although we can only ship it in the UK.

We can, however, dispatch the £6.99 Mini Glowring anywhere on the planet with a postal service, in green, orange, ice blue or purple flavours.

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