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Review of Logic 3 Advance Light by jjswift
Spectra Video, a longstanding European company, is one of the world's largest Video Game Accessory companies. They carry several exclusive brands including Logic 3.
I first learned of the Logic 3 Advance Light through totalgames.net, on a web page featuring upcoming GBA accessories. At that time, the product was called a "Robolight." I became very interested because at the time, all the GBA light accessories I had seen thus far were either adjustable lamp types or light-shield types. Besides the nice design, I assumed that this product would not create any "hot spots" on the screen since the light comes from the sides, and not from directly over the screen.
I visited Logic 3's website, but was disappointed to know that their website did not include GBA accessories. Recently, their website announced that it would launch their new website in August 2001. I emailed them in September inquiring about the Robolight and the estimated launching date of their new website.
I received a response from one of their customer reps, who informed me that the Robolight was renamed to "Advance Light," and had already been released (perhaps only in Europe). He indicated that they were low in stock, but would forward my contact info to their sales department if I was interested in buying one. He did not give me any definitive info regarding the new website. I replied to him indicating that I was interested in buying one unit but I never received any further response from neither him nor their sales department.
I decided to surf the web for European gaming sites, and found ukgames.com, who carried the Advance Light. I ordered one unit and received it in about five days. The item itself is L12.99, and if you are not already a member of their discount club, you need to purchase a trial membership which is L1.00. The total cost including shipping to California was L15.99. Translated to US$, I think it comes out to $23.39, unless I converted backwards.
When I opened the package I first noticed that the product is not made with the best of plastics. It is the kind of soft plastic used in many children's toys. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it uses an external battery source that requires 3 AAA batteries. There is a magnifier that can be placed on top of the lights. I personally do not prefer using magnifiers because they confuse my focus and cause me to become dizzy. I set the magnifier aside and snapped the Advance Light onto my GBA. It snapped on easily and was very stable.
The arms are freely adjustable although it will lock into place once it reaches its intended position. I turned on the light and immediately knew that the light would be inadequate. To confirm my suspicion, I turned on the GBA with Rayman Advance, and found the screen to be very dark, especially the center portion. I then tried to adjust the arms, which did not help. The only position that gave me any decent lighting was by placing the two arms side by side over the top of the screen, which defeated the purpose of the arms.
Next, I examined the lights themselves. They are LEDs mounted behind a transparent piece of plastic. I removed the plastic shield on one of the arms, and compared the light to the other arm. It did not make any noticable difference.
I examined the arms a little closer to figure out if I could replace the exiting bulb with a RS 276-320 or WhiteLED 50deg1500mcd. The first thing I noticed is that the arm itself is composed of two pieces, top and bottom, and there are no screws that hold it together. Separating the two pieces will mostly likely crack and break the arm. The lights are mounted very tightly; the arm itself is about 5mm diameter, but the plastic itself is pretty thick, so the inside is very snug.
I would not recommend this product to anyone looking to buy a high-quality light accessory. It has a very appealing appearance, and it uses its own power source, but it just doesn't do its job well. As far as modifiying it by adding better LEDs, I'm hopeful that this may be the Super-Wide setup that I've been looking for, which may be the best lighting solution short of the PortableMonopoly frontlight.
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