Maybe I can still get myself to pick up a few L10's, just because of the shiny colors and nice emitter
I have the orange L10 219, and the orange is very handsome. Except for one speck, the color on the body looks brand new even though I have used this daily for the last two or three months. The color on the head, however, is about 50% gone.
With that, a light like this is immediately battling a few other very interesting lights for pocket space, like the Eagletac D25A Clicky Ti, Zebralight SC52, Spark SG3 and the Olight S15-Ti. Apart from price and weight, it's not winning many of those battles.
The S15 and the Spark SG3 and SG5 have mode memory. One of the reasons why the L10 219 is so useful to me is that it always starts on low. I would prefer it if no manufacturer ever used mode memory.
For my needs, there is an important difference between the L10 219 and the D25A and S15. For an every day carry, I don't want to own a AA flashlight that does not have (a) if not a setting of approx 50 lumens, then a setting of approx 30 lumens and (b) a low of between 1-3 lumens. For me the lumens at (a) and (b) are so useful in my daily routines that they are my most used levels of brightness.
Using selfbuilt's measurements in his (
review) of the D25A2, the first group starts at 8.9 lumens and then jumps to 90 lumens while the second group starts at 0.2 lumens and then jumps to 65 lumens. In his (
review) of the S15, the S15 starts at 0.12 lumens, jumps to 8.4 lumens, and then jumps again to 110 lumens.
Regarding the SC52, I'm discouraged by how many people here have had a green tinted $ 64 SC52w. In complete honesty, I don't think I've seen even one testimony about something off about the tint of the L10 219; this $ 25 flashlight seems so far to have had 100% consistency in the tint among every customer that has posted on this forum and another. My family owns flashlights in the $ 60-something range; between now and when I joined this forum, I still regard $ 60-something as a premium-priced flashlight. By that I mean I have high expectations which is why I regard the SC52 tint lottery as not just disappointing but very disappointing.
What I mean to say is that it's too big to be a keychain light (for most) but it also lacks a pocket clip to chain it to the inside of my jacket.
There is a flashlight holster that I have that I think is perfect for this size AA flashlight and for AAA flashlights. At batteryjunction.com , search for "
Ultrafire holster" and you'll find a result for a "
UltraFire Belt Clip Flashlight Holster - fits Olight T10 & T15 and similar small lights". It seems well made, it's light, has a wide sturdy belt loop on the back of the holster, has a loop at the top as a second way to carry the holster, and is barely bigger than the L10 so there's no bulk created by carrying the L10 in it. What I'm offering is an imperfect solution to your situation, but because of the aspects of it that I listed it might make your situation manageable.
What I also like about the size of the L10 is that I can carry it in the side pouch of my Case Logic TBC-403
(I keep my cell phone in the main pouch) along with a Thrunite Ti2 and still have room for a third similar sized light.
On high the L10 219 projects light to the same distance that my 4sevens MiNi AAx2 XPG on high does when I have to take trash out to the dumpster in the alley at night behind our residence.
After daily use of the Ti2 and the L10 219, I see the AAA, a flashlight the size of the L10, and a full fledged EDC AA as three separate categories. These two fit my needs so well that a full fledged EDC AA is something that I turn to only for what for me are out of the ordinary situations that those two aren't right for.
On a misc. note, I can comfortably hold the L10 pinned under my chin against my chest if I need my hands free.