Is the preon Revo really that good? Compared to the Fenix's, Klaus, etc?
After spending the last few weeks looking for a new keyring light, the Preon Revo (with an aluminum body) is the one I decided to spend my hard earned money on.
Why?
After reading, comparing, and reading some more.... I decided that the Revo had the features and quality I wanted at a price I can afford.
I like my lights to have multiple levels, so that was high on my priority list. The Revo has 3 well spaced levels.
I also wanted the levels to come on in this order...... low, medium, and then high. The Revo does this. Some lights (like the Fenix LD01) come on in medium, then low, then high..... and some folks prefer that. Since I will use this light for trips to the bathroom at night, I wanted the low first
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I wanted a light that runs in full regulation on all levels, with all types of cells. Check out Selfbuilt's runtime charts for the Revo (which compares many different AAA lights). The Revo has AMAZING regulation...... it's virtually flat..... which means it will run at the same brightness throughout the life of the battery (even a regular alkaline cell). Nice.
Quality? How about brass threads in the head..... nice touch. 10 year warranty.... another nice touch. A heavy duty lug for attaching to a keyring.... excellent.
And price? $40 shipped give or take (depending on where you buy it). Right in my budget.
But those are the things that are important to ME. Your needs might be totally different. Maybe you'd rather not spend so much for your keychain light, choosing to spend the extra money on your "big" light. Sometimes simpler IS better, and you might just want a good single level keyring light. There are some nice coin cell photon style lights that you can pick up for a few dollars that do a great job and weigh next to nothing.
So, what you need to do is start making a list and prioritize the qualities you most want in your lights. You can always shuffle those around, but I've found it's always good to see it on paper, that way, when you're looking at all of these lights you can start to see why one light might work better for you than another light.
Start looking at all those runtime graphs in the reviews. It takes a little time to understand them, but the information is quite valuable in helping you make an informed decision. See how the various lights perform using the type of cell that you plan on using.
They're all good lights, just different flavors for different tastes
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By the way.... if you don't think you'd mind the extra weight, I think the Preon Revo in SS would be an excellent keychain light. It has the state-of-the-art XP-G S2 emitter, and many folks really do like the extra heft of the SS body.
Are you having fun yet?
