Epic AAA Run-time test (low level only!)

Beacon of Light

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Runtimebackground.jpg


It's midnight, Friday the 13th, so let's do the run-time test of AAA lights. In search of the AAA run-time king!!!

I've always been frustrated no one ever tested/reviewed lights on low, well I am taking care of that here. Inspired by scout24's excellent runtime tests, we may see some familiar faces, but I wanted to add a few new contenders.

The test itself will start tomorrow as I should be getting a few AAA lights delivered and it would be a shame to start the test without them.

You can ponder who the contenders will be and I will reveal that tomorrow evening. I will mention a few new lights and a couple of ideas like a Zebralight H50 using AAA in a AA shell as well as a Gerber Infinity Ultra in same manner. I got my Peak Eigers so they will be running as well as a couple of other Peak AAA lights.

I will use scout24's idea of using a Quark AA on moon mode as the baseline of when to end the test for a light once it drops equal to that level of light.

Stay tuned, this should be fun!!!

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Group A AAA runtime (low mode) test results:
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Ray S20 1 hour @ ??v
Maratac (al) < 8 hours @ 1.12v
Liteflux LF2XT < 8 hours @ .97v *** unknown reason it turned off prematurely *** (retested in Group B)
Fenix E01 < 11 hours @ .89v
4Sevens Preon < 11 hours @ .91v
Titanium Innovations IlluminaTi XP-G < 11 hours @ .91v (strobing slow)
Maratac (cu) 17-20 hours @ .86v
4Sevens Preon II 17-20 hours @ .86v & .60v
Zebralight H50 20.5 hours @ 1.10v
Peak Eiger #0 24+ hours @ .97v (light dim)
Peak Eiger #Subzero 24+ hours @ 1.19v (light dim)
iTP A3 24+ hours @ 1.10v (light dim)

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Group B AAA runtime (low mode) test results:
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Gerber Infinity Ultra *** AAA>AA adapter broke so Infinity Ultra was not tested *** (Retest scheduled)
Inova Radient 2xAAA 6 hours @ 1.22v & 1.19v (light dim)
iTP H-01 < 11 hours @ .87v
Peak Matterhorn 3-LED SP 11+ hours @ .99v (light dim)
Peak Eiger #3 15+ hours @ 1.14v (light dim)
Peak Matterhorn 3-LED HP 15+ hours @ 1.16v (light dim)
Peak Matterhorn 1-LED HP 16+ hours @ 1.16v (light dim)
LumaPower Connexion 14-19 hours @ 1.13v
Peak Matterhorn 1-LED SP 37+ hours @ 1.07v (light dim)
Peak Eiger #0 37+ hours @ 1.10v (light dim)
Peak Eiger #Subzero 37+ hours @ 1.11v (light dim)
Liteflux LF2XT 42+ hours @ .93v (stopped short LF2XT was the first/earliest winner)

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Group C AAA runtime (low mode) test results:
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Maratac SS 4-9 hours @ 1.09v
Gerber Infinity Ultra (Silver) < 10 hours @ 1.14v (light dim)
Gerber Infinity Ultra (Black) < 10 hours @ 1.15v (light dim)
CMG Infinity (amber LED) 10-16 hours @ 1.09v
CMG Infinity (black) 43 hours @ .86v (light dim CMG Infinity was the previous winner)
4Sevens Preon ReVO (SS) 43.5 hours @ .89v (ReVO is the official AAA Runtime King!!!!)
 
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gunga

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This shoudl be interesting. I'm very curious about these new eigers, looks like a nice higher end alternative to the E01.

To bad peak doesn't make an AA tube for the Eiger eh? Would make a lot of sense...
 

Beacon of Light

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This shoudl be interesting. I'm very curious about these new eigers, looks like a nice higher end alternative to the E01.

To bad peak doesn't make an AA tube for the Eiger eh? Would make a lot of sense...

That would be cool, an Eiger AA battery tube. Kind of what we are waiting for with Neoseikan making an AA tube for the Fenix E01. Maybe we can get Curt to make one for the Eiger since they do all the machining at Peak?
 

Beacon of Light

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I'll be doing this test using Duraloops so I may have to do a group A and a group B after the first group is done testing, since I have only 12 Duraloop AAAs and I don't want to mix say 12 lights with Duraloops and the other with Tenergy R2U AAAs for obvious reasons.
 

Beacon of Light

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They are new Duraloops and I'll "take one for the team" so to speak if that's the case. I think scout used alkies.
 

defloyd77

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This shoudl be interesting. I'm very curious about these new eigers, looks like a nice higher end alternative to the E01.

To bad peak doesn't make an AA tube for the Eiger eh? Would make a lot of sense...

If I'm not mistaken, the Peak AAA's have identical threading to the Arc AAA, so the Valient Concepts AA body for the Arc should work, it's like 35 dollars though.
 

Beacon of Light

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Was still awake so here's a pic of the Group A lights. I have to find my iTP H01 headlamp as I want to see how it compares to the EOS and Maratacs. It will be in Group B by default. A few other Peak lights coming tomorrow will be in the second test. Will be able to add the 2xAAA tube to the Peak Eiger #Sub Zero for that in the next test. Should be fun.

GroupA.jpg
 

Dances with Flashlight

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To bad peak doesn't make an AA tube for the Eiger eh? Would make a lot of sense...

It's called the El Capitan! Same emitter, electronics & range of power levels as in the Eiger - just a larger head and optic sized for the AA tube. I have not yet seen an El Cap in the newer low, low levels but this test is certainly going to raise questions about the runtime that can be had with an AA.
 

MWClint

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If I'm not mistaken, the Peak AAA's have identical threading to the Arc AAA, so the Valient Concepts AA body for the Arc should work, it's like 35 dollars though.

I have one of those and yes, it works for the Peak Matterhorns, Eigers, Arc AAA and Mcgizmo Sapphire heads. The eigers are sick on 14500 with the valient concepts AA body. It's also VERY easy to turn the Valient Concepts body
into a 2 mode AA twisty. reverse the tailspring and tie it into a resistor. get any low level power u want. it's worth the 35$...very versatile with the eigers. Peak's circuit is great, go tritium like lows with a resistor or run it hi-po with a li-ion.

It's called the El Capitan! Same emitter, electronics & range of power levels as in the Eiger - just a larger head and optic sized for the AA tube. I have not yet seen an El Cap in the newer low, low levels but this test is certainly going to raise questions about the runtime that can be had with an AA.
El Cap low power runtimes are going to be wicked! no point of ever turning it off. just keep feeding it.
 
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Kestrel

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Were the last tests done with alkaline or eneloop? You do risk damage to the cell running it that low you know...
They are new Duraloops and I'll "take one for the team" so to speak if that's the case.
IIRC SilverFox did a little deep-discharge abuse testing of Eneloops/Duraloops not too long ago and concluded that there appeared to be minimal damage from single-cell overdischarge. Two cells in series were considered to be at significantly greater risk due to the possibility of reverse charging the lower of the two cells. FWIW, :shrug:
 
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