single AAA incandescent mini flashlights

I have LEDs already, what I need (or really want) is an incandescent for the keychain. It doesn't have to make me breakfast, just illuminate accurate color from a short distance, less than arms length. I am only aware of one, the Maglite Solitaire (and I am aware of its shortcomings). Please enlighten me on any other current, modern incan offerings in the cute little single AAA variety (ok, if it can blast a 10440 also without doing more than burning out the filiment, then bonus points... but not required, that would just be for fun). And I'm not at all knowledgeable, so I'll need more than just the nickname model, but also the name of the manufacturer. Twisty, metal, less than $120, and 40 lumens max would be perfect, but I'd like to run the gamut on this... anything that size at any price at any brightness, clicky too, may also be suggested (I like research... once I know what it is I'm researching). Very appreciated.

I think that may be hard to find new somewhere. Just out of curiosity is it just the tint your after or are you dead set on old schooling it?

CDP930 said:

I think that may be hard to find new somewhere. Just out of curiosity is it just the tint your after or are you dead set on old schooling it?

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Well, its really about the photons, and I guess style comes second. LEDs are what I will be using most of the time, in white/yellow, white/blue and red, but when I want to be really sure of the color of something, I'd like to pull as second light, an incandescent, to check. AFAIK, incandescent is still better at displaying accurate color (but, OK, great advances in LED lighting... its getting close).

Also, as I like to rib the clicky lovers for their irrational love (and all love is irrational, is it not?), I too have an inclination towards collecting... to keep it simple, I have these parameters, I'd like one of every type of tiny single-cell AAA light available, please LOL. I have indulged and nearly satisfied my collection of small LED -types for the keychain and I now realize I have a deficit of incan lights, and one thing they should be very good for, specifically, is reflecting a more accurate color, because unlike LEDs incan lights don't spike at certain frequencies, but have a smoother curve across the spectrum. It just occurred to me there is more than one kind of incandescent light. If they're available in single AAA, I'll need one of each.

Its incredibly difficult to find incandescent lights because most flashlights nowadays are LED, thus the reason for asking. I know there's massive knowledge and wisdom posting on these forums, and I have a lot of respect for how serious posters are about lights, and its so much easier to ask here than struggle with google searches returning everything. I hoped someone was keeping a list somewhere of specifically 1xAAA incan lights, like they do on the LED-side of the forum. That would be nice.

Can't offer anything, but I would genuinely curious if anyone is offering something in a 10440 to get around the limitations of the AAA alkaline cell (which is why the maglite solitaire struggles to hit multiple lumens). Given that there is a slice of the market that's dissatisfied with LED's and there's a dearth of single-AAA incans, there's clearly a market here ... just not sure how much of one.

I'm not sure where I got it but it was at a market. It is a single AAA light in the shape of a train and has a keyring. The bulb is a small edison screw type bulb (not S.E.S but the one slightly bigger than a L.E.S, miniature edison screw? ) with a lens on top and 1.2V written on the side. So no electronics or anything, just a battery and bulb inside a plastic housing so no hot-wires I imagine.

One of the biggest problems in finding much in the way of a AAA incan light is the capacity/output equation I suspect that you'd be mostly looking at either modding something up yourself or having one built from the ground up.

Just thinking practically it seems like you could put the odds a little more in your favor if you didn't mind going with 14400 for power source, and make the head a bit bigger than they tried to get away with with the Solitaire.

kaichu dento said:

One of the biggest problems in finding much in the way of a AAA incan light is the capacity/output equation I suspect that you'd be mostly looking at either modding something up yourself or having one built from the ground up.

Just thinking practically it seems like you could put the odds a little more in your favor if you didn't mind going with 14400 for power source, and make the head a bit bigger than they tried to get away with with the Solitaire.

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Man, I was really hoping I was just uninformed... I was half expecting and really looking forward to the flood of suggestions of existing examples. I would LOVE to have customized everything to suit my needs... who wouldn't? But I'm not quite ready to jump into that yet... the post isn't even a day old. I find it difficult to believe that the MagLite Solitaire is all there is in single AAA incandescents!

I guess then I don't mind going with 10440, considering.

All you have to do is look at the runtime and output of a Solitaire to see why it's not the best platform for an incandescent light.

Even though I never use them anymore I still love my E2e and E1E as well as an old Streamlight, but remove their useful output levels and all their runtime and there's nothing left to enjoy.

I was so happy to get my first Solitaire, but having the bulb constantly burnt out or battery dead every time I had an emergency calling for light leaves nothing even close to good memories.

However, since they did make a 1xAAA light, I wonder why no famous versions of a 1xAA light exist, unless I just forgot or never noticed when they were happening.

kaichu dento said:

All you have to do is look at the runtime and output of a Solitaire to see why it's not the best platform for an incandescent light.

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Its been years since I've seen one, but I remember how funny they are... funny because cute as a button, and practically useless, often falling apart in your hand when you tried to use it. I loved how they have an extra bulb in the tail... as if that even remotely mitigated anything LOL

But recently, I have been spending some amount of time in pitch black. And after a while, the 1.5 or 1.8 lumens my LEDs put out seems really bright, and sometimes too bright (I wonder what's brighter, a 2 lumen LED or a 2 lumen incandescent . If you've read the "red myth" essay/blog about night vision, it would seem to suggest the Solitaire as THE perfect night vision-preserving light... a dim white is apparently better than a bright red, and if there is less capacity or the bulb burns out, all the better for preserving your night vision ;-)

chillinn said:

Its been years since I've seen one, but I remember how funny they are... funny because cute as a button, and practically useless, often falling apart in your hand when you tried to use it. I loved how they have an extra bulb in the tail... as if that even remotely mitigated anything LOL

But recently, I have been spending some amount of time in pitch black. And after a while, the 1.5 or 1.8 lumens my LEDs put out seems really bright, and sometimes too bright (I wonder what's brighter, a 2 lumen LED or a 2 lumen incandescent . If you've read the "red myth" essay/blog about night vision, it would seem to suggest the Solitaire as THE perfect night vision-preserving light... a dim white is apparently better than a bright red, and if there is less capacity or the bulb burns out, all the better for preserving your night vision ;-)

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I use tritium lanterns for that reason....a dim pool of soft light, that only works if your eyes are night adapted.



No bulbs to replace, no cells to recharge, it just glows for ~ 30 years, whether you're looking or not.

TEEJ said:

I use tritium lanterns for that reason....a dim pool of soft light, that only works if your eyes are night adapted.



No bulbs to replace, no cells to recharge, it just glows for ~ 30 years, whether you're looking or not.

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Are you saying you can see more than the vial itself? Even when I excited my tritium with UV (which makes it glow considerably brighter), after adjusting to the dark, all I could use it for is either finding whatever it is attached to in the dark, or maybe reading something, if held right next to the print, and moved while reading because it only illuminates a line or two. I doubt a tritium vial is safe to use as a light for walking around in pitch black, but its definitely better if you're just sitting in the dark to have something your eyes can focus on to give you some kind sense of space (and prevent sensory deprevation hallucinations).

chillinn said:

Are you saying you can see more than the vial itself? Even when I excited my tritium with UV (which makes it glow considerably brighter), after adjusting to the dark, all I could use it for is either finding whatever it is attached to in the dark, or maybe reading something, if held right next to the print, and moved while reading because it only illuminates a line or two. I doubt a tritium vial is safe to use as a light for walking around in pitch black, but its definitely better if you're just sitting in the dark to have something your eyes can focus on to give you some kind sense of space (and prevent sensory deprevation hallucinations).

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Glad I'm not the only one, I think TEEJ either has super-human sight or ridiculous amounts of tritium..

I know you're desperately set on an incan, but have you looked at a Nichia 219 LED? 92CRI, beats a dim yellow solitaire if you need accurate colour rendition.

You could always try a NiZN AAA in a standard Solitare, the higher voltage should produce brighter/whiter light. That said, NiZn is a bit... Betamax...

kaichu dento said:

Just thinking practically it seems like you could put the odds a little more in your favor if you didn't mind going with 14400 for power source, and make the head a bit bigger than they tried to get away with with the Solitaire.

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I think that li-ion's ~3.6V and appreciably better current capacity is what would make the difference.

chillinn said:

Are you saying you can see more than the vial itself? Even when I excited my tritium with UV (which makes it glow considerably brighter), after adjusting to the dark, all I could use it for is either finding whatever it is attached to in the dark, or maybe reading something, if held right next to the print, and moved while reading because it only illuminates a line or two. I doubt a tritium vial is safe to use as a light for walking around in pitch black, but its definitely better if you're just sitting in the dark to have something your eyes can focus on to give you some kind sense of space (and prevent sensory deprevation hallucinations).

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A tritium lantern is a good deal larger than the basic tritium marker that most are used to. The last I remember had 20mm tritium discs.

jabe1 said:

A tritium lantern is a good deal larger than the basic tritium marker that most are used to. The last I remember had 20mm tritium discs.

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Well that's one less mystery... more tritium, more light.

But what about the mystery of the missing single AAA incandescents? There's only one? Really?

Ok, lets open the criteria to any single cell incandescent using a CR123, 10440, or 14500. Do these exist? TIA

chillinn said:

....
Ok, lets open the criteria to any single cell incandescent using a CR123....

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SureFire E1e :thumbsup:

chillinn said:

Well that's one less mystery... more tritium, more light.

But what about the mystery of the missing single AAA incandescents? There's only one? Really?

Ok, lets open the criteria to any single cell incandescent using a CR123, 10440, or 14500. Do these exist? TIA

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With a CR123 option, you get back to my post in the other thread. You could use a single cell P60 host. A P60 lamp module is what Surefire uses in the 6P flashlight, for instance.

The other option is what Archimedes suggested, E1e.

archimedes said:

SureFire E1e :thumbsup:

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wow... once the parameters were sensibly adjusted, as the first suggestion out of the gate, that about nails it. Just watched a hilarious 3m overview video of it. 15 lumens for 90mins will do what I need. It appears to be a bit of a tank, though... would you wear that on your keychain? Or is it more of a bottom of the pocket thing?

jabe1 said:

With a CR123 option, you get back to my post in the other thread. You could use a single cell P60 host. A P60 lamp module is what Surefire uses in the 6P flashlight, for instance.

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Surefire 6P, check. Also appears to be kind of a chunky thing... pocket or holster.

I'm gonna need a little explanation about 3.6v batteries. Are there CR123 rechargables?
Why would a 3.6v CR123 make an incan light burn for 90 mins, and a 3.6v 10440 overdrive an LED burn for only 20 minutes or so? I take it not all 3.6v batteries are the same?

chillinn said:

Ok, lets open the criteria to any single cell incandescent using a CR123, 10440, or 14500. Do these exist? TIA

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Noooooo!! Not the 123, since everyone already knows about the...

archimedes said:

SureFire E1e :thumbsup:

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Beat me to it!

By the way Chillinn, T1A is not incan!

chillinn said:

wow... once the parameters were sensibly adjusted, as the first suggestion out of the gate, that about nails it. Just watched a hilarious 3m overview video of it. 15 lumens for 90mins will do what I need. It appears to be a bit of a tank, though... would you wear that on your keychain? Or is it more of a bottom of the pocket thing?

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The E1e can be made to seem much more compact with a smaller head, or at least the removal of the hexagonal protrusions.

I can't see why anyone couldn't mod most any of the 1xAA lights out there to allow an incan bulb which they could then run off of either the AA or a 14500.