Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AAA

I need a light for occasional use in my basement, and I don't want to put an expensive Surefire or Arc down there. it needs to run on AA's or AAA's because 123's are very expensive over here. What inexpensive 1W luxeon alternatives do I have? Thanks.

Jan

Streamlight TT 3C Luxeon
UKE 4AA eLED
Princetontec Impax XL
CMG Reactor

and Arc LS (second) with 2AA

If you check the dealer's forum... goldengadgets has 1 for 25 dollars on sale... not familiar with it though.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

The 3AA StreamLight Task Light is well respected. For cheaper the CMG Reactor or Reactor III is OK. The RIII is the only one I have used, nice but not a good EDC. I think your aplication would work for it.

I have a light similar to the one goldengadgets sells,it's a Nuwai also,and it is very bright and white.Also batterystation.com sells the 1w cmg for $15 to cpf members.

You could also buy the Aitec Collimator model AT2005L.
It runs on 3 AAA cells.
You can get it at http://isp.koreasme.com or out of the Lifestyle Fascination catalogue. I don't know how much it costs though.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

The CMG 2AA light is not bad with lithium batteries, and would probably do what you want to do. However, with alkalines it is not much if any brighter than the small one cell lights such as the Ultra.

My CMG light has a bezel that turns too easily when in the off position. I would not carry it in a pack unless I taped the bezel. Otherwise it would turn on accidently sooner or later. Does anyone else have one and does your light have the same problem?

It is worth the sale price, but that is about all.

Jerry

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

The CMG reactor is your cheapest option. You can get lithium AA's for $1.90 from batterystation.com, and you can also get the Reactor from them for $15. It uses 2 AA's. The lithium batteries should last for over 10 hours with nearly full brightness.

If you prefer to use rechargeables, I would suggest the CMG Reactor 3, which uses 3 AA's. You can get it for around $25 plus shipping. In fact, I'll sell you a slightly used one, like new, only about 3 months old, for $22 shipped via priority mail. This is the new version, and it does not have problems with the switch.

If you want to use alkalines, the Reactor 3 is good for at least 10 hours on a set of 3 batteries. The Reactor 3 beam is almost identical to an Arc LSL in every way.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

[ QUOTE ]
JanCPF said:
I need a light for occasional use in my basement, and I don't want to put an expensive Surefire or Arc down there. it needs to run on AA's or AAA's because 123's are very expensive over here. What inexpensive 1W luxeon alternatives do I have?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd wait and see how expensive the UKE 4AA eLED ends up being. But it's a strange question. Why do you want a Luxeon if it's just a practical matter of looking around your basement now and then, and you want something cheap? Why not use a standard 2D incandescent like most people do? Luxeons are cool high-tech flashaholic devices, but incandescents are the traditional product for this kind of thing. They cost much less than Luxeons, have been in use for decades, and work perfectly well.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

Why Luxeon?

Streamlight Pro Poly 4AA 7LED makes a very nice flood. In the total absence of ambient light it would kick butt. It would also look into dark corners and such WITH ambient light. It also has a very nice tail switch built into it.
I got mine for $24.99 locally.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

paulr

Sorry to say but having just read your post to JanCPF I find your last sentance insensitive and slightly offensive. JanCPF has asked for our opinions and just because he has asked for a particular combination doesn't mean he's not normal! I hope,and would like to beleve that it is simply a quirky statement but IMO it appears to belittle and denegrate another CPF member!

Doug

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

No offense intended, I just find CPF'ers preoccupation with Luxeons and other high tech devices to be a little bit amusing sometimes, when there are traditional solutions to the same problems that cost much less and work perfectly well. There's something a little bit non-normal about all of us flashaholics when it comes to stuff like that. Anyway, I'll edit the post to clarify it a bit more. Thanks.

Hi Jan,

My vote is for the 3AA StreamLight Task Light. If you are going to leave the light in the basement for extended periods of time, you might want to check the batts occasionally for drainage, etc.

Jan,

I usually don't recommend lights that don't conform exactly to the poster's requirements but I must agree with Playboy Joe on this one. The SL 4AA LED ProPoly is an awesome light. There are many threads on it here. Its seven overdriven 5mm LED's throw out lots of white light equal to most Luxeons and you don't have to enter the Luxeon lottery when you buy one. And Streamlight has great customer service.

If you're dead set on a Luxeon consider the Inretech adaptor for a 2AA mag. You may already have the host lying around. The white ones run best on lithiums but the red ones are perfectly happy with alkalines.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

Darkaway,

Do you have the "address" for the Inretech adaptor for a 2AA mag?

Thanks,
Jerry

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

The Inretech is available from www.inretech.com but I don't recommend it because it depends on special (lithium) batteries to get reasonable performance. You're better off with the 3AA Streamlight or Reactor 3.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

Thanks, Paul.

Is the Reactor 3 significantly brighter than the Reactor 2? I am not impressed with the Reactor 2.
Jerry

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

jerry,
the reactor should be brighter, but might not be significantly brighter. You can certainly notice the difference in brightness between the two.

Re: Cheapest 1W luxeon light that runs on AA or AA

shiftd,
Thanks.