Photon vs Fauxton?

After carrying a Photon II as my only EDC for years when I was younger I'll always have a little soft spot for these lights. Not a fan of replacing the coin cells due to runtime and costs, though (not to mention the lack of performance compared to AAA lights). Anyways but keys are just getting TOO bulky with all the various keys on top of my EDC Sak and AAA light. I have the wife setup with my old photon II (upgraded to the nichia GS a few years back running off a single cr2032). I also have used a lot of fauxton type lights with fine results but never really trusted them, obviously.

If I want to replace my Fenix L0D-ce Q4 with something like the photon II, is it worth the cost of the microlight or do these fauxtons provide substantial durability and performance these days? What other options might I have?

I'd go with the real deal Photon.

I have one of those free Battery Junction 2x2016 coin cell lights on my keychain. I carry something else, obviously, but my flip phone doesn't have a flashlight function, per se, so the coin cell light is fine for supplemental duties.

The original batteries have lasted a good 4-5 years with minimal use and it's fine for close up duties in the dark.

I would like one of those new doohickeys that are slim and better made, but until I lose this one, it'll have to do.

Chris

I've had pretty good luck with the fauxtons....I like that most are copies of the Photon 1 which I prefer to the Photon 2 (the 1 doesn't have all those little screws to mess with when changing the cells and is more water resistant); though if you get a good deal on the fauxtons, you might not even want to worry about changing the cells and just grab a new one whenever one dies. BTW, harbor freight sells the lithium coin cells for cheap if you don't want to be bothered ordering them online.

I liked the Photon II back in the day. The real attraction for me was the on/off switch. One even survived a trip through the washing machine. Just dried off the insides and away we go again. I put them on my coats/jackets as zipper pulls. That way I always had a light with me. A couple years ago I bought a Photon Micro. I'm ambivalent about that one. I can see the extra modes being useful in some situations, but the simple on/off of the Photon II was kinda nice as well.

I bought a few fauxtons from BJ a couple of years ago, again for zipper pulls. I'm not really all that impressed with them as opposed to the Photons. I do know I would rather trust a Photon to work when I needed it than a fauxton. I have had a couple just die without being used hardly at all. The price is attractive, but I'll never use them in a situation where I would need to depend on them.

Photon. I'd been a Fauxton user for years. Great little hosts for trying dumb things with junky LEDs and they cost the same as the batteries would on their own. I picked up a Photon because it has been 10 years since a good review. (Maybe next month I'll publish that?) Anyway, the difference in quality was jawdropping.

There is one downside. The dimmable models use 195 Hz PWM. In the power saving mode it uses 85Hz. They say you can't see it, but it is painfully visible. There is room for a SMT LC filter inside, but not enough room for an 85Hz filter.

Do you think the Photons of today are using the same LED from a Photon 5, 6, 8 years ago?

Photon said they make incremental changes to the LEDs. I noticed the newer ones are brighter, even though the packaging doesn't mention it.

Bumping an old thread to see what brand of fauxtons y'all are using these days? I'm a Photon fan to be sure, but I'm also a sucker for the little cheapo/freebie fauxtons that are around also. Which ones do you like and where do you get them from? One of few dif styles on Amazon? Titanium Innovation models for $1 from Battery Junction? Somewhere else?

JUST TELL ME!! GOSH!!

Lousy emitters on those knock-off Photons. Life is too short to suffer distracting morbid illumination...

KITROBASKIN said:

Life is too short to suffer distracting morbid illumination...

Click to expand...

👍 With your permission, I may have to use that one

LRI Photons all the way. There is no substitute.

Most of my Freedoms have an LED swap.

Me too!

Used the 10mm LED fobs supplied as "bonus gifts" from Klarus OR Jetbeam for a while (I don't recall which exactly) but transitioned to the Olight EOS i3E far better form factor & performance IMHO 👍