Bright AA light for around $20?

[DarkNova]

Hello,

I'd like to buy a really bright AA flashlight and am a bit overwhelmed reading all these threads. Basically I'm looking for something that costs around $20, is powered by AA batteries as I already have eneloops, and I am fine with it using either 1 AA or 2. I would the light to be as bright as possible. I've never owned a really bright flashlight before, but I'm thinking that it would probably be good if it had brightness modes because I have a feeling that a really bright light might be too bright? Right now I'm considering the AKOray K-106 as it seems to fit what I'm looking for but I'm a bit unsure on how the brightness compares to other lights. It seems as though the brightness numbers assume you are using the 14500 batteries which are twice the voltage as AAs. Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[matrixshaman]

The Akoray is probably one of your better choices. In that price range there's not much choice other than DX lights and the Akoray seems to be one of the best choices. There are other ones from DX that are close in brightness and may have some better features in one way but may have a little less brightness.

 

[arodaz]

rc-n3-II from shining-beam,, love mine :twothumbs use it every night with the pups

 

[sol-leks]

rc-n3-II from shining-beam,, love mine :twothumbs use it every night with the pups

For your price range and requirements, this is the light you want, guaranteed. Well that or the single mode rc-n3 or the warm white, but some variation of the rc-n3.

EDIT: I missed at first that you wanted a multimode, so yeah def go with the 2 mode romisen.

 

[Gunner12]

The Akoray is a pretty good light from what I read. Good build quality, good output, and 3 programmable modes. I'd say go for it. It might not be the brightest, but it should be bright enough for most tasks. If you want more output, save up for 14500 Li-ion batteries and a charger, that should increase the output.

What will you use the light for?

The Romisen RC-N3 II is also a good choice. 2 AA would give you more runtime, and you can use 1 CR123 is you want a shorter light. Quality is also pretty good.

 

[NWdude83]

http://www.batteryjunction.com/tlf-3l2aa-.html

Is $23.50 close enough to $20 for ya?

 

[Zeruel]

This light is brighter than Akoray K-106. But because the latter has programmable modes and comes with a clip, I'd prefer the Akoray.

 

[TDKKP]

:welcome:

You can always go to CPFMP to find a light very cheap. Good luck!

 

[hyperloop]

rc-n3-II from shining-beam,, love mine :twothumbs use it every night with the pups

+1 on the RC N3 II Q5, its 2 output levels are very usable. The RC N3 warm white is also very nice esp if u spend more time outdoors, but that only has one mode.

I own the RC N3 II (well, owned actually, gave it away to someone who i felt had a greater need for the light), the RC N3 warm white and the K106 (3 mode programmable).

All are great lights but the K106 only reaches full potential using 14500s, its not that it isnt a good light, the non-flashaholic population would find the K106 great without using 14500s but once you've used it with a 14500, you wont want to go back.

EDIT: these are all lights around the $20 mark. Romisens purchased from shiningbeam ('CPFuser' is the discount code, shipping is not free but it is very fast), K106 bought from Kaidomain, free international shipping but took quite a while to reach me)

 

[DarkNova]

Thanks for the help. Based on the suggestions, I'm leaning towards one of the RC-N3. I'm just trying to decide if I need multi-mode or not. My main concern is that it seems like some of these lights are so bright that there may be times where you'd want the light to not be as bright? Is this true? If I go with http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9070 how would that compare to the RC-N3 II from ShiningBeam? I realize the RC-N3 II claims to be 33% brighter and has multi-mode, but it also costs $9 / 53% more, so I'm not sure if I should justify spending the extra or not. Thanks.http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9070

 

[balou]

My main concern is that it seems like some of these lights are so bright that there may be times where you'd want the light to not be as bright? Is this true? If I go with http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9070 how would that compare to the RC-N3 II from ShiningBeam? I realize the RC-N3 II claims to be 33% brighter and has multi-mode, but it also costs $9 / 53% more, so I'm not sure if I should justify spending the extra or not. Thanks.

Definitely. Those lights are absolutely unuseable doing closeup work on high. I personally would go for the Akoray K-106 (two AA lights are a bit big for my pockets) - it has 3 freely programmable modes. And yes I do believe it's to bright on 14500 - the battery runtime of only 30mins is a good indicator for that. Luckily you can just programm your highest setting to be a bit dimmer than max if using 14500's.

edit: lots of links were posted, but none for the K-106 as it seems. Here it is: http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16607

 

[DarkNova]

Thanks for the response -- I have a couple more questions.

First, how much brighter is the RC-N3 II than the K-106 (when using AA batteries)?

Secondly, balou, thanks for the advice about the modes, I've decided this is something I want. I'm just wondering, you link to http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16607 as the K-106 -- earlier when I searched for the K-106 I found http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28546 which I thought was what everyone was talking about. It is quite a bit cheaper. What is the difference between these?

Thanks for helping out a newbie!

 

[balou]

How much brighter is hard to say - the manufacturers usually overstate the lumens (at least in the sub-30$ range). I'd guess that the K-106 with an 14500 cell will be as bright or brighter than RC-N3 with a RCR123A cell (the K-106 really pushes the cell hard - as said before, only ~30min runtime) . RC-N3 with two Eneloops is probably dimmer than K-106 with 14500, and if both are equipped with Eneloops, then the RC-N3 is most likely going to be brighter. How much? I'd guess noticeable in direct comparison, but not a big difference in use.
But... there are just a lot of unknowns - biggest problem is that I don't own a RC-N3 ;)

The link I posted is the for the Akoray K-106 3-mode programmable flashlight. DX just forgot to mention the model number (and it still says 6-mode, but it has been upgraded since to foresaid 3-mode programmable). The other one you posted is a 5-mode version without any programmability at all.

Btw: I modded my K-106 with a warm white tint LED. It's now competing hard with my Nitecore D10 which cost three times as much.