Incandescent Keychain Light

[Russianesq]

What is the most powerful incandescent keychain light out there?

My favorite keychain lights are the Draco and a Raw NS. Both are very powerful LED lights. It would be nice to have something as small in an incandescent flavor.

Any ideas? Have all the keychain sized lights been shelved for LED's?

The Maglite Solitaire need not apply.

 

[BIGIRON]

Interesting question. Maybe a miniminimag with appropriate battery?

But why?

 

[Russianesq]

The incandescent is KING for outdoors.

Looking for something for keychain that could light up the dark outdoors.

 

[KeyGrip]

That's a tough one. The only keychain sized incandescents I've ever seen were below Solitaire quality, so I don't think you're looking for those. The LumensFactory "Inspector Penlight" is small, but more pen shaped. To be honest, I don't know if there's much out there smaller than a SureFire E1E that meets any of the requirements.

 

[ampdude]

That's a tough one. The only keychain sized incandescents I've ever seen were below Solitaire quality, so I don't think you're looking for those. The LumensFactory "Inspector Penlight" is small, but more pen shaped. To be honest, I don't know if there's much out there smaller than a SureFire E1E that meets any of the requirements.

I have a couple of those and they are pretty decent lights for cheap incans. They are definately bigger than keychain size though.

The only keychain lights that are incan that I can think of were those old squeeze lights, but they were not very bright. I don't recall seeing any coin cell sized lights with incan bulbs on the end of them in a long time, but I'm sure they still exist somewhere.

Russianesq,
As you're aware there are no pocket sized LED lights that can surpass the real world visual performance of the more powerful pocket sized xenon lamps, but once you get down to squeeze light/coin cell sized lights it's a different story. Power consumption becomes a larger and larger issue the smaller you go.

I would like to see a squeeze light sized incan keychain light that used two AAA batteries side by side that had momentary squeeze on and a slider switch (flush with the body, not sticking out of course) for extended use. I would be all over something like that because it could be cheap and light too. Plastic and no worry about heatsinking an led. If it was as bright as the Lumens Factory Inspector penlight it would be a real winner. :twothumbs

Maybe that can be Lumens Factory's next project.

 

[greenLED]

Looking for something for keychain that could light up the dark outdoors.

I'm afraid you won't find such a beast. For keychain size, LED's rule in terms of output.

:thinking: You'd have to do something like a 2xRCR2 with an AuroraLite setup in a cutdown minimag or something like that. Or an RCR2 with a Strion bulb, maybe? Either way, it won't be exactly what *I* would call "keychain" light.

 

[ampdude]

I'm afraid you won't find such a beast. For keychain size, LED's rule in terms of output.

:thinking: You'd have to do something like a 2xRCR2 with an AuroraLite setup in a cutdown minimag or something like that. Or an RCR2 with a Strion bulb, maybe? Either way, it won't be exactly what *I* would call "keychain" light.

Yea, the best thing I could see would be an E1E with an RCR and a Lumen's Factory E0-E1R 90 lumen and the tailcap lanyard clipped to the keychain. That might be in the size range parameters depending on how small he wants to go.

 

[KeyGrip]

I would like to see a squeeze light sized incan keychain light that used two AAA batteries side by side that had momentary squeeze on and a slider switch (flush with the body, not sticking out of course) for extended use.

I'd buy two. Really.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

It sounds like you're talking about something like this.

Maybe if it had a metal body, some sort of reflector, and ran on 2x10440... might be interesting.

Remember that the Auroralite hotwire is around 200L, and something like the L0D-CE on 10440 is around 150L. That's not too much of a difference, especially considering their sizes. For small lights like these, LEDs make the most sense, as evidenced by the zillion LED keychain lights out there and the few or no incan models.

 

[ampdude]

Remember that the Auroralite hotwire is around 200L, and something like the L0D-CE on 10440 is around 150L. That's not too much of a difference, especially considering their sizes.

I agree with what you say for the most part, but I beg to differ. 50 incan lumens, especially outdoors is more useful to me than 150 led lumens. But yes you're right, 150 and 200 lumens is not much of a difference, strictly speaking in light output terms.

In the link, ya that looks simliar in size to the old square squeezelights I remember, although that one has a switch. Had some of those back in the 80's and early 90's that didn't have switches. An improved upon version with either both or just a switch would be great I think!


*just did a double take on that thread*
That bulb looks pretty similiar to the one in the Lumens Factory penlight. I wonder if a bulb swap is possible?

 

[lctorana]

<IMHO>

To be frank, anything larger that 1AAA would struggle to be called a keychain light.

If being incan really matters, and it has to go on a keychain, I honestly don't think one could do better than a 1AAA Maglite.

</IMHO>

 

[Paul_in_Maryland]

The E1e might be your best bet.

Also check out the 40-lumen 1x123A incan by Pentagonlight.

Somewhat less bright are the 2xAAA and 2xAA side-by-side incans by Underwater Kinetics. They come in yellow and black, maybe orange. You can find them for about $20.

Pelican makes several AAA and AA incans that are short, slim, or both, including a 1x123A model. Pelicans are known for throw, not flow.

Digilight made a 1x123A incan that used a G&P G30 lamp. But Digilight is out of business.

 

[DM51]

I agree with those who have recommended the E1E. It is a very good little light, and 15 lm (that's SF lumens, remember) is more than enough for 90% of tasks - probably 99% of keychain tasks. With 90 mins run-time, that is a useful little package. If you want it brighter, the LF LAs are an option for it as mentioned above.

 

[Russianesq]

Well, maybe a moder can come up with some keychain sized design.

The LED's may be able to deliver a higher lumen output, but the quality of the beam and color rendition could not compete with an incandescent.

The Draco and Raw NS both use non-traditional batteries and reflectors. Maybe with a specialty battery pack, bulb and refelector it would be possible to have a powerfully keychain incandescent.

 

[TrevorNasko]

You may want to have a look at the princeton tec blast or rage lights. A few years ago they were near the top of the pack for size,output,durability and cost. Can't say I am much of a fan of the new bodystyle but they are light, bright and use normal batteries. Look around for the old bodystyle too as its much much more compact and would fit on your keychain fine.
I highly recommend them.... Darn this post has me looking around to pick another one up for myself.

 

[Pher]

I'll agree with trevor. The princeton tec blasts and rages are durable, cheap, reliable, and bright for running of of common batteries. The only bright mod I can think of would be a solitaire with a lion and a strion bulb. The problem is that the strion bulb pulls to many amps.

 

[flashfan]

Underwater Kinetics mini pocket AAA (two AAA batteries, side by side) has been on my key chain for years. I prefer it over the Princeton Tec Blast, which has a much larger diameter head that is not as "carry-friendly." Both lights are twist on/off.

I use Energizer lithium AAAs in the UKE mini pocket light and it is plenty bright for me, but may not be for you/others. UKE claims 10.4 lumens on the mini pocket, and PT claims 14 lumens on the Blast.

The Princeton Tec Rage is a great light with its manufacturer-rated 41 lumens. An outstanding light considering cost, size, "common" batteries and brightness, but rather large for key chain carry.

 

[Russianesq]

the UK seems more keychain friendly

http://www.uwkinetics.com/products/detail.php?ProductID=22&cat=6

 

[TigerhawkT3]

Well, since an L0D-CE on a 10440 pulls about 1.25A (4C) on high, I guess it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to use a pair in a TL-3 setup, which would need about 1.75A (6C). That would be so bad for the cells and so dangerous, but if it worked, might be pretty cool.

So, any volunteers?

 

[paulr]

Using lithium cells in a 2aaa incan (per Flashfan's UKE 2aaa) is likely to pop the bulb fairly quickly. As long as you don't mind that, I guess it will produce extra output while it lasts.