Keychain size light?

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sawlight

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Joined
Jan 2, 2007
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I know it's been beat to death, I am sorry!! The search function is not my friend!!

I was looking at my old solitare today, it's snowing in KS of all things, and thinking what a nice size it is! I reasearched mods for them, and wasn't very happy with what I came across. The price for gains seem minimual to me at least?
I have an L1 comming that will become my main carry light for work, and I am thinking I already need to but the F04 beamshapper (you guys are bad BTW!!) to make it more usable for me. I have the E2W that is a great light for nightstand, out on the town use.
This will be mainly for the days I don't think I need a light, but end up needing a light. As well as emergincies, and handy light on my keychain. (Yes, I am an addict now)
I don't really care for the AA size. would like to stay with a single AAA. I think I like the ARC AAA, but really have no idea what to compare it to, run times, beamshots etc. I am more concerned with runtimes than being the brightest out there.
I also oung this at DX: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.891

Seems interesting, but no beam shot, no idea on quality or runtimes?
Anything else I am missing? Something newer/older/better? Ideas and suggestions please.
Thank you all!
 
I used to carry an amber coin cell light WAY back in the day... We'll say prior to 2000. Then I got an ARC in about 2003. Then I got an LED_ASAP modded ARC with a Luxeon which was about the same brightness as the original Inova X5, but with more throw. Then I replaced that with a Fenix L0P, then an L0P SE. Then I didn't carry a keychain light for quite a while and I recently picked up another L0P SE.

If I suddenly lost all my lights, I'd probably get the LiteFlux LF2 for keychain carry or possibly the Fenix L0D-CE. Ideally, I'd just want 2 or 3 levels with no SOS or strobe but it seems that most manufacturers are going more and more for the lights with such 'features'.
 
Easily the L0D-CE. Run that light with either NIMH cells or Energizer lithiums and you will be amazed!

The ARC AAAP was a state of the art light back in 2002, but now it is less than average as far as being a performing flashlight goes. If you want a 5mm LED AAA light I suggest the Fenix EO. Has better runtime and flat regulation AND costs less than half the price of the AAAP.
 
Thank you all!!!!
I looked at the L0D-CE, nice, don't need all the bells and whistles that bad. Can you change the UI so it comes on at the medium level?
adrion, I was also eying the E0, simple UI, decent level of light from the sounds of it? Really think a floody beam would be best for my needs.
You guys are great!!
 
If you leave it off for a certain amount of time(2 seconds?), it automatically resets and starts on medium.

The Ultrafire is also pretty good but it is out of stock.
 
sawlight said:
Thank you all!!!!
I looked at the L0D-CE, nice, don't need all the bells and whistles that bad. Can you change the UI so it comes on at the medium level?
adrion, I was also eying the E0, simple UI, decent level of light from the sounds of it? Really think a floody beam would be best for my needs.
You guys are great!!
Click to expand...
The UI inherently comes on at the medium level which I find the most useful*. the interface is actually not nearly as bad as I was expecting -- I find it quite easy to twist the light left or right handed, and the multiple levels are actually very useful. Medium is brighter than most other keychain sized lights by a fair margin, usually enough for genreal purpose use. Low is nice for reading by, or conserving battery use. High is great for flooding the ground with light to say look for a dropped item at the beach or something.

For your purposes it sounds like on Lithium Primary woudl be ideal -- long runtime (especially with judicious use of the "low" levels), and long shelf life -- just put it in and forget about it.


*Note: I am actually running mine on 10440s, which means that "low" is the same as medium with 1.5V cells, and "medium" is the same as high, and "high" is about as high as the LED will go. This is very "high maintenance" though, wouldn't recommend it for what you want
 
sawlight said:
Thank you all!!!!
I looked at the L0D-CE, nice, don't need all the bells and whistles that bad. Can you change the UI so it comes on at the medium level?
adrion, I was also eying the E0, simple UI, decent level of light from the sounds of it? Really think a floody beam would be best for my needs.
You guys are great!!
Click to expand...

It does come on at Medium. You can essentially use it as a single output light if you wish.
 
The LOD-CE does come on at medium. The E1 is also a very useful light.
 
LG&M said:
The LOD-CE does come on at medium. The E1 is also a very useful light.
Click to expand...


Thanks for that info, makes it more aplealing now.

Yes, the E1 is a nice size, but I belive a 123 size light is a bit bulky for a keychain light. As I have mentioned in a past post I am a contractor/handyman and never know what I am going to get into, so I try and be prepared as best as possible. I already carry a leatherman XTi, a Kershaw Leek, a gerber folding utility blade knife, my keys, a E2 when I know I need it and a zippo in my pockets pretty much all the time. Then I shove whatever else I need in my pockets as well. Kind of loaded down now, don't really need more bulk!!

Now, what really sucks, is comparing the L1 to the LOD-CE, the L1 is kinda obsolete before it even get here?
 
another trick that you can do with the L0D-CE if you want to go straight to high (the third level) rather than twisting three times is to "squeeze" the head of the light against the body of the flashlight with your fingers, then twist the light. The squeezing completes the circuit between the head and the body and steps through medium and low. Twisting on after that will cause the light to start off on high.

This is a shortcut I've used to go straight to high rather than twisting on-off-on-off-on, it's just squeeze-squeeze-on for max brightness quickly, sounds complicated but it's actually pretty simple in practice. For momentary use I can even squeeze-and-hold.
 
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