Looking for keychain light for my wife

[MrBenchmark]

Yes, yet another thread about something - I should be able to figure out on my own.

My wife isn't going to carry a flashlight in her purse. I bought her a very pretty pink AA maglite (her favorite color) with a luxeon III drop-in from the sandwich shoppe several years ago. She loves it, but only keeps it by her bedside. It's just too bulky to carry in her purse, in her opinion. (Given what some EDC, I know this is hard to comprehend. But rather than argue with her, I choose to simply accept her preference.)

Anyway, she really needs a flashlight. We have a place in the country, and it's legitimately dark out here, and there are actual critters. Our porch light is somewhat sketchy in its operation. (Yeah, I need to fix that. )

Requirements:
1. SMALL - this is important. (3" long or less - preferably less.)
2. High quality
3. Needs to have two modes - low and high. Low needs to be 5-10 lumens or so. (A little more is OK.) High needs to be 70+ lumens. (She'll probably never use the high setting - but by God if she hears something in the dark, while getting out of her car, I want her to be able to see it.)
4. Very simple UI - OFF, LOW, HIGH. No strobes, nothing she has to mess with.
5. Bonus points if it's pink or purple, or pretty and distinctive - jewelry like.
6. Price is not a big consideration, nothing but the best for my baby. (OK, under $150 - more if it's real purty!)
7. AAA or CR2. (I don't really care which, I'll buy a bunch at once.)

Contenders (in no particular order - feel free to add if I missed anything good):
1. NiteCore EZ CR2
2. Fenix LD01
3. Muyschondt Aeon
4. ITP EOS
5. liteflux lf2

I've been away from buying flashlights for a while, and so I have to admit that I *really* don't know the brands that well any longer.

I had thought about buying her a proton pro (I have one of these, it's nice) - but after really looking at what she carries and what she'll put up with carrying, I really think something a bit smaller and prettier than that will be better for her. Also I think starting on "high" probably won't match her usage well.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have!

 

[hanzo]

My wife and I both EDC Fenix L0Ds. I just bought a NiteCore EZ AA and can't wait for it to arrive.

 

[Henk_Lu]

First, think about the batteries. If you don't mind a more exotic one, the Muyshond Aeon will probably be the most beautifull one of your current selection. I don't have any CR2 lights, I own an LD01ss and got an LF2XT (the gorgeous titanium version from Steve!) two days ago.

The LD01 is the simple, proven one. You can use it as a single mode light, as it starts on medium, probably everything your wife will ever need. Next comes low, usefull too to save some battery power, then high, a nice bonus! I got an LD01ss for my wife as well, she carries it on her keychain, but hardly uses it, we unfortunately live in a well-lit area. Yes, I mean unfortunately, I liked darkness before being a flashaholic and consider street lights as light pollution. Of course, you feel safer in a well lit area, we won't discuss that here. The ss version looks very nice, but is heavier of course than the aluminium version.

The LF2XT is the most versatile light. I don't know your wife, only mine, she wouldn't accept an LF2XT as it comes wih the manual. Unusable for a non-flashaholic. Fortunately, some wifes have a flashaholic at home who can customize an LF2XT. Using the FUI, you could program everything from obe to five modes for her, one click for on, two clicks to cycle through the modes, one more click for off, momentary if she likes it. If you don't need it at once, Steve is preparing a third wave of titaniums. As for the nice-effect, that one is on one level with the Aeon, mine has a trit installed. You can use the stock clip or the ring with a lanyard. What I especially like about the LF2XT : The neutral white Q4. Probably it lacks some Lumen compared to the R2 version, but the color rendering is nicer. It is available with an R2 however (don't know for the next titanium wave).

Another idea could be a Peak Led Solutions Eiger. That one is one-mode, bu you get it as you want it. Wide, medium or narrow beam, 8 possible outputs, HA-III or ss (titanium will follow). I grabbed one of the gold-plated brass editions. I still don't have it and I fear already that I may have it only until my wife sees it...

Last but not least : There will be a Quark AAA soon, titanium (XP-G R5) and aluminium (XP-G R4). As if that was not enough : Titanium Innovations AAA with an XPG-R5. Both will probably be under 50$ for the titaniums. The AAAs are getting more and more popular as the output reaches 100 Lumen by now. Just great!

I suggest to power the AAAs with an Energizer L92. Light-weighted and powerfull! Eneloop type cells are good as well of course.

 

[Blinding]

I had to consider the same issues and chose the Streamlight Microstream. This is a 1xAAA size so it is small. It has a forward clicky and is very easy to use. She started out wearing it on a neck lanyard but now uses the clip to keep it in her pocket. This is better than the purse as she doesn't always have the purse on her and, even when she does, it can sometimes take a while to find things in there.

She went through a lot of cheap lights and would come to me with a bunch of springs and parts asking me to "fix it". The Microstream has held up with no problems.

 

[compasillo]

I'm in the same issue and almost decided for a lummi raw NS. It's a very cool light, 2-mode (you can choose the outputs from manufacturer), trits can be choosen also (white, green or blue), it's under $150 and has a jewelery look.
Look at this link http://www.lummi.co.uk/Raw_NS.html

 

[hyperloop]

2 mode AAA, sort of leaves the maratac, ITP and LD01 for the easiest of lights to use, liteflux is great but the interface may not be what your wife is looking for.

I own an aluminum LD01, love it to bits. So small and light you can't really feel its weight in the pocket.

If your wife has longer nails, she might not like a clicky (dont own a microstream so cannot comment on the clicky) unless its one that sticks out far enough to operate easily with longer nails (ruin a woman's manicure at your own risk)

the only pretty AAAs that i know would be a La Petite Killer with AAA tube.

 

[compasillo]

My wife and I both EDC Fenix L0Ds. I just bought a NiteCore EZ AA and can't wait for it to arrive.

I don't want to bring you down in your expectatives but this flashlight has disappointed me a bit. It's not "easy" at all to handle it with one hand (even with its threads very well nyogeled) and the amount of twisty action to change modes from off to low to high and viceversa is too much for a comfy use. When you keep it in your pocket (switched off = loosen) for a while the threads tend to get dust and lint getting dirty and gritty. Finally, after a very short use I decided to resell it.
The L0D's (and LD01) are better for me, though I have to say they all mine (4) have a dirty beam shot (artifacts and irregular centre spot) in comparaison with the new pocket rockets ITP A3 EOS and Maratac AAA, wich are very superior in every point: clean, ringyless and wide beam shot, three very well compensated modes 18-1,5-80 lm (no useless strobe or sos), very cool design, little size, easy and very smooth one hand operation, more lightweighed... And now I'm waiting for the new line with cool colours that may beat the market of the AAA flashlights.

 

[tygger]

AAA Peak Eiger maybe? Everyone seems to have good things to say about them. Just ordered a #3 with medium beam to replace my E01 based on other users positive input.

 

[Petersen]

Out of your "specs" but:

SF T1A ( LA Policegear has them on sale for 199.99)
any of the Lummi series , but they all run on rechargeable
(can you get Pink or Purple Tritium vials ??? :thinking: )

 

[hazna]

If you really want small, and willing to go with exotic rechargeable batteries, you can look at the drake/draco.

From the list, I would go with the LD01 or the ITP. The ITP is marginally smaller, a lot cheaper. I believe it can't tailstand unless you cut off the key ring attachment.

I think they both come in stainless steel version, but not sure if they are still available. Your wife might find SS a nicer looking?

LF2XT is slightly larger and can be confusing interface.

IMO CR2 batteries, I would consider exotic. They are quite expensive where I live. If I were going CR2, I'd prefer the drake/draco with rechargeable 10180/10280 batteries

 

[MojaveMoon07]

I haven't bought the LF2XT yet for my family, but I have a suggestion for those who think their spouse would be turned off by the user interface. It seems to me that a person could still have a lot of fun with the flashlight even using just one single aspect of the interface -- press and hold to ramp in one direction .. and then let go and press and hold again to ramp in the opposite direction. [In the LF2XT thread, someone pointed out to me that it takes nine seconds to ramp from the one extreme brightness level to the other extreme brightness level; so I guess this flashlight might not be right for someone wants to access a particular brightness level in a hurry] Another positive aspect is the soft touch [according to what I've read] required to press the button -- the person that I'm getting this for gets in the winter time painful cracks in the tips of her fingers. But for the women who have long-ish fingernails, the soft touch required to press the button might be an advantage since it's my guess that such a woman would have to use the pads of her fingers to access the button.

 

[TooManyGizmos]

From your contenders ..........

ITP EOS would be best for a keychain


even the single level is nice

 

[MrBenchmark]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm parsing through all this now. I didn't know at all about the lummi wee or the Draco. The tiny little lummi light + some tritium indicators in nickel silver looks really, really pretty. How well would that hold up on a key chain in a purse?

Also, how easy is the charger to deal with? My wife might not mind having to recharge / change a battery now and then, unless doing it is real fussy.

I'm sure I'll ask more questions in a bit

 

[RobertM]

A SF E1B comes pretty close to fullfilling your requests/requirements:

Requirements:
1. SMALL - this is important. (3" long or less - preferably less.) Close, but it is 4.0".
2. High quality Absolutely!
3. Needs to have two modes - low and high. Low needs to be 5-10 lumens or so. (A little more is OK.) High needs to be 70+ lumens. (She'll probably never use the high setting - but by God if she hears something in the dark, while getting out of her car, I want her to be able to see it.) Yup, high and low; plus the SF TIR optics really help with spotting critters!
4. Very simple UI - OFF, LOW, HIGH. No strobes, nothing she has to mess with. Check. Click for high, click again for off, click once more for low.
5. Bonus points if it's pink or purple, or pretty and distinctive - jewelry like. Nope, but silver is available.
6. Price is not a big consideration, nothing but the best for my baby. (OK, under $150 - more if it's real purty!) $100-150 depending where you look.
7. AAA or CR2. (I don't really care which, I'll buy a bunch at once.) Nope, but CR123 is just a bit bigger than CR2.

Out of curiosity, why did you exclude CR123 from number 7? Size I imagine?

-Robert

EDIT: Oops, never mind, I missed the part about it being a keychain. Move along...

 

[compasillo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm parsing through all this now. I didn't know at all about the lummi wee or the Draco. The tiny little lummi light + some tritium indicators in nickel silver looks really, really pretty. How well would that hold up on a key chain in a purse?

Also, how easy is the charger to deal with? My wife might not mind having to recharge / change a battery now and then, unless doing it is real fussy.

I'm sure I'll ask more questions in a bit

The Lummi Wee is really small (the smallest in the world, as Rob claims) but only has one mode to choose from three optional. Runtime of battery is not much (depending of output selected) but you can buy a spare one (or two) and keep them charged for a quick replacement. To deal with the charger has no complication at all, just plug and wait as any other charger. Lithium batteries keep charged for a long time (not as NiMH) so there's not much to worry about.

Personally that's the election for my wife, with 100 lm output and a warm white tint (as she likes) so it can be used as a "light weapon" to blind anybody if necessary or any other emergency situation. Its 12 g with battery make it very lightweighed to carry around and a really exclusive torch, almost a piece of jewelry, and probably she ain't gonna meet another woman carrying the same flashlight .

Luck with your search !

 

[Flying Turtle]

I think I'd go with the Maratac or ITP. Since they are smaller than the Fenix and LiteFlux models keychain duty will be better. And the price is nothing to complain about at $20. If your wife is like mine she'd wouldn't appreciate exotic metals or exclusivity.

Geoff

 

[Kiessling]

All very nice suggestions. But you have to know how females tick. Give her the pink one

bernie

 

[think2x]

I would go with the ITP EOS. I have the stainless steel and it's a beauty with great output levels. I use the low setting to check on the family in the early morning on the way off to work (it doesn't wake them) and the high to see while unlocking the storage building in the darkness at work.

 

[MrBenchmark]

A SF E1B comes pretty close to fullfilling your requests/requirements:

I can understand missing the part about the keychain light - I gave a really long laundry list o' desired features! Just wanted to let you know that I EDC a surefire E1B, and that I think it is an absolutely fantastic light. In its way, for its intended use, it's likely perfect. My wife thinks it's too big though!

 

[MrBenchmark]

All very nice suggestions. But you have to know how females tick. Give her the pink one


bernie

Thanks Bernie! I forgot that photon made a little pink light. I like photon lights, they are quite nice.

I'll post what I end up getting her. Maybe I should buy one of each listed in the thread and uh, let her choose...

BTW, I'll probably WILL buy several of these lights - I am going to give a few out as Christmas gifts this year.