davegLED,
I have a L1D as my EDC light. It combines lots of good points:
-It produce a huge amount of light for a 1AA flashlight
-It uses the easiest to find battery in the world
-Rechargeable NiMh batteries makes it usable at very low cost
-Fenix remains the output/runtime king on standard batteries
-It's very compact compared to other 1AA flashlights
-It's well made
-It has one of the best regulation circuit on the market
-The beam profile is one of the best: great compromise between throw, spill and hotspot.
I bought it about a year ago and I LOVE it. Since that time, I became addicted to great flashlights. I've been looking hundreds of forums (especially this one!) and websites to look if a better one exist. I'm still searching...
I did find other amazing lights though. The Olight T15 Q5 (2008 model) is also great (See
http://www.light-reviews.com/olight_t15_2008/). But one thing bothers me about it: brightness level cycles are from brightest to dimmest. At level 1, It's a better thrower than the L1D. But the L1D produce more lumens.
Also if you want the greatest output from a 1AA flashlight go with the "EagleTac P10A". Of course the runtime is short. The EagleTac is also well made and it's really efficient for the output. But two things bother me about it. First, it's definitely bigger than the L1D (the heat dissipation looks better though). Secondly, a low enough output mode is missing. The new LD10 has a great new design over it's L1D brother. Whiter tint. Better throw. That's about it. Fenix claim that the circuit is more efficient. If I look at selfbuit 2AA round-up review (because LD20 head is the same as LD10 head) I noticed that efficiency has been lost at High and Turbo mode. It may be better on LOW and MEDIUM though... The biggest lost is the runtime on Turbo mode.
I usually use this flashlight on Turbo, so it's a great lost for me.
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Every flashlight I've mention above has it's 2AA brother.
L1D -->L2D : Here you gain output AND runtime. Efficiency is also better because you slightly more than double the runtime for every level and you also gain output! I simply got both flashlights :twothumbs
LD10 --> LD20 : same as above I guess
EagleTac P10A --> :EagleTac P10A2 At High you gain output, runtime and efficiency. At low you gain output, runtime but you slightly lose efficiency.
Olight T15 --> Olight T25 : STOP!! That the exception here. Those two lights have not much in common except the fact that they use AA bateries. Their respective user interface are different. Have a look at
http://www.light-reviews.com/olight_t25_regular/
I recently bought the Olight T25 (regular version). I will compare it with the L2D:
I prefer the user interface of the T25 Regular. But thats me. It has more throw. It's not better!! Just different throw. The heat dissipation looks better than the L2D but I never did the test. I will. It's a little bit bigger but not much. The threads are soooooooooooooooo smooth. It has a removable side clip the L2D don't have. From what I've seen with selfbuilt review (2AA round-up) the L2D is still the output/runtime king over the T25 Regular. But it is so similar, that's not a real point.
You may want to consider the tactical version of this light. Three outputs instead of five. Different user interface. Selfbuilt will eventualy add this version in his 2AA round-up review. If the conclusions of light-reviews.com are true the Tactical version has more output AND more runtime over the Regular version.
You may want a have a look at these threads and read them carefully: especially selfbuit's conclusions:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=186665
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=214890
So daveLED, Fenix L1D Premium Q5 and L2D Premium Q5 are great choices. It all depends on what YOUR needs are, what your preferences are. The user interface of each model are different from each other. At the end, you risk to buy them all... Welcome to the flashacolic world!
Christ
