Need a recommendation please!

[Ross]

Hi folks, I need some help with a flashlight for my sister, she has to walk to & from university in the dark occasionaly. Only a walk of 30 mins or so. The light must be:

1. Small enough to fit in a small handbag
2. Either rechargeable or runs on AA batteries
3. Reasonably cheap
4. LED
5. Waterproof
6. As powerful as the above requirements let it be!

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

Ross

 

[cognitivefun]

Streamlight Jr. Luxeon is a good choice. It runs on AA batteries and you can get NiMH rechargables. It is small, I think it is water resistant (I'm not sure you can swim with it ) and it is relatively inexpensive (US$30 or so)

 

[cratz2]

Hrmm... the Princeton Tec Tec40 was the first light that caome to mind... other than the LED requirement. The UL eLED AAA and Princeton Tec Attiture (AAA) are the first that come to mind but personally, if I was going to 'buy' my niece a light rather than 'recommend' a light for her, I might want it to be a bit 'nicer'. Maybe the Gerber Trio or Lux1.0 depending on the sort of beam you/she prefers.

 

[JonSidneyB]

How Small is Small...Is and L4 small to you or is do you have to get down to the size of a Arc before you saw its small.

 

[_mike_]

Elektrolumens XM-3 runs on 2AA and someone found out it will even run on one AA with a dummy cell.

Gerber LX 3.0 runs on 3AA's and is also well regarded.

Both put out a good amount of light and have run times of over 2 hours I think.

 

[cognitivefun]

The Gerber LX 3.0 is heavy and would make a fine weapon to swing before she runs away if ever needed. It is quite hefty /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bonvivantmike]

I bought my girlfriend a UK eLED 4AA for her purse. It works well for her. But for the specific purpose of nighttime walking, I would want something with a little more flood. I'd go with the Streamlight Junior Luxeon. Get her some rechargable NiMH batteries and a charger, and encourage her to keep the batteries in the light charged up, and carry a pair or two of alkaline AAs in her purse for when she needs backup batteries.

 

[pedalinbob]

i would lean toward a luxeon based light.

Gerber LX 1.0 (very bright, but a bit long)

SL Jr Luxeon (very bright, shorter runtime)

UK4AALED (VERY long runtime, not too bright, too big?)

Teralux+Minimag (balanced brightness/runtime?)

Everled+2AA light (hard to find 2aa PR body for host)

MAdmax Lite + minimag (might be perfect: long runtime, quite bright, small enough...but too expensive?)

i guess if it were pretty dark, the Gerber Trio might work as well.

i would go one step further, and figure out the minimum amount of lux she needs to walk comfortably, and go from there.
i find that in areas of no light pollution, i can get away with only 30 lux on a walk.
medium light pollution (camping) i seem to need about 150 lux.
lots of light pollution, and my requirements go up to >300 lux, usually topping 400 lux.

Bob

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

a Gerber LX3 is nice and bright, a couple inches longer than a Minimag.

the Streamlight Jr luxeon is also nice, but battery life for 30 minute walks daily might not be the best.

a drop-in for a Minimag.

and last, the Streamlight Propolymer LED.

can't really think of any other bright rechargeable or AA LED's that are reasonably cheap.

 

[Mags]

I must agree with one part of Pedalinbob's suggestion. A minimag with a Madmax converter. But it really depends how tight your budget is. would 60$ do it for you?

 

[stockae92]

badboy or madmax or nextgen sandwich on 2 AA maglite with a LuxIII and NX-05 is quite nice

otherwise the current offerings of "3W 2 AA with reflector and clickie" will fit your bills as well

 

[Ross]

Jon, I'm thinking of a Surefire G2 size. That would be about right. $60 wouldnt be too much, its going to be a xmas present.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys, I hadnt seen the Gerber offering - I'll take a look at that one.

 

[kakster]

Ross, Joe has the Gerber on his site.

 

[Stanley]

How about an Eternalight? Pretty long runtime and very bright for its size too...

Else if $$ is not too much of a concern, then get her either a E1e or E2e with a KL1, running off 2xR123s from JSBurlys, and you've got a 'suh-weet' flood light with lots and lots of runtime...

Pedalinbob, Coleman has a nice 2AA PR bulb based light that's pretty decent, esp as a host for an Everled... Just tot you might wanna know, in case you're looking for one... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[pedalinbob]

thanks, Stanley.

i just found the new version dorcy boss 2aa--stainless and rubber, with partially faceted reflector.

wonder how that would do?
it is a handsome light!

gonna have to get an everled to play with.

Bob

 

[Flashdark]

Ross,

Start with the L4. If runtime becomes an issue, you can put an old KL1 on it for flood or put a new KL1 on it for pencil-beam. You also have the option of the MN-02 bulb for 25 lumens of pencil-beam for 2 1/2 hrs., or the MN-03 bulb for 60 lumens of pencil-beam for 75 minutes. Clickie tailcap is great for Utility and has the option of "momentary-on". A great "foundation" platform. You can make this light into almost anything.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ross]

I was trying to avoid 123 powered lights to keep running it cheap for my sister, thanks for the ideas though.