Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychain light?

[ABTOMAT]

My girlfriend lost her old keychain light at the fireworks last night (I had my U2) so I'm wondering what's CPF would suggest. Looking for something cheap (under $20) that isn't total junk. Needs to have decent runtime and use batteries that can be found in stores. Was thinknig something along the lines of an ASP Aspen, but less outdated. Or maybe an Arc AAA.

 

[Batou00159]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

if you could stretch the pennies you could get an itp a3 for not much more:naughty:

 

[jabe1]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

Look at the ITP A3 or the Maratac AAA, a little bit more than $20, but well worth it.

 

[flatline]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

The ITP A3 EOS upgrade (3 modes) lists for 20.50 at shiningbeam and going gear. going gear has an 8% discount for CPF members. I think shiningbeam also has a discount. Check greenLED's thread for the details. The 1 mode ITP A3 is $18, but the extra runtime afforded by the medium and low modes will pay for itself after you go through your first pack of batteries.

If you have other purchases that push the total over $50, going gear offers free shipping...

--flatine

 

[think2x]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

I too must say ITP A3:twothumbs

 

[entoptics]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

If you do a search for "Keychain Light" I'm guessing you'll find about a zillion threads around here. From my experience, 80% of the responses include "iTP EOS A3" as the top recommendation, and when money is a factor that number goes up to 99%.

Millions of folks around here have them (myself included) and I can't think of a single post maligning them for anything other than personal preferences about their Med-Lo-High mode sequence and lack of tail standing. Don't think I've seen any "my A3 broke" threads either.

I personally consider the A3 one of the greatest flashlights made. Somehow iTP managed a sublime balance between quality, size, brightness, runtime, and most importantly MONEY. Tons of flashlights are "better, brighter, tougher, etc", but none I know of can touch the EOS in terms of performance per dollar in it's size category.

Also, they come in 4 nice colors, which might please your girl.

 

[JimH]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

There is already another topic on this same topic. You may find it useful.

 

[mclight]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

I got a ITP A3 EOS upgrade from shiningbeam. amazing little light. I almost like it better than my fenix pd30.

 

[carrot]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

For under $20 you don't have many options but I would look at the Fenix E01, which runs less than $15. It's not the brightest out there but it runs for a very long time. It is also considered fairly reliable, which I wouldn't know anything about since I still have a 3 year old Arc on my keys.

 

[deadrx7conv]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

MLKC2BUCS Energizer silver star is one of my favorite key chain lights. It takes 2 cr2032 batteries. Its a single mode light.
HTKC2BUCS is another newer Energizer keychain light that I use. It uses a couple cr2016 batteries. Has a couple modes.
EVLKCBUCS is the Energizer plastic light with 3 A76 batteries.

The above are lights powered with batteries available at any drugstore and dept store around here.

For higher powered lights, the CR123 powered lights from ebay are pretty good.

My favorite is my ITP A1. I think it cost about $26 on ebay. And for $39, if you want some more modes, you can't go wrong with the Quark mini's.

http://www.4sevens.com/index.php?cPath=297_355
http://www.itplight.com/product_list.asp?bid=21&sid=23
http://www.itplight.com/product_list.asp?bid=21&sid=24

 

[swxb12]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

The E01 is a good suggestion. The knurling will scratch things up in the purse though, if that's where it'll reside. The iTP would be better in this regard.

 

[shark_za]

Re: Recommendations for good, inexpensive keychani light?

The iTP A3 and the E01 are tops in this regard.
My wife always has an A3 red with her as well as a Streamlight Nano on the keys.

Also an option if you don't mind the tiny watch batteries it uses.

 

[post tenebras]

+1 on the Fenix EO1

It's the only Fenix I've owned, and it was a great value.

 

[mcnair55]

Well I am a big fan of the A3 and the baby Fenix,but the Nextorch K1 is smaller and brighter than the EO1 and a classy looking little light.

 

[Zatoichi]

The iTP A3 finally replaced the E01 on my keys. I was very reluctant to retire the E01 from my keychain, but the A3 is a little smaller, has 3 settings including a bright one, I doubt it's as tough as the E01 but it seems durable enough.

Both great lights for a keychain, but for me, the A3 wins by a nose.

 

[red02]

Photon Freedom. 12 for the white covered version at lighthound, features for the price cannot be beat.

 

[Chadder]

I have had two different streamlight micro streams that I have had on my keys. It takes 1xAAA and has about 25 lumens. It cost about $20. Never had any issues with either of mine!

 

[flatline]

Photon Freedom. 12 for the white covered version at lighthound, features for the price cannot be beat.

I love my covert photon freedom micro with red LED, but even though you and I know different, it looks like a cheap coin-cell light. If you give it to someone as a gift, even after you show them all the features that make it so remarkable, they'll still think it's a cheap coin-cell light.

Just sayin...

--flatline

 

[Illumigirl]

My boyfriend got me the PICO Lite in red. Works great for the price. For my second set of keys, I have the LD01, but that's out of budget, I'm thinking...

 

[Buckley]

ITP Eos A3 (Upgraded): Three well-spaced light levels; wonderfully smooth beam; smooth, reliable twisty UI; works well with either alkaline or rechargeable AAA's; amazing quality for the price. Mine has been carried daily for the past five months. It still looks and works like new. The only thing I don't care for is the M-L-H brightness sequence -- but I can live with it. My wife confiscated the first one I purchased upon arrival due to its tiny size, and she still carries hers daily as well.

Highly recommended!