Replacement for Mrs Sybaris's Maglite Solitare

[sybaris]

Just as I am whittling down my choice for my first real flashlight, my wife surprises me the totally opposite reaction I expected.

Instead of telling me how I am spending silly amounts of money on what is essentially a light, and I can buy a torch for £1.50 in Tescos, she says she has conveniently lost her solitaire maglite and is looking for something to go on to her keyring in its place.

I have just started looking at low budget keyring lights, you know to see your way up the path to the front door, or to see the lock in the dark. Also every year she loses the thing when she takes it off her keyring in the summer so I dont want to keep buying expensive items. I noticed this comes in a range of colours, which I am sure would be her top most important influencing factor on deciding what piece of illumination hardware would be most suitable.

I was wondering what the various voices of experience and wisdom thought of the Fenix E01?

Perhaps I can get one in time for Valentines Day.

Mr Sybaris.

P.S. to the girls who will call me Mr unromantic, I will buy her some flowers too. (It may even help her to over look what I am spending on my light )

 

[greenLED]

The E01 would be a great replacement for your wife's Solitaire. You can even get it in a color she likes.

That said, I gave my wife an L0D a while back. She seemed to like it better than the original ArcAAA I gave her.

 

[rockz4532]

E01 or LD01, E01 has lower output, one mode, and LD01 has multi level, topping at 80 lumens. Both take 1AAA battery, and the E01 lasts 11 hours decent output, and the LD01 1 hour on high.
E01- $15.00
LD01- $45.00

 

[Tekno_Cowboy]

Pretty much any LED AAA light I've seen beats out the solitaire. The fenix E01 I have works fine for me.

 

[Gunner12]

I think an E01 of the appropriate color or a LD01 should be good(maybe the stainless steel version of the LD01 would be nice).

 

[Strauss]

Another vote for an appropriate colored fenix E01. It will be PLENTY bright for her use, and make sure you outfit it with an E2 lithium cell for optimum performance :thumbsup:

 

[Black Rose]

I gave my wife a Purple E01 for her keychain last year. She carries it all the time.

She uses it as a lanyard for the pink Vic Classic SD SAK I gave her for Christmas.

 

[deusexaethera]

I have a bunch of E01's, and honestly I'm not that impressed. Supposedly it uses the same LED as the Arc AAA, but Arc must choose the best of the lot because the E01 has a huge purple spot in the middle surrounded by yellow spill.

The L0D/LD01, on the other hand, has a much better, more even beam, with neutral color all the way through. And it's a whole lot brighter than the Arc AAA or the E01.

 

[burntoshine]

fenix LD01!

 

[Blinding]

I went through this selection process back in October. I finally settled on the Streamlight MicroStream. My reasons were:

Simple interface. No modes to cycle through. Strobe and SOS are just going to annoy her. Also a button is easier for her than a twist.

Good brightness. I didn't think the E01 was bright enough for outdoor use. This is balanced with sufficient run time. Won't last all night but for finding her way from door to car it will last a long time.

Reasonable price ($15). I wasn't going to drop a wad of cash and then have her loose or break it.

Small size. This is a single AAA light. While it is slightly bigger than a solitare, L0D, etc. it is still small enough to forget you have it.

It has worked out surprisingly well. She wears it on a lanyard around her neck! She quickly figured out that it can be used in momentary mode as well as clicked on.

The only negative was the pocket clip for lanyard wear. I managed to loop a lanyard through the pocket clip but a split ring option would have been nice.

 

[paulr]

I agree with the E01, or Arc AAA if you want something a little more upscale, or Peak Matterhorn (snow led) if you want more neutral beam color. LD01 is probably not a good choice because of cost, complexity, and battery demands. I'm not familiar with the Microstream except to say that photos of it were in my opinion not so attractive compared to the other lights mentioned.

 

[johnfolsomjr]

Here's another vote for the Fenix E01. It's dead simple and gets the job done just fine.

 

[Chrontius]

The E01 is tiny - add to that the choice of colors, and you've got a win.