What do you desire from a AAA-size light?

[DHart]

I'll go first.
-Warm tint (it's going to be used around-the-house, and close-quarters; warm tint is the most pleasing and natural looking to me)
-High CRI (well, of course… why wouldn't you want high CRI?)
-Floody (I'm not expecting to use the light to light-up distant objects; it will be used at close-range distances, not a thrower by any means)
-10440 (because you get a lot more bang-for-the-buck from a 3.7+v 10440 Li-Ion than you do from a 1.4v Eneloop)

As for UI, I love Anduril, but would settle for L-M-H-T; soft clicks tail switch. Twisty UI as a second choice.

The UI is less important to me than the tint, CRI, and beam shape are.
And… your favorite AAA-sized light is what? And, why?
I haven't acquired a favorite that meets my desires, just yet, but the Folomov EDC C1 sure checks all of my boxes! And it isn't stupid expensive, either.

 

[bykfixer]

Triple A lights and modern LED's have become amazing compared to the light bulb version.
I carry a thrower with me every day. It has a twisty head that starts on high with a low option. High is over 100 lumens sustained that lights objects well at 50' plus. Low is around 15, a very useable amount that massively increases run time. Cool beam that identifies colors without much bias. A PK Design Lab PL2.

My 2am nature call number is a 7 lumen number, again with a twisty head. It has a warm tint that indentifies where the dogs are in my path, where the door is and stuff like that. A Sofirm C-01 with a Yuji.

I really like the Maglite solitaire in warm. 30 something lumens with a good combo of throw and spill.

My close up inspection into small cavities is an incan solitaire since only a small amount of light is best.

I have found that I prefer a twisty head on a triple a light.

 

[Mgizler]

You need to check out the Preon MKiii. It sounds like it everything you are looking for in a AAA light

 

[Vemice]

Sounds like one of mine.
For around the house I like my raw aluminum Peak Eiger single mode Mule. It is High CRI and warm; 3200K. I also have one with QTC for variable output but usually the single mode is just fine. I need light and there it is. Lights up the whole garage when I need it.
Other requirements are very rugged and reliable.

 

[archimedes]

....
-Warm tint ....
-High CRI ....
-Floody ....
-10440 ....

As for UI, I love Anduril, but would settle for L-M-H-T; soft clicks tail switch. Twisty UI as a second choice....

And… your favorite AAA-sized light is what? And, why?
....

I've switched from the Peak Eiger, to UniVex, to JetuSolis, over the years.

* Peak (stainless steel) = (very) warm , high CRI , floody , AAA (10440 compatible) , twist (QTC) switch

* UniVex (titanium) = "neutral" (warm) , moderately high CRI , floody , AAA (10440 compatible) , "soft-press" clicky (H/M/L-m) switch

* JetuSolis (anodized aluminum) = 4000K , 98 CRI , floody , AAA (only) , twist (L/M/H+m) switch

Most important feature in this category for me is quality of the output. It is probably also worth noting, incidentally, that I also have a JetuSolis 5000K / 99 CRI yet prefer the version listed above.

 

[knucklegary]

Arch, were you in on the BLF GB or did you purchase later directly from virence?

I ask because for months, since last year, everytime log on site "sold out" for all tints. Thx..

 

[archimedes]

Arch, were you in on the BLF GB or did you purchase later directly from virence?

I ask because for months, since last year, everytime log on site "sold out" for all tints. Thx..

I purchased direct, quite a while back. I wish more of these were available, too.

I am not on that other forum, and I mention that partly because someone has a similar username there.

 

[elzilcho]

JetuSolis 5000K / 99 CRI

I would love to see how that one looks. Is that emitter available in a pre-made light or is it something I need to have a modder create?

 

[archimedes]

I would love to see how that one looks. Is that emitter available in a pre-made light or is it something I need to have a modder create?

I am not aware of any standard production flashlights using this emitter right now.

 

[ZMZ67]

My preferences -

• Neutral White or a good cool white depending on the activities of the day unless I need a specific color
• Tail switch over twisty but I will use twisties sometimes especially for single mode lights
• Simple, 1-3 levels no strobe or any flashing modes
• A usable clip
• generally floody
• Lithium primary/eneloop. I don't want to bother with 10440 and I avoid alkalines due to leaks and limited performance

I EDC AAA lights pretty frequently and I usually carry either the Olight i3T or a Neutral e-switch version of the Tool,sometimes both since the Tool is so small. I almost always have the i3UV in my pocket as well.

 

[defloyd77]

Reliable, long running and high CRI. I used to carry a Lumintop/Massdrop copper AAA with a Nichia LED, but the runtime on it was very lousy. Right now I carry my warm white Sofirn C01, hasn't let me down yet. I had thought about getting a single output Peak Eiger, but decided to go with an El Capitan instead.

 

[Buck91]

Reliability, warm light, good cri, long runtime modes and ~100lm mode and must handle alkaleaks or nimh. Absolutely must be affordable as they are potentially easy to lose.

So far my two favorite AAA lights are very different- thrunite ti3 for edc on the keys but I LOVE my lumintop ti tool. Just a perfect little light. Close follow up is the budget champ the Sofirn c01s.

 

[ma tumba]

Triple a lights are very convenient and I like my jet-u with e21a, by Clemence, but I do think that a flashlight must be fully programmable. The smallest programmable driver that I am aware of is for double a, by Calipsoii

 

[archimedes]

.... The smallest programmable driver that I am aware of is for double a, by Calipsoii

Depends on how you mean "programmable" but the LF2XT driver could perhaps meet that criterion.

 

[ma tumba]

I mean that I can create my own sequence of levels: arbitrary number, arbitrary levels, like in luci2 firmware.

Thanks for mentioning the lf2xt, will look into it

 

[archimedes]

I mean that I can create my own sequence of levels: arbitrary number, arbitrary levels, like in luci2 firmware.

Thanks for mentioning the lf2xt, will look into it

Yes, it was rather advanced, especially for its time.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

What I require in a AAA light:

1. It has to be small. Whether keychain or pocket, space is priority.

2. Neutral tint, preferably high CRI.

3. Two or three useful modes, at least one under 10 lumens and one over 50 lumens.

3. A normal beam, neither throwy nor too floody.

My favorite is the original Astrolux A01, which I bought several in a group buy a few years ago. 4000K, high CRI Nichia 219B. Great beam. Small enough to disappear into a pocket. Three very useful modes: moonlight (around 0.25 lumens), low (around 8 lumens), and high (around 80 or 90 lumens). Twisty switch, but very reliable and consistent.

My only complaint is that I'm always loosing them behind the couch cushions, when they slip out of my pocket. But at least I know where to find one, when I need it.

 

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

Probably something like a high output of 150-200 lumens. Having 6 modes would be cool too. The perfect AAA would be stainless, twisty or clicky rear button. Power output something like 1, 8, 45, 90, 140 and 200 would be cool but probably impossible. Right now I have a Fenix E05 stainless and it's been a great light ... power is 8 / 25 / 85. 85 is actually pretty bright on this thing, but more would be better in some cases.

Another idea would be a voice command light: So you could say; Flamethrower, or KILL and it would follow your commands.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Probably something like a high output of 150-200 lumens. Having 6 modes would be cool too. The perfect AAA would be stainless, twisty or clicky rear button. Power output something like 1, 8, 45, 90, 140 and 200 would be cool but probably impossible. Right now I have a Fenix E05 stainless and it's been a great light ... power is 8 / 25 / 85. 85 is actually pretty bright on this thing, but more would be better in some cases.

I was thinking about how to design a very small AAA light with very high output. A single AAA cell has about 1 watt hour of energy in it. That's enough to put out 4000 lumens for about 90 seconds, assuming 100 lumens/watt efficiency. A single XHP70.2 emitter should be able to do that. Obviously, a AAA cell can't provide 40 watts, but if you couple it with a supercapacitor and a regulated driver, it could pump out that much power for a few seconds. A few seconds is all the light would be able to handle, due to heat.

A small 1xAAA flashlight able to put out 4000 lumens for 5 second bursts would be wicked. You'd only get a dozen or so blasts from it, and have to wait for the supercap to recharge between bursts (and the light to cool down), but it would be worth it.

 

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

I was thinking about how to design a very small AAA light with very high output. A single AAA cell has about 1 watt hour of energy in it. That's enough to put out 4000 lumens for about 90 seconds, assuming 100 lumens/watt efficiency. A single XHP70.2 emitter should be able to do that. Obviously, a AAA cell can't provide 40 watts, but if you couple it with a supercapacitor and a regulated driver, it could pump out that much power for a few seconds. A few seconds is all the light would be able to handle, due to heat.

A small 1xAAA flashlight able to put out 4000 lumens for 5 second bursts would be wicked. You'd only get a dozen or so blasts from it, and have to wait for the supercap to recharge between bursts (and the light to cool down), but it would be worth it.

Ha! well yeah, it would be an eye opening showpiece for a very short time. The cool thing is, battery technology is moving along at a brisk pace, so who knows how much power could be loaded into a AAA size platform!? If it did happen though, the next problem is a small mass isn't much of a heatsink, so we might have to just be happy with a hundred or so lumens max.