A little over a year ago, I got a 2AA energizer "lithium" flashlight which boasted 90 lumens max and could easily ramp the brightness down or back up by holding the button. It was a father's day gift and was the first LED light I'd ever had that wasn't some toy using 5mm leds (like the nite eyes 3-LED unit I had in my mini-mag for EDC).
Compared to what I'd previously experienced, the energizer 2AA lithium flashlight just screamed "quality" (which is really amusing in retrospect) and it made me wonder what else was out there.
That's what brought be to CandlePowerForums.
I remember reading posts where people were all worked up about things like tint, tail standing, memory, beam pattern, battery size and configuration, etc, and I wondered how anyone could get so worked up about something so "trivial".
Well, I understand a bit better now. This past year I've payed more attention to how I use the lights I have and the things that I like and dislike about all of them (none of them are perfect, but some are better than others) and I thought that I'd post a 1-year's retrospective about what I've learned about myself in regards to EDC flashlights.
Tail Standing
------------
Before coming to CPF, I'd never thought much about tail standing a flashlight. My mini-mag could do it if I took the top off and used it as a base ("candle mode", if you will), but I never bothered because that was inconvenient to do. My first post-CPF purchase was a neutral Quark AA which could tail stand on just about anything without having to fiddle with it. Now that I've experienced a real tail standing light, I use it all the time when I'm inside. In fact, at this point, I won't buy a light that won't tail stand unless it's small enough to hold in my mouth or so big that it'll only ever be used outside (like a spot light or 4D light for the car).
Tint
----
I've always preferred neutral and warm tints to cool tints, but it wasn't until I tried to use a cool tinted light outside in the rain that I learned that there were real objective reasons not to use cool white tints. For those of you who have never tried to use a cool white LED in the fog, rain, or snow, for some reason cool white LEDs produce lots of glare (like using high beams in the fog) while, for reasons unknown to me, neutral and warm tints have no trouble penetrating. I have two cool white lights in my rotation, but they're strictly as indoor or backup-EDC lights (any light is better than no light. Too bad they don't make a neutral or warm ITP A3 for my keychain).
Beam
-----
Most quality lights have a beautiful ring free beam with tightly defined hot spot and large spill. When combined with a multi mode light, this works great for just about everything except for reading. My Quark AA has a moon mode that is much dimmer than the lowest mode of my LF5XT, yet I can't read by it at night. Even in moon mode, the hot spot is so much brighter than the spill, that my adapted eyes can only read the words in the hot spot which means I need to constantly move the hot spot across the page. My LF5XT has a floody beam that's brighter in the center, but not enough brighter that I can't read by the spill. This means I don't have to move the light at all as I read across the page. Since I rarely need to throw light more than 50 feet, I'll take a floody beam over a throwy beam if I have a choice.
Brightness
----------
I understand that for some people and some uses, brighter is always better, but at least for EDC purposes, it turns out that I never use the modes that are 100+ lumens. I bought some 14500 Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries so that I could get a super bright Max mode out of my Quark AA, but the only time I ever use it is when people ask how bright the light can go.
Memory
-------
I have mixed feelings about memory. When I use a light, I don't want it to have memory, that way I can immediately shift to the mode I want. When my light has memory I have to either be very careful to always turn it off in the right mode, or I have to determine which mode it's in before I can shift it to the mode I want. In practice, this isn't really a big deal, but it still irks me.
However, when I loan a light to someone, it's nice to put the light in the mode they need and then just tell them to wait a couple of seconds before turning it back on to avoid switching to another mode (although I've pretty much decided that loaner lights should always be single-mode lights unless the user actually knows how to use the light).
Modes
------
I won't EDC a light unless it has multiple useful modes. Whether a non-EDC light has modes depends on why I wanted the light in the first place.
If the light always starts in the same mode, then I want the initial mode to be the lowest mode and increase in brightness monotonically until it cycles back to the lowest mode. If the light has memory, I still want it to ramp monotonically if I start on the lowest mode. If the mode order doesn't allow ramping from low (M-L-H, for example), then that's only acceptable if the light doesn't have memory (so I can set the level in the holster before pulling the light out...that's much harder to get right if I can't be certain what the starting mode is).
If the light has strobe or SOS modes, I don't want to see them unless I specifically want them. If the light doesn't have memory, then it's sufficient to place those modes after the brightest mode. If the light has memory, then I want the modes hidden somehow.
Battery Configuration
--------------------
I love the capacity of the 18650 cell (my MG L-mini II goes well over a month of regular use before running the cell down if I forget to charge it), but hate the fact that most 18650 hosts are too big to ride invisibly on my belt next to my cell phone. They're also too heavy to hold comfortably in my mouth.
The best compromise between size, capacity, and ease of use seems to be the 1xAA configuration using quality rechargeable cells (like Eneloops). If anyone asks me, that's what I recommend and that's the configuration I purchase the most often. It's great if a 1xAA light can run off li-ion cells, but I won't use them unless the light also has over discharge protection built in (I don't trust crushable protection circuits).
Crenelated Bezels
-----------------
They look cool, but I hate them. I tried carrying my LF5XT in my pocket and it ate a hole in it (and poked me painfully a couple times). I tried carrying my LF5XT in the pouch that came with another light and it chewed up the lining. I'm not even convinced that they offer any advantage should I ever get in a tussle while wielding my flashlight. Seriously, if the fight lasts long enough that blood loss contributes to my chances of victory, I'm already doing something wrong (and probably losing). I'd be better off throwing the light at his face and either closing the distance or running away.
Programmability
---------------
I'm a software engineer by day, so I thought that programming would be a huge advantage for a light. Well, it is and it isn't. If you like everything about the light except for the default UI, if it's programmable, you have a shot at changing the UI to your liking. But once you've got a light programmed the way you like it, it's no better than a light that simply had that behavior from the beginning and sometime it's worse because the ability to program the light might constrain the behavior of the light a bit.
Reverse Clickie vs Forward Clickie vs Electronic Switch
----------------------------------------------------
Since I like multi-mode lights, there's no way I could signal with the light without also changing modes (or programming it), so for my purposes, there's essentially no difference between a reverse or forward clickie (well, except that I'm more likely to get tail standing with a reverse clickie...I don't really understand why that is). Lights with electronic switches are either fine or annoying depending on how the light responds to the switch. The LF5XT has an annoying delay since it's waiting to decide if you just did a single-click or are going to do a double-click. However, even though the LF2XT probably has a delay built into it, too, you don't notice it when using the Compact UI (and I think the delay is shorter in the programmable UI of the LF2XT, but haven't really messed with it much since the LF2XT is my wife's).
Hmm...that just about covers everything. So if I were to create the spec for my perfect EDC, it would have the following:
-- perfect tail standing
-- reverse or forward clickie or an electronic clickie that doesn't get in the way
-- neutral or warm tint
-- floody beam rather than throwy beam
-- needs to be light enough for comfortable mouth holding (this probably dictates that 1xAA is as big as it gets, although I'd love for someone to prove me wrong with a small enough, light enough 18650 light).
-- 1xAA with over discharge protectionn for NiMh (at about 1.0v). The ability to accept 4.2v is nice, but not required. The ability to report the cell voltage is nice (like the LF5XT or LF2XT), especially if there's no over discharge protection for the Li-ion cell.
-- incrementing mode levels starting at the lowest mode (gimmick to allow starting directly at a higher level is acceptable if it doesn't interfere with the regular use of the light (think zebralight UI or tightening the bezel of the quark for max). Modes should be spaced so that each mode is approximately 3 times visibly brighter than the previous (9x more lumens?). The lowest setting should be non-blinding when shining on a book 18 inches from the eye in an otherwise dark room.
-- no memory
-- no crenelations or sharp edges anywhere on the light.
-- either no clip or a removable clip that doesn't have drawbacks.
To top it off, I'd like it to come with a good fitting holster that uses magnets to stay shut rather than velcro. I hate velcro. Nothing screams "I'm going to have to be replaced in 24 months of regular use" like velcro.
The Quark AA (in Neutral) is pretty close to perfect. If it had a floodier beam, I probably wouldn't have bought any more lights for EDC. The ring that holds the clip rattles if it works itself loose, but I could probably fix that with a dab of glue or maybe plumber's tape.
The LF5XT would be perfect if they removed the crenelations, used a neutral tint emitter, and shortened the delay after clicking. So basically, if they make an AA version of the LF2XT, it will probably be as close to perfect as anything.
The MG L-mini II is a perfect during-the-day-carry since its low can compete with office lighting, but it's too heavy for comfortable mouth holding and doesn't have a low enough low to be useful at night except via ceiling bounce. A 1xAA version of the MG L-mini II with a floodier beam and no memory would be pretty close to perfect if the modes were shifted down to, say, 2 lumens, 20 lumens, and 100 lumens.
The ITP A3 on my keychain is actually a strong contender. It has a beautiful floody beam with well spaced modes. If it had a tail standing 1xAA big brother in a neutral tint with L-M-H modes, the same floody beam, and a clickie, it would be pretty close to perfect. The ITP A3 is probably the most bang for the buck light I own.
I'm about to order Zebralight H501w. From everything I've read, I'm optimistic that it will be pretty close to perfect, at least for indoor use.
So there are lots of lights that are pretty darn close to perfect. If someone made a light to the above specifications tomorrow, I'd probably find something to complain about, but it's really hard to go wrong with any of the quality lights out there.
In retrospect, this was a good year to become a flashaholic.
Thanks for putting up with me this year!
--flatline
Update: I got my Zebralight H501w and am extremely impressed. The beam is perfect for up close work (and reading) and the UI is extremely easy to use. The construction is solid with perfect fit and finish. There is a slight pre-flash when tightening the tail if it was on when you loosened the tailcap. The 5A tint seems more pink than the 5A tint of my Quark. I don't know if it's just tint variation between LEDs or if it's because of the flood beam. Neither of these issues are noticeable in use. My only real complaint is that the light is so small that there's no obvious way to hold it securely. Based on my experience so far with it, I'm definitely interested in the H60w and their new AA flashlight if I can justify it (Xmas list?).
--flatline
Compared to what I'd previously experienced, the energizer 2AA lithium flashlight just screamed "quality" (which is really amusing in retrospect) and it made me wonder what else was out there.
That's what brought be to CandlePowerForums.
I remember reading posts where people were all worked up about things like tint, tail standing, memory, beam pattern, battery size and configuration, etc, and I wondered how anyone could get so worked up about something so "trivial".
Well, I understand a bit better now. This past year I've payed more attention to how I use the lights I have and the things that I like and dislike about all of them (none of them are perfect, but some are better than others) and I thought that I'd post a 1-year's retrospective about what I've learned about myself in regards to EDC flashlights.
Tail Standing
------------
Before coming to CPF, I'd never thought much about tail standing a flashlight. My mini-mag could do it if I took the top off and used it as a base ("candle mode", if you will), but I never bothered because that was inconvenient to do. My first post-CPF purchase was a neutral Quark AA which could tail stand on just about anything without having to fiddle with it. Now that I've experienced a real tail standing light, I use it all the time when I'm inside. In fact, at this point, I won't buy a light that won't tail stand unless it's small enough to hold in my mouth or so big that it'll only ever be used outside (like a spot light or 4D light for the car).
Tint
----
I've always preferred neutral and warm tints to cool tints, but it wasn't until I tried to use a cool tinted light outside in the rain that I learned that there were real objective reasons not to use cool white tints. For those of you who have never tried to use a cool white LED in the fog, rain, or snow, for some reason cool white LEDs produce lots of glare (like using high beams in the fog) while, for reasons unknown to me, neutral and warm tints have no trouble penetrating. I have two cool white lights in my rotation, but they're strictly as indoor or backup-EDC lights (any light is better than no light. Too bad they don't make a neutral or warm ITP A3 for my keychain).
Beam
-----
Most quality lights have a beautiful ring free beam with tightly defined hot spot and large spill. When combined with a multi mode light, this works great for just about everything except for reading. My Quark AA has a moon mode that is much dimmer than the lowest mode of my LF5XT, yet I can't read by it at night. Even in moon mode, the hot spot is so much brighter than the spill, that my adapted eyes can only read the words in the hot spot which means I need to constantly move the hot spot across the page. My LF5XT has a floody beam that's brighter in the center, but not enough brighter that I can't read by the spill. This means I don't have to move the light at all as I read across the page. Since I rarely need to throw light more than 50 feet, I'll take a floody beam over a throwy beam if I have a choice.
Brightness
----------
I understand that for some people and some uses, brighter is always better, but at least for EDC purposes, it turns out that I never use the modes that are 100+ lumens. I bought some 14500 Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries so that I could get a super bright Max mode out of my Quark AA, but the only time I ever use it is when people ask how bright the light can go.
Memory
-------
I have mixed feelings about memory. When I use a light, I don't want it to have memory, that way I can immediately shift to the mode I want. When my light has memory I have to either be very careful to always turn it off in the right mode, or I have to determine which mode it's in before I can shift it to the mode I want. In practice, this isn't really a big deal, but it still irks me.
However, when I loan a light to someone, it's nice to put the light in the mode they need and then just tell them to wait a couple of seconds before turning it back on to avoid switching to another mode (although I've pretty much decided that loaner lights should always be single-mode lights unless the user actually knows how to use the light).
Modes
------
I won't EDC a light unless it has multiple useful modes. Whether a non-EDC light has modes depends on why I wanted the light in the first place.
If the light always starts in the same mode, then I want the initial mode to be the lowest mode and increase in brightness monotonically until it cycles back to the lowest mode. If the light has memory, I still want it to ramp monotonically if I start on the lowest mode. If the mode order doesn't allow ramping from low (M-L-H, for example), then that's only acceptable if the light doesn't have memory (so I can set the level in the holster before pulling the light out...that's much harder to get right if I can't be certain what the starting mode is).
If the light has strobe or SOS modes, I don't want to see them unless I specifically want them. If the light doesn't have memory, then it's sufficient to place those modes after the brightest mode. If the light has memory, then I want the modes hidden somehow.
Battery Configuration
--------------------
I love the capacity of the 18650 cell (my MG L-mini II goes well over a month of regular use before running the cell down if I forget to charge it), but hate the fact that most 18650 hosts are too big to ride invisibly on my belt next to my cell phone. They're also too heavy to hold comfortably in my mouth.
The best compromise between size, capacity, and ease of use seems to be the 1xAA configuration using quality rechargeable cells (like Eneloops). If anyone asks me, that's what I recommend and that's the configuration I purchase the most often. It's great if a 1xAA light can run off li-ion cells, but I won't use them unless the light also has over discharge protection built in (I don't trust crushable protection circuits).
Crenelated Bezels
-----------------
They look cool, but I hate them. I tried carrying my LF5XT in my pocket and it ate a hole in it (and poked me painfully a couple times). I tried carrying my LF5XT in the pouch that came with another light and it chewed up the lining. I'm not even convinced that they offer any advantage should I ever get in a tussle while wielding my flashlight. Seriously, if the fight lasts long enough that blood loss contributes to my chances of victory, I'm already doing something wrong (and probably losing). I'd be better off throwing the light at his face and either closing the distance or running away.
Programmability
---------------
I'm a software engineer by day, so I thought that programming would be a huge advantage for a light. Well, it is and it isn't. If you like everything about the light except for the default UI, if it's programmable, you have a shot at changing the UI to your liking. But once you've got a light programmed the way you like it, it's no better than a light that simply had that behavior from the beginning and sometime it's worse because the ability to program the light might constrain the behavior of the light a bit.
Reverse Clickie vs Forward Clickie vs Electronic Switch
----------------------------------------------------
Since I like multi-mode lights, there's no way I could signal with the light without also changing modes (or programming it), so for my purposes, there's essentially no difference between a reverse or forward clickie (well, except that I'm more likely to get tail standing with a reverse clickie...I don't really understand why that is). Lights with electronic switches are either fine or annoying depending on how the light responds to the switch. The LF5XT has an annoying delay since it's waiting to decide if you just did a single-click or are going to do a double-click. However, even though the LF2XT probably has a delay built into it, too, you don't notice it when using the Compact UI (and I think the delay is shorter in the programmable UI of the LF2XT, but haven't really messed with it much since the LF2XT is my wife's).
Hmm...that just about covers everything. So if I were to create the spec for my perfect EDC, it would have the following:
-- perfect tail standing
-- reverse or forward clickie or an electronic clickie that doesn't get in the way
-- neutral or warm tint
-- floody beam rather than throwy beam
-- needs to be light enough for comfortable mouth holding (this probably dictates that 1xAA is as big as it gets, although I'd love for someone to prove me wrong with a small enough, light enough 18650 light).
-- 1xAA with over discharge protectionn for NiMh (at about 1.0v). The ability to accept 4.2v is nice, but not required. The ability to report the cell voltage is nice (like the LF5XT or LF2XT), especially if there's no over discharge protection for the Li-ion cell.
-- incrementing mode levels starting at the lowest mode (gimmick to allow starting directly at a higher level is acceptable if it doesn't interfere with the regular use of the light (think zebralight UI or tightening the bezel of the quark for max). Modes should be spaced so that each mode is approximately 3 times visibly brighter than the previous (9x more lumens?). The lowest setting should be non-blinding when shining on a book 18 inches from the eye in an otherwise dark room.
-- no memory
-- no crenelations or sharp edges anywhere on the light.
-- either no clip or a removable clip that doesn't have drawbacks.
To top it off, I'd like it to come with a good fitting holster that uses magnets to stay shut rather than velcro. I hate velcro. Nothing screams "I'm going to have to be replaced in 24 months of regular use" like velcro.
The Quark AA (in Neutral) is pretty close to perfect. If it had a floodier beam, I probably wouldn't have bought any more lights for EDC. The ring that holds the clip rattles if it works itself loose, but I could probably fix that with a dab of glue or maybe plumber's tape.
The LF5XT would be perfect if they removed the crenelations, used a neutral tint emitter, and shortened the delay after clicking. So basically, if they make an AA version of the LF2XT, it will probably be as close to perfect as anything.
The MG L-mini II is a perfect during-the-day-carry since its low can compete with office lighting, but it's too heavy for comfortable mouth holding and doesn't have a low enough low to be useful at night except via ceiling bounce. A 1xAA version of the MG L-mini II with a floodier beam and no memory would be pretty close to perfect if the modes were shifted down to, say, 2 lumens, 20 lumens, and 100 lumens.
The ITP A3 on my keychain is actually a strong contender. It has a beautiful floody beam with well spaced modes. If it had a tail standing 1xAA big brother in a neutral tint with L-M-H modes, the same floody beam, and a clickie, it would be pretty close to perfect. The ITP A3 is probably the most bang for the buck light I own.
I'm about to order Zebralight H501w. From everything I've read, I'm optimistic that it will be pretty close to perfect, at least for indoor use.
So there are lots of lights that are pretty darn close to perfect. If someone made a light to the above specifications tomorrow, I'd probably find something to complain about, but it's really hard to go wrong with any of the quality lights out there.
In retrospect, this was a good year to become a flashaholic.
Thanks for putting up with me this year!
--flatline
Update: I got my Zebralight H501w and am extremely impressed. The beam is perfect for up close work (and reading) and the UI is extremely easy to use. The construction is solid with perfect fit and finish. There is a slight pre-flash when tightening the tail if it was on when you loosened the tailcap. The 5A tint seems more pink than the 5A tint of my Quark. I don't know if it's just tint variation between LEDs or if it's because of the flood beam. Neither of these issues are noticeable in use. My only real complaint is that the light is so small that there's no obvious way to hold it securely. Based on my experience so far with it, I'm definitely interested in the H60w and their new AA flashlight if I can justify it (Xmas list?).
--flatline
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