Which 1xAA Flashlight?

[Wacki]

Trying to decide between these three rock solid aluminum 1xAA lights.

Thoughts?

Inova X1MT-WB X1 AA-Battery Powered Flashlight with 2-Watt LED, Black

• Regulated
• 2 hours
• lumens????
• ~$20 @ Target (Amazon is pricey!!!!)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002TUWG6/?tag=cpf0b6-20



Life + Gear 1xAA

• Cree Led
• 80 lumens
• NOT-regulated
• 10 hours
• ~$20

lots of gogling reveal zilch on the internet but it's at local Target



Rock River 1xAA

• Luxeon LED
• 40 lumens
• regulated
• 2 hours?!??!??!?
• small but solid
• ~$25

Googling reveals that this may be a Target Brand? Dunno.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

"Regulation" isn't yet a well defined term. I'd say all three lights are semi-regulated as all of them require a boost circuit to bring the voltage up to the necessary 3.X volts. None of the three hold a perfectly flat output throughout the lifetime of the cell. Which one has better regulation, I'm not sure.
I personally wouldn't go for the old Luxeon River Rock, or the Inova X1 which also uses an rather inefficient LED. At least the LifeGear uses a more efficient LED.
None of the three are great lights but all three aren't bad either. My usual advice for such a question is save up some money and buy a better light. :duh2:
If you search around in the budget lights thread you'll find a lot more potential bargains. And for ~$50 you get into the nice multimode stuff with the best LEDs and superb construction.

 

[old4570]

DX

KD

 

[Wyeast]

It'll depend on what you're looking for.

The Life Gear is the brightest of the three. Interestingly, also the most efficient. But it's also quite bulky, and an unknown quantity in the durability department since it's a relatively new product.

The River Rock is a rebranded Nuwai X-1. Compact, but using an older LuxI so it's less efficient and dimmer.

The Inova is built like a tank. Unfortunately, the current generation is a curious step back in efficiency due to emitter choices. Brightness is around the same as the River Rock, I think? About half the lumens as the LifeGear (thus perceived by your eyes as somewhat dimmer, but not drastically so)

If you want sheer performance, without regard to size or potential durability, go for the Life Gear. If you want solid reliability no questions asked, get the Inova.

 

[Skyeye]

If you want rock solid at a low price try the new Brinkmann "Armormax" 1AA. It's small,light and super bright! I got mine yesterday and am thoroughly impressed. See "New Brinkmann 1AA" thread.

 

[Zeruel]

None of the above. :laughing:

 

[NotForNothin]

Okay, I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post, so take it for whatever it's worth.

I have all three of the lights in question. In order of brightness, lowest to highest, it's X1, RR, LifeGear.

I haven't tested runtimes, but I did have the Inova shut off suddenly one night when the batteries couldn't produce enough juice to maintain the correct level of brightness anymore. I took that battery and put it in the Life+Gear and it continued to work in that light. Don't remember how long I left that battery in that light.

The Life+Gear has great throw IMO, the RR is decent and the X1 is mostly flood.

The Life+Gear (once I tightened the bezel properly) and X1 have proven to be very waterproof (when they get dirty I wash them under the faucet) while the RR got some moisture under the window/lens last night during its first bath. Light continues to work and the moisture dried up eventually. Gotta get this thing apart, but I've already read in another thread that that sucker's expoxied on.

I've had the X1 for about a month, the Life+Gear's coming up on a month and just got the RR yesterday. They each serve a different purpose, with the X1 being great at not ruining my night vision while providing a little extra light. The RR's fairly bright without being *too* bright, again, at night. The Life+Gear is visibly brighter than the RR, though not as bright as my no-name Chinese three-mode light.

I can't vouch for durability because I haven't abused these lights much. The anodizing on the Inova is definitely better than the Life+Gear, though, which is showing some scratches from being shoved in a back pocket with a pruning knife.

I haven't had any problems with the Inova so far, and in fact replaced the contact plate in the tail cap with a ground-down penny. It definitely makes the switch feel more solid. This I learned from a youtube video uploaded by someone who I'm pretty sure is a member here.

Now I've just gotta get the RR properly waterproofed...

Update: Having just done a ceiling bounce with the RR and the X1, I'm gonna have to give the edge to the Inova, go figure. It seemed to light up the area better and light up a larger area. So maybe I should have said "order of perceived brightness". The RR still throws farther. Or seems to, anyway.

 

[Flying Turtle]

Welcome to CPF, NotForNothin. Great comparison. Glad you decided to officially join.

Geoff