Options for 1- AA light

Hi,

I tried to convert a family member to this sickness we share. I bought him a CR2 Ion. He used it one day and gave it back. His comments were:

1) I don't buy weird batteries.
2) Sure is great but, the battery thing is a show stopper.
3) Love the small size and the long runtime ("...much better than my mini-maglite").

I thought number three was pretty funny. So, he asked me to try again. Any ideas for small, common battery, good tint, tailstanding, long runtime, single cell, and well made light. Please help, I can't find anything that fits this list. Hey, if there is a good possibility at a similar cost, maybe we could do a trade. I already have one Ion.

John

Not sure what other AA flashlight are in the same price range as the Ion.

However, there's the Fenix L1P/L1T, Photon Proton, Civictor, Peak? etc..

JJohn said:

small, common battery, good tint, tailstanding, long runtime, single cell, and well made light.John

Click to expand...

PeakPacific - $50 1AAA with ~2hr run time at max brightness before it drops off, 2xAAA, AA, and CR2 bodies available for ~$15 each.
Peak Kino Bay 1xAA, $70 1W LED, good quality, tint, 1.5hr at max (almost as bright as a Q3), 6 hr total.
Peak Kilimanjaro, 1xAA, $45, 5x5mm, less bright but more run time (3.5hr at max)
Fenix L1P/L1T - cheaper 1xAA ~$40, clicky switch but still tailstands, not everyone thinks they are highest quality, but I think most people have had good luck with them.

how's ultra G for super long run time

Since he's already familiar with the MiniMag, why not a drop-in sammie? Something along the lines of a NG500/750 would do nicely.

I think he was looking for something smaller than the minimag.

You might want to consider the Peak Pacific with the 1AA body. A little more than 6 hrs to 50% from a standard AA battery. The Pacific comes standard with the 1AAA body but when you buy it from Peak LED Solutions tell them in the "Comments" section that you want the AA body instead. This way you won't have to buy the light and the AA body separately.

Depending on what the runtime requirements are, the L1P & L1T are both great lights too.

If he were willing to goto 2AA lights, I'd recommend the Elektro Lumens XM-3 running of NiMH AA batteries.

Sounds like batteries is what your friend's concerned about.

I'd get him a minimag with a TLE-5 drop-in first. That's my choice for gifts, etc. (or a Nite-Ize drop-in).

Other than that, a Fenix L1x and or an Infinity.

Hey thanks everyone for the advice. I will check out those options.

T_I_N: good idea but he liked that it was much smaller than the minimag and used only one battery.

Bat: I forgot about the AA option for the Pacific. That can tailstand, have good runtime, and use standard AA'a. He didn't like my LED-ASAP modded Arc AAA because he thought AAA batteries were not common also.

Ace: I have not heard of the Civictor, I'll do a search.

Thanks again,
John

Like blindas sez, the Fenix kinda tailstands, and its much cheaper than some of the other options that are floating, so you won't feel so bad if your relative loses it!

daloosh

I'd say Civictor or Dae's Ultrafire 602A:
http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/ul....html?osCsid=3c5db6caa462f5d00ea9ed6ec5eb1a83

Or I just thought. Give him the Ion back with about twenty CR2 batteries. Cheaper than buying most of the lights mentioned above, and you ahve a built in gift for that person next time: more batteries, so he'll never have to buy any himself. Not too expensive for you in that quantity online.
Or rechargeables, which are brighter anyway.

stockae92: can't believe I didn't think of the Infinity, except mine can't tail stand. Do some of the new ones tail stand? Are any HA?

I was going to suggest one of my EDC's, the Inova X1: it's cheap, good, 1AA, and HA, but is kinda blueish and can't tailstand either.

For single AA lights...

Dae's Ultrafire WF-602A - 1W, similar performance to Fenix L1, tailstands, plastic lens, aluminum reflector - $18.50 shipped
Fenix Civictor V1 - 1W, similar performance to L1P, tailstands(?), glass lens, aluminum reflector, TypeII ano - $30 shipped
Fenix L1P - 1W, tailstands, UCL+A/R, aluminum reflector, TypeIII ano - $38 shipped
Fenix L1T - 1W performance (similar to L1P), UCL+A/R, aluminum reflector, 2-levels (low is about 10lumens), TypeIII ano - $45 shipped
Nuwai X1 - 1W, tailstands, plastic lens and reflector, TypeII ano - $30 + $5sh
Huntlight FT-A2/A3 - 1W, tailstands, glass lens, aluminum reflector, TypeII ano on A2, TypeIII ano on A3 - $30/$35 respectively
Gerber IU - 5mm, tailstands, TypeII ano, lasts 5+ days! - $15 + sh
And the Peaks already mentioned

Like what this_is_nascar suggested. There's the cut-down Mini Maglites that Ledean and TrueBlue sells and The Sanwich Shoppe stocks the drop-in LED pills.

Mine is the 3[M]iniMag (H22A's miniminiminiMag) which uses a single 1/2 size AA with the Bad Boy NexGen 750mA TW0J Lux.III, and is my 10 out of 10 EDC. Impressively bright in its own right!

Enjoy!

Led Lenser David 15 (more flood) or David 19 (more throw). 1xAA, TIROS optic, good switch (no tail stand), well built, nice white beam, decent runtime. Not a bad little torch for ~$30 US

Inova X1, rugged, bright enough for daily tasks, exceptional runtime, about $20.

Thank you all. I will go with a cut-down minimag mod, peak pacific AA version, or one of the less expensive options. I will have to research the Davids and the Civictor as I know nothing about them. Build quality has to be good but perhaps not quite as good as my personal standards. I am spoiled these days and I am not sure he will notice the difference.

I appreciate the help coming up with some good choices.

John

FrogsInWinter said:

You might want to consider the Peak Pacific with the 1AA body. A little more than 6 hrs to 50% from a standard AA battery. The Pacific comes standard with the 1AAA body but when you buy it from Peak LED Solutions tell them in the "Comments" section that you want the AA body instead. This way you won't have to buy the light and the AA body separately.

Depending on what the runtime requirements are, the L1P & L1T are both great lights too.

If he were willing to goto 2AA lights, I'd recommend the Elektro Lumens XM-3 running of NiMH AA batteries.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression Peak would only sell the Pacific with the AAA body, plus addl. bodies as an option. Good to know they'll sell it with only the AA body.

I'd go with a Fenix L1T (2 stage option- he might like that and its still very simple to use), or an L1P with the 2 stage mod. A standard Fenix L1P would work too, and the price has come down to about $35.

Otherwise, the Civictor might be a good choice since its a bit smaller than the Fenix and just as bright for only around $30 (and might be even cheaper soon- 4sevens announced a post-father's day sale on these. They can also be had on B/S/T from time to time for around $25).

If he doesn't need a luxeon bright eat-your-batteries light, then take a look at the new reflectored Inova X1 from Target- it has an excellent build quality and puts out a decent amount of light for most "task" purposes (probably more than a standard minimag)- cost is $20. It uses a single 5mm "CS" LED by Nichia.

Another decent, but not super-bright 1AA light is this one:

http://store.advancedmart.com/twon5waposil.html

It's not a scorcher, but I like it because the beam is smooth and fairly white for a non-luxeon light (uses a ".5 Watt" LED), and the runtimes will be much longer.

The Peak Pacific with a AA body would make for a nice light as long as the almost $60 pricetag for everything isn't an issue.

Other lights you could consider: JetBeam (which should have a yet-to-be-released 2 stage switch coming out soon), Triton P1, Nuwai X-1, and the LRI Proton (lots of features, but costs $70 and uses 5mm LEDs).

Hard to go wrong with an L1T for the "joe average" user - can't really beat the availability of AA's