Dissapointed with my new Fenix L1S

I just placed and order to replace a flashlight that my son lost in combat. I had given him a Huntlight that worked on either 2 AA or 1 CR123. He liked the single CR123 size, but he can't get the batteries in the part of Iraq he is in.

I got the L1S yesterday as a partial shipment from the Fenix-Store. I would like to thank them for excellent fast service. I loaded it with a NiMh and fired it up. It just didn't have the brightness that I expected. But I guess I am spoiled with some of the high end lights that I have.

The rest of the order should be arriving in the next day or so. That is a Cree Fenix. I hope I don't have to high of expectations on it. I would think that the Cree should be significantly brighter.

Any suggestions on a good 1 AA LED light that I can send to him? I also have one of the Dealextreme ones coming. The one with the glow in the dark clicky.

I will send him the L1S anyway. It will make a good backup light.

Price range?
For me the obvious choice would be the Fenix L1D CE(or maybe the Lumapower M3), IMHO the only one in the recent lot of AA-powered crees with a usable UI. The other ones have multiple clicks on the tailcap to get to the next lvl, which I detest, and probably wouldnt be optimal if you're sending it to Iraq.

Other bright single AA crees with clickies (I've excluded twisties like Jetbeam CLE, and only mentioning crees, dont really see a point to buy anything else).

Jetbeam MkII x - quite expensive and horrendous "click through" UI, but outstanding quality.

Rexlight 2.0 - a steal for 30USD, but untested, "click through" UI and perhaps not as bright as a cree should be, it's still under development.

Lumapower M3 - also very promising, good UI, twist bezel for dif output, but still under development and fairly expensive, but you get a lot of assecoires as 2AA-tube.

i have a L1S and liked it a lot till the L1D came to the door. send him one of these or L2D and he should be real happy, i am.

I like the L1S body. I use that with my LxT. It's neat because the light has no markings on it this way since the L1T's Logo is on the body while the L1S's is on the head. Anyway, I drive the thing with a 3.7v 14500 and it's plenty bright!

Well, I wandered down to the mailbox and found that my L1D cree had arrived. I loaded it up with a freshly charged battery and went slack jawed when I turned it on. What a fantastic little light. I don't even mind the strange controls. I think this will be the one going to the sandbox.

He would love the Fenix L1D CE, its very bright for a single AA light

There is a limit to what you can power from a 1.2v AA..

Handlobraesing said:

There is a limit to what you can power from a 1.2v AA..

Click to expand...

But today what we are buying is way beyond what that limit was just a few months ago.