Why now so few 2xAA LED fl's?

This is a general opion posting.

I'm curious as to your impresions as to why there are now so few 2 AA led fl's?

Even rare on ebay...

To be a given that not all countries in the world will have li-ions, and cr-123's at a resonable price. I know personaly that localy a single cr-123 has an average price of 15$+ taxes.

I tried ordering 14500 li-ions through radio shack. The reply i received was 22$ + shipping+taxes per battery and a 3 week waiting before shipping to me.

OUCH!, no thanks

DX/Kai , thanks.

I loved my Streamlight Jr Lux (v1.0) 2xAA, and others that used 2aa and suported nimh's.

Any thougths?

You'll see 2xAA Cree lights later this year. The early adopter market wants the power that only CR123A's can efficiently deliver.

The 2 X AA samples that I have seen have primarily been in the 1-1.5W range (say 70-90L) with fantastic runtimes. Think LUXIII/K2 output at 1/3 the power consumption.

Oh and uh there is a middle ground between Radio Shack and DX/Kai for products like 14500's...

You can get 2XAA (and 1XAA) Cree lights from Fenix. You can get 2XAA (or 1XAA or 1XAAA or 2XAAA) Seoul lights from Peak.

You can get the Ultrafire C5 for $21.60 from Kaidomain. It's as bright with 2xAA NiMh as it is with a 3.7v RCR123. I like it. You can see my review of it right here in the LED forum.

I know what you mean about the scarcity of 2xAA lights, especially with Crees. The Ultrafire only recently became available. Before that there was only the Fenix. I too was shocked to find that I couldn't replace my broken 2xAA Luxeon with something cheap from eBay.

I bought the Rexlight because it was touted as working with 2xAA but at the last minute they said they were having problems with that configuration so I sold it and bought the C5.

I think as driver circuits become cheaper, the 1xAA form factor becomes more desirable than the 2xAA. I'm not a big fan of 2xAA because of the size. I'd rather carry a 1xAA and keep a spare AA on hand.

Thanks for all the replies & sugestions.

Yes i have the Fenix l2p and p2d-ce.

MattK i'l keep an eye open for those 2aa fl's you mentioned that will be comming out latter this year.

My only regret about single AA fl's is that i don't have small hands , not large hands either and i find the single aa fl's a bit cumbersome.

Already put a fwd clicky in my UF c2.

Thanks again, and keep the opinions comming.

RonM said:

I think as driver circuits become cheaper, the 1xAA form factor becomes more desirable than the 2xAA. I'm not a big fan of 2xAA because of the size. I'd rather carry a 1xAA and keep a spare AA on hand.

Click to expand...

The only problem with 1xAA is that the voltage needs to be boosted higher, and thus the one cell will be taxed harder (not as much of a big deal on premium cells, such as NiMH and Lithium -- but then that eliminates the whole "cheap, readily available battery" advantage). This will effectively limit the brightness.

Using a 2xAA light will give potentially higher brightness, and, if you select a low level, much longer runtime than a 1xAA light at the same brightness with a spare, and even then, rechargeables still deliver better performance than primary AAs.

The drawback of the 2xAA is the size. I prefer 1x18650 sized lights, usually shorter, and slightly fatter, with longer runtime on a charge compared to 2xNiMH. While 1AA is a great size, If I'm looking for performance I can buy a CR123-based light that is smaller, and buy rechargeable CR123s for similar price as low-self-discharge NiMH AAs, or stock up on primary CR123s for the same price as high performance Alkaline cells (and use them over the next 15 years).

I do definitely agree with the advantage of AA for lower-output/longer runtime lights, and especially as gifts (while it's one thing for me to stock up on CR123s as I have an obscene number of lights that can use them, it's unreasonable to expect others to worry about another battery type... (although I could always give them a bunch of batteries along with the CR123 light)

I have noticed that there are a lot of 1AA Led Flashlights

I figure manufacturers are trying to sell/ introduce the 'exotic' flashlights before the more common 2AA versions. A year ago, there were more 2AA lights in the market and probably based on that they (manufacturers) decided to introduce more of the 1AA/AAA versions.

I for one do not NEED a 1 cell light as it doesn't go in my pocket but hangs on my belt.

I'm partial to the 2-AA form factor too. I find that when walking around outside at night, a 1-AA or 1-CR123A light feels too short in my hand. A 2-AAA or 2-AA form factor is more comfortable for me, even though it's a bit longer in the pocket.

The Nuwai X-3 TM-320XE3 Luxeon 3W flashlight is a 2-AA that's actually quite nice, and brighter than a Nuwai Q3. Of course today a 3W Luxeon can't compete with a Cree. MattK's explanation makes sense to me.

Lumapower M3 also takes 2AA. It's longer than a Fenix L2D-CE but the larger diameter also gives a firmer grip. I have both.

My favorite 2-AA led flashlight is a Brinkmann Legend 2AA mod. I installed dat2zip's MadMax (circa 2003) sandwich that I modified with a Seoul SSC P4 led. The SSC P4 is so much brighter than the old Luxeon (M bin?) the MadMax came with back in 2003. It is brighter than and out throws my Fenix L0D-CE on a 10440 lithium battery! The SSC P4 has a great beam with the NX05 optic. Nice smooth hot spot with lots of spill, and a forward clicky to boot.

"most" lights, especially the ones on E-Bay, are best described with the word cheap.

Those usually are 3 AAA ones (even worse, but dont need a circuit)

When the Lux IIIs dominated the scene you couldn't get decent runtime boosting from 2AA to make a bright -- and BRIGHT is what very nearly everyone wants. WayneJ at Elektro Lumens put together the XM-3 (2AA) and was roundly criticised for throttling back the driver to give the light acceptable runtime. I'm glad I got one of them.

As others have noted, more 2AA lights should be coming down the pike now that more efficient LEDs are out. Brighter 2AA lights and acceptable runtime.

For small bright lights, RCR123 is better than AA.
I'm only interested in 2xAA because I have a whole bunch of rechargeable AAs. I'll admit that's a poor reason, to spend more money on a somewhat awkward light, but somehow it compelled me.

18650 lights seem to have larger heads than 2xAA by convention. That style of light doesn't suit my needs. Also, switching to a new style of battery requires a new charger, and I can't justify the expense.

The only advantage an AA light could have for me is long runtime with reasonable output of around 25 lumens. The new X1 and Firecracker are too dim. The same lights with a Cree would be just right.

I just bought the Lumapower M3 with the turboforce head from Batteryjunction to use with 2 e2 lithium AA's at all times. I love the D-mini's throw, but wanted the option of longer runtimes, the M3 should give a few hours on high and days on low.

I also like the Inova bolt AA from the reviews section, It looks like a nice inexpensive light that can also use alkalines / nimh / lithiums.

You can also find the Inovas at Batteryjunction.