Are "small" lights now getting "bigger"???

I see a trend afoot. Many of the small lights of recent times are getting bigger as new versions get introduced. Three that come to mind:

Amilite Neo T3 / Neo T5. As a second stage and clickie were added, this CR123 light lengthened considerably.

Jetbeam C-LE original and 1.2 / 2.0. Just about to be released, the C-LE 2.0 also goes from twisty to clickie. What was once just about the most compact AA out there, now will be 92mm long, about average in an increasingly large sea of AA flashlights.

Fenix L1P, L1T / L1T 2.0 Rebel. This "classic" AA body design from Fenix got both wider and longer in the most recent version.

(This trend sort of reminds me of cell phones. As more features are getting introduced and texting, built in cameras, etc., get more routine, the phones are growing a bit in size, too.)

For me, bring back small, please. I like a compact light for EDC, one that easily slips in my front pocket.

If you want compact size, search the forums for : Orb Wee:naughty:

I personaly don't think this is a concern that revisions of lights generaly get larger. Some other lights just remain the same size. Like most of the Luxeon-lights gettin Creed or Seouled. In most cases the housing remains the same. For the Jetbeam C-LE 2.0: Many have asked for a clicky rather than a twisty and Jetbeam just did it...


MfG Mr.Urahara

I agree that if it is too big to easily carry it is not useful.

I think I actually have two catogories. EDC which is a AAA size light or very small. And then a "pocket" size light that is either AA or small CR123.

The EDC is small enough to always be with you no matter what. The "pocket" light is one that is usually with you but occasionaly gets left behind due to size. The "pocket" light is high performance and is great to have with you and you are bummed when you do not have it with you.

Mr.Urahara reloaded said:

If you want compact size, search the forums for : Orb Wee:.


MfG Mr.Urahara

Click to expand...

Yep, that's tiny alright but has only been released in one incarnation. Orb has gone the other direction and has bucked the trend with unusual batteries to keep getting "wee-er." My Raw NS is my most used light, still, but I don't think my hands could handle anything smaller.

For a light like the Jetbeam CLE where they just took the exact same light and added a clicky at the end of the battery tube and went from a P4 to a Q2, the answer is sell both a clicky and a twisty. I like lights as compact as possible within reason, so a twisty is one way of doing that. But a twisty can be a nuisance, especially if the threads aren't great. The Jetbeam threads aren't the greatest and that was the main issue with it, so they made it a clickly. The newest version is still nice but I wish they would work on the threads more, if they could make the threads really nice then I'd take that over a clicky.

I can't say much about the other lights you mention, but another light that comes to mind that was popular a few months back was the 'Elly' light from KaiDomain and DX, being the first really affordable Cree light. It's a decent light, but my biggest problem with the light is that for a 1 AA light it's very big. I can build an 18650 light the same size as that light, I just don't like lights that are overly bulky for a given battery type. Full size Maglights are also somewhat like this, they could easily take almost 2" off of the length of those lights.

I think the overall trend with things is they grow to a point where, either the manufacturer realizes thier products have gained weight, or nobody buys it because it's too big to EDC. At that point, they either shrink the model, or create a new model that is smaller.

So something over time would probably look like a Sawtooth graph.

People want brighter lights. Brighter means more power. More power means more heat to get rid of and more battery power needed. More heat needs more surface area for dissipation.

Also, longer throw requires larger diameter and deeper reflectors.

While there is a desire for smaller lights, most people's priorities result in bigger lights.

Great post, jrv.

Really well thought-out.

Well the sibling of the Draco, the Drake, must be the smallest Cree-XRE light
in existence.

The Drake came afterwards so its not always the case.

onthebeam said:

I see a trend afoot. Many of the small lights of recent times are getting bigger as new versions get introduced. Three that come to mind:

Amilite Neo T3 / Neo T5. As a second stage and clickie were added, this CR123 light lengthened considerably.

Jetbeam C-LE original and 1.2 / 2.0. Just about to be released, the C-LE 2.0 also goes from twisty to clickie. What was once just about the most compact AA out there, now will be 92mm long, about average in an increasingly large sea of AA flashlights.

Fenix L1P, L1T / L1T 2.0 Rebel. This "classic" AA body design from Fenix got both wider and longer in the most recent version.

(This trend sort of reminds me of cell phones. As more features are getting introduced and texting, built in cameras, etc., get more routine, the phones are growing a bit in size, too.)

For me, bring back small, please. I like a compact light for EDC, one that easily slips in my front pocket.

Click to expand...

Changing from a twisty to a clickie IMO is not a bad thing, but I really don't like twisties.

The P2D CE is an excellent EDC, small, bright, and works very well. If you want smaller, P1D CE is the same, but twisty.

My favorite tiny light is still the original Fenix P1..alas, it gets wayy to hot...
My problem with twisties on thin walled lights is the shallow threads..

If you use it often, the threads will wear

The Fenix P1 CE is a couple of millimeters longer than the original P1. The Fenix web site has the following claim: " The P1 CE is the most compact mass-manufactured Cree XR-E flashlight using a single CR123A battery!"

So far, after ten weeks of daily use, mine is one of my current favorites.

GarageBoy said:

My favorite tiny light is still the original Fenix P1..alas, it gets wayy to hot...
My problem with twisties on thin walled lights is the shallow threads..

If you use it often, the threads will wear

Click to expand...

One word: lubricant.

The Surefire L1 2007 version (Cree XR-E) is smaller than its predecessors. However, the L1 was always much longer than it needed to be for a 1-cell light.

I don't quite like lights that are too small as they are not nice for hand-holding.

I have a couple of UF 602D and a UF C8 Stainless Steel which I found to be too small and difficult to grip and twist to turn on and off.

At the moment, two of my EDCs are UF R1 and/or Fenix P3D CE in their respective pouches attached to my belt.

I rarely put lights in my trousers pockets. lights have to get bigger as they now incorparate so many modes. It may be nice to have them. But for an EDC just one mode will do. Longer runtime would be essential. That's why the P3D CE running on 17670 is good (The P3D R100 which I tested was not happy with my protected UF17670). The UF R1 is happy with my UF RCR123 3.6v protected. For EDC I would also be willing to sacrifice brightness for runtime.