Does anyone still regularly use 5mm lights?

I keep considering picking up an Inova X5 or other 5mm based lights when a good deal comes around, based upon the utility of having some extra lights around with floody beams and great runtimes.

However, with the handful of multi level lights I have, or even my Peak Pacific on the AA body which gets hours of LuxIII quality light, which can run on low for ridiculous periods of time (weeks or months in some cases) and which produce a whiter beam, I'm wondering if I really need any 5mm lights...

Still if I could get an X5 at Target again for $8 it seems worth it. I suppose they could make good gifts and emergency backup/car/bugout/briefcase lights as well.

Thoughts?

Personally I still use 5mm lights. I think the problem with a power LED like cree, is the manufacturer thinks "well, it can go so much higher!". Although this still happens with a 5mm, the high is limited by the LED, meaning long runtimes.

They would make nice beater lights. My old maglites with Nite-ize LED conversions are my beater lights that I freely throw around and beat on when I really don't care.

Well, the E01 is "still" great.

I still use a nite-ize 3-emitter minimag all the time as a night stand / bathroom runner. Its only ~9L, but thats plenty for night-dilated eyes, and it runs forever on 2 AA cells.

I still use keychain lights and my red Infinity Ultra fairly regularly. My wife keeps a SL ProPoly 7LED on her night table. In my gym bag, I keep a cheap 0.94 cent 2xAA Walmart host with an SMJLED as an emergency light. The 5mm LED's are still useful although too many older lights abused them by overdriving them to get decent output.

marschw said:

Well, the E01 is "still" great.

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I'll second that!

It's really the only light I have that doesn't get rotated out of EDC. I always have it as a back-up light. I put a GITD fob lanyard on it as a night-stand light (though it has recently been replaced by the EX10, which is actually dimmer).

I keep meaning to pick up an extra Chap-Stick lid to user as a diffuser to see if that makes it dimmer than the EX10.

my arc premium is my goto john light. and it's plenty bright at 2am

JLEGG said:

my arc premium is my goto john light. and it's plenty bright at 2am

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+1 for one of my favorite "midnight run" lights.

Love the x5's as well!

Streamlight pry-poly 7 led aa x 4 is another i really like. Careful with this light- i have read many time on cpf that you need to use 3 aa's and a dummy because the leds are very overdriven and can be damaged by regular use.

Triple A said:

Streamlight pry-poly 7 led aa x 4...you need to use 3 aa's and a dummy because the leds are very overdriven and can be damaged by regular use.

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Didn't Streamlight modify later ProPoly's (adjusting the resistance?) to avoid this problem? I mean, I do remember the early reports of the 5mm LEDs burning out or starting to strobe from being overdriven, but I think if you have bought a new one within the past...2-3 years? You should be OK from this problem.

OceanView said:

Didn't Streamlight modify later ProPoly's (adjusting the resistance?) to avoid this problem? I mean, I do remember the early reports of the 5mm LEDs burning out or starting to strobe from being overdriven, but I think if you have bought a new one within the past...2-3 years? You should be OK from this problem.

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I'm sure you are right. I should have clarified that I bought mine quite a while ago. I didn't know they fixed this issue. I might buy a new one now!

Still use my X-5.

naaa, just replace the LED with some snow or new nichia LED for more output...
sometimes those will flicker and go out too - so I just replace the bad ones as needed.

Triple A said:

... I might buy a new one now!

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Unless you get the very latest, They do not seem to have as good efficiency as some of the new LED's running at low conservative output (i.e the Pacific - even with the Lux is still a great light and I like mine).

However, the Photon ReX with DS Nichia's is pretty impressive. If you back off full output, it will put out a nice amount of light for an impressive time given its battery capacity. I like this light a lot. I received the very first version and I wonder if they put the best LED's in them since mine has a very nice tint close to a Lux without the typical nasty blue. I have heard some people complain that theirs still had some blue.

I find single 5mm LED lights very handy as small long runtime lights. I love my Fenix E0 for this purpose and I have an E01 on the way to mess with

Can't beat them for the price.

The light that I use the most is a Mag AA with a Nite-ize 3 led drop-in. Great beater light with just enough output for most tasks around the house.

Wow... someone else who likes the Streamlight ProPoly with the 7-LEDs. I think it's one of the most practical flashlights made. I was always under the impression it was universally hated by the CPF members so I never mentioned it's one of my favorite lights.

I like that it has a rubber head, versus the Luxeon version which has a cheaper plastic head. I wonder why they're different?

As for the Photon Rex, I got one from the first shipment, and still EDC it every day.

I use a 2nd gen Inova X1 for general household navigation - I've got to do something with the drawer full of dead AA's!

Peak Led Shasta (brass, pocket body, N cell) is within arms reach from bed. Bright enough to see, but not enough to disturb others who are sleeping.
N cells are usually 3$ for 2 batts at any corner store.

Yup, the X5 still gets plenty of use.

I keep a Paklite on my night table. If I fumble it to the floor, I can still see it (GITD cap).
Mostly use the low mode on it too, high kills my night vision.

Crees are great for their efficiency, but damn, they can be overkill at times