Need a little help choosing a gift light...

So I've been researching for a while and my eyes are sore. I'm trying to find a light with the following characteristics to give as a gift to my co-workers. Please help me out with some suggestions

1xAA
Clicky (preferably forward but reverse okay too)
2 or 3 mode (no SOS or Strobe)
1.5hr+ Runtime Preferred
~$30

So far I've looked at the following:

LumaPower LM31 (does not appear to be available any longer. If anyone has one for sale, please PM me)
MF DA1
SAIK RC-A2/A3
Romisen RC-H3
Ultrafire C3

I haven't had much luck locating a 2 or 3 mode light. I'm also not particularly interested in buying one of the cheap lights if it's going to be crap and end up causing problems soon after purchase. I don't know if any lights in this range will include a warranty or not but it would be nice. It's also likely that whatever light I purchase will end up being run on alkalines so keep that in mind.

Please let me know if my expectations are unrealistic in one aspect or another and feel free to recommend other lights.

Thank you,

Drivie

No replies? Are my criteria just not realistic?

Drivie

I recall any light with a current gen LED under $30 having a warranty, or having a forward clickie and multimode or have 2+ hours regulated runtime on a single AA.

You'll have to drop one of the requirements.

From what I read, stay away from the Ultrafire C3.

Agreed.

I mean you can get some very cheap lights on DX or the like, but I do not think those lights are generally "worthy" of a gift like this. Those might be great stocking stuffers or just for fun for yourself, but the shipping time (which can be weeks) as well as the fact that many more have reliability issues take these out of consideration, IMHO.

I would say go up a bit in price and consider the Fenix LD01 or the like. Contact 4sevens to see about a volume discount--not sure how many you are buying.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies guys. I posted a WTB ad in the Marketplace hoping to find some decent Fenix or Jetbeam lights that maybe someone is willing to get rid of for a good price.

I appreciate the assistance and am glad I posted the question so that I know to steer clear of the DX lights.

Drivie

Personally, I don't think you're going to find the features you want for the price you're willing to pay. I suspect this is about as close as you're likely to get in a light worthy of gifting to somebody: LumaPower LM31 80 lumens 1 x AA with Seoul SSC P4 LED (batteryjunction.com). It's a reverse clicky, instead of tactical, and it's 65 mins runtime on high, but it meets your other requirements and is a quality product from a reputable manufacturer and a top-notch reseller.

SEMIJim said:

Personally, I don't think you're going to find the features you want for the price you're willing to pay. I suspect this is about as close as you're likely to get in a light worthy of gifting to somebody: LumaPower LM31 80 lumens 1 x AA with Seoul SSC P4 LED (batteryjunction.com). It's a reverse clicky, instead of tactical, and it's 65 mins runtime on high, but it meets your other requirements and is a quality product from a reputable manufacturer and a top-notch reseller.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. I have seen the LM31 and thought it was an excellent choice however it's out of stock and there is the following note:

[FONT=arial, helvetica]PLEASE NOTE: This item has been discontinued. Please click here to see the new LumaPower ConneXion for a light with upgraded features & performance.

That's great and all but the ConneXion is quite a bit more expensive.

Anyone know where i can still find the LM31 for sale?

Thanks,

Drivie
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DX lights aren't bad, you have read the reviews(both here, there, and on some review sites). For example Romisen seems to be a good budget company, while Ultrafire can be iffy.

Many of the better budget ones are available at Shiningbeam. They also have faster shipping since they ship in the US.

LM31, maybe post a Want to Buy(WTB) in the Marketplace?

drivie said:

Thanks for the response. I have seen the LM31 and thought it was an excellent choice however it's out of stock and there is the following note:

[FONT=arial, helvetica]PLEASE NOTE: This item has been discontinued.[/FONT]

Click to expand...

Ah, that's unfortunate . The LM31 was a terrific little light for the price. I've used my LM31 more than all my other lights combined.

This is one of the things that drives me a bit crazy about many of these LED lights: They just don't last long in availability. About the time a product has been around long enough to get a good reputation and for the manufacturer to iron the bugs out, it's discontinued.

Okay, so I've made some changes to my criteria in the OP and hopefully some folks can make additional recommendations. I've been researching a ton but I'm coming up empty. The LumaPower LM31 would have been perfect...dang!

Anyway, assistance and suggestions greatly appreciated.

Drivie

For cheap dealextreme etc. lights, Romisen generally gets good reviews. Check out the budget light roundup with the sticky's at the top of this page.

JBorneu said:

For cheap dealextreme etc. lights, Romisen generally gets good reviews. Check out the budget light roundup with the sticky's at the top of this page.

Click to expand...

+1

From my experience, Romisen is typically the best pick of the budget deal site lights. Bessiebenny has done a great round-up of this class in his sticky at the top this sub-forum.

Older generation Fenixes (e.g. L1P v2, L1T and other luxeons) sometime pop-up within your price range. Check out the deals forum of CPFM.

but dont believe the 5-7 day shipping... i ordered a romisen 1aa for 12 bucks a week ago and it still says it's packaging.
and also it takes about a month from order time to your door

Drivie, if you go to Lumapower.com, they list the price as $35 US... If you contact them, they may have some available (not sure what their shipping cost would be), or could direct you to a reseller who has them...

I hope you find it! (I bought an LM31 from BatteryJunction back in Sept., and wanted to get another one recently, but they had already sold out of them!)

jkdguy said:

Drivie, if you go to Lumapower.com, they list the price as $35 US... If you contact them, they may have some available (not sure what their shipping cost would be), or could direct you to a reseller who has them...

I hope you find it! (I bought an LM31 from BatteryJunction back in Sept., and wanted to get another one recently, but they had already sold out of them!)

Click to expand...

Thanks JKDGUY. I think I will try that.

Drivie

Drivie... I sent you a PM about the LM31...