light for older female--HELP

I just came from an old friend of the family's house who's husband died. She was having problems with her car tonight and the small garage everhead light just wasn't giving enough light--out comes my E2e. She says that she wishes her flashlight was that bright and in "light" of the situation, she should probably get one like mine for her purse so she can have it with her.

I ask to see he light and she goes trapsing around in the house and finally pulls out a Garrity rescue lamp, you know, the sealed one 'cuz you'll never have to change the batts /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Anyways, I tell her she probably couldn't afford an E2e (I can't give mine up) and that I'll give her something more user friendly, like my Dat2zip modded mag. She actually said that the mag was too big and heavy for her purse /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif And I thought that the purses of older women were notorious for their heft. I think it was the AA's and the aluminum...

Anyways, I need your help. I need:
1--something that is smaller and lighter than a mag (plastic?).
2--preferably uses no more than 2-3 AA's for weight reasons. I'm trying to stay away from lithiums as she's not one of us crazy flashaholics.
3--an output better than a stock mag, maybe in the 30 lumen range?
4--something user-friendly as she lacks the digital dexterity of many of us.
5--Relatively inexpensive. I'm thinking less than $35?


An immediate thought was a mity-light as it's short, plastic, 2 AAA's and a nice bright spot.
I'm going to a local sporting goods store tomorrow to see what they have in stock.
I need suggestions, please help!

How about a PT Rage or UKE 2L if she doesn't mind the twist bezels on them. A Surefire G2 is in the price range you mentioned and has a pushbutton, but may be a little too large.

SF L1 and a box of SF123As. I know the price... But I consider that combination a perfect geriatric light.

PT Surge?

Yeah, I wouldn't dismiss one of the Lithium lights because of the batteries. If she is like my parents, a box of 12 for $15 would go at least a year. From the way you alluded to the dexterity, probably a light with either a very easy to press tail cap switch or preferable a side push button switch.

UKE 2AAA penlight, mini-light, and LED mini-light are all pretty nice. None are anywhere near Surefire brightness level but the incandescent versions use a xenon lamp and are noticably brighter than a 2aa mini-mag. An E2e is really too much light for most situations anyway.

Princeton Tec Attitude... 4xAAA, 12 hour bright burn time, could probably store for a year and come back and work perfectly... $18 at REI and a thousand other places

CMG Ultra...$20 shipped... need I say more? 1xAA

Surefire E1... you can still get them for about $40-45

Build your own? the 3aaa collimator is not a bad idea, just has a rotten Luxeon. I think the market is wide open for a GOOD cheap 3xAAA resistored *white* luxeon where the batteries in are a holder rather than strung out like the reactor 3.

How about CMG Reactor?

Alan Hsu

PT Rage is same size (same body) as Attitude and MUCH brighter, just lower tech (and shorter runtime).

Surefire L1 is probably as heavy as the 2aa Mag, plus expensive. Arc LS might be a better choice at that price level (it's smaller).

Surefire E1 might be a good choice. Hey, maybe a G2 can be cut down to L1 length and rethreaded.

Was the Garrity one of those disposable things with a rectangular pack inside? Maybe it was just dim because the batteries were weak.

I wish the single lithium Twin Task by Streamlight or the 3xAA luxeon Task were available. They offer push button activation and are fairly lightweight. Plenty of light and with the Twin Task the option of incan or LED and low price.

task light specs.

Get her a Photon to start, that is the first light I gave to my Wife, Mom and Both sisters to keep on their keychains, they love em cause they weigh nothing. My wife carries a G2 and is now complaining about the weight, I don't know what to get her cause that is the lightest two cell lithium incan on the market. Hopefully the single cell Twin Task will make her carry a decent flashlight. She isn't too fond of twist on activation (broken nails?) either.

Good luck,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I've got a PT GigaBlast, which I believe is now the Rage. 4xAAA that I would donate to her. It will even come with a couple spare lamps. I don't use it anymore and I figure she could use it worse than me. If you are interested let me know. I'd be more than happy to give it to her if you think she would like it. Let me know. dtsoll

How about a Inova Microlight for the keys and a G2 for the purse.

Inova--It has a slide on switch which the Photon I does not, the Photon II does but it leaks, and the Photon III does but requires you to learn to use it (Not good for gransma)


G2--Uses lithiums but that's good, means the light is lightweight, small. Remember that lithiums are cheap now. Get a box of SF123s with it and put your phone number with the batts so she knows where to go to aquire more.


What are we up to...do we have enough $$ left over to throw a Brinkmann Legend LX in the glove box?

I can't help thinking of the song about the little old lady from Pasadena when I imagine your friend pulling a G2 out of her purse. Of course you'd set it up with a P61!

Regarding the suggestion for the UK 2L, it would be a good light, but if you go that route consider ditching one of the O rings and lubing the other well. It would make it easier to turn and you don't need super duper water proofness for this application.

Sort of out of budget, but an E1 + KL1 + (ahem) E series clickie sounds pretty optimal.

Is a 4AA light out of the running for sure? There is a lot of 4AA lights that would work, are cheap, and the batteries are more non-flashaholic friendly.

I'm not sure a *non-clickie* tailcap switch would be optimal. I imagine as my hands get old and sore I don't want to be holding the button in. Twist switches, while not quite as bad are probably still not optimal either. The standard Mag style clickie button is probably best, with other clickie switches or (ahem) slide switches being ok as well.

Regarding the Maglite, did you show her the light, or did you just tell her about it? She might have envisioned one of the D cell Maglites?!

If not, it's going to have to be REALLY small and light.

Scorpion? Semi soft clickie plus bright. Easy to hang on to. Semi inexpensive. You'd have to show her how to order the batteries cheaply. However, if the Maglite is too heavy, this might be too.

The Rage sounds fairly optimal. How bright is it? I understand they are fairly bright?

-john

I'm told the Rage is a little less bright than the UKE 2L. The lamp wattage is about the same.

A Surge is probably too big and/or heavy for her. An LED (conventional) based light is probably too dim for her as well. So something xenon-based would be the most ideal, with LSs coming afterwards. Lithiums would do well, but if she has to go buy them herself, she may suffer through the brick/mortar price-gouging route... She may not want a light that requires you to twist the bezel head with a lot of tension, so things operating like a PT Tec40 may not work well...

Maybe a UK 4AA w/switch is in order for her...

I`m with FC...

The Surefire L1, IMHO, is a great flashlight, with two nice and highly useful beams of light.

The cost is worth it.

i would have thought a mini maglite with any of the numerous led modifications would be ideal, but if she feels that's too heavy i don't really know what else to recommend /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Maybe she needs an ArcAAA for close-ups...

I have one old M*g 2AA with a Madmax and Rechargable NimHs, and one new pretty Jade 2AA with an Opalec and Alkys.

The New light feels lighter and looks smaller. Probably just perception, but curious just the same.

You probably need to let her hold a 2AA. She is probably thinking fullsize D cell models. WHATEVER you do, get rid of the original Bi-Pin piece of crud of a bulb!!!

The UK 4AA is remarkably small. It is pretty tight of beam, but a think a spot of Writeright would help that.

The PT Attitude might not be bright enough, but it is truly a SMALL light (and Rage being same size might be an EXCELLENT choice!)

That's all I have for now.

PT Tec40 - I know it doesn't meet all your criteria, but consider the following:

Very bright for it's size
Cheap AA batteries
Large rubber bezel and flat body = easy to grip and twist on/off

If however, it's something she will be carrying in the purse, you'll have to go with lithium powered lights to get something smaller but the same brightness.

Personally, for a household flashlight, I found that my G'ma loves the rechargable plug-in kind. Always ready and very bright. No battery changes needed.