Which Photon Micro Micro-Light?

Which Photon do you folks EDC and why? I believe there is the Photon I, Photon II and Photon III. I want to pick one or two up for my keychain, however I'm not sure which one I want to go with. My 1st impression of the Photon III (from reading about it) is a over-priced light giving you a bunch of useless features.

Your comments and opinions are welcomed.

I don`t really have any use for the blink modes. The 3 power levels are nice...but a pain to use...and the "off after one minute" function can be usefull. In my opinion the 3...for the little extra money is the way to go.

I like the Eclipse more than the Photon...but it is larger.

LOL, nascar you're right about the III.

i carry the II, temporary and constant on. all you need. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I have a red and a green Photon II on my keychain. A green one I bought a while back and a red one someone gave me recently. I don't think I'd buy them today. The Arc AAA is a much better keychain light. If I wanted a coin cell light I'd use one of the $1.00 ones from ebay or Countycomm.

The III probably does have too many feautres. If you like the features (variable brightness, flashing, and auto-shutoff), then it is the way to go. For a good EDC/ENC the II is great. You can also put your III in auto-shutoff mode, and whenever you press the second button, it will turn on in that mode untill you change it.

The modes of the III are illustrated....

TIN

I have both the II and III. Although the modes on the III are useless, the III is waterproof and the II is just water resistant.

Since I'm always dropping my keys, the few dollars extra for the III is worth it to me. BTW, the turquoise LED is a great choice in either model.

Marty

I have a white Photon II and white Photon III. I carry the II because of its simplicity and the usefulness of the constant-on switch. I like the extra features in the III, but the II is the EDC for me.

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paulr said:
The Arc AAA is a much better keychain light

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the arc being heavier, bigger, costing more and not as bright how is it better?

The Arc is much more reliable and durable and is brighter if the coin cells in the Photon aren't practically new. It's also much easier and cheaper to get replacement batteries for. It weighs about as much as 2 or 3 keys, so the Photon has an advantage if you only have a couple of keys on your keychain. I have about a dozen keys so I don't really notice the Arc and the two Photons there.

Please guys, don't turn this into an "ARC is Better Thread". I know all about the ARC. My question is strickly about the Photon Micro-Lights. I'm not look for suggestions on what is better or worse than the Photon. I specifically want to know opinions about the Photon I, II and III. Thanks to those who responded.

I have a photon 3. I keep it on the auto-off mode in case it turns on accidentially. However, when I use the light I use the squeeze on / release off button.

Its very easy to change batteries with the photon 3. The photon 2 has to be taken apart using a tiny phillips screwdriver; very easy to strip the threads when replacing batteries.

I've worn a yellow Photon II around my neck for two years, still original battery. Before that it was a White II and before that a few Red and Yellow ver.I. Before CPF these were my ONLY EDC lights! And it got alot of use until the ARC AAA & LS. Now it serves as a long burning backup if neccessary.

The Photon II is a vast improvement on ver. I because of the switch. I've owned many ver. I (no switch) and fatigue sets in from holding the switch for extended periods. On one of them, however a small part of the clear plastic switch broke inside. It became stuck ON until I opened it up to remove the piece. Closed it back up and it worked normally again. So I broke the switch on the other one to prevent it from happening again. It apparently doesn't affect functionality.

I've tried a III and didn't like it. I like simplicity and III is more complex and with more features than most people need. The advantage is better waterproofing, but since I wear it on a neck lanyard it doesn't get the chance to fall in a puddle. Also battery changes are easier, and tool free unlike ver. II.

I say go for Photon II.

My vote goes to the Photon 2

In addition I would suggest yellow - if the color suits you (as yellow along with red and orange) are advertized at 120 hours battery life, whereas any other color is 10-12 hours.

Counter-points -

the 4 tiny Phillips screws are fiddly to change batteries - but at 120 hours - that's not a frequent occurance.

the contacts are simply the LED leads straight onto the battery - this simplicity can lead to flickering, and rattling with heavy usage - it is quite simple to bend and put a little kink in the leads to cure that (but note the screws above)

only water-resistant and not water-proof - with such a simple construction there's very little to go wrong with the light even in a downpour - unless one goes swimming with the light (well it takes all sorts /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

Plusses -

I see well under yellow light - gives me good contrast and definition even at low'ish levels

yellow does not glare or dazzle as much - helps preserve my dark adaption

in urban environment where lights are yellow'ish - the yellow attracts less attention.

of course the light lasts like forever -
my old 6 years old Photon 1 yellow EDC refuses to die, so I can replace it with the Photon 2 yellow I've had for over 5 years waiting for that event.

I EDC'd the III until acquiring you know what. Battery changes are easy and having variable power/auto off is nice. Normally I just leave it set for low power since you can always get a burst of high. The blinky modes are a bit gimmicky, but what the hey. I'm sure the Eclipse is also nice, but it is much larger.

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paulr said:
The Arc is much more reliable and durable and is brighter if the coin cells in the Photon aren't practically new. It's also much easier and cheaper to get replacement batteries for

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i've had my photon for 2 years now and use it, it was still brighter than an ARC LE. not a bit of trouble with reliability. any wal-mart has the batteries.

sorry nascar. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Great input everyone. I think I may grab a couple of the III's and run them in low-mode. I like the idea of being more water-resistant. I'm also going to pick up on of those convert ones. I had one sometime ago (lost it). They're get in like a movie theater or something. You can take a quick peek and not **** off others with all the side spill.

Definitely go with the III's. The battery change alone would make it worth it to me. The dimming modes are wonderfull, except if you slam the light into a wall (don't ask) the light looses it's memory of the last mode it was on. Also, as a high school guy, I find plenty of use for the strobe modes. Not the least of which is puting it in an easter egg and tossing it around (now you begin to understand how I found out about the memory loss) which girls seem to think is the coolest thing in the world /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

Overall, III is definitely the best choice IMHO.

Photon II is OK. But my Photon III hangs from the center of my Jeep TJ. I use the auto shut off alot. When I need more light in my Jeep, I just turn it on, and don't worry about fogetting to turn it off- cause it goes off in 1 min. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I find the II's constant-on switch to be a fingernail-breaking PITA. I suppose it's better than nothing but I rarely use it. I mostly use the II as a squeeze light. I was thinking of getting a III but some people in another thread mentioned they'd had problems with the III turning on in their pocket and staying on, draining the batteries. Sure, you could leave it in some auto-shutoff mode to prevent that, but it sounds easy to mess up and sort of defeats the idea of constant-on.

You could look at the Inova Microlight (Countycomm has those on sale). It's mechanical like the II, but looks better designed; easy no-tool battery changes, and the constant-on slide switch looks easier to operate.

I just order a yellow III (for the longest runtime) and a white convert III (for its narrow area of coverage). These lights will hardly ever get used. The yellow will be a backup to my backup's backup. The white convert will be for those times I'm at the movies or a show or dinner and need some light, but not enough to flood the rest of the croud.

Thanks again everyone.