Longest lasting (backpack) low lumen light?

I am lookng to add a battery powered light to my kit that covers the following criteria,

1) Long lasting on a single battery (AA or AAA if possible).
2) 1 mode or programmable to always start in a particular mode.
3) Stays on when turned on.
4) 10 lumens +/- 5 lumens.
5) Tough and water resistant.
6) Small form factor.

Any other additional items or features are of course good.

The use will be when out in the middle of nowhere for close up work, reading, general use. I have a solar charger and a number of Eneloops running my items now.

Primary light is currently a D10. It does fairly well on low. I know there are better options for the 'low' category. I would alos like to keep the D10 ready to go in high mode at all times in case I need higher output.

The debate for me is to either use a long lasting light in conjunction with my higher powered AA lights (for battery synergy) or get a wind up or other similar system to pair with the D10.

Thanks for the future replies

Quark AA

Moonlight: 0.2 lumens for 10 days

long enough?

http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=297_305&products_id=1597

im not sure about the run time, but i think for backpacking and your usage, a zebralight headlamp will be a very suitable candidate

.2 lumens may not be very useable unless I take up cave diving

Zebralights were a very strong consideration for me previously. Love the format and the stats look good.

Thing is, a Zebralight may become my primary over the D10 in the field eventually.

What I am trying to find is the equivalent of a little keychain light with the benefits of a more advanced light.

how about 3.5 lumens for 2 days on a SINGLE AA battery? I think that's pretty close to what u want. Keep in mind this is OTF lumens.

That's a Quark? I read up on them a while back but have since forgotten the stats.

A Quark could be a primary as well from what I have read

Fenix E01 if you haven't heard already. If you want something thats not only tough and water resistant, then its a pretty good choice. Had to fish mine out of a river many times already. I think its IPX8.

I was looking at the EO1. 21 hours of run time is very nice.

The only drawback was AAA (if I can avoid it). Trying to see if I can get a synergy with AA Eneloops.

Good suggestion though and it is up there as a suggestion for me.

The Nitecore EZaa R2 is 10 lumens and it lasts for 20 hours, it also has a high mode of 145 lumens for 50 minutes. It might be too bright for reading.

The Gerber infinity ultra deserves a mention.
Someone a while ago did a run test on it and IIRC it was in the 45 hour ballpark before dimming, and continued to run with diminished output for ~100 hours. My memory is fuzzy though on the details, but I think the test was run with an eneloop.

Its about 9 Lumens OTF from a Nichia GS.

FWIW... my longest running Low-Lumer is a DIY Cree Q5. It will run for weeks off a trustfire 2400mah 18650. Its about 1L OTF, beamshot compared with a 3 lumen MM-Solitaire

+1 on the Quark AA

Moonlight: 0.2 lumens, 10 days
Low: 3.5 lumens, 2 days
Medium: 18 lumens, 6 hours
High: 70 lumens, 1.5 hours
Max: 90 lumens, 1.2 hours
Strobe, 2.5 hours
Beacon, 18 hours

the tactical version let you program both modes (twisted/loosened bezel) and you also get to choose between cool white or neutral white

and even if 0.2 lumen sounds like it's really dim, once you're in the dark it's just the right amount of light to do some reading

Proton Pro

IIRC
low white is about ~250hrs
red led runs about ~500 hrs.

All that runtime is on 1AA and with infinate variables. Pretty good eh?

I would imagine a headlamp such as the Zebralight H501W would be very useful for outdoor hands free illumination. 2.7 lumens for 3.5 days, 15 lumens for 19 hours and 80 lumens for 2.3 hours.
The Zebralight H50 would be a good choice too.

The Quark AA would be a good consideration also except the single AA Q3 5A versions are unavailable from 4sevens unless you purchase the head, body, and tail separately which costs more than if you could have bought it as a whole flashlight. You could buy the Quark AA Q3 5A in the tactical version. I think those might still be available.

I just orderd the Zebralight H501W yesterday and looking forward to receiving it.

Cataract said:

+1 on the Quark AA

Moonlight: 0.2 lumens, 10 days
Low: 3.5 lumens, 2 days
Medium: 18 lumens, 6 hours
High: 70 lumens, 1.5 hours
Max: 90 lumens, 1.2 hours
Strobe, 2.5 hours
Beacon, 18 hours

the tactical version let you program both modes (twisted/loosened bezel) and you also get to choose between cool white or neutral white

and even if 0.2 lumen sounds like it's really dim, once you're in the dark it's just the right amount of light to do some reading

Click to expand...

I beleive the specs for the medium mode of 18 lumens for 6 hours was a misprint. It had been reported here on CPF that the medium mode's runtime is about 12 hours, not 6. This was the result of the review and runtimes that were performed by Selfbuilt. The actual runtime on medium mode with a 2000 mAh Eneloop was 12 hours and 25 minutes.

The LiteFlux LF2XT will probably run for days at its lowest. Should be the longest running 1 AAA. Programmable to give priority to any level or mode.

Geoff

kramer5150 said:

The Gerber infinity ultra deserves a mention.
Someone a while ago did a run test on it and IIRC it was in the 45 hour ballpark before dimming, and continued to run with diminished output for ~100 hours. My memory is fuzzy though on the details, but I think the test was run with an eneloop.

Its about 9 Lumens OTF from a Nichia GS.

Click to expand...

Has it been confirmed that they use the GS? I remember talk of them being updated, but I don't recall reading that they are indeed using the GS.

Mikellen said:

I beleive the specs for the medium mode of 18 lumens for 6 hours was a misprint. It had been reported here on CPF that the medium mode's runtime is about 12 hours, not 6. This was the result of the review and runtimes that were performed by Selfbuilt. The actual runtime on medium mode with a 2000 mAh Eneloop was 12 hours and 25 minutes.

Click to expand...

Good news then. I also believe that most lights will last longer than continuous tests show when used intermittently. I've been using my quark AA for many hours on high without counting and can swear it's been on for more than 1.5 hours in total. I worked 4 hours on a machine and used it most of the time, and it still runs on high even though I can't see a difference anymore when I put it on turbo mode.

Looking at what the OP actually wants leads me to recommend these 2 lights. I see most people didn't read the OP very well. :nana:

Gerber Infinity Ultra for a AA
Fenix E01 for a AAA

Both will give you 1 mode of light around 10-15 lumens for hours and hours and hours from the Eneloops you have on hand. They are very tough, simple, and ready to work.

defloyd77 said:

Has it been confirmed that they use the GS? I remember talk of them being updated, but I don't recall reading that they are indeed using the GS.

Click to expand...

I thought it was confirmed that all Gerber/Nichia lights used the GS... My memory could be wrong though, it was a while ago when that thread was around the top.

Try the Pac-lite, made by a backpacker,its 9-volt though.