Re: New Maratac AA $29
Hello guys. I thought I'd post a few pictures and initial thoughts about the Maratac AAA.
Arrived in a large UPS envelope enclosed in a nice plastic tube, with description and instructions wrapped around the light.
The LED is described as a XR-E Q5 but appears to be a XP-E. Finish is a silver/natural HA.
It appears to just be a scaled up version of the AAA light with larger, stronger, removable pocket clip and key ring/lanyard attachment.
Size comparison to the AAA light. You can see the difference in HA color as well. This AA light is so "silver" that it could be mistaken for a bead blasted SS until you picked it up. I prefer the olive color of the AAA light but at the same time I like variety and so I appreciate the variation. County Comm lists this light as under 3" but even with the battery removed and head screwed all the way down it measures 3.08" Not a big difference but it is just over 3" not under.
At this time County's AA Maratac page states that the "10440 is not recommended." Obviously they meant to say 14500 but technically neither would be recommended...lol. I've tried 3 battery chemistrys thus far and all work great. The L91 Lithium is the brightest and my favorite so far. As many of you know I use 10440's in the AAA light almost exclusively and will likely be running this AA light on a 14500 myself. I'll get some output tests running by this evening hopefully.
One thing that I immediately noticed was the perfectly centered emitter. This is a pretty big deal for me and technically speaking it's more important to have it centered well on this larger reflector than the AAA light where the reflector centering isn't so critical.
Kudos to County Comm for getting this right! Additionally the reflector is seating perfectly symmetrical behind the lens/window. Another thumbs up to County for nailing this fit. I hope all the AA lights have the same fit and finish as mine does. The beam is very much tighter on the AA compared to the AAA. The hot spot is brighter and smaller and I hope to capture pictures of this later as well. This is a conventional 3 mode. 1.5 / 18 / 85 lumens for runtime of 100 / 7 / 2 hours. That concludes my thoughts for now, but thanks County Comm for continuing to bring us incredibly high quality and highly useful lights at excellent prices. You guys rock! ... so keep up the great work. Special thanks to Nick at CC for working with CPF members and hearing our ideas.
