SL Keymate Vs CMG Infinity Ultra Vs Arc AAA-LE

Can anybody compare the relative brightness of the SL Keymate Vs CMG Infinity Ultra Vs Arc AAA-LE for me. I am curious to see which would be a better mini emergency light.

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HunterSon said:
Can anybody compare the relative brightness of the SL Keymate Vs CMG Infinity Ultra Vs Arc AAA-LE for me. I am curious to see which would be a better mini emergency light.

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The ARC and Ultra are *roughly* equal in brightness. The ARC is partially regulated for a more consistant burn. The Ultra burns longer but is considerably larger. The Keymate is brighter than both but has a short bright runtime and uses less available batteries.

My preference remains the ARC for keyring EDC possibly supplemented with Ultra or regular CMG for emergency use.

Brightnorm

I have the Keymate and found that it does drop off rapidly. I just put in 2 X 1/3N batteries in stead of the 4 X LR44s. It appears to be a little brighter. It was cheaper locally too. About $3 for 1 LR44 and $4 for a 1/3N. You think I will get more runtime from the 1/3Ns? Oh yea, how mych brighter is the Keymate than the CMG? AAs are alot cheaper than either battery and if the output is close I might pick one up.
Thanks!

HunterSon,
If you are going to carry the light on your keyring, get the Arc AAA. If it is to be used as a small emergency light, get the CMG Infinity Ultra AA so it will burn longer and be easier to carry. If you want the best, ArcMania/Lambda makes a single AAA flashlight with a Luxeon R ranked LED and custom electronics. It will run for 5 hours on a single AAA. They run $70 and you have to get inline. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif

Awhile back, TedBear was making "ArcFinity" adapters to let you run an Arc-AAA head on an Infinity body using an AA cell. But I don't believe they're being made anymore - especially since the Infinity Ultra accomplishes much the same thing. The higher brightness of an Arc with the longer run time of an AA cell.

My take on this clever adapter is right here if you're interested.

Don't worry about the relative brightness of these lights. They have many nice attributes but being seriously bright isn't one of them. They are for close-up tasks and walking around in the dark, not lighting rooms or throwing across long distances.

If you want a brighter keychain light, try something bigger, like the Firefly when it becomes available, or the Arc LS, or (less expensive and lighter than the LS, but incandescent) the Princeton Tec Blast (powered by two AA's). The PT Blast weighs somewhat less than the CMG Ultra and is a heck of a lot brighter, though of course you get much less runtime per pair of batteries.

I had one, and I liked it, except that it uses button cells. It is the brightest single LED light I've seen.
And then bucken got one and added an extra cell. (2nd link below)
And put a brighter LED in one, as well. (1st link below)


A bucken Keymate mod w/photos:
Re: Your views on the SL Keymate

Buckens Keymate MadMan w/photo (WOW! It almost looks like a luxeon):
Re: Streamlight Key-Mate mini review

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif The Keymate goes with me everywhere, because it is very bright, very small, and it will run for 4 straight days on a set of batteries. At the end of the 4th day, the manufacturer says that it will still be putting out a beam that is 1 meter long. Of course, it's only dark at night, so a single set of batteries could give you light for an entire week in a third world country.

To get a second week of run time, it's no burden to carry an extra set of LR44 batteries. Wrap up 4 in some gaffers tape or what have you, and they still take up less space in your coin purse than a single AAA.

I think this is a fantastic emergency light! You can buy them for less than $10 at BrightGuy.com. You can get a FREE one if you buy 4! I have bought about 20 of them now.

Chuck