need a 100 lumen gift light

looking for a light that runs on a single aa battery that is as close to 100 lumens as i can get for $10-20. remember the mte lights from dx that we all went crazy about and they couldn't keep in stock. something like that again, with perhaps more reliable delivery. anyone got any ideas? i need to gift out about 6 of them so price is important, but i want to hook some new budding flashaholics, so i need bright. obviously i want at least an old cree or sscp4 led for the efficency.

I just got a Uniquefire AA-S1 from DX that I think is great for a gift light. 1 Mode clicky, square threads, o-rings throughout. Great size, runs BRIGHT on a single AA.

And...less than $10.

I swore to myself I was going to stay away from DX after my last fiasco (this purchase was made with store credit from it). But I may have to order a few more of these.

Sku 24220


If you want something a bit nicer, the iTP EOS A3 are really impressive, but 80 lumens with a AAA. But, I carry mine everywhere...even in dress clothes.

Hope this helps,
Eric

How about this,cost me £20 so should be better priced in the US.

+1 on the EOS series. A2 will run you about $22 and A3 will be $18 with CPF discount codes.

For the budding flashaholic, the form factor to brightness ratio in the EOS series will probably blow their mind. Unless you do controlled side by side comparisons, it's highly unlikely 80 vs 100 lumen output would be noticeable to most folks.

Heck, as you can see here, the EOS A3 isn't that much dimmer than my ~140 lumen NiteCore D10, at least for indoor use.

I also think the ITP is a good choice.
Some other choices are the akoray k-106.
The Aurora SH-035 supposed to be a nice light and the stainless steel is pretty.
The Quark Mini AA is 36 dollars so above your asking price but still close and a great light and comes in a nice gift box.
ITP C7R from shiningbeam is 3 dollars above your budget but has the added bonus of variable output.
The Kingpower K1 from shiningbeam.

I'm all for "cheap/cool" deals on products which provide performance at a bargain, but when giving gifts, I tend to stick with "reliable" stuff.

I am new of course, so I haven't seen all the threads, but I did look around pretty hard before gifting 3 iTP EOS lights. I was unable to find any quality control issues with them, but did find quite a few threads on the various Deal Extreme, Kaidomain, etc offerings.

I have NOTHING against them, and intend to dip my toe into those waters soon, but I would hesitate to give away something that has a "high" failure report on CPF (High being 1 in 10 comments are quality/durability negative).

Might also want to add the Romisen RC-G2 from shiningbeam onto your list.

The itp series is great, but they are kind of small to use as a normal flashlight. I carry an A1 on my keychain, but most people won't. They may or may not carry an A3; probably not.

One suggestion might be the Romisen 1xAA flood to throw lights available at shiningbeam. I am not sure how many modes they have, if any. But the flood-to-throw is SUPER cool for gift lights!

You can find pretty cheap 10 dollar lights in the same category on DX, like the x2000 and the like. I think these would make great gifts, as full flood is really handy for working on stuff and not having a blinding hotspot. Then being able to see WAYYYY off with full throw is awesome.

joe1512,

can i get a stock number so i can check it out?

Ill try.

3xAAA Romisen flood to throw:
http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-215/**NEW**-Romisen-RC-dsh-C8-II/Detail

1xAA version:
http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-180/Romisen-RC-dsh-29-II-Q5/Detail

On DX, do a search for "flashlight flood throw", which is one of the few searches there that actually works well. ;-)
Look at the ones with Reviews, and be sure to read the mini-forum for each one.
One of the rare 1xAA ones:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29095

I recently bought a Uniquefire S10 (single mode) from DX. It's a nice, solid, bright single AA for $13. sku 30987

just ordered a 30987, cause reviews are great and takes a 14500 for $13

saik rc-a3, dont know if someone said that but found in a cree aa search and wasnt out of stock so thats a plus.

these are very close to what i was looking for. good form factor. runs on aa, guys got any more? anyone remember the mte sscp4 we all went crazy for a year or two ago?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1995 (edit: this one here, any hits like this one out there??)