Help AAA light dilemma.

Hi all,

I am in the market for a new single AAA light to allow my surefire E1B a little rest (At least this is my excuse for buying a new light).

I have had previous experience with the Streamlight Micro which is a great little light. This light unfortunatly decided to jump out of my pocket.

So im really looking for suggestions of any comparable light to the streamlight micro i.e. same price, size, weight etc.

I will also add I am a UK member so maratac lights may be out of reach unfortunatly.

Thanks in advance for the advice and suggestions.
Steven

:welcome:
My question is, is your budget fixed? You have lots of options in the ~US$40+ range, but very very few comparable lights in the price range of your original ~US$20 Streamlight Microstream.

The Maratac AAA is my new EDC. It's smaller than the Streamlight (shorter than the ARC AAA!). It's a twisty, med-low-high, and it'll run about 30$US with shipping.

You should take a look at the ITP A3 EOS.

http://www.itplight.com/product_show.asp?id=197

Not a fan of the AAA form factor, but the ITP is a nice light for the money.

GlockDoc said:

The Maratac AAA is my new EDC. It's smaller than the Streamlight (shorter than the ARC AAA!). It's a twisty, med-low-high, and it'll run about 30$US with shipping.

Click to expand...

He's in the UK, the Maratac is not an easy to get option there.

The ITP is essentially the same light.

The "Prevo" 4sevens Preon ReVO is my new favorite AAA light. I recommend you check it out. It is (to my knowledge) the only fully regulated AAA light running a power LED, and it is one of the smallest AAA lights as well.

Here it is with a bunch of other favorites...

carrot said:

The "Prevo" 4sevens Preon ReVO is my new favorite AAA light. I recommend you check it out. It is (to my knowledge) the only fully regulated AAA light running a power LED, and it is one of the smallest AAA lights as well.

Here it is with a bunch of other favorites...

Click to expand...

+1000

Thanks again for the responses from everyone.

As with anybody on this forum my budget is not always fixed more a guideline to save my credit card from bearing the brunt of my addiction. On saying this I have just bought a Surefire E2E and some random surefire lego parts from the states which adds up.
So in reply to Kestrel no my budget is not fixed although Im not wanting to take out a loan for this (so I suppose that rules out custom lights If any actually do exist in AAA form).

I am in the UK so yes maratac lights do seem really nice in theory but to ship them to the UK silly prices of nearly 25 usd are added to the cost of the light itself. So that would mean a price of around 50 usd/ 30ish pound or so.

On saying this the price of 4sevens lights over the pond in the UK is somewhat inflated compared to the US market. A "Prevo" over here is around £33.99 and that is with a CPF discount on Flashaholics.co.uk. So I suppose the price for a maratac or similar light from the US shipped would not be too different.

On that note has anyone had any issues with these lights which might help me make my decision?:thinking:

Steven

Acid87 said:

Hi all,
...
I have had previous experience with the Streamlight Micro which is a great little light. This light unfortunatly decided to jump out of my pocket.

...

I will also add I am a UK member so maratac lights may be out of reach unfortunatly.

Thanks in advance for the advice and suggestions.
Steven

Click to expand...

Hi, I understand Maratac is probably out for you but this is a suggestion for when you get your new AAA. When I carry my Maratac AAA, I clip it to a small swiss army knife (the executive which is just slightly larger than the maratac itself). I find the pair pockets very well, makes the light easier to find in the pocket and makes the light easier to hold onto. Also less likely to 'jump out of my pocket".

I hope you find something that meets your needs.

ThumperACC

ThumperACC said:

Hi, I understand Maratac is probably out for you but this is a suggestion for when you get your new AAA. When I carry my Maratac AAA, I clip it to a small swiss army knife (the executive which is just slightly larger than the maratac itself). I find the pair pockets very well, makes the light easier to find in the pocket and makes the light easier to hold onto. Also less likely to 'jump out of my pocket".

I hope you find something that meets your needs.

ThumperACC

Click to expand...

Thanks Thumper I currently carry a SAK classic on my car keys so I might swap it to my new AAA light. Im still considering a maratac if I can find the likes of an ebay listing or something.

Thanks again

Id recommend an itp A3 EOS as it works nicely. However its somewhat limited on brightness capping at 80. Its also cheap at 20 bucks, or 25 with the stainless steel look.

You might consider an illuminati which uses an XP-G emitter and thus you get about 50% more brightness. It is pretty reasonably priced for a titanium light at 50 bucks if you wanted to spend double for about a 50% gain. And have titanium.
http://www.batteryjunction.com/ti-illuminati-ca1.html

I think those are the best 2 value propositions. There are other nice lights but they don't really provide enough extra value for their premium price relative to these two.

joe1512 said:

Id recommend an itp A3 EOS as it works nicely. However its somewhat limited on brightness capping at 80.

Click to expand...

If you want more brightness then running an ITP Alu A3 EOS on an IMR 10440 battery really boosts the brightness, but don't run it on high for more than 30 seconds or so (too much heat), and of course your warranty is gone the moment you fire it up. If you buy the original version it has a M/L/H sequence, but the latest ones are now L/M/H, so at the moment you can have a choice by careful shopping.

Bonjour Acid 87, greetings from Belgium,

I've been using a SL Microstream, too. I like it very much.
I've recently bought an Eagletac PN20a from LEDFIRE.UK: this is an outstanding little light. Twisty, 2 levels, extremely compact and ...very, very bright!
This is my first Eagletac, so I don't know much about their reputation, reliability, durability etc. But at first sight, this is really a fantastic torch.

joe1512 said:

You might consider an illuminati which uses an XP-G emitter and thus you get about 50% more brightness. It is pretty reasonably priced for a titanium light at 50 bucks if you wanted to spend double for about a 50% gain. And have titanium.
http://www.batteryjunction.com/ti-illuminati-ca1.html
.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the option unfortunatly with shipping costs this light would cost around £45 the price of a nitecore d10 r2. Therefore maybe a little too much.

Quelalumieresoit said:

Bonjour Acid 87, greetings from Belgium,

I've been using a SL Microstream, too. I like it very much.
I've recently bought an Eagletac PN20a from LEDFIRE.UK: this is an outstanding little light. Twisty, 2 levels, extremely compact and ...very, very bright!
This is my first Eagletac, so I don't know much about their reputation, reliability, durability etc. But at first sight, this is really a fantastic torch.

Click to expand...

I have also looked at the Eagletac as it seems really compact and still maintains a nice look without looking silly. I have used an iTp A3 for a while and its a really nice light too.

Has anyone had any experience with 4sevens Preon 1?

I think its now narrowed to the usual suspects:

ITP A3 colour/material not relevant
Eagletac PN20
Streamlight Micro (straight replacement)

Possibly consider Preon 1.

Is there anywhere other than countycomm.com that sells the maratac and willing to send internationally that the members overseas might know and/or recommend?

Cheers again even though im being a pest.

I have tested and played with most of the AAA lights on the market, you can see the result on my website.

My newest favourite is the Preon ReVo, but the old Preon was also a good light.
The Preon, Illuminati, Maratac and ITP uses nearly the same driver design without stabilization, but has different programming in the microprocessor.

The EagleTac is stabilized, i.e. brightness is independent of battery voltage, but it uses a lot of power to stabilized the brightness, i.e. it is best to NiMH or lithium batteries.

I mounted 1 of my A3s on 1 of my blowguns hehe. Looks cuter and much brighter than the Terralux upgraded Mini Mag 3AAA. I ordered a stainless version for the 1 sans torch as I use them all for nocturnal rat extermination

ITP A3 new version £15.95 postage paid in the UK,smaller than the Microstream and 3 modes.

Eagletac PN20A 2 mode twisty £25.95 postage paid in the UK

[OT] Re: Help AAA light dilemma.

carrot said:

The "Prevo" 4sevens Preon ReVO is my new favorite AAA light. I recommend you check it out. It is (to my knowledge) the only fully regulated AAA light running a power LED, and it is one of the smallest AAA lights as well.

Here it is with a bunch of other favorites...

Click to expand...

What is the light between the two Arcs'? I like its dark gray appearance, and solid personality. And the Arc AAA seems unused... mine scratched up easily with about a months pocket carry.

-Amarendra

Re: [OT] Re: Help AAA light dilemma.

choombak said:

What is the light between the two Arcs'? I like its dark gray appearance, and solid personality. And the Arc AAA seems unused... mine scratched up easily with about a months pocket carry.

-Amarendra

Click to expand...

It is a Mako



I once wrote this about the light:

This is a custom light made in a small serie. The light is made in titanium with a really good finish. The light has two levels, when twisted together it first goes on at low level with a bit more twisting it changes to high level (That is not really that high). The light has a slot for a trit and I have mounted a "ice-blue" in mine.
The light was manufactured with two different beam spreads, a focused and a non focused, mine is the non focused version.



Current consumption: low: 18mA, high 60mA
Mass with battery: 28 gram
Light emitter: 5mm Cree led, in 15º or 60º version.
User interface: Twist
Settings: 2 levels

Acid87 said:

Is there anywhere other than countycomm.com that sells the maratac and willing to send internationally that the members overseas might know and/or recommend?

Click to expand...

Search for Miles Stair's SurvivalShop. Light price is within a few dollars of countycomm and it's $7.95 shipping to the UK. I've never used them myself so I can't comment as far as recommendation.