Fenix E01 saves the day!

So, we recently moved to countryside and we're still learning the routes and surroundings. Today it dawned on me that I can take a later bus home (wifey had the car) if I just walk about 4 kilometers through a forest.

The thing is, it is thick forest, pitch black (high spruce), and the road is very poor, hardly drivable unless you have a 4wd. The half moon was low in the sky and it started to drizzle, then the moon went behind dark clouds. :thinking:

I mean, it was dark. No streetlights, no houses. Just forest. But. I had my trusty old E01 on the keychain so no problem!

Between the clouds some stars were occasionally visible when I started walking. As my eyes adapted to the darkness, the E01 seemed like a veritable thrower! It's always surprising how useful these tiny lights are! I could see usefully some 30 meters if there was light coloured hay or birch trunks for the light to reflect off of. At close range, it illuminated the soggy, muddy road well.

So I got home safely, took a shower and now I'm loading a fresh batch of Ni-Mhs before hitting the hay. It was a nice day. :sleepy:

Earthlight

While the E01 is dim by today's standards, it still puts out plenty of useful light. For walking you don't need all that much light, and I usually run my lights on their lower settings (comparable to the E01, or lower) while walking so they don't take out my night adapted eyes.

Take some pics next time,we all love pics,joking apart the trusty old Fenix EO1 really is a hero of a light and to think we all talk/buy/trade/sell/exchange these mega lumen pocket rockets and a little budget light saves your day,great story.

I hope that the E05 is as good as E01.

I'm worried that the E05 becomes shorter runtime.

finek said:

I hope that the E05 is as good as E01.

I'm worried that the E05 becomes shorter runtime.

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Yes it has a much lower runtime but it has 3 times the output,just keep a spare battery with you if it bothers you so much,for normal day to day usage you will be ok,my A3 only will do an hour on high,i have no problems just give the old eneloops a top up every couple of weeks or so.

Great story about the E01! I just got one 2 weeks ago and have used it more than I thought I would. It is on my bedside table at night and on my keychain by day.




Barry

You just can't convince people of it until they experience it - in absolute or near absolute darkness, a little light goes a long, long way.

The more ambient light you have, the more artificial light you need to put out to notice the difference.

Which is why sometimes, low output and long, long run-times are the way to go.

-Trevor

Very cool story! The best light is the one you have with you... I love my EO1's

Back in the 90's I did plenty of backpacking with a MiniMag as my light source. I believe the output on that is around 10lm, and very unregulated.

In some ways we are pretty spoiled with 10lm for 10+ hrs on a single AAA.

Great post! I bought an E01 when I first started learning about LED lights. Of course, once you become addicted you go through the "brighter is better" phase, and my E01 sat in a drawer for a year or two. Recently, it finally dawned on me how useful and lightweight the E01 would be with a lithium aaa on my keychain.Now I use the little bugger all the time again.

The E01 is a proven performer. I need to add one to my keychain EDC ensomble (green AL Raw, P1D CE, ARC AAA-P UV, and a coincell).
It makes sense to always have a light that can effectively run on a basic widely available AAA. For the money it's built like a tank. My 90+ Y.O Grandma EDC'd one for years on a neck lanyard. In a power outage an E01 can give MANY hours of light on a measly AAA cell.

Cool story about the Finland E01 experience.

Nice post and is a credit to how useful 10 lumens can be.

Its amazing how practical small AAA and AA light have become with high efficiency LED's and divers. While camping, I used my small AA and AAA lights almost exclusively and never needed a larger light.

WadeF said:

While the E01 is dim by today's standards, it still puts out plenty of useful light. For walking you don't need all that much light, and I usually run my lights on their lower settings (comparable to the E01, or lower) while walking so they don't take out my night adapted eyes.

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It is dim if compared with the latest and greatest LEDs' out in the market. But the darkness hasn't changed an ounce, and it pitch darkness, ~7-10 lumens is like a thrower. I trust my Arc AAA-P over everything when reliability matters.

In a situation like that, I would really, REALLY want a back-up flashlight! Well, next time, anyways.

Because, if that E01 fails, you are literally, SOL.

If you are going to make that 4km walk through the woods with any regularity, consider carrying another small light...maybe a small light in AA size, with several levels, in case you need a little more light....when something goes BUMP in the night!

If your eyes are really dark adjusted, it's amazing just how much you can see with a single 5mm white LED.

I find if there is a little ambient light, say from distant streetlights, etc., a low output light is LESS useful, because your eyes never get REALLY dark adjusted.

I found this in dimly lit parking lots, trying to use an Arc-AAA years ago....If it had been REALLY dark, I could have seen MUCH better, than in the dim light.

Nice story. That's the reason the trusty E01 remains on my keychain. It helped out lots of times and I even gave one to my gf who is not into flashlights at all. Cool story, and indeed pack an extra light next time for the moments you just need some more light.

Good story, shows that to edc a light can save your bacon,so you dont walk in to a tree or worse on the way home.

scout24 said:

The best light is the one you have with you...

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I agree 100%. :huh:

scout24 said:

Very cool story! The best light is the one you have with you... I love my EO1's

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+2 :thumbsup:

I have a question for anybody who not only has carried the E01 on a keychain for a long time, but has actually used the hell out of it on-off a lot. I have gold and purple E01's. Total shelf queens. When I got them, my first observation was of the two small copper pads on the board which complete the electrical connection between the tube and circuit board. To my eyes, it appeared that ongoing twisty use could take a premature toll on the longevity of these pads, with all that constant scraping and rubbing on two small pad areas. Any hard core E01 users had any issues regarding this?

Turbo DV8 said:

To my eyes, it appeared that ongoing twisty use could take a premature toll on the longevity of these pads, with all that constant scraping and rubbing on two small pad areas. Any hard core E01 users had any issues regarding this?

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I've got a few of the older model EO's, one of which has been used often, daily, since purchased a few (3-4?) years ago... and there's surprisingly little to no visible wear on the gold traces/contacts. Very little actual "scraping and rubbing" going on, really... more "clamp - un-clamp".

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Bulletproof little lights!:thumbsup: