What is it about 5mms? I still love lights that use these darn things!

A lot of my favorite lights use these little 5mm epoxy-dome wonders. Arc-AAA, Fenix E01 (and E0 Dart for those who remember), Mako-AAA, Sapphire, Infinity Ultra, Inova X5, Photons... I still use 5mm-based lights every day.

Anybody still love these things? The beam distribution is a nice combination of flood and throw, and they are often plenty bright for me!

I like my Photon II, but only because it's hardly noticable on my keychain. I don't know how people carry around anything bigger; my keys are heavy and annoying enough. I don't care for the purplish/greenish/yellowish rainbow tint, but it's always with me and that's what counts.

They're great in all of my A2 torches ... :devil:

I also like vintage Peaks !

I just love my E01, the Fauxtons and my DIY twin LED 9V flashlight. I'd also like to see more manufacturers going the 5mm neutral path.

Speaking of new stuff, I wonder why we don't see more of new 40+lm 5mm LEDs, because they exist. There was a thread about 5mm LEDs before I decided to take a break from the forum, and one user posted the links to new Nichias that blew my mind...

Cheers

E01 and Mako flood get a fair bit of use here. They still do what they do very well. 10 lms is still plenty for many applications and the relative simplicity and ruggedness of 5mm lights means they take a lot and keep on firing. You have to appreciate that. I think there is a place in every collection for a few of these lights.

However, I have to say the crown jewel of all the tiny AAA single level low output lights I have ever owned is my McGizmo Sapphire Mule. This is pure Don brilliance. Rather than the 5mm that usually went in the Sapphire he made a handful of them with high CRI Nichia surface mount emitters and Norlanded the LEDs right to the lens of the light. About ~8 lumens of pure, beautiful white Nichia light with flawless artifact free flood. It is spectacular in every way. :huh:

My Vinh moded Fenix E01 (Nichia) has the nicest 5mm beam I've ever seen. It has a nice vanilla tint that is very smooth with just a whisper of blue in the center. Someday, I'll get Vihn to mod my Maratac copper with one of his special Nichia 5mm.

YES! Still using Eternalights (CPF and Elite versions) at home every night. And the Photon Freedoms are on just about everything. Arc AAA hangs from my company id/key card.

Another boost for the eternaLight. While writing this, I have one by my side. They're great lights for short to medium distances. They're very rugged too.

They are often the smallest lightest and most unobtrusive lights to carry on you at all times.
In many situations, for personal lighting use, they provide enough light for almost anything you might normally need a light for.

The thing I like about 5mm's is that the low current limit forces manufacturers to create long-running lights that are well-suited to voltage regulation (giving them that nice taper from bright to dim).

Other than that, I've come to prefer SMT LED's. I'd rather have a Cree XP-G R4 5B in a smooth shallow reflector driven at 20ma than a Nichia GS. The problem with having an emitter than can handle 800ma is that the manufacturer will allow the user to drive it at that level, dropping the runtime from 12h to 1h, at which point you can never be sure whether the battery will have any charge when you pick the light up.

I'd like to see more single-level, low-output offerings that use SMT's. The LED Solitaire is a step in that direction. Except that I don't need 37lm @ 1.75 hours, I need 12lm @ 7.5 hours.

Got side-tracked there, but I guess those are my feelings. I have a soft spot in my nostalgic heart for classic lights like the Inova X5 and Arc AAA but recognize that in a proper reflector at the same drive level, a Cree SMT (with Cree's precision output & tint binning) will offer a better beam with greater efficiency.