EDC Flashlight That Supports AA, CR123 & 18650?

Hey guys,

I'm doing some travelling in August and am looking for a fairly compact light to do it all. I currently have a Fenix PD30 and an Older Maratac AA flashlight. I love them both, but hate to have to lug both around depending on my battery situation.

I was looking at a few flashlights to replace them including:

Nitecore SRT3
Sunwayman V11R
Zebralight SC52W
Eagletax D25A

Which one of these would I be able to bore out to accept 18650 while still accepting a AA/14500 battery? (Using extender of course) Are there any other flashlights out there that could do this?

Also, I noticed that with the Sunwayman especially, to achieve full lumens it says you need to use a 16340 at 3.6v. Could I not achieve full lumens with a 14500 at 3.6v since it's the same voltage?

Thanks!

The specs for the V11R says "Powered by one 16340 or one 14500 (only when with optional AA extender), this light generates up to 570 lumens (Do not run the light continuously at this max mode for more than 5 minutes)."
so max power is available with a 14500.
I don't think any of these could use an 18650, it would be too long.

The 18650 lights are very versatile from low light to high output. When I travel, I bring a Fenix PD35, because it works very well with CR123 batteries, versus using a 18650 and carrying a charger.

It can't fit an 18650, but Peak Logan 17500 (with the adapter set) will run on just about any battery up to 17mm x 50mm, and is very efficient ... with quite long runtimes when output is dialed down low.

Took my Zebralight SC52 with me on a trip to New Zealand and Tahiti for 3 weeks. I just carried 2 extra 14500 in my pack. Used it quite a bit and never ran out. Can't go wrong with that light. It's easy to carry.

Why do you want to complicate things with boring out Richard? Buy a AA cell light and be done with it like D25A on your list,carry spare batts simple.

AA/14500 size lights aren't big enough to bore out for 18650's - some AA lights are actually smaller in diameter than a 18650 cell.

The Peak Logan 17500 as recommended by archimedes would be quite good - 17500 cells are available in 1100mAh capacity; a bit more than the usual ~800mAh you get with a 14500. Down-side is to run AA's and CR123's you'd need to pack the available spacer kit.

My advise would be to just pick a AA/14500 compatible light, charge up the 14500 when you find a spare plug socket, resort to alkaline AA's if you can't find a plug. IMO, the Zebralight H52w would be a great choice, a headlamp is useful for looking for stuff in the bottom of your rucksack/reading in bed/fixing kit that you've broken. You could also take the Maratac AA as a back-up light/cell carrier.

I have seen somewhere 18650 extensions for the Jetbeam RRT-01, which aside from the lack of tail clicky is somewhat similar to the Nitecore SRT3 and Sunwayman V11R you listed. That might be an option or perhaps whoever makes those could make a Nitecore or Sunwayman version for you. Probably hard to source before an August trip though.

I don't have first hand experience with any of these myself.

What about a solarforce L2M with a low voltage drop in. It could use a 18650, one cr123, one rcr123, two aa if you screw a 123 extension. That's what I have and it's pretty versatile....

archimedes said:

It can't fit an 18650, but Peak Logan 17500 (with the adapter set) will run on just about any battery up to 17mm x 50mm, and is very efficient ... with quite long runtimes when output is dialed down low.

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I use this light for that exact reason. I use CR123 lights (HDS and Surefire) with batteries supplied by the Disaster Response Coordinators but sometimes we have supply issues. It's great to be able to use pretty much what's available. You can even use a 9 volt battery if you take it apart but the run time will suck.

Note that you'll need the adapter kit. It's also available with a Nichia 219.

Peak Night Patrol (with an extension) can take multiple AA's, 14500's, CR123's and the 18650. But "fairly compact" won't permit such flexibility. A single 1.5v AA might not provide much output (if any) in some lights built around LiIon's.

What was the name of the Zebralight that was designed to accept AAs and CR123a? They don't make them anymore but you might be able to find one in the marketplace.

Sc80 methinks. ..

lightmyfire13 said:

Sc80 methinks. ..

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I thought that one was discontinued. Shame. I've used them at home for a couple of years.