LR44 / Button Cell Lights!

Love them? Hate them? Whats your favorite?

I was pleasantly surprised @ the Streamlight Key-Mate, although it's a tint lottery and the current one I have is angry blue. It also has a great pocket clip and keychain attachment that I'll likely swap for a paracord fob or a S clip to make it a more stand alone light. With 100hrs runtime and a $10 price tag I think it makes a great SHTF / BugOut / emergency light. You could also store backup cells in an attatched insulated pill fob for 200 Hrs.....

Post em if you got em!

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

:candle:

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

Back when I was a wee candle, my soon-to-be fiancee and I took a cross-country bicycle trip; I might have brought a 2xAA incan maglite or something. We met up with a friend who gave each of us a new-fangled mini Pelican 3xLR44 led light. Let me tell you, those two little lights saw us camping across the entire country, 3 months total. Real workhorses, puts it in proportion how useful a small, dim light can truly be.

Edit: I think those two lights are still stashed in our two BOBs right now, albeit with fresh cells.

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

Not sure if thread topic can be "button / coin" cell flashlights generally, but these ...



... are my backup backup lights

The squeeze light is from LightHound and the eGear PicoLite has served well for quite a while.

I have also used a Streamlight NanoLight, but the threads had to be taped to keep the bezel on securely :shrug:

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

archimedes said:

Not sure if thread topic can be "button / coin" cell flashlights generally, but these ...

I have also used a Streamlight NanoLight, but the threads had to be taped to keep the bezel on securely :shrug:

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Thanks for the responses everyone.


I changed the thread tittle second guessing myself about "coin"..... but after... now Im doing it again as I remembered like the lighthound light I believe "coin cell" is the proper term to include. Oh well.

The lighthound is the same as the BJ light..... Great beam for that type of light, blue, has good profile and low / no artifacts. Im sure most have one banging around in a drawer somewhere.

The Key-Mate to my suprise is the smoothest twisty I have ever used...really. The threads are nice and deep, the o'ring size is perfect and they use a heavier grease. Wish my ProTac AAA had the same, the ano is wearing and the threads area shallow, granted it's not a twisty. I think it should hold. I've seen the mention for the tape on the smaller / cheaper lights before, some just don't have enough metal to last without play. The Key- Mate threading is exceptional. Only cavet is the beam is ringy but bright and angry blue.
Looking for a suitable diffuser. For funzies I put a thin piece of tissue over it, perfect neutral flood light.

I know theres diffuser lenses / tape out there but getting it cut precisely seems cumbersome.

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

Not LR44 coins, but CR1220 coins, can the Black Crater Gear Cord-Lock flashlight play too? Got a pair for accessorizing an outdoor camping outfit. They're okay.

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

Kestrel said:

(reducted)... , my soon-to-be fiancee and I took a cross-country bicycle trip. We met up with a friend who gave each of us a new-fangled mini Pelican 3xLR44 led light. Let me tell you, those two little lights saw us camping across the entire country, 3 months total. Real workhorses, puts it in proportion how useful a small, dim light can truly be.

Edit reducted.

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Several years ago my wife, then fiancee, knew of my penchant for carrying a flashlight and gave me a Brookstone 3xLR44 blue led keychain light for Christmas. I used that little light constantly. That was until the tail cap simultaneously broke off of my keychain and unscrew itself from the light.

Re: Best / Favorite LR44 Coin Cell Lights!

archimedes said:

I have also used a Streamlight NanoLight, but the threads had to be taped to keep the bezel on securely :shrug:

Click to expand...

My problem with the Nano too. I would reach into my pocket and find two halves of a light and some loose cells. Not conducive to happy making!
I have a bunch of the Titanium Innovations button cell lights, as well as a bunch of Nitecore Tubes. One or the other is on the zipper of every coat, jacket, and sweater I own, as well as the Tube on my keychain.

Around my neck 23/7

ForrestChump said:

Love them? Hate them? Whats your favorite?

I was pleasantly surprised @ the Streamlight Key-Mate, although it's a tint lottery and the current one I have is angry blue. It also has a great pocket clip and keychain attachment that I'll likely swap for a paracord fob or a S clip to make it a more stand alone light. With 100hrs runtime and a $10 price tag I think it makes a great SHTF / BugOut / emergency light. You could also store backup cells in an attatched insulated pill fob for 200 Hrs.....

Post em if you got em!

Click to expand...

I have a black streamlight keymate, it is my first "quality" light. Amazing lights, but there are several different models. The latest model has flat knurling instead of the grippy diamond point knurling which makes it smooth for the pocket but the soft anodized finish comes off in weeks. The clip is too light for me too use. But it has some good points, the 100 hours is a bit of a stretch, if you legitimately test it even with lithium it looses %90 of its brightness within the first 20 hours or less, so I use alkaline batteries instead and it has almost 30 lumens for the first hour, so I typically change it after that (IMPORTANT NOTE: an hour of use with a key chain light takes me a bout a month to get to with intermittent, 20 second use, and the main use I have it is to help change the batteries in my primary EDC, or to find light switches, so sometimes it could take me 2-3 months to see the light dim below20 lumens est. and replace the batteries is still not necessary, I just like using its full power) and the alkaline batteries I use are dollar store so it only cost one dollar to refill them. I do wish it had a cpu so it would not waist so much energy for 30 minutes of super brightness, I'd rather have a competitive 15-20 lumens for a solid 5-10 hours than 25-30 lumens for the first half hour ripping the batteries down to %70 voltage.

Otherwise, the keymate is an invincible light. I've kept it strictly on my keychain and throw my keys every day without fail against the wall when I get home, a silly practice, but it proves the light is very shock proof. The turn switch is nice in the sense that button switches collect dirt when in the bottom of my pockets, which jams the switch, a significant advantage of the streamlight. The lens doesn't seem light it is sturdy but it has done well for me. The nano however is despicable. Doesn't deserve the same brand name as the keymate.

RickZ said:

I do wish it had a cpu so it would not waist so much energy for 30 minutes of super brightness, I'd rather have a competitive 15-20 lumens for a solid 5-10 hours than 25-30 lumens for the first half hour ripping the batteries down to %70 voltage.

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Add a resistor?

more_vampires said:

Add a resistor?

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Idk how to do that, it doesn't have a whole lot of room in there to mod it really.

RickZ said:

The latest model has flat knurling instead of the grippy diamond point knurling which makes it smooth for the pocket but the soft anodized finish comes off in weeks.

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Really hope this isn't the case. Can you post a link or a pic? Thats one of the things I really like about this light. Wish all the models had knurling like this. I could see it if people were actually using the pocket clip but think 99% are on a keychain. Why don't manufactures make lights smooth under the clip rather than pocket shredders? Cost? I can see skipping that detail on a $10 keychain light, but what about other lights with a higher price tag? Seems relatively easy to implement.

Also:

:welcome:

Why don't manufactures make lights smooth under the clip rather than pocket shredders? Cost? I can see skipping that detail on a $10 keychain light, but what about other lights with a higher price tag? Seems relatively easy to implement.

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What really irks me isn't the "shredder" pocket clips, but the "slicer" pocket clips. You know, the ones with one razor sharp edge from where it was stamped and nobody ever bothered to buff it off on a fine belt sander?

Grr. Major pet peeve there, and TOTALLY unacceptable on something like an expensive light.

I mistakenly bought a LED Lenser K2 at a hardware store thinking it was an AAA light, but it uses four LR44. However, otherwise it is a decent small light keychain light, 25 lumen, nice flood and spot beam, neutral tint. Unfortunately due to the high cost of replacing four LR44's it is more cost effective to replace it with an AAA light - so you guess my next purchase. Being a hospital ER worker, I'm not a fan of button batteries due to the high risk of injury and death if swallowed by children.

For those who say they can't get LR44 batteries cheap you can buy 12v car remote batteries and split them open and harvest 8 of them from one.

Love this little guy.



It's a promo from a Honda accessories dealer. Probably puts out 5-8 lumens of blue, but gets it done for finding dropped screws (that don't make it to the floor) in my engine bay. Magnet plucks it out too. $3.

Oh; also has a laser beam. :thumbsup:

And this guy from Belle & Howell...






Puts out like 10 lumens of far from perfect circle via 3 led emitters. Super strong magnet doubles as a metal splinter extractor. $10(?)


Or the Lux-Pro LP130...



Like 35 lumens of focus-able spot to room lighter in tail stand mode. $5



This one hasn't arrived yet. But looks intriguing.

ForrestChump said:

Really hope this isn't the case. Can you post a link or a pic? Thats one of the things I really like about this light. Wish all the models had knurling like this. I could see it if people were actually using the pocket clip but think 99% are on a keychain. Why don't manufactures make lights smooth under the clip rather than pocket shredders? Cost? I can see skipping that detail on a $10 keychain light, but what about other lights with a higher price tag? Seems relatively easy to implement.

Also:

:welcome:

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So, I should clarify, the knurling is flat on my model, the clip comes extremely tight, but usable, the anodized finish is certainly not hard, and seems to come off pretty fast. The lr44 batteries are only $1 to replace at the dollar store using alkaline batteries, US.that isn't too expensive, for me AAA battery lights are too big for my keys, and I frankly find this flashlight favorable because of durability etc.

stephenk said:

Unfortunately due to the high cost of replacing four LR44's it is more cost effective to replace it with an AAA light

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With barely any looking, I found lr44 duracell brand for .40 each. I'm sure I could do better with more than 30 seconds of looking.

more_vampires said:

With barely any looking, I found lr44 duracell brand for .40 each. I'm sure I could do better with more than 30 seconds of looking.

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Yup, Yup. You can even score the SR44 ( LR44 equivalent - Silver Oxide - No Leaking ) for around 80 cents.

Not sure exactly how it would impact or add to performance as these are usually used in slow drain application like watches to my understanding.