Streamlight Keymate

capnal

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May 5, 2004
Messages
407
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
Yeah. I was totally disappointed when my (actually my wife's) Keymate totally smoked my Arc AAA, especially when I had talked up the Arc so much.

Keymate is a cool little light. You might get some opinions on here about how it is no good because it runs on button cells, but I can get over that. Smaller than the Arc. Brighter, too.
 

Freedom1955

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Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
346
Location
Michigan
I ordered one of these from BrightGuys today. Then I looked on the net and found this place in florida and bought some LR44 button batteries 10 for $5.25 with free shipping.
Did I do allright on the price of the batteries?
 

dsl

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Joined
Aug 30, 2004
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49
Location
New Mexico, USA
I love mine showed my brother who thinks $20.00 for a mag is a waste of cash. He went out and got 4 key mates and a new one for me just to say thanks. now I have 3 and will probably get a few more just because they are so nice.
 

Cornkid

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Sep 6, 2004
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1,488
Location
Charlottesville, Va
I bought one at Cabelas a few days ago. Its really nice. It is black with a green LED. I bring it to school every day.

-tom
 

jbfla

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Joined
Aug 21, 2004
Messages
150
Location
central Florida
Usually I won't buy a light with odd size batteries but this is my exception.

I like it.
...small
...well-made
...bright...for its size
...nice beam
...inexpensive
...cute /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif ...the only light my wife (who thinks I am "flashlight insane") will carry.

JB
 

greenlight

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Joined
Aug 18, 2004
Messages
4,298
Location
chill valley
Yeah, but who wants to buy button cells? For a small 1 led, the infinity is still a better option. I thought the threading was wimpy on the keymate.
 

Roy

Farewell our Curmudgeon Administrator
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Apr 14, 2002
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Granbury, Tx USA
But then again....just how often do you use a key-chain light? Those pill sized batteries should last a long time.
 

cognitivefun

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Messages
600
aren't the cells the cheap kind zinc air batteries available for hearing aids? They are probably pretty cheap
 

vcal

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Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Messages
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Location
San Gabriel Valley
The LR44 cells can sometimes be found on a 10 cell card-for $1.00 US.
Blackfeather Electronics still sells 'em cheap like that, I think.
-Also, they can be bought in quantity on eBay as well.
 

Freedom1955

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
346
Location
Michigan
[ QUOTE ]
jbfla said:
Usually I won't buy a light with odd size batteries but this is my exception.

I like it.
...small
...well-made
...bright...for its size
...nice beam
...inexpensive
...cute /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif ...the only light my wife (who thinks I am "flashlight insane") will carry.

JB

[/ QUOTE ]

Now your not the only one! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

beam_me_up

Enlightened
Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
490
Location
Minnesota, USA
this thread seems to have got lost....I don't have a keymate yet but if anyone else does I'd like to hear more opinions of this light. I've heard it is smaller and brighter than the arc aaa. There is only 1 dealer in my town that carries it according to streamlight.com so I'm going to go there tomorrow and try to pick one up...I'll write my own review when I get one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

paulr

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
Messages
10,832
Blackfeather has been gone for months, but Batterystation had some cheap LR44's. They're alkaline, not zinc-air.

Beam_me_up, the Keymate is brighter than the Arc AAA when the Keymate's batteries are brand new. Once it's been running a little while, it's dimmer.

It's a well-made metal light and some people like it a lot. More power to 'em, if that's how their tastes run. Me, I see the Arc's AAA battery and long, (semi) regulated runtime as a huge advantage. If I want to use button/coin cells, I prefer the Photon-style CR2016 lithium lights to button cell lights like the Keymate. They're a lot smaller/lighter and they work just as well and their runtime is comparable.

Peak now has a light that seems intended to be an Arc AAA successor, though they don't call much attention to it. See their homepage ( www.peakledsolutions.com ), click Annameria Dallasandra collection, and see where it says 1aaa lug-style light for $24.95. I think it will be set for lower output than the Arc (engineering difference) but should run somewhat longer.

Here's a link to Roy's graph of Keymate output. See that it's down to 50% after just a half hour. For an Arc AAA, that would be more than 5 hours.

http://ftp2.itexas.net/Rbost/key-mate.jpg
 

vcal

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Messages
3,074
Location
San Gabriel Valley
I run my Keymate on L544 lithiums these days. I also transplanted an I.S.P. Korea 100mA superwhite 5mm led into it. Huge difference in performance. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 

vcal

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Messages
3,074
Location
San Gabriel Valley
[ QUOTE ]
beam_me_up said:
Really? In what ways? Longer runtime or just brighter?

[/ QUOTE ]
In both ways. The LED itself is 3x brighter and the light runs a lot longer. I didn't do a specific runtime test though.........

I was able to buy 6 of the normally expensive camera L544s ($8.each), for just $1.99 each.

BTW-the L544 will not fit into the Keymate's battery sleeve with it's standard outer wrapper on it. Carefully breaking it apart will yield TWO "1/3N" (equals 6V.) sized steel-clad Li cells that fit perfectly. This also gives tremendous shelf life and superior cold temperature performance as well.
 
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