AA BACKPACKING LIGHT

I posted a few days back about the best light per ounce, I'd now like to refine my search to AA powered LED lights. All other equipment is AA powered so it's good too stay with one battery size.

I'd like a really powerfull 3 or 4 AA LED.

Well, it's not super powerful, but the UK 4AA eLED strikes me as a near perfect backpacking light in that size class. It's waterproof, has decent throw, excellent spill, and 10+ hours of regulated light followed by countless hours of diminishing light. All this for $20-$30. There are definitely brighter lights out there, but few with this one's all round goodness.

Geoff

spacetroll said:

...I'd like a really powerfull 3 or 4 AA LED.

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One of the most powerful is the Gerber LX 3.0; runs on 3AAs. It's not regulated and a little long, but it looks rugged and puts out plenty of light. REI and various online retailers carry them:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/gerber_lx3.htm

A smaller possibility is the Fenix L1. Runs on 1AA, but output equal to some 3 and 4AA lights; lightweight.

http://www.fenixlight.com/

SL ProPolymer Luxeon, loooong throw on 4 AA's...

Elektrolumens XM3 is great as well for medium range work.

UK 4AA LED for super runtime. 10 hours, , very water tight, but its not bright.

Streamlight 4AA Lux is a good bit brighter, nice beam etc, also water tight. about 4 hours runtime.

Other than that, maybe a Sammich modlue in a minimag.

270winchester said:

SL ProPolymer Luxeon, loooong throw on 4 AA's...

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I just got one of these. Wow!

If it is not too big and you want a really powerful light...go for this one!

If it is too big...maybe a Streamlight Jr. 2AA ?

I have the UK 4AA eLed, a very nice light...but not "powerful" by any stretch of the imagination.

I love the Propoly Lux 4AA (have two of them), but I wouldn't recommend it for backpacking. It's a little big, plus there's no lockout for the tail click, and it's very sensitive (momentary on). It will easily get turned on if anything at all presses against it.

Any light with an non-recessed tail click that can't be locked out is a potential problem in the rough-and-tumble backpacking environment.

The other lights already recommended are possibilities.

The battery issue notwithstanding, I'd personally I'd take a Peak Caribbean -- (tiny, powerful, good runtime), or my HDS EDC U60 (variable output).

Also not AA, nor LED, but a small, tough, bright, cheap light is the Princeton Tech Rage -- 4AAA/xenon. Would be a great backpacking light: tough, waterproof, good clip, twist on (no accidental activation):

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/princetontec_rage.htm

There are lots of 2AA and 3AA Luxeon lights, but you said you wanted something powerful, so I'll skip those.

There's the Gerber LX 3.0, a long and skinny unregulated Luxeon III light that takes 3 AA batteries. There's also the Elektrolumens Blaster-Jr. That's a side-by-side Luxeon III (?) 3AA light. Both are unregulated, so they'd probably maintain their brightness much better with NiMH batteries than with alkalines. Those are the only Luxeon III AA lights that I know of, besides the Elektrolumens XM-3, which I would not buy in consideration of the following.

SmartFire 2AA 3-W clone: Brighter than most Luxeons, but still has decent battery life. Uses about 1.5 W; runs best with NiMH cells - about 2.5 hours. $20 from Emilion. If a regular old Luxeon is not bright enough for you, the SmartFire would be my pick for a balance between price, size, run-time, and brightness.

If you really want throw and don't mind a slightly larger light that uses more batteries, you want the Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA Luxeon. It doesn't make the most efficient use of batteries, but the throw is the best of any Luxeon, thanks to its tightly regulated overdriven Luxeon and deep reflector. About 4.5 hours on 4 batteries: alkaline and NiMH cells work equally well. Throw is better than most Luxeon III lights. Not good for close work.

I'm not aware of any 4AA Luxeon III lights. You could buy a 4AA Luxeon and mod it with a Luxeon III, running on 3 or 4 NiMH cells. You could also use a 3C or 4C Luxeon III or V light with AA adapters, but naturally these are a bit bigger and heaver than all of the above. The Nuwai ALX-233C 3C Luxeon III looks nice.

The Nuwai Triple 3-W light on 5 AA NiMH cells puts about 9 watts into the LEDs and lasts about 1 hour with all 3 Luxeon III LEDs turned on. You can trade off brightness and run-time by switching on fewer LEDs or using 4 AA cells instead of 5. This light was designed for 3 D cells, so it's big and heavy. But with insanely high output and throw, it just might be the most powerful AA light, pound for pound.

There's also the Gerber TX 3.0, which appears to be a not-quite-as-nice version of the LX.

I use a Peak Mediterranean (Luxeon III at 1.5 watts) it is fed with a 2AA body with your choice of twisty switch or Kroll click tailswitch. The 2AA body is threaded for both and is convertible on the fly. I run mine on NiMH AA batteries and get 2 hours of runtime. It can and does take a pounding and you can put a Berkley stainless clip on the end to attach to your backpack. The larger head of the Med gives more throw than a Carribean and will not fall out of vest loops (think of a indestructable waterproof 2AA minimag with a Kroll or twisty switch) Don't forget the Peak single AA single LED light as a backup, I heard reports they run for 55 hours... it will be dim at the end but makes a great "Oh crap"! light if you get stuck somewere.

Really powerful lightweight LED lights are sort of contradicting terms. If you want a powerful backpacking light, use incandescent. PT Tec 40 is a good choice, Surge is another possibility. It has a nice beam with the textured reflector or long throw with the smooth reflector. Bring some spare bulbs and you've negated most of the advantage of LED's for this type of light.

paulr said:

Really powerful lightweight LED lights are sort of contradicting terms....PT...Surge is another possibility...

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Yes, exactly. Also AA power further reduces the choices -- most of the powerful LED lights use CR123s.

I have a PT Surge; it's a nice light with big output, but it seems quite heavy for backpacking -- uses 8 (!!) AAs. Also non-regulated so only 45 min to 50% output. If you use this light much you'd need several AA 8-packs, further increasing the weight burden.

Already stated, but the Fenix L1P uses one AA, has small size, good output (it's Luxeon, not 5mm) and decent runtime.

Thank you guys. I have been meaning to order the UK 4AA LED light and this tread remind me of it

Will

Maybe you can consider buying an Aurora 2AA flashlight? It's equiped with the newest generation of Nichia SMD LED. Light output is 42 lumens, runtime of almost 4 hours, nice beam, and small size. Usual price is 36 USD, I have them on sale for only 18,17 USD. Here's a review : http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/aurora_alj-012aa.htm

Hello BentHead,

And where did you find the 2 AA body?

Tom

In my openion, 2AA light with luxeon 1 watt is suit for packpacking. It's light weight and save battery with long run time.

paulr said:

PT Tec 40 is a good choice, Surge is another possibility. It has a nice beam with the textured reflector or long throw with the smooth reflector. Bring some spare bulbs and you've negated most of the advantage of LED's for this type of light.

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Wouldn't you say LEDs have an advantage in battery efficiency? That would seem to be an advantage for backpacking.

SilverFox (Tom),
I asked about a 2AA body for the Mediterranean and Peak responded by sending one with my order. They will be producing them again with a twist, they can be used as a twisty or use a Kroll clickie switch. Just remove the threaded base of the twisty, lugged body and it comes off... and it is threaded for a Kroll clickie switch. The Kroll is used at work since I use NiMH rechargables and the twistie body goes back on for desert use. I like the twistie because it can't inadvertantly come on and is much more reliable when using it in the desert.
For desert use, I put my Berkley stainless steel clip on the lug and clip it to my vest so it won't get lost. I can remove the lug and screw it into the clamp/maget loc-line device so I can hook it to the equipment I am working on. Beats putting the light in my mouth. The clamp is screwed into my Matterhorn Snow29 3 LED light and loaded with NiMH for reading at night. All together, a great system for those times when reliable lighting really counts. Free photons with NiMH batteries just makes it all the sweeter.
Still have the original CR123a body, don't use it but it is a nice option if I ever do. I consider the Mediterranean 2AA line-loc clamp system along with the Matterhorn the ultimate desert (medic) lighting system. Since my radios, cameras, clocks, 170 lumen Mag mods and red/UV lights use AA batteries... it is a no brainer to standarize to them. The bonus is my buddies use my AA NiMH batteries/charger also. If it won't run NiMH AA batteries, I won't buy it. The pickings are slim but Peak pulled it off... life is good.

joema said:

I love the Propoly Lux 4AA (have two of them), but I wouldn't recommend it for backpacking. It's a little big, plus there's no lockout for the tail click, and it's very sensitive (momentary on). It will easily get turned on if anything at all presses against it...

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I need to correct this. While the Lux 4AA doesn't have an apparent official lockout, unscrewing the bezel 3.5 turns seems to prevent inadvertent activation. Don't know if that handicaps waterproofing.

With the accidental activation problem removed, the only real objection to backpacking is size and weight. Neither of those are really bad, although there are significantly smaller lights.

As already stated if you want to trade output for longer runtime, there's the UK 4AA eLED.

If you can get a 2AA Peak Matterhorn as BentHeadTX mentioned, that would be a very nice light.

Battery efficiency is of concern if you're going to use the light a lot. Normally you'd use a low powered light for normal walking around, setting things up, etc. The high powered light is to spot stuff in the distance, usually for just a few moments at a time. Yeah, LED's these days are more efficient than most incans. The 1 watt Luxeon might be as bright as a 1.5 watt incan. But a Surge runs close to 10 watts, so it will overwhelm any 1 watt Luxeon.

Of course if you're using AA nimh cells and don't mind a heavy light, you can set up a mag85 or even a USL and go completely berserk.