the ultimate key chain flashlight

'small but powerful' is what i'm looking for! any recommendations on a cool key chain flashlight? i need to substitute the cr***y little light of my car key

the smaller the better! ...and i don't wanna hear size doesn't matter ;-)

Swiss

If you want very small and powerful, consider the Photon Freedom:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/photon_freedom.htm
http://www.pocketlights.com/phf.asp

Swiss said:

'small but powerful' is what i'm looking for! any recommendations on a cool key chain flashlight? i need to substitute the cr***y little light of my car key

the smaller the better! ...and i don't wanna hear size doesn't matter ;-)

Swiss

Click to expand...

It's not the smallest, but it's certainly hands down one the best. < (period)

Arc AAA Premium

:rock:

EDIT: You know something, it would be VERY interesting to mod the car key light. What kind of car is it?

Sounds like the Arc AAA rev4 is the best compromize for you. It's about as small as a AAA based light can be, and you probably want the AAA battery if you want anything approximating powerful; its got far more power than tiny coin cell batteries. Like the Photon Freedom, the Arc AAA uses the new Nichia CS LEDs that are almost twice as bright as their predicessors at the same current. The regulation electronics in the Arc will be able to drive the LED at high levels for over 5 hours- it really puts out an amazing amount of light for something so small.

The JIL LIGHT ROcKS.
The arc aaa is cool.
Right now either of the jil lites would be my preference over the arc. Why? Both are much brighter Much.
Yaesumofo

Swiss said:

'small but powerful' is what i'm looking for! any recommendations on a cool key chain flashlight? i need to substitute the cr***y little light of my car key

the smaller the better! ...and i don't wanna hear size doesn't matter ;-)

Swiss

Click to expand...

Going in the other direction, if you need it, there is a terrible "key-light" you can get, at hardware-stores or key-shops, where you slide a flat metal key inside this black plastic thing that looks like a photon with a cape on. Adhesive inside holds your key and now you can press a button on the black plastic thing and have light come from a small lamp that points right down your key.

These key-lights suck in general, but if you need this exact function they're fine! I have a big old kawasaki motorcycle where I wanted a one-handed illuminating key, but did not want another item attached to the key, banging around and so forth. This crummy "key-light" ended up being the best solution for me.

But hanging on a key-chain, you've already gotten good advice! I use Photon's on my average keychains, I bought a bunch of them years ago and I'm still trying to "use them up".

- Thomas

JIL DD - it knocked my ARC AAA off my keyring forever, and I can't stand bulky items on my keyring.

Super small, 3W luxeon, direct drive of a CR2 battery, gives an hour of bright light, then 20+ hours of decreasing light. As I remember, it's putting out as much light as a new ArcAAA in hour five or so...

You can find all the details in the Dealer's forum - there's a JIL purchase thread running there.

My Arc AAA has been replaced with a Peak Hi-Power 3LED Snow, lug style.

White as a snowy mountaintop, bright as can be.

Try one of Kevin L´s Picolights , if you want it as small as possible !

Swiss said:

'small but powerful' is what i'm looking for! any recommendations on a cool key chain flashlight? i need to substitute the cr***y little light of my car key

the smaller the better! ...and i don't wanna hear size doesn't matter ;-)

Swiss

Click to expand...

Size doesn't matter but how about price?
If the latter doesn't matter, I would prob say the Peak LED Caribbean
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/peakled_caribbean.htm

Don't own one but been reading fantastic reviews about it. Approx 30 lumens in a 3 inch package.

Undoubtably the Jil-lite.

While I've always carried an ARC AAA (still do!), I just recently got a Jil - haven't decided on it yet as far as keychain carry goes, it is a BRIGHT little torch!! However...

Have you looked at the FireFli that JSBurly sells? Runs on zinc-air hearing aid batteries and last a very long time! (From his site: "The batteries will now last over a year on-off as needed and 80+ hours continuous.")

VERY SMALL and puts out alot of light for it's size for sure! Not even noticeable on a keychain at all - but there when you need it!

Don't be led astray. When you are done messin' with the rest, get the best, TNC N cell. Smaller, stronger and much more powerful.

How about a Princeton Tec Eclipse 2? It has hi/med/low/flash settings, and comes with both a keychain snap attachment, and another attachment with a clip that can make it double as a headlamp. Uses a 5mm white LED and puts out a nice flood of light.

I use mine as a backup to my Petzl Tikka XP headlamp while out backpacking.

Here's a review:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/princetontec_eclipse2.htm

He said "the smaller the better"... IMHO, the answer is Photon Freedom Max (2x). What else is this small, bright and tough, and offers all the nice extras like diming, blink & SOS modes, 50% power save mode and signaling mode?

The problem with this is that that there are like 50 of those in the world if that. A small problem unlesss you have a couple like I do but that is another story. I will stick with the jil DD. Small and Brighter than the TnC ncell.
BTW I picked up a modded arc head to fit into t JETTS 22 ncell body and it blows all these lights away except the jil lights. Jils were made for this task.

Yaesumofo

N162E said:

Don't be led astray. When you are done messin' with the rest, get the best, TNC N cell. Smaller, stronger and much more powerful.

Click to expand...

If you're talking about the light that is built into some car keys (older BMWs etc....)

REBUILD IT !

Get any one stage (one level of brightness, no bells or whistles like various levels, strobe etc...) led keychain light, and remount the led into your key housing. For the most part, those built in lights are incans and run direct drive off a coin cell and many of the led keychain lights run off the same or similar coin cells.

The Orb Raw with the flashlightlens.com keychain kit. Probably the smallest brightest light out there. Mine can illuminate a house on the opposite side of the street.:rock:

I also love my Jil DD, but I didn't mention it since I figured its about as large as I could take on my keychain. Its not huge, but there are much smaller options. I second Sigman's suggestion of the Zinc Air Fire Fli. It's not super bright but its practically invisable and makes for a good back up. I'd say its my only absolutely *true* EDC.

Is the Arc AAA reckoned to be brighter than the Photon Freedom 2x? Are there any comparative reviews backing that up? (When I looked I only found ones refering to the older Freedoms, and/or older Arcs.)

The Arc seems a lot bigger to me, and less flexible.