Who Makes a 4-AAA Luxeon?

Ever since I bought my Princeton Tec EOS, I become convinced that the ultimate pocket flashlight (for around $35 and Minimag size - not keychain size) should be the EOS reconfigured into a handheld model. Specifically, take the 3-AAA regulated Luxeon EOS, make it a 4-AAA light the size of a Princeton Tec Attitude, and move the 4 position switch to the tail or tops surface.

I was told my Greg at Brightguy.com that it was a "bright idea" but only got a lukewarm response from Princeton Tec, who informed me that they were simply working on developing more powerful LED flashlights.

Advantages of this design: Small, compact, water resistant, multiple beam power choices (including a high power regulated beam for 2+ hours), no bulb changes (Luxeon 1 watt LED), uses inexpensive AA batteries, and sells for $35 or less.

Comments? Does anyone currently make a light similar to this? Thanks.

haskins02 said:

Ever since I bought my Princeton Tec EOS, I become convinced that the ultimate pocket flashlight (for around $35 and Minimag size - not keychain size) should be the EOS reconfigured into a handheld model. Specifically, take the 3-AAA regulated Luxeon EOS, make it a 4-AAA light the size of a Princeton Tec Attitude, and move the 4 position switch to the tail or tops surface.

Advantages of this design: Small, compact, water resistant, multiple beam power choices (including a high power regulated beam for 2+ hours), no bulb changes (Luxeon 1 watt LED), uses inexpensive AA batteries, and sells for $35 or less.

Comments? Does anyone currently make a light similar to this? Thanks.

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That's an interesting question. The fact that there are quite a number of 3xAAA Luxeon models out there (especially if you count the Chinese versions) shows that there's a market for small size Luxeon lights that use common battery types. But those lights don't, as a rule, have multiple power levels.

I suspect the reason that PT was able to get multiple power levels into the EOS headlamp (I really like the one I own) at the $35 price point is that it uses a plastic body. Largly because of Maglight, most manufacturers seem to think that bright flashlights need to be metal to sell well to consumers. Added to that is the fact that Luxeons need cooling, and metal is better at that. So we only see PT and Streamlight making general use (non dive-related) lights with plastic bodies and Luxeon emitters.

Also, I think that a 2 hour run time does not impress non-flashaholic consumers (which is probably why SL changed the Jr. Luxeon 2xAA to a lower output with a longer run time), which results in 4 cell lights being AA rather than AAA.

I hope that the manufacturing cost for multi-power level regulating circuits is getting lower, so we'll be seeing more multi-output level lights. At the moment small lights using cheap batteries don't offer variable power. A light like the Fenix L1 / L1P can get good output from a Single AA for about 3 hours or so, but there's only one brightness level, and the price is in the $45 range.

haskins02 said:

I was told my Greg at Brightguy.com that it was a "bright idea" but only got a lukewarm response from Princeton Tec, who informed me that they were simply working on developing more powerful LED flashlights.

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That's some pretty lame answer from a company whose main stable is still the Lux I LED...It's not like they haven't had time to come up with something good...

I mean, there is nothing wrong with PT lights, but they are just falling behind...

270winchester said:

That's some pretty lame answer from a company whose main stable is still the Lux I LED...It's not like they haven't had time to come up with something good...

I mean, there is nothing wrong with PT lights, but they are just falling behind...

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Heve you seen Quickbeam's latest review?

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

The engineers at PT are starting to work with Lux IIIs -- and we now have an idea of what they mean by "bright" lights. :wow:

If you go to eBay and search for

9v led flashlight

you'll find multiple listings for a 6xAAA, 32-LED light. It's not Luxeon, multilevel, or regulated, but at least it uses more than 3AAAs.

I received an email from PT several weeks ago regarding your same question of the EOS in a flashlight form. The response I received was that they were indeed working on such a model and that it would be more powerful than the EOS. I too look forward to such a unit as I think the EOS is really a stunning design for the cost.

pec50 said:

I received an email from PT several weeks ago regarding your same question of the EOS in a flashlight form. The response I received was that they were indeed working on such a model and that it would be more powerful than the EOS. I too look forward to such a unit as I think the EOS is really a stunning design for the cost.

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That is great news. Maybe PT was responding to my original email request, or they figured out it "was a natural." I'll save some $ so I can buy one when it comes out too.

pec50 said:

I received an email from PT several weeks ago regarding your same question of the EOS in a flashlight form. The response I received was that they were indeed working on such a model and that it would be more powerful than the EOS. I too look forward to such a unit as I think the EOS is really a stunning design for the cost.

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Excellent! I will have to watch for that one. The EOS was the first Luxeon based light that I purchased, and it hooked me on Luxeons (I now have 4 or 5 more).

A 2-stage 4AAA LED light (not Luxeon) has just been introduced by Emilion:

41-LED Dual-Brightness Flashlight

http://www.flashlightzone.com/lust1wa4.html

It's only a 1 watt but this looks really cool.