What to recycle the nearly dead bats from Aviator in

I love my SF Aviator but I always replace the batteries as soon as it goes into LED only mode. I know these batteries can run for a little longer and I want to get a second Light (preferably LED) anyway, so what do you guys suggest I get to recycle these batteries in?

I was thinking of getting the E1L Outdoorsman anyway, would this be a good light to use for this?

Thanks in advance

Inova X5 is my choice; I have no experience with the e1L.

I've been using the E2e and E1e with the KL1 head. I was surprised at how much more life was in these batteries after they were through in the incandescent. Great for around the house.

Based from my limited knowledge, I believe you cant go wrong with the HDS Series. It only uses one cr123 and is regulated. I believe it will squeeze out whatever power those batteries have

Chris

Sorry, what is the HDS series?

And I tried the Inova X5 and not a fan.

I put them into my Q3 and still get decent brightness.

I used to use the "quasi-dead" batteries from my A2 in my HDS EDC 60xr. The HDS will really suck every last little drop of energy out of that 123 cell. But it was a pain after a while. The HDS wouldn't fire above say level 2, and after a while it wouldn't fire on level 3, and then 4 and then so on. That's ok for around the house use or similar but on my EDC light which I use all the time, I want the flexibility to use all the settings. Also, sometimes the light steps up and down the brightness as it tries to figure out in what state the battery is in. So I moved to MP rechargables and haven't looked back since. Until they are 95% dead they will fire on the 60 lumen setting.

Still have the problem with the dead batts from the A2. I can't bring myself to get an x5 just to use the dead batts.

Inova X5.

The last couple of times I've hit the "LED-yes/xenon no" point with my A2 cells, I've used them to good effect in my L4. Good brightness for another 30-40 minutes or so (can't be exact as I was using it intermittently).

If these are the lights I have what would be the recommendation to toast the batts in. BESIDES the HDS please.

Surefire A2 (red)
Arc AAA-P


I am strongly leaning twards the SF E1E + F04 + KL1

Does anyone have a beamshot of the F04 attached to the KL1 on the E1e (E1L)?

I have been using the leftovers from my E2 in my Inova X5. It seems to do just fine on those half eaten batteries.

Ready

The earlier (on regulated) Streamlight TL-2 Led that I have works great on 'dead' batteries. It dims but still has great throw so it is very useful around the house and walking at night.

I would think that some of the Peak Mckinleys with red or amber leds (esp if you could find one of the older 1 led or 3 led models) would work very well on those batteries also.

http://peakledsolutions.net/cr123.html

Inova X5t. A red LED one only takes 1 123a battery.

Tried the X5 today and its just so "meh" Am i just to spoiled now from SF that I can't turn back? Functional and sexy, has the looks all others lack.

I'd like to know if an L1, a KL1 or an X5 are all as good as each other at draining batts, can anyone who has all 3 tell us?

A decently-bright, still-cheap alternative might be to take a cheap 2XCR123 light with a P60 lamp module like the Brinkman Maxfire LX (or the Surefire G2 if you wanna get fancy) and give it an LED drop-in like the 3W Luxeon at bugoutgear. The batteries should run for at least two hours or more, and the whole thing should "only" cost $60-$70. Review here: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/gp_p60lux3.htm

Variations on that theme are probably the brightest you're going to get on near-dead batteries.

For 2XCR123 my vote would also go to the Inova X5T

Now who can reccomend a light for using up 1XCR123 (not the HDS). Does Inova make some similar light in a since cell config?

I just ordered a Surefire L1, with the two stage switch and regulation for this purpose I hope it will use up a lot of the battery life that is left in the ones I've had to take out of my incandescents. I also considered a Nuwai QIII, but I didn't look into them a whole lot and I really wanted the L1. Just my two cents worth.