Streamlight KeyMate, are the completely useless?

Hi, I am new to the forum and I've been reading these posts for a while. I am looking to buy my first led flashlight (2nd flashlight in general, the 1st was a 2AA maglite).

I searched the forum and didn't find a whole lot of info on this flashlight. I know this is a budget flashlight but I need to know if this is completely useless. That means

1. Not bright at all, how would you compare it with 2AA maglite?
2. Constant change of batteries, defeats the purpose of LED and I'll be better off spending more on a longer lasting flash light instead.
3. Very very quick brightness drop off as the battery drain. How long?
4. Bigger then it looks. From the picture it's as small as a key and I can deal with that being in my pocket all the time
5. What else would you recommand for less then $15?

Finally what color LED is the best? It offers white, blue and green.

For $8.00 with $1.77 set of batteries (I plan to buy 4 sets). This is a very very tempting buy.:laughing:

Hi zimmerDN-

Welcome To CPF!

The Keymates are not bad lights. I was quite hooked on them for a while. Carried one on my keychain and gave a few away as gifts. They are small enough that it should not bother most people on a keychain or in a pocket.

It will not be as bright as you MM, but it is 1/3 the size and much lighter. If this is a light to carry and use intermittently it is fine for that. The batteries are kind of a weak point. Alkaline button cells are not the best or most convenient for flashlights. BTW, you can find the LR44 cells on the internet for 25-30 cents.

Are there better LED pocket lights? Yes! But they sure cost more than $8.
Not a bad second light. Carry it while you decide what to get next and really start draining your wallet.

Stick with white LEDs unless you have a very specific use for a color.

Mark

I kinda like mine, and carry it daily (with other lights)
Got a good quality feel for the money.

If you live near a Target store, you could pick up one of the River Rock 'hourglass' keychain lights. It offers a HUGE spill beam and very respectable brightness - brighter than my brightest Infinity Ultra.

And it's surely the sexiest $6 light around. Also see Cromagnet's post on single cell beam comparisons in the General Flashlight forum.

And not to bump my own sale, but I have a brass Peak 1xAAA light for sale in the B/S/T forum for $20 shipped if you care to have a look. The Peak is a 'nicer' light, but I'll admit that the River Rock for $6 is even cheaper. By the way, if you make it to Target, don't waste your money on the other River Rock keychain light.

It's the exact same design as the vaunted ARC AAA. I've carried a modded ARC AAA on my keychain every day for the last year and a half.

There's also the option of the Photons

Get an Arc AAA

With the new ones out, used old versions would be cheap.

The Keymate is a well made light that is reasonable to carry on your keychain, and bright enough to find your way around in the dark, walking across your driveway etc. Runtime with usable brightness is maybe a couple hours. You can get the batteries for around 10 cents each on ebay or from batterystation.com, so don't pay several bucks each at the drugstore.

I've never felt like owning one though. I'd rather have either a lithium coin cell light (I recommend the ones KevinL is selling for $1.25 each) which is much smaller than the Keymate, or else an AAA-powered light (Arc, Peak, etc) which runs much longer and uses easier-to-find batteries, while being about the same size as the Keymate.

I'm not trying to interfere with someone else's sale but brass flashlights, while nice to look at, weigh a lot, and may not be what you want on your keys. I've always preferred the HA aluminum versions because they weigh much less. I have Peak Matterhorns in aluminum, brass, and stainless steel, and the aluminum one is the only one that I carry regularly.

I like mine. It looks like a well made flashlight and a cute one at that.

the keymate kicks butt if you replace the stock LED with a Nichia CS from the group buy...

Here's a nice little mod that was done on a KeyMate!!!!

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=31970

Stuck a 1w led in the KeyMate and used a "N" battery for power!!