AA & AAA Battery Flashlight Questions

I'm a newbie who is just getting into led flashlights. I am looking for suggestions on which flashlight(s) would fit my criteria. I require single led, water resistant & reasonably durable for outside use.

1. Single AA or AAA flashlight for a keyring?
2. Two AA flashlight with a minimum of 10 hour battery life?

Also should i consider the Walmart & Kmart brands?
Any recommendations concerning the above would be most appreciated. Thank you.

* Output of led has to be "white light".

Hello Spin. Welcome to our madness! Have fun, make friends :buddies: and keep an eye on your wallet .


With respect to option one, you need to be a bit more specific as your intended use. There are some acceptbly bright single 5mm LED lights which cost from $5-$20 and some single Luxeon LED lights (much brighter) which can range in price from $40- $100.

With respect to your second option, check out the Opalec NewBeam and the Nite Ize maglite drop in. Both reviewed by our very own Quickbeam.

The Nite Ize drop in is very inexpensive at $5-$7 and has a long runtime as can be seen on the charts.

The New Beam is a bit more expensive at $17-$19 however, the difference in quality is rather obvious. Also, the Opalec has a little red LED which lights up when the module falls out of regulation (9-11 hrs).

Both of them are replacement bulbs for the AA minimag flashlight.

The favorite 1AAA keychain light around here is the Arc AAA (www.arcflashlight.com) premium version which is backordered by several weeks. Alternatively you can get Peak Matterhorn (www.peakledsolutions.com). I recommend the lug tail version in HA aluminum and the ultra power led, but lots of configurations are available. The brass and stainless versions look great but weigh a ton.

1AA is too big for a keychain light.

Opalec Newbeam should have 16+ hour battery life with near-perfect regulation.

Yeah, my suggestions would be about the same as the others. For a keyring light, the ARC is a well-loved light and even if you get one and it's not bright enough, you will have no trouble selling it. The next arguable step up would be the Peak Matterhorn with 3 high power or ultra power LEDs. If you want even more brightness and more expense, look around for either Andrewwynn's VERY cool Nano or a D'mo or LED_ASAP modded ARC which has a 1W Luxeon emitter.

For the larger light, a Minimag or Minimag clone with either the Newbeam or Nite Ize would be an excellent choice. I've never owned a Newbeam myself, but I've owned three of the Nite Ize and was quite impressed for a readily-available drop in. On the other hand, to my eyes, just popping a $1 Nichia CS or 35k LED in the Minimag after drilling the reflector out to 5mm is very nearly as bright and has a bit better throw due to the actual usable reflector. And of course will have longer runtime. If one were very budget oriented, and if you had a ****'s Sporting Goods near you, you could pick up a 3 pack of their Minimag clones for $8 and 3 of the CS or 35k LEDs, build all three. Sell two of them for about $10 each (or more if you sell them to folks that aren't quite so flashlight savy) and end up with your own light for free.

Or if you wanted a bit nicer light, but no brighter, the Gerber Trio has very nice machining and finishing for about twice as much as the modded Minimag will cost you.

Flashlightreviews.com has reviews of all the products I've listed.

eebowler said:

With respect to your second option, check out the Opalec NewBeam and the Nite Ize maglite drop in. Both reviewed by our very own Quickbeam.

The Nite Ize drop in is very inexpensive at $5-$7 and has a long runtime as can be seen on the charts.

The New Beam is a bit more expensive at $17-$19 however, the difference in quality is rather obvious. Also, the Opalec has a little red LED which lights up when the module falls out of regulation (9-11 hrs).

Both of them are replacement bulbs for the AA minimag flashlight.

Click to expand...

Just how hard (or easy) are these to install in a MiniMag? I have zero soldering skills (well I did some soldering in shop class when I was in 8th grade. lol) and I'm not super handy either.
I have a Minimag that I bought a couple months back, but realized quickly that it wasn't what I was looking for. Mainly because the battery life is pathetic. The Nite Ize drop sounds great, mostly due to its low cost and that fact that they are for sale at Walmart.

If you can change a lightbulb in a MM you can install a NiteIze or Opalec. Yes it is that easy!

Consider the Underwater Kinetics 4AA LED.

Arc AAA

Opalec Newbeam

If you are looking for a whiter tint to your AAA light, I'd definitely go for the Peak over the Arc AAA (plus it's readily available and a bit cheaper). The Arc's got a bluish tint to the beam that's pretty obvious in close-up situations. But if blue doesn't bug and if you've got a few weeks to wait, it's a very solid light in all other aspects.

The Nite Ize is an absolute no brainer... Unscrew the head, pull up on the old bulb, replace it with the LED module, screw the head down. That simple. If it doesn't light up, pop the LED module out and rotate it 180 degrees so that the leads going into the light are reversed.

Try this with your Minimag. If you can remove and replace the existing bulb, you can install the Nite Ize.

One nice think about a minimag and nite-eze: if you take in on an airplane, no one looks twice at it. It's just a minimag and everyone knows what they are. Yet you get lots of runtime. Also if it's stolen or lost, you're not out much cash.

However, I would not take it for a main light if I were planning on being out a lot. It's great for moving around a hotel room or something, but I'd hate to go hiking with it. Lots of flood, very little throw. Of course you can always switch back to the normal bulb if needed (spare in the tailcap that is)

Ditto the Opalec. I've installed 2 of those without a hitch, and mechanically I'm not too hot (same for the Terralux, but that's much brighter without the same runtime). Good thing about an LED is that they're basically shockproof--the MM was designed by a graduate of the first Kubotan course to be a Kubotan that lights up, so you can whale on a bad guy with no risk of damage to the light. The stock bulb would probably quit if you looked at it cross-eyed.

As to AAA keychain lights, the eBay so-called 1-watt Arc clone is a very good deal. Nothing compared to the quality of an Arc (I'm told) or a Peak (have seen in a case only but have heard good things), but cheap enough that you won't cry much if it's lost, either. Plots on its runtime are also here and were impressive enough that I bought one.

Arc-AAA Premium.

cratz2 said:

The Nite Ize is an absolute no brainer... Unscrew the head, pull up on the old bulb, replace it with the LED module, screw the head down. That simple. If it doesn't light up, pop the LED module out and rotate it 180 degrees so that the leads going into the light are reversed.

Try this with your Minimag. If you can remove and replace the existing bulb, you can install the Nite Ize.

Click to expand...

Don't forget to change the reflector. Again a no brainer. :ironic: