Looking for a simple but decent 1AA

Remember that side switches tend to activate easily in your pants or pack. So I would either lock it out by unscrewing, or better go for the tool AA. Never fun to find your flashlight depleted when you rely on it. I travel a lot and tried a lot of side clickies. Now a no-go for me.

I prefer tailclickies for that reason usually.

But I like the sideswitch on my wuben e05. That one is pretty firm. I have it in my jeans pocket since a week now and it never accidentally turned on. Also a nice light. I bought the version from TLF,which has no strobe but a shortcut to low instead. I like it, but kinda pricey. The Sofirn Sp10 seems to work similar and is a lot cheaper.

My copper tool AAA accidentally turns on a lot more often with tailswitch.

TOOL 2.0 is also my favorite. Second fav is BLF X5: a pocket rocket.

Ok, good you thought it over! I evolved from twist- to side- to tailclicky for my EDC light.
I hate fiddling around to find the switch, too.
But if side switched lights improve, I just might reconsidder it in the future.

hm, considered getting a sp10 v2, because shortcuts to moon and to turbo sounded really good, but here I read it does not work like this…

is this still the case or did sofirn fix this?

By the way, is that an e- or clicky switch on your tool aaa? I did’nt like the Ti version because of the tail e-switch turning on all the time.

JETBEAM Jet 1-MK Pro.

Simple. Small, reliable (I bought 4 for family) ALL still workin.
AA to Lithium. Twisty sw. 3 stages, and I think a flasher in there somewhere.
Well made. Looks nice. Fits in pocket unobtrusively.

Plus just buy a little Astrolux AO1 AAA. (Around $6/7 US)
and stick it in corner of bag.
Miniscule. Good spread beam with a little reach. Twisty again (I like ’em)
Fits on keyring nicely, you don’t even notice it being there. Backup.
“I” think it the nicest looking small torch out there.
Enjoy your trip, we going to Med North and South coast. Plus North Africa
Canaries and Gib early next month from Aust.

Got a copper tool with nichia 219b from amazon and this has a normal click switch

Moola from earth has some reading to do :party:

I really like my Astrolux. Friendly colors (love the green) and you can hold it between the lips pretty comfortably if you need free hands.

But make sure you invest 3 minutes to do this, to remove the next mode memory.

Another suggestion… since you should have a backup AAA light anyway and carry a powerbank anyway… consider the On the Road M3pro. You can charge the 16340 battery on your powerbank and fully use the light while connected to the powerbank even without battery. Has a magnet, reverse clip for clipping to hat.

Low mode is 5 and runs very long and is nice for reading and walking around. next medium is a rather big gap to 160, which will run 2.5 hours. and you can turbo it to 800 or so lumen. Also you can lock a mode, so you use only the lowest or 2nd mode with a single click (double click for turbo always works)

I think this thing is a pretty good travel companion when you have a mobile charger and a powerbank with you anyway… on boards USB-C charging.

but a micro-rechargeable 14500 or just eneloops will probably also work just as fine.

Ultratac A1.

Utorch UT-01 has been good for me in that form factor (I EDC a Zebralight SC62w…and sometimes Emisar D4…but pick up the Utorch when I’m looking for smaller). I have the NW version and really like the beam…subtle hotspot on the floody side. I actually sold my Nitecore EA11 after getting it because I liked the beam better for EDC. VERY compact light. Runs really well on AA battery but can really kick it out with 14500 if you feel frisky. I will say it ends to perform a little better on good quality rechargeable AA’s then it does on alkalines…but not a huge difference.

Comes on to moon every time with a click OR you can long press to come on to the last used mode.

I recently bought a SP10 V2 and the UI on mine has minor problems.

14500 - mode memory, no shortcut to moonlight, double click to turbo, triple click to strobe, 4 clicks from off to lock-out, 4 clicks to unlock.

AA NiMh - always starts in low, no shortcut to moonlight, double click to turbo, triple click to strobe, 4 clicks from off to lock-out, 4 clicks to unlock.

As to the problems, when switching battery type it sometimes doesn’t come on, or comes on weakly and flickers and won’t switch modes. Both are rectified by loosening and re-tightening the tailcap so it’s not a major problem. Other than when it first happened and I thought the switch was defective :frowning:

I took the light on a vacation to Europe recently and liked it a lot. Ran it with a Eneloop and it was bright enough for my purposes and much more convenient to carry than the Convoy S2+ I usually bring.

Those problems are not present in the V 1.0 variant of the SP10.
Also, the max lumens are lower than in the V 1.0.

UTorch UT01 is my best 14500 light

I bought 3 of them and my wife and 2 daughters agree with you and took them all :person_facepalming:

Weird that it behaves different depending on battery type

Probably an unintended feature :slight_smile:

@Moola, I would recommend the Sofirn SP10A V2.0:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Sofirn-New-SP10-V2-0-LED-Flashlight-AA-14500-Flashlight-EDC-Pocket-Light-Cree-XPG2-550lm/2933049_32841154512.html

I actually use it everyday.

If it came with a 4000k high CRI LED, it would be even better.

Utorch UT01 or Wuben E05.

The Zebralight SC52W for quite a bit more money.

I haven’t tried the others that have been mentioned.