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.
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.
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
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.
I’m going to recommend my EDC, Eagletac D25A, with a 219C.
No memory, always start on Moonlight, unless you fully tighten the head then it’s Turbo first.
Really compact.
Another one : L3 Illumination L10C/L11C. Always starts on ML, no memory. Available in 219B flavor
Ultratac A1 is a good light. Simple 3 mode. Runs wickedly well on NiMh. Nice stock beam and tint. Zebralight SC52w is nice as well. Jetbeam Jet I-MK is a favorite as well. Can’t go wrong with either of them. I don’t like side switches on my AA lights. Its just a preference, nothing inherently wrong with them. I have them on bigger lights.
LOL! - I can see where they are coming from. I would have said Wuben E05 but the UI is the worst I have ever used. The utorch wins, even if it’s button is not as fantastic….the output is - on both.