I agree regarding the Streamlight. I tried it and hated it. I returned mine within a week.
I havenāt tried the I3T EOS.
I like the C01S but greatly prefer it in Low-High. The color might seem a little yellow but take some time to see if you get used to it. I recently did some similar side-by-side testing on night walks including both suburban and wooded areas. The warmer tint and high CRI of the C01S ended up being awesome. I also noticed that in high mode, the C01S reaches out well in the woods. I donāt know if tint is the relevant factor but it seemed to give me clearer illumination at distance.
The C01S low mode was nicely usable and that matters to me. One factor I didnāt see mentioned in the comparison here is battery life. You never know when youāll need a little extra!
The original Microstream (~20 yrs ago) was a nice light, but there were a lot of complaints about unwanted activation, so Streamlight changed to this tail switch, which many believe went too far in the other direction. Still, itās a nice little light.
Given that the development and startup costs have been depreciated completely many years ago, I wonder what Streamlightās profit margin is on this light currently.
Olight excels in the small flashlight space. The i3E EOS can often be had quite cheaply. Olight-Store ran a little deal for a short while where the light was free and you pay for shippingā¦ so cost was like $5. While I applaud the Sofirn for its simplicity and tint, the Olight feels more solid. Plus, I just have a peeve about lights without a glass or TIR lens. My early run Sofirn C01 serves purely as a backup light. Kind of nutty to think the installed tritium vial plus magnet (image) doubled the overall cost of the light.
One light you didnāt include ā the Jetbeam U. Itās a twisty AAA light with 3 modes. Lowest isnāt what Iād call a moonlight mode, but itās OK. Very nice casing design and anodizing. Hereās a photo ā itās #3 from the left.
My Fenix L0D is still going strong. The CW tint is just not all that appealing to me. I may try to replace the emitter at some point if I can ever figure out what would be suitable.
This is my general complaint with aluminum. You can get a nice surface treatment on there. It will look pretty when new. The underlying metal will still be aluminum. Let it bounce around a hot pocket with coins, keys, etc. and this is what usually happens. Some people donāt mind but it bugs me. So I try to take steps to avoid the tumbler action with my aluminum lights.
You have to get over it. Lifeās too short to be bugged by stuff like this. Buy a spare that you donāt let ride in your pocket next to hard metal objects. You can also find or make yourself a sleeve to stick the flashlight in, if anodizing wear is a major pet peeve.
I have an i1R EOS keychain flashlight by Olight thatās terrific. It looked so pristine on my key chain, but now the fluted grip section has major anodizing loss. But, Iām OK with it. Itās inevitable for keychain duty. However, my Jetbeam U still looks almost like new because I clip it to the outer corner of my front pants pocket. It doesnāt touch any metal. Despite the handling care, it did suffer a scrape on the front, so thereās some tiny anno loss on the front edge. But againā¦ not a big deal. I have a pristine one sitting in a drawer at home.
I streamlined my pocket carry a while back and that helped a lot. I cut down on carrying coins. I have fewer keys and more optimal ring spacing. My lighter and multitool moved to a pocket organizer so they no longer collide. My L10 also has better anodization than the last aluminum light I carried.
Really, Iād like to do some more exploration with other metals. Brass gets dinged up but itās just more brass underneath. Of course, brass is heavy. (It can also contain a small amount of lead, which isnāt ideal.) Iāve had good results with stainless steel but I donāt see it used very often. My wifeās enormous key ring has a stainless AAA flashlight from Convoy that still looks great after years of tumbling in the death trap she calls a purse. Iāve been meaning to try something in titanium but I havenāt gotten around to it.
BTW, I was pretty good at Xevious back in the 80s.
Copper i3T. Bigger but a great light.
Astrolux AO1 in Cree and Nichia.
Probably MY favourite.
LumintopAAA Still trying to make my mind up about that one.
VERY thin aluminium casing.
BLF/Singfire SF 348
Neither one thing nor the other?.
Plus several others.
When my BLF/Sofurn 5600 special arrives (30 days).
Iāll see if it any better. or worse than current ones.
I donāt mind aluminum. Its lighter than stainless steel. Conducts heat well if your driving a higher output LED. This is why I prefer natural/olive/etc colored ano, and strongly prefer HA/type3. Carried a Fenix L0D for many years with the olive finish, and while you could tell it was worn the wear didnāt JUMP out at you. Looked very nice.
I guess I should have searched for this before doing my own testing, but here it is. I put a 1.5 ish Volt alkileak cell in a C01 (neutral white output) yesterday. When I got home today, it was much dimmer. After taking the cell out, I measured 0.55V. A bit later I created a setup to measure the voltage and current out of the cell into my C01 with gravity, some props and a bit of tape. After running with this measurement setup for over an hour, the light seems to have stabilized (for now) by drawing about 6.5mA from the cell. The cell voltage is down around 0.3V. When my DVM measuring voltage shuts off the display, the light from the C01 flickers as the lead going to my DVM measuring current touches it, so it slightly disturbs the setup. After one such event the voltage of the cell is up to 0.39V and stable, with still 6.6mA of current. Iāll let it run overnight to see if its still running tomorrow. It been almost 2 hours since I started the test back up, with the cell at 1.0V or less the whole time. Certainly a vampire light if Iāve seen one.
Update 1:
good morning. 9h40m since I started this run, my 5000K C01 is still putting light out. 0.24V on the cell, 4.5mA being delivered, and the brightness is about the same, (slightly brighter) than moonlight on my Manker E01. I never imagined it would run all my sleeping hours on a cell down to 0.4V already.
Update 2:
Nighttime: 25h since the CO1 drained this cell below 0.6V, and started it on again. Still at 5mA level, I have seen the voltage as low as 0.24V, but typically its at 0.35V. Right now its at 0.4V and 5mA. How many more days like this? The light output is brighter than my Manker E01 on moonlight mode, maybe 3-4x lumens. Noticeably brighter.
Amazing.
Thanks for reviving thread with this interesting data. I always run Eneloops/Duraloops in my lights, which is not recommended for this experiment. It could damage the battery.
But I need to find some dead low voltage alkalines laying around the house (that I am ready to throw away) and try this in one of my C01ās.
This is great to know during a power outage that I can use any old dead battery laying around and still have some useful light! Think of how many alkalines we throw away when they decline to about only 1.0 volts!
But first try to sort out the almost-dead batteries from the really-really-dead batteries.
Just in case your family has to survive whatever disaster thatās waiting for you in the pitch dark.
It just keeps going, it was still running this morning, 34 hours into this test, which started with a depleted battery. As I mentioned, my setup is a bit rickety, and this morning one of the leads moved a tad and the light went out. Eventually I realized this and tweaked it back into position. It came on and after a few seconds the battery was at 0.75V and delivering 14mA to the light, so presently it fairly bright. And the test keeps going . . .
I was hoping I would see where the light turned back on (if it would on its own). Maybe sometime later during the test.
