Do you have lots of EDC-able lights and a checklist of things you wish they had?
I do. I’ll start with some 16340/18350 lights:
Light
moon mode
low follows moon
direct moon
direct turbo
back from turbo to last
magnet
clip
Olight S1R
very low
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
good
Folomov c2
very low
no
yes
yes
no
yes
good
Jetbeam Jet-II pro
very low
no
yes
no
no
no
crap
Klarus Mi1C HCRI
could be lower
yes
yes
no
no
yes
very good
Jetbeam Jet 2 MK
very low
yes
yes
no
no
no
fair
Utorch S1 Mini
extremely low
yes
yes
no
no
yes
too stiff
Wuben E05-I
no real moon
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
excellent
Jetbeam RRT01 2019
extremely low
yes
yes
in a sense, yes
no
no
excellent
Some lights are equipped with a better LED:
Light
LED
Olight S1R
XM-L2, approx. 4800K
Jetbeam Jet-II pro
Nichia 219B sw45k D220
Klarus Mi1C HCRI
Samsung LH351D 5000K
Jetbeam Jet 2 MK
XP-L Hi 5D, 4000K
Wuben E05-I
Samsung LH351D 2700K
Jetbeam RRT01 2019
XP-L Hi 5D, 4000K
LED swaps raised moon for Olight S1R and Klarus Mi1C to “can still be tolerated” and “no longer moon” respectively.
Comments: Jetbeam Jet-II pro without bezel. Bezel used to fix clip, new bezel on its way. And lights with click & hold for off tend to have a too long hold phase before shutting down. Not nice expecially with the Wuben and the Klarus, that have extremely stiff switches. Can hurt your thumb. Really.
Not included larger lights, but nearly EDC-able: D4V2, Fitorch P25. Amutorch E3S on its way.
Also not included are countless AA and AAA lights, among them the Reylight Pineapple mini, a true EDC for me (but have to wait for a new driver).
Strangely not included is the Armytek Prime C1. For unknown reasons, I never have it with me. Is it the bad beam? I need to find out. The partner C1 has a tail clicky which rules it out.
What’s not included will be mentioned later in this thread. I think. Probably much later.
Summary thus far: 100% for Olights S1R. Without having this list in mind, I intuitively grabbed it all the time since 2017 when on tour over a weekend or in the dark seasons to finding my car in the morning/evening. Only drawback is the battery. On a longer journey, it needs a normal 16340 battery and Olights mini charging cable. But I have a second dock due to acquisition of a S1RII and will likely use that in the future.
Hope to see your priorities list and some pictures soon!
I rotate my edc lights, because I like variety, and no one is better than all others in all areas. D4V2, FW4a and MS03 are my recent favorites. I also carry two or three edc lights, including rotating between FW21Pro, TM9K and NSX53. I prefer large edc lights. Thank you for your checklist criteria!
I... will never be fulfilled by a single light. So I gave up trying. In particular, one of the biggest issues is that Titanium doesn't conduct heat very well. So if I want a shiny fancy Ti EDC light, I have to give up the precious lumens. Anway, my SC62w has ended up as my "ticks the most boxes" EDC lately. (Can you imagine if ZL did a run of Titanium lights? They could print money...)
Moonlight level is pretty low
Direct to moonlight
Can go from moonlight to low
Direct to highest
Never had a single accidental activation
Great tint
Nearly perfect lumens/candela (take that, FW3A)
Small enough to shame most 14500 lights and many 18350/16340 lights
but way better runtime, output, energy density...
Great pocket clip (not the deepest carry, but deep enough for me and very securely attached. Just the right stiffness, too; not pocket-shredding tight nor bend-when-caught loose.)
And this is a light released in the summer of 2014.
The FW3A gets close for me (after modding the tail switch), but it loses any time I need to use it outdoors. Having to jump the thing up to finger-blistering levels just so see across small parking lots takes some points off. I wish there was a way to make FW1A as short as FW3A...
The YLP Unicorn 1.0 also gets close. But, the clip/knurling combo is a woodchipper for your pocket, it's a bit longer than the other two, and something about the output... I don't know, in the end it ends up feeling like what it is, which is a cheap Zebralight imitation. It's a pretty good one, but still.
All I imagine is that I couldn’t afford it . The Jet-II pro in titanium is nice, yes. But lacks in the UI.
Zebra! I forgot the ingenious SC5c. No direct moon though. I’d have to configure low to moon all the time, leaving just two modes left. Everything else is very good. No magnet wouldn’t even be the dealbreaker.
That is a fantastic start of a thread. I wish i had the patience to make charts, graphs and tables in my posts. If you’re that detailed about your lights, I wonder how your cooking skills are. I’ll have to stop by next time in Europe…
I do have a sizeable collection that my wife is forcing me to organize. I’m getting a label maker in the near future as I’m forgetting what’s in each light. They are currently separated by battery type and now i have to go farther, such as separating 14500 lights from aa versions etc.
Great topic & nice EDC flashlight coverage! Only item I would add: LOCK-OUT.
I have the Olight S1 in titanium. Actually haven’t EDC’ed it in a long while. I don’t like the fact that it can’t lock out… I also would prefer a better beam and have considered replacing the emitter at some point down the road. When you upgrade the emitter on yours, did you notice a reasonable step up in lumens output? Or did it just shift the color temp?
Apparently the warmer tints raises moon brightness, probably due to lower vf. The Klarus is my only light that got brighter in High and has an increase in lumens. Usually I don’t care as they are all bright enough nowadays.
It’s strange that even quality brands uses not so nice LEDs. NWs are often greenish, most only offer CW. I like warm and neutral tints. Exception is the Samsung which is clearly above BBL, but for some reasons still looks good.
HCRI is a plus, not a must for me. The RRT01 got an ordinary Xp-l hi 5D. A little yellow, still much power.
Edit: Oops, just noticed you were asking for the S1 - no, there was no increase in brightness for the S1R as far as I can tell. Haven’t measured it.
. The Jet-II pro in titanium is nice, yes. But lacks in the UI.