I like the Trustfire R5-A3 a lot. It is fearsomely bright. Pity the low is silly high.
The Maratac AA clone, the jury is out on. Nobody's actually got one yet and DealExtreme's credibility is limited around here.
I don't know anything about the Trustfire S-A2 but it looks very much like the Uniquefire S10 - and likely has very similar internals.
I suspect the Akoray K-106 3 mode programmable model (AFAIK only available from kaidomain.com) would suit you very well.
Another good one would be the Ultrafire C3 Stainless Steel - Lightake.com say they have the 93mm long model which is the good one. The 96mm or longer ones are not nearly as nice.
The Trustfire F20 in the same body as the Akoray K-106 is well worth a look - there are reviews of most of these around here or on www.jayki.com
One of my favourite AA lights though it is huge by AA standards is the Trustfire F22 in stainless steel - a very, very nice but large and heavy (for an AA) light.
Hey there Ricez, welcome to BLF! Thanks for joining, enjoy your time here.
I would second Don's recommendation of the 3-mode Akoray programmable K-106 from Kaidomain. Note that it appears that only Kaidomain carries the programmable version.
I also second the recommendation of the Trustfire F20, especially if you want it to definitely be tailstandable. I also like the Ultrafire C3 Stainless, but unfortunately its design is a lot more prone to possibly having an ever-so-slightly protruding tailswitch boot that prevents it from tailstanding. On the other hand, I have no complaints about the new 98mm version's quality, although I never experienced the original to know what I'm missing.
As we have been discussing over on Jayki.com, we are trying to see if we can maybe work something out with a manufacturer to see if they will sell us the Maratac AA clone with the modes to our liking.
And we will have to buy at DX, I imagine or not? I imagine that we cant buy directly to the manufacturer. I am interested in that fashlight, but with a real xpg-r5, 3 or 5 USEFULL modes, and hybrid driver (AA/14500 support)
If there is any way to avoid DX I will try to avoid it. I detest DX, although I am not averse to buying from them if there's no other option. Among its many other flaws, DX is too huge to pay any attention to us small guys. Old4570 has managed to contact Eastward, however they have not returned my emails yet. We'll see.
Yes, the most noticeable difference between the F20 and the Akoray K-106 is the modes. The F20 also has glow-in-the-dark parts, which is really a gimmick, but I still like that feature a lot. The K-106 3-mode is also slightly higher quality that the F20. They are both very nice for the price.
As for the max and min input voltage, don't believe any specification that KD publishes, they are notoriously sloppy and even misleading with their claimed product specs. You're best off reading a good review, like this one by our member brted:
I went ahead and ordered the Turstfire F20, and since it's apparently more of a thrower I just added a diffuser which should be handy http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.24123
I have been happy with http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.33544. Has good high med low modes along with disco mode :( but fetures a very good memory mode. Small, tough and decent runtime. Only 1 AA and pretty small. aluminum reflector and glass lens. It is not a tight thrower and i like the beam isn't too focused. It seems just right. My sample arrived as a pretty neutral white tone. Couldn't be happier (if i find a way to disable the strobes it's just a perfetct 1 AA)
Ah, thanks budgeteer. I always wondered if that Skyray was any good. I own the SmallSun ZY-C41, which has the same body style, and frankly I don't like the crenelated bezel, so I never bought the Skyray.