Best Budget Keychain Light

Thank you for the warm welcome, Johnny! :)
And also for the recommendations - greatly appreciated.

Funnily enough I ordered a couple of Black Cats as gifts a few days back.
What modding do you recommend for these lights, M3TAL_L0RD?

The CQG S1 sounds pretty awesome. Reading the thread now and ordering one.

Still open for more recommendations. One can never have enough spare keychain lights. They make great presents, too :)

LOL…I just ordered a CQG S1 myself not 20 minutes ago. I hesitated because I already have a Trustfire F23 and wasn’t sure I wanted another AAA light. Btw, the F23 is a ridiculously good AAA light. Polished SS and CRAZY bright on a 10440 LiIon cell. You can get one of those for $15-$20 and if you like AAA lights you just have to get one.

I have 2 and both had some contact problems in head, so they flickered.

Unfortunately heads are glued to body. I managed to open other "bare handed" but for other needed to use pliers. After opening head, I cleaned threads and fixed solders on pill (need to make contact to body's end when tightened). You might also try adding foil for better heat sinking.

Red Black Cats are different, those have screwable pill.

http://club.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/threadid.819254

Welcome brunswick

Welcome to the forum

Thanks guys!

Feeling at home already :)

And thank you for the repair info, ML. I hope the ones I have ordered will be okay, but on the other hand playing around, modding and fixing the light is half the fun of dealing with budget lights, no? :D

Yeah, you get 2 hobbies at the price of 1 :D

Hi Brunswick!

Good to have you here!

When it comes to keychain lights there is a lot to be said for the various Photon lights and their clones. I have a Photon ReX on one keyring and Photon 2 clones on just about everything including zipper pulls.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/white-flashlight-keychain-22000mcd-10-pack-1100

The Fenix E01 and the ITP A3EOS Upgrade are also well worth looking at.

I second the recommendation for the Photon lights and their clones.
I always have one on my keychain as a backup light and it comes in quite handy in those tricky situation where even a little bit of light is much better than no light at all.

Probably bought around 5000 of the things in the last decade. Most of which have been given away. Around 2000 went to customers to give away as promotional gifts. At a bit more than I paid for them.

They are also great to give to dog owners at this time of year - a light dangling from their collar is much more visible than a collar light. Gave away 10 of them today in the park to other dog walkers.

Usual price round here for them is around $8 each - but then the CR2016 cells they run on are around $6 each and these devices need two of them. If I give one away, I tell the folks to return them to me when the batteries are dead and I'll give them another one.

I like my xtar keychain light i got for free with my xtar 2600 battery order :). Should receive another free one from a promotion on a site in a few days. It's simple and not superbright but it does 'light' up a room.

Don; any idea why these keychain lights are not available with those "flat top" 5mm LED`s?

They should give about 120° beam instead of the regular, what, like 8° to 20° beam. I mean, honestly, is someone using these as throwers :D

I just cut down one 5mm keychain LED, more usable for me.

Your post also reminded me to order some 2016 from eBay, local prices are very high :|

Welcome to BLF Brunswick

I would highly recommend the coast light from coastportland.com for $3.50.

Click on the free light icon fill out the survey and pay the $3.50 shipping and handling and you hopefully will get the aaa light if not the button battery light is very cool also.

That's kind of an odd "free" offer though isn't it? I just checked it out myself. They want to thank me by giving me a free light for a fee of $3.50 and they don't specific the light.

If it is indeed the keychain light then it isn't free at all as that's at the high end for a button style keychain light. It may be worth it since it includes shipping and handling (I presume) but it's hardly free.

Just for fun I just sent this offer to Coast via their contact us form.

I'd like to give you a free gift for being such a great company. Please send $3.50 via PayPal to my account and I'll send you a return email with some free business advice (I have an MBA so it will be valuable advice).

I will then use that $3.50 to get that free flashlight you so generously offer.

They now have my email address so it will be interesting to read their response. :)


Us and canada only for the coast freebe :(

the 3.50 is for shipping, it seems lately it is the g10 aaa light they are giving away. its a 10+ dollar light, in my book thats free + s&h

Yeah there's no doubt it's a free light ..It's a AAA forward clicky nichia so it's a tint lottery ...the nifty thing is the smaller one is the exact same light same emitter and a reverse clicky too just a tiny tac instead of a mini tac ..it's a must have for any flash a holic ...

I'll second the BLF edition S-1 as a nice keychain light and add the new 12$ nitecore nichia T0

Nitecore T0 12 Lumen Keylight - 1xAAA - BlueNitecore T0 12 Lumen Keylight - 1xAAA - Gold, or black , the other colors are odd ...12$ at Battery Junction

I just purchased one, however, I have to agree it's kind of a shady presentation. They don't give you any inkling as to what you might get. I would normally pass it off as a scam except I know Coast is a quality, reputable company. They're obviously looking for feedback and also introducing you to their goods at the same time. As long as you get something that provides some sort of utility (i.e NOT some snazzy Coast decal) then you're technically getting your money's worth at minimum.

I think it's a little hard to know that you will be getting your money's worth if you don't know what you are getting at the time you get out your credit card.

Why make what you are getting a mystery at the same time that you are being asked to pay something for a free item.

If I go to the grocery store and they charge me $3.50 to give me something free but assure me I'll get my money's worth they could give me a carton of milk. However, I didn't go to the grocery store for milk and if they told me before hand that the free item would be milk I wouldn't hand them $3.50.

I wouldn't go to Coast to pay $3.50 for a button style keychain light or even a 1AAA if it's some ugly color or if it doesn't work right, etc.

If it's free I shouldn't be handing them money and if it's all above board why not tell me what the free item is?