I don’t really find the S41 / S41S very interesting, in large part because I already have a Reylight Ti 18350 completely customized to my preferences, and it’s prettier, lighter, and has a clip. The Astrolux one goes for maximum output at a minimum cost, while Rey’s triple focuses more on doing it with style.
This brass light is interesting to me for similar reasons — because it’s a beautiful high-quality host… and it has a clip.
The Astrolux light makes a decent pocket rocket, an attempt to fit as much power as possible into a small space, but Rey’s lights are art.
If the zombie apocalypse came and I needed a practical survival light to stretch my last few batteries as far as they’ll go, I’d pick a Zebralight. But in common daily life scenarios I’m not too concerned about those things, and would rather have something a bit more luxurious. Like, a Jeep versus a Cadillac.
Zebralight has been consistently leading the pack for driver efficiency and boost power, and that’s a wonderful thing. But it’s not a very useful comparison here. The 535-lm SC5 AA doesn’t accept 14500 cells, is low-CRI cool white, only comes in military drab aluminum, requires 14+ clicks to go between 8 lm and 48 lm, isn’t moddable, and it costs nearly twice as much. Totally different beast.
I like Zebralights and have several, but if someone gave me a SC5 AA for free I probably wouldn’t use it… because for my purposes it’s kind of a downgrade from my Olight S1 Ti. However, this brass light is more unique and is something I’d find excuses to carry and use.
As a general rule, if it has a tritium slot, it’s probably not in the same market as type III hard-anodized aluminum lights.
I did offer, at least.
Wait, that exists now?