Uniquefire AA-S1
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
| Battery: | Single AA or Single 14500 |
| Switch: | Reverse Clicky |
| Modes: | 1 |
| LED Type: | OSRAM WC |
| Lens: | Glass |
| Tailstands: | Yes |
| Price Payed: | $10.48 |
| From: | Kaidomain |
Pros:
- Beautiful, expensive-feeling design
- High-quality machining
- OSRAM LED produces brilliant, smooth beam
- Very affordable
Cons:
- Poor runtime
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
The Uniquefire AA-S1 is a simple, straightforward, single-mode, single-AA LED flashlight. It'll set you back around $10.00 depending where you buy it from. It is sold at DealExtreme for $9.99 and at Kaidomain for $10.48. While I normally don't like super-bright, single-mode flashlights, I do love the body style and price of this light. So I decided to try out Kaidomain for the first time with the purchase of this attractive flashlight. It should be noted that Kaidomain's website incorrectly labels this light as UniqueFire S1OSRAM. But a month later a beautiful flashlight arrived in the mail, clearly labelled as Uniquefire on one side and AA-S1 on the other. The only reason that I'm not giving this light a full 5-star rating for Features / Value is its lack of a low mode. But aside from that, it's a really impressive design. The tail switch and the internal O-rings at the head and lens all glow in the dark. The afterglow that emanates from the O-ring around the lens after shutoff is very cool. The light looks and feels much more expensive than it is, so the Value rating is much higher than average.
Build Quality: ★★★★★
The Uniquefire AA-S1 easily deserves a 5-star rating for Build Quality. This light should make the likes of Nitecore and Fenix tremble, because for about $10.00 the quality of the AA-S1 should impress even the most exacting flashlight aficionados. It is an outstanding example of the quality that budget Chinese manufacturers can produce, and together with the Akoray K-106 will be the standard against which I will compare all other flashlights. I mention the Akoray K-106 because its body style and quality are almost identical to those of the Uniquefire AA-S1. The AA-S1 is a beautiful silver cylinder, slightly more silvery than the gunmetal color of the Akoray K-106. The reflector is lightly textured like an orange peel. The lens is supposed to be glass. There is just a tiny filament of lint on the inside of the lens that doesn't affect performance in any way. It has a slightly flimsy but functional clip in leu of a wrist strap. I attached a spare lanyard to the clip, and it works out great for me. About 70% of the body sports a very nice knurl, and there are two small flat surfaces opposed by 180 degrees for labeling, one side says HWA/WYS Uniquefire and the other says AA-S1. The finish is flawless. It is supposedly HA-II hardened, but I won't be trying to scratch this beauty. The tail switch feels like it will last a long time. It is a bit small and very recessed, so it has the advantage of being almost impossible to bump on by accident, but rather difficult for a large man's thumb. The light tailstands perfectly. It's about 1mm shorter than the otherwise identical Akoray K-106. The body unscrews about 3cm below the head. The threads are beautifully slick, long, lubricated, and well sealed with a glow-in-the-dark O-ring. Why glow-in-the-dark O-rings on an inner diameter that never sees light? Well, what are tonsils good for?
Battery Life: ★★☆☆☆
Here is the Achilles heal of the Uniquefire AA-S1. The OSRAM LED is probably not as efficient as a modern Cree LED, according to what I've read. And it appears that the battery is driven quite hard. These two factors combine to produce a less than impressive battery life. I used a very cheap AA alkaline battery, and it produced very strong output for several hours, after which it started to fade rapidly. After about three hours it shut off. The specifications on DealExtreme claim 0.8~4.2, 4.2V max voltage input for the circuitry, which produces Digital Regulated 700mA output, which I can not confirm or dispute. If there are any Chinese flashlight engineers reading this review, please give us a multi-mode version of this light for about $11, and it will dominate the world.
Light Output: ★★★★★
The OSRAM LED may not be as efficient as other LEDs, but it produces incredibly beautiful, smooth, pleasant light. The lumens output is very impressive, up there with my brightest AA lights. The sites claim between 100 and 160 lumens, which sounds realistic. But better yet, the light has virtually no hotspot or rings or shadows. The beam is smooth as butter, producing warm, detailed, usable light from the center all the way out to the edges of the aura. The emitter is very tiny. The light did get quite hot after about 5 to 10 minutes of use, albeit not enough to burn your hand. This seems normal because the designers cranked up the output so high. But I would have to say that OSRAM produces a world class LED and gives Cree a hard run for the money.
Summary: ★★★★☆
This light earns a very solid 4-star rating, and if it had a low mode it would be 5-stars. The Uniquefire AA-S1 is a shining example of the high quality, affordable products that the Chinese manufacturers can produce, and I heartily recommend it as the first choice for anyone who is looking for a single-mode single-AA LED light.
