I kind of hooked onto small tiny flashlights after receiving my BLF Mini and Ultrafire UF-T1. :bigsmile: Such amount of light from tiny bodies!
I’ve tried to look for other similar sized lights, and it seemed that there are not many that are 1x10440. Well, until now I have not been daring enough to try a 10440 in my UF-T1 as I read that someone damaged theirs while trying. It’s a beauty, working well on 1xAAA and I couldn’t bear to stress test it. Also even on 1xAAA, UF-T1 generates a fair amount of heat on High, and with the power of 10440 it might just overheat? BLF Mini also heats up pretty quickly on High mode (In case of confusion, I use 16340 in BLF Mini, not 10440).
Well, so are 10440 flashlights not very common? Even 10440 batteries are not common… On FastTech, I could only find the xxxxFires 10440 which I hesitated to buy.
Surely there are some good choices of 10440 flashlights? And places to get good 10440s? Someone with the knowledge and experience please share. Maybe Fenix LD01… or Balder BD-0?
The Maratac/Olight AAA lights seem to take the 10440's output well, if only for a short time, before getting too hot for comfort. The stainless versions a bit less so.
Radiancez567, an alternative might be to try a very small 1xAA light, like the DQG AA. It takes a 14500 cell, which has much more capacity than a 10440, and the light is still very small. I used to carry an LD01 on my keychain, using a 10440, but I switched to a 1xAA light because:
- most 10440s are not protected
- runtime on high with a 10440 is really short
- I couldn’t find a good charger for the 10440 at that time (but I think there are some now)
- the LD01 overheated really quickly on high with a 10440
a small 1xAA light is thicker, but not necessarily longer than a 1xAAA light
I’m using a DQG AA. It’s probably as short as most 1xAAA lights, if not shorter, and it’s only a little bit thicker than the LD01 I had before. And it’s brighter.
I have a BD-0 and run it on Efest 10440’s. It’s designed to run on AAA or 10440. I love mine to bits and it’s been on my keyring as daily carry ever since it arrived.
I’m just testing the two different Trustfires that arrived today that Fasttech is selling right now (SKU 1118301, SKU 1078108). As my Maha C7777P does not seem to be giving me reliable discharge test results, I’m doing a subjective run test in a VHF radio that is receiving a constant FM signal. I cannot tell the difference between the black ones and the grey ones, they both say they are 600mah. If anyone is interested I can post my subjective results.
I’ve been testing some MarsFire protected 10440 batteries in my lights today also, and it wouldn’t fit in most of mine, including not fitting in a Tank007 E009 (was surprised).
The ones that it DID fit in was an ITP A3 EOS “updated”, and this light:
which looks exactly like the one I got from Tmart (above). The FastTech description is different though (1 mode, whereas the light from Tmart has 5 modes), so I just ordered the one from FastTech, to see if it’s the same or not.
Both the black and grey Trustfires are protected. I got more than double run time from the grey ones, but they are longer and will not work if the fit is going to be tight.
The Efest 10400 IMR batteries were mentioned above. they are unprotected, so they fit in any light. The IMR chemistry is safer than Li-ion so protection is less necessary (but take good care for your batteries anyway). I have bought them at www.efestbattery.com. They have free shipping but there is a 2.27 dollar 'handling fee'.
The Trustfire Z10 flashlight is made for 10400 batteries, great output but it is big and hefty, bigger than my smallest AA-type flashlight. It lasts 18 minutes on a 10400 .
i have wonder 10440's: my Protected gray UF 10440's hold the voltage 4.186V+ over weeks and months!! whereas my unprotected blue UF 10440's suffer from high self-discharge rate.
I have the Itp A3 and have run a 10440 in it for over a year now with no problems. It does get warm pretty quick on high but it puts out around 250 otf lumens on a fresh 10440. I used to have a tank 007 e09 but it had nowhere near the output on 10440 and I got rid of it. I ground the little nubbyoff of my a3 so it would tail stand. I will never part with this little light!
I actually have a Z10 coming in today… I like the gold, even though I’ve seen several comments about it being too “blingy” :)…
Also, there was a thread here on BLF, I think, where someone had stripped the anodizing off, and it looked pretty good. Sorry that I don’t have a link to that thread :(…
Also even on 1xAAA, UF-T1 generates a fair amount of heat on High, and with the power of 10440 it might just overheat? BLF Mini also heats up pretty quickly on High mode (In case of confusion, I use 16340 in BLF Mini, not 10440).
.