I sit on the fence making purchases like I was spending grandma’s beer money, but I was “ready to buy”, Amazon free shipping is now $35 and I had $24 of stuff my wife wanted “soon” in my cart, so I thought “now is the time for a pricey 1xAAA EDC”. Painfully wrong, three or four reviews in and I put the trigger back on safety and bought some snack bars. Too many reviews said the way the mode switch is done breaks so either hi or low stops working.
For the moment I am back to square one, nice bright reliable ideally three mode hi/lo/firefly small 1xAAA, optional able to use a 10440, but fine without it.
Oh and cheap, I mean budget, I was getting nose bleed at $19 on Amazon.
I’d like to try a light with firefly mode, and if the hi is HIGH, needs a medium or low at least, so not have to, but depends a bit on the light.
Ideally I would like someone to convince me I am all wrong and the Thrunite Ti2 is just fine and any switch or mode issues quickly resolved. Amazon reviews of the Ti2 sounded like it was two mode, but ebay listing by the Thrunite store say firefly, low, high, but don’t talk about it in the description.
Other than the much lower output, which actually might be fine for a single mode, the old Fenix E01 might be ok, but I see reviews that say its barely bright enough to find a keyhole in the dark which a 50 cent swap meet button fob will do.
I’ve had several (including the Ti2) and given several away as gifts. If you’re the type to really crank down on it to go to high mode, you’ll probably end up with a tiny flathead screwdriver before long, bending the little tab back into place. I’ve only had to do that to one of mine, and it’s worked the 2 years-ish just fine since then. I still take my original Ti Firefly on road trips where it still gets a lot of use. The trick is to stop twisting when it hits high mode and not be an ape about it like I was at first with them.
If you’re really worried about it, just get an Olight I3S or Fenix LD01. I own both, and both are fine lights.
You also might want to consider the L3 Illuminations L10 which is an AA light but extremely compact. I also own a couple of these, one with the warm colored Nichia 219 in it.
I have 3x SK68 clones and pining currently about a SC52, waiting to see what black friday has to offer.
I also have a few of the 3W Police marked AAA cheapo’s that can be made into 2x AAA by using parts of two of them
What I wanted to do was try a step up EDC 1xAAA and see if that didn’t suit me better than the larger 1XAA types.
Reviews on Amazon at least “claimed” they did not ham fist them, and little tab just broke. Anyway, put me out of the buying a light mood and I spent a few hours on ebay buying $2 and $3 Chinese junk (a wide variety of watch and cell phone spudgers (tools to pry stuff apart)).
Then it sounds like maybe the Olight I3S would be better for you. 3 modes plus hidden strobe, high end constant current circuit, latest XP-G2 just like the Ti2, great pocket clip and superb build quality, all for about 20 bucks. Probably a good place to start for an AAA EDC.
AAA lights make great EDCs in my opinion, which is why I own so many. Lately I’ve been carrying my Pelican 1910 a good part of the time because I like the forward switch and only need 1 mode most of the time around the house.
I have read about switch problems too, but they are apparently fixable provided you don’t lose the foam spacer inside the head. Switching construction was one of the reasons I didn’t buy the now discontinued Ti with sub-lumen low mode.
The Ti2 / Ti switch issue can be eliminated with some modding.
I used a coil spring instead of the lever spring on my 2 thrunites. Tweaked the coil till it was nearly flat. I can tighten the head as much as I want. No concern that it won’t spring back to its original height. Separation of low & high never changes. (The pill on this one is a little beat up from unrelated mods)
A small lever spring just wasn’t appropriate for a “battery crusher” switch. If tightened firmly its length is too short to always recover to its original height. The lever breaking off on some people could be from them bending it up when flattened. Perhaps even normal bending fatigue being concentrated since its short.
