The lightest AAA I have is the aluminum Lumintop Worm. 11.8 grams without battery. It’s cheap and bright, but I think the Lumintop Tool is a lot better looking and comes with a clicky. Really, there are plenty of AAA lights that will not break your back for about the cost of two cups ’o coffee.
Maglight Arc P Fenix E01
This is not AAA but 10440 ? “brightest light of all times”:
Not AAA, but “1 x 10440/CR123A Battery (NOT include) ”? 10440 AND CR123A? What kind of spacer arrangement does this light HAVE?
Check out this its a Crelant V1A it uses a AAA but of the lithium kind they are called 10440 ( only just bought some the other week) it can run on a normal batteries but isn’t very bright i am not sure if its the smallest but its smaller then the hugsby XP1. its small enough that now i can not find it 
i think some one might have taken it and not returned it…
Has anyone ever made/seen just a sort of skeletal cell holder with an emitter and lens and maybe switch? You wouldn’t get much smaller than that……
Olight I3E is really small, and really light…also cheap of course.
One mode though, if you want more take the I3S
Well, it certainly looks fat enough in the pictures to hold a 16340 (CR123A) cell. The listing claims that it has a working voltage range of 0.8V - 4.2V, so it could possibly take a AAA (1.5V) or 10440 (4.2V) with a spacer tube inside or a CR123A (3.0V) or 16340 (4.2V) without. Then again, they also claim that it produces 1000lm from a XP-G R5 LED, so you know already that they’re lying to you. 
On top of all that, the thing is UGLY! :confounded: I wouldn’t buy one no matter what specs it had. 
My selection for back up usually ends up being straight redundancy… I always select something like this as if it was all I have, that way there is enough functionality to really use it….
That said, in backpacking, weight is essential. Light is essential only half the day, but it does greatly expand useable time…
Really interested in your selection AND how it worked for you… Thanks for updating…
Eh, just get a Texas Poker! 1000+ Lumens from a Efest Purple 10440!
I wanted a small AAA keychain light and just got an Olight i3e in the mail. Let me say, it is much smaller than I thought is was going to be. I don’t know if it is the smallest out there but I can’t imagine anyone engineering a light much smaller.
Here is the i3e making other small lights look kinda large
The one problem that X3 mentioned is that its one mode. I also got the i3e with the intention of having it as a backup light when I get lost hiking. Unfortunately, on a nimh, Olight advertises a 1 hour run time…. and when I get lost hiking I often get lost for more than an hr…
Honestly though the main reason I bought the light was because I liked the colors offered…
Clulite PL2, not sure if clusons will send to the Us tho. Take a look at my mini review….
I wish the output of i3e was a bit lower to extend battery time. It seems to me that nearly every single-mode AAA is either a very high output (relatively) of 80-120lm or a much lower one, 15-25lm. Rarely do I find an AAA light that puts anything in between, say 50 lumens for 2+ hours.
I didn’t checked the official numbers but my I3S has 3 levels, evenly spaced so it might please you…
Ok here is a small update. Right now I am kinda torn between 2 or maybe 3 lights.
Number one is probly the maglite solitare. The weight is one of the very best I have seen, and also the price is good.
Number two is Fenix E01. This has almost exactly the runtime and output I would need for a backup light. However the weight is ridiculous for a light that size. 55 grams empty! Brass heat sink maybe?
Got my Lumintop Tool AAA and love the light. I got the version with both clicky and magnetic tailcap. With the clicky tailcap makes the light pretty long, but still light. With the magnetic tailcap, its about same length as my Fenix E01.
Its got 3 nice levels with following levels:
5 lumens / 36 hours
32 lumens / 4 hours
110 lumens / 30 minutes
So far satisfied and like this light. I like how each level is noticeable different than each other. The low is just enough with long runtime. The medium is good enough for most uses with adequate runtime. The high is surprising high for a light this size and when used in bursts, the 30 minutes should be enough.
I bought a Fenix E01 recently and its pretty bright, with long runtime. But mine has that purple/blue cornea, which I really don’t like. I ran across the group buy for the Titanium Tool AAA, I like the aluminium Tool AAA better so decided to go for this instead. Its going to be my backup EDC light. But when at home, I still really like the BLF 348…even more than my other lights!
I think it is 15g rather than 55. Also check out fenix e05 if you want better tint and modes.
Edit: I’ve found that Fenix now has E01 with nichia gs led which doesn’t have that bluish tint anymore.
I hope you’re joking. :person_facepalming:
Two quick peeks, including Fenix’s official site indicate close to 15g, NOT 55g. If the light suits you, go with it as a quality reliable back-up. Based on my limited experience, I’d rather bet my butt on Fenix than Maglite, YMMV.
Phil
I would vote for the lumintop tool. Weight with a 219c swapped stock driver aluminum light that has the clicky switch is 15g according to my scale. Add an efest flat top to bring it to 24g. With a rayovac AAA it weighs 26g. I find it is plenty bright to serve as a primary edc light with just a AAA. I wouldn’t run a lithium if it was a backup, my copper one will not run on alkaline batteries now, burnt up something on the board… Aluminum one goes back fine oddly enough.