An extreme low-lumen flashlight without functionality

I’m personally not convinced, but I’m gong to mention it anyway. Nitecore LA10 CRI. Yes it is 85 lumens, but it is 100% diffused, so it’s not going to blind you compared to a 10 lumen reflector light. It’s single AA and price is less than $20 with discount.

The older Quark 4Sevens AA-Tactical. The 1AA is my preference. Yes it has multiple modes… BUT they are Totally programmable. let me explain a little.

Its essentially a TWO mode light, tighten the bezel for mode 1, loosen the bezel just a little for mode 2… with a simple tail cap click switch on or off. No mode cycles, no soft press anything, no hidden-mode anything. Its a simple ON/OFF interface once you select your mode.

How you program each of those modes is entirely up to you…. firefly, low, med, turbo, SOS, Disco. You can even program the same output to BOTH modes at the same time so tightening or loosening the bezel results in the same output. So essentially in your case you would end up with the ~.2 Lumen firefly mode, programmed to both…. and just leave the bezel tightened all the way down.

Availability is going to be your problem though. I checked Ebay 1-2 months ago and they can be found there, but being discontinued its going to be hit and miss.

The gerber ultra infinity though would be my recommendation…. These have been around for decades. Previously they were made by CMG for the US military, as a low lumen task-light. So their design roots goes way back pretty far. IIRC they are 5~8 Lumens though, so slightly brighter I think than your needs… but it is as close as I can think of in the AA format.
https://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Infinity-Ultra-Flashlight-22-80012/dp/B00062APHU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500664258&sr=8-1&keywords=gerber+ultra+infinity

My cousin has a ~20-25 year old CMG version and it works fine here in 2017.

If you are OK with single AAA lights, the Fenix E01 will suit you very well. I have been using its predecessor (E0 dart) for over a decade with no problems at all. However IIRC its also in the 5~10 lumen range… more than what you may need.
https://www.amazon.com/Fenix-E01GSBK-B-E01-Flashlight-Black/dp/B00BNUBDKW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500665318&sr=8-1&keywords=fenix+E01

How about this:



Moonlight level output.

:laughing:

I would just grab a 3*AAA or 3*AA Light, get rid of the driver and use a 5mm LED instead of the existing one.

probably way more sturdy than any of those cheap AA lights made of plastic.

example: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-Blacklight-Invisible-Ink-Marker-9LED-UV-Ultra-Violet-Flashlight-Torch-Light-3xAAA-Batteries-powered/32691941785.html?
Just desolder all the LEDs and put a single white one in it + resistor of your choice.

I was at walmart yesterday and they had a 1-AA Ray o vac, LED flashlight that I think might serve this purpose very well. It was ~$3, and had what looked like a 5mm LED behind some kind of optic lens. Surely couldn’t be much more than 10 Lumens. I have no idea how reliable or durable they are though, but at that price you could just buy 3-4 of them and stash them in the tent or RV.

Since my suggestion isn’t available anymore maybe someone knows of something similar???

I would suggest an XTAR H1, it’s a AA or 14500 powered angle head light that was intended as a headlamp. The low is pretty good but it came with a red LED that I prefer to most moonlight modes. These came out 5 or 6 years ago and I don’t see any on ebay or amazon.

Maybe something like this:
https://www.dorcy.com/outdoors/28-lumen-led-headlight

(Dorcy often has 20 percent off sales, watch for those; I’ve found they also have great customer support if there’s any problem buying from Dorcy direct — the one time I dropped and broke an outdoor motion sensor light, they just sent me another one, I presume knowing they were a bit fragile)

Gerber still sells the Infinity Ultra. It’s single mode & has a 5mm Nichia. Essentially the same as the Fenix EO1 except using a AA. They were popular back in the day.

Gerber (or CMG) used to make the Infinity with an amber emitter, which is very helpful for camping as it doesn’t wake people up like a while/blue-white light source will do.

Look inside the tailcap if you get a Gerber — some models will have a + indicator to remind you to put the battery in ‘backwards’ to the usual direction.

Discussion at How bright is the gerber infinity ultra? | Candle Power Flashlight Forum is relevant.

You probably want not to get the brighter “ultra” model.

The runtimes on that one must be beautiful.

I don’t remember ever actually seeing a Gerber branded ‘regular’ Infinity. I only saw the CMG version before Gerber bought them out. Still even the Ultra is only rated at 8 lumens.

I remember one thread on SPF where an owner was still getting usable light after 72 hours.

Its unlisted at gerbers site so buy one before its gone.

Didn’t some company make a led light that just snaps on top of a 9V battery, with low lumen, long life output?

https://productionmonster.com/shop/tour-supply/9-volt-led-mini-flashlight/

Where did you get that from?

Thanks!!

I like my AAA Fenix E05 for it's low 8 lumens output. Not much of a perceived difference to 5lm. The other 25lm and 85lm output requires quick twist off/on less than a second. Not many adults realize this, should be pretty hidden for kids. The quality also very good, made to last. VERY efficient on it's lowest setting. It's on AAA, should equally easy to find as AA too.

EDIT: swapping to any high CRI LED will reduce the output closer to your 5lm spec (bonus light quality)

lumintop tool is decent
it has a 5 or so lumen low

$10 on sale

the thing about dim is, now it doesn;t need to be big to run a long time

so why stop at AA?
go to AAA

wle

The Tool CRI has an even dimmer low mode. Perfect by my standards.