Help me choose a good 1xAA/14500 flashlight

Uniquefire AA-S1 - if necessary hit the reflector with some hairspray to farther diffuse the beam.

I totally agree with Don´s suggestion. The AA S1 has a wide beam and a nice ww natural color. 10$ Cheap!

Also easy modable. Just buy the ak-47 and you have a Li-Ion only 5 mode (or the modes you want by bridging the stars)

Also can use another 17mm driver or smaller and make multimode. AA or 14500, as you want!

Will ask my friend if he want a single mode light or multimode. The AA-S1 has the best spill with AA, 14500 or both?

I've been using the Trustfire TR-001 http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12594 for about a month now. I've been very pleased with it. I use it on 10440's, 14500's, and 18650's with no problems. It's a double charger with independent circuits that will cut off at 4.205v ( on all three battery types). It won't charge the 18650's as fast as some of the others, but it also won't ruin the smaller cells with too much current either. I'm going to order another one in the near future just to have a spare.

Just a heads up on the AA-S1. I just received one a few weeks ago and was less than impressed with it. After such rave reviews I can only assume I just got a crappy one (it happens...). On the other hand, the ultrafire C3 (DX sku 04452) has absolutely blown me away....on either 1xAA, 2xAA, or 14500(brightest). It has more throw than my Zebralight H51 and is almost as bright!

-Match

The AA-S1 both with AA or 14500 produces same spill, however, as all lights, with 14500 will be more powerfull (double?)

Perfect light for the money! even with alkalines (which draws less current than NiMh) is good enough!

The c78 from LT has better flood and brightness than the AA-S1. Very even beam with no artifacts and flexibility from wide to zoom. If you don't need modes, it's one of the best aa lights, all for ~$10.

Its a flood to throw light. I have several and none of them are very good at flood. Sounds interresting

that a 1.5 volt AA can provide higher lumens than a 3.7 volt 14500. Could you please inform us with

your measurements(!) of the C78 on 1.5v and the AA S1 on 14500, as the C78 is not found in Don´s

splendid dokument.

In terms of hotspot/throw with AA's, the c78 is about same as the skyray s5, about 1300 arbilux, this compared to 450 for the J4, 300 for the C3 SS, and 100 for the AA-S1.

For flood, measuring at half the radius from center, the c78 is about 40, the s1 about 15, the J4 15, and the C3 SS is 10.

I admit, I dont know what arbilux stand for. But if its the same lux as Dons there is a big difference

between your figures and Dons

The J4 is 1460, the C3 SS is 1391 and the S1 is 1255 Lux. Not a big difference. In lumens they are 262, 250 and 225.

With AA batteries the figures for all these lights are lower. But according to your figures the C78 on 1AA are much

brighter than these on 14500. For me there is something that does not add up. Do you use the same metode as Don

when you measure. Are the figures you gave measured and how?

Hello everybody

speaking over flood to throw .What about the good old Romisen Rc 29 It has Q5 emitter single mode bigger flood than c78 and workmanship is better.

Cons : sharp switch ( can destroy your pocket) but perfect tailstand, a bit bulky, only up to 1,5 v .

All my non flashaholic friends love it.

By the way Thanks for the warm welcome

It is true, build quality of the KD Romisen RC-29 Q5 is much higher (switch+threads) and it is brighter than my 2 C78s. But it is very bulky and needs 3 full turns of twisting, resulting in 5-6 actions to go from flood to throw. If it was push-pull and had the switch of the C6/C8 ... it would be the perfect flood-to-thow light on 1xAA.

I agree. The RC29 is a very good light. The C6 is better, but its a RCR123 light. I still vouch for

the AA S1 as an AA (14500) light and until proven by measurement, I dont believe that an AA 1.5v

light has more lumen then it. Look at Don´s spreadsheet and be convinced what lights provide

the biggest output on a given battery. Links at all Don´s posts.

Arbi-lux (arbitrary-lux) just refers to the fact it's lux not referenced to distance (as lux itself isn't) because I didn't bother to bust out the meterstick. However it's self-consistent and thus can be compared among themselves. What are Don's numbers measured at?

The c78 as I've mention in other threads has better optics than the c29 (and thus likely similar romisens), and pretty decent quality if you get the LT version. The only place the romisen is better is at the widest flood when it finally smoothes out.

Thanks for info. Maybe Don can answer your question of metode? I think that numbers aside, you get a better

impression of different lights when they are all measured with the same equipment and in the same way.

I like the optics of the the RC-29 better , because it has a larger flood angle and beam has less artefacts on flood. So it is better if you want to use it as a pseudo Zebralight.

Hey, thanks for the replys Laughing For 1xAA light 1 mode should be enough, but for 2xAA or 1x14500... I think multimode is a must.

Ok, on the one hand, we have an AA-S1 with good spill and on the other hand we have a zoom-to-throw lights. So... is there any beam shots comparisons? I mean, "normal" lights like AA-S1 and one zoom-to-throw light.

Maybe this can help you!

Video comparison of AA-S1 VS a flood to throw (both with NiMh). Both as OSRAM golden dragon LED

Dont forget that digital cameras autoadjust brightness

Nice find, fran, tranks. Good video but bad quality Frown

Which c78 are you comparing it to? The one I have has no unevenness in the whole zoom range, whereas the rc29 has squarish (cree) artifacts until all the way in flood.