Really surprised at the lack of love for the Thrunite. Have carried one for years. Great lights. With the free shipping deal you can now get 3 for under $20. It is a very nice light!
Few years on the keychain:
There are scratches even on type III anodized aluminium, but try this with a Maglite Solitair.
This has to be my fave AAA light.
Spend the extra buk and go for the slate-gray. You’ll thank me later.
Nice light, but go for the CW, as NW has an “off” tint.
For “keychain” lights and anything that’ll be bouncing around in a pocket, I don’t want a tailswitch which can be bumped on, and prefer twisties.
i have it, but its only been a month, and mostly sitting on my desk, so i cant really say how scratch resistant it is, but it definitely feels nice
well to me, it came down to 3 things, 1. it wasnt free with $6 shipping before, 2. the length, 3. the knurling, pure aesthetics, i prefer the E3A knurling design
Does anyone have the red version of the E3A?
I've been disappointed by the red C01S : too dark a red, almost magenta, I would prefer a more "flashy" red.
i do, but i dont have red c01s to compare, so i cant really say for sure, it does look pretty bright to me tho, i like it
+1 to the C01s. 
The C01s is very nice, but for me is slightly too long for a key chain light. Around 60 mm seems to be my limit. Also since they changed the knurling, now can be a bit too smooth for easy keychain single handed usage. (wish I could get a few more with the original milling). I purchased a number of second generation orange ones for emergency usage, hiking back pack, auto and tackle box and they work great for those purposes.
I have used the i3E EOS for a few years as a keychain light and the Luxeon with the PIMMA TIR has a nice tint and color temp with the right balance of throw and dispersion for a key light. The only down side for me is the smooth indents on the head. I use a small o-ring for grip.
I would be very interested to check out the Skilhunt E3A, it looks very similar in form to the i3E but with a LH351b. The spiral knurling with the parallel secondary cut looks promising. Also may be slightly smaller that the i3E.
Wellp, for a short cheepcheepcheep (like a leetle cheeken) and easy-to-twist twisty, don’t forget the Glarees.
Usually 7bux a pop on Amazon, lightweight, twists with ease, decent light output, multimodes, etc.
Tupacs are cheaper but don’t include the Altoids tin, whereas the singles usually do.
Skilhunt E3A and Olight i3E are
both Low CRI, single mode 100 lumens
the C01S has Two Modes 3 and 100 lumens, and the LED is High CRI…
it is no contest, C01S is the winner on spectrum quality!
the Thrunite Ti3 has Three Modes, 0.04, 16, 100 lumens, and starts on a ridiculously useless lowest mode first. Every single time I use the light I have to at least double twist… not fun. And it is Low CRI, to me, thats a Fail!
C01S wins on spectrum quality
E3a and i3s win smallest size
Ti3 wins most complex
not everything or everyone is about high cri, thats a very subjective feature, but also, E3A has a high cri option
sounds good
for those who dont know what they are missing, I would definitely recommend the High CRI experience
I wont settle for less
i mean its not that hard to google when you already know the brand and model name, and you took the time to find it on BG, but you couldnt find their own website or AE?
Actually their AliExpress store doesn’t have the High CRI (anymore).
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001175103939.html
These have it:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001144192612.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001144119561.html
These don’t:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001144132940.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001205778793.html
This one I don’t know:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32848260540.html
found a cool E3A video, Im sold!
I still wish there was something red in the photo, but whatever, its not looking green tinted, so thumbs up!
The highCRI E3A is already out or will be out shortly.
The “regular” E3A is still hella good.
I got a key blank for my front door that shines a 0-CRI monochrome red beam, one of these:
which is all I need to poke a key into a hole.
So hang on, before anyone turns into a CRIbaby (ha! I always wanted to use that term…), just think, “What will I be using the light for?”.
If it’s to be your one and only EDC light, nothing else available, then sure, go crazy, make it a high-CRI LED with 8 brightness levels and stoopit-high R9 values to make sure you can distinguish all possible subtle shades of red.
But if you just need A Light to find what rolled under the couch, or to find the keyhole and make sure your key is teeth-up instead of teeth-down, or to find the fusebox when your lights go out, even a 1-mode Angry Blue™ AAA light should be sufficient. And especially with a twisty, being able to just flick it on once for decent light (quality and quantity) seems to fit the bill.
But then, if you need something brighter, or with more modes, and high-CRI, with sublumen firefly levels to not ruin your night-vision, I’m sure a bevy of 14500 or 18650 lights will be better, especially if you’ll be running the light for more than a few seconds at a time.
I’m hard-pressed to think how, especially considering the limited runtime of AAAs, someone would “need” a do-everything light with a super-high quality beam in an AAA format.
That’s one reason I always sneered at AAA lights, “better’n nothing… barely”, with limited runtime and limited output. From 1lm to 1000lm, great, 7 levels should scratch all those itches. But when output is limited to, say, 100lm? Even low/high might be pushing it.
But now with some nice AAA lights out there, I’m a slow convert. And like the E3A with its pebbled TIR lens smoothing even a typische Cree’s beam into something nice with no rings or fried eggs, and incredible build quality for ~10bux, I’m converted. Even the Wubens and Wowtacs and Glarees and Oilights and Thrunites… they all got their pluses and minuses. But I gotta say, I was blown away by the E3A (and the only Skilhunts I have are a few E3As and a M200).
With the ’351 or ’219 or whatever the new E3A has in it? It’d be to me pretty much the San Graal of AAA lights.