great details
agree O ring is key to the feel of a twisty
looks like that O ring is just too big…
what mode sequence is Glaree… and does it have memory?
thanks!
Flashlights… food… flashlights… food… flashlights… food… eh, flashlights.
Yeah, got my green Ti2s from Thrunite. Pretty nice. Lightweight thinwall design, not much lube (if any) but certainly not scratchy. 1-mode, probably 100lm similar to the E3A.
Reflector with hotspot+spill, though, unlike the E3A’s TIR and smoooooth beam. Bit of an uneven beam, yellowish corona, nice white hotspot, but also a slightly more yellowish center. Probably the usual Cree rainbow hijinx.
Nice milled tailcap with protruding stud for a ring/lanyard, similar to the E3A, not the milled-into-the-cap afterthought lanyard-hole like seems usual.
For a few bux extra, the E3A will have a much nicer and smoother beam, but still, for 6bux a pop, the Ti2 is really quite nice.
Glaree E03 user interface:
Always starts in LOW with a twist if it has been OFF for more than ~12 seconds.
When ON, a twist to OFF then twist to ON cycles through LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH and repeats
If OFF for less than ~12 seconds a twist to ON cycles to the next brightness level
Two very quick twists while ON or OFF activates STROBE
Cool white LED and orange peel reflector. LOW and HIGH modes are similar in brightness to Sofirn C01S.
As I remember, with an 800 mAH NiMH AAA battery, LOW lasted over 24 hours, MEDIUM about 6 hours, HIGH about 45 minutes.
I purchased the Glaree E03 from AmazonUS (as a package of two lights for $14):
I bought two lights and then another four. I was made aware of this light by a post from forum member Lightbringer who's posts have lead me to both budget and premium lights.
Yeah, I’m sort of a crash-test dummy for a lot of lights. 
@jon_slider: thanks for the explanation, I really did not expect that silicone could be harmful to... silicone 
So I put one of the same silicone spare O-rings provided by Skilhunt, and since I don't have any of the "very good lubes" recommended in CPF's thread, I used some "Tri-Flon" spray, a synthesized lubricant with Teflon. Now the switching is very smooth, although when I leave the light unattended for a while the first operation is a bit harder, then becomes smoother after a couple of on-off. I'll live with that, especially as I consider it a good security against accidental activation.
I do agree: with 1/4 turn from ON the head is securely OFF, and still 1/2 turn away from the O-ring starting to appear.
I wish I could find a solution for the extremely wobbly head of my Astrolux M01, which makes it impossible to leave on a keychain (I've found it to be accidentally ON several times in my pocket). The "Teflon strip + thick grease" suggested in this thread turned out not to work on the long term: they do eventually interfere with the electrical contact between the body and head and makes turning the light on to Low and even more High a hit-and-miss operation. None of the thicker O-rings I have do fit, and even if I find the correct diameter/thickness combination (which would require ordering several 20 piece sets to try and find the optimal one) I'm afraid the head would still be wobbly because there is so much play in the threads. Maybe very thick conductive grease, if this does exist?
glad the teflon spray lube is working to make the light smoother to twist
I also find some of my twisties stick when first twisted, its part of what moved me to clickies instead of twisties
> Maybe very thick … grease
nyogel 767a is very dense and sticky, you might like it in the threads, to fill gaps and resist rotation
I dont think it needs to be conductive, as long as the end of the body tube, and the contact ring on the pill, are kept wiped clean, no excess lube.
What I use in the threads can be thicker than what I use on the O ring itself.
I would still use a thin lube on the O ring, such as Nyogel 760, or Nano Oil.
I get Nyogel from oveready.com and I get Nano Oil from darksucks.
I have two lubes with teflon, I do not like them. They tend to stick and make it difficult to turn the threads. It seems they are designed to coat metal surfaces, rather than lubricate them…
I have Krytox 205, highly NOT recommended. It dries to a white powder, and sticks terribly to O rings, making it feel like the light will tear the Oring when turning the threads… bad bad bad,
I also have TefGel that I find much too sticky, both in threads and on O rings, so also not recommended…
one of the very best lubes I have found is the darksucks Munky Spunk. It is a thin grease, works equally well on both threads and O rings.
Thanks jon_slider for the lubes recommendations.
In my Astrolux the negative contact is through the threads. In order to significantly reduce the wobbling, I will need a thick layer of thick grease, which may prevent a good electrical conduction.
From the CPF comprehensive thread you mentioned, NO-OX-ID seems to be a good option.
But unfortunately the shipping fees to France are a total deterrent:
litchfieldstation.com sells the 2oz. can for less than $2, but charges at least $24.50 to ship it to France
On ebay, even the tiny 7gram tubes which costs only $2 imply a minimum $19 shipping fee
then I think you should focus on finding an O ring that provides adequate pressure…
most lights have wobbly threads, it is really the O ring that stabilizes the head
O rings wear down, and then we experience “loose threads”, that were there all along.
I've followed your advice, and replaced the O-ring with a slightly thicker one: 7.5mm outer diameter, 1mm thickness. This appears to be the perfect size: the head can still screw in over the O-ring, and the head is far less wobbly.
My Astrolux and I both say Thanks!
Following your recommendations, I have bought a variety of versions and angles, here are the results:
Smooth lenses:
- 20°: strong color shift
- 45°: OK but strange beam shape, slightly squared
- 90°: very visible central dark spot
Frosted lenses (they call them "Shamian"):
- 20°, 30° and 60°: all OK, no color shift, very smooth transition between central area and spill. I'll probably stick to 20 or 30 degrees, not much difference between both anyway.
- 90°: central area is darker and more purple.
In conclusion, if you like smooth beams without significant color shift, do your E3A a favor by replacing its pebbled lens with a 30° Shamian one, or 60° if you like a more "wall of light" beam.
Thanks samyy for the good suggestion.
(Necro) Does anyone know if Skilhunt has sorted this by now? The E3a is attractive as a very simple light where not much can go wrong. So it’s hilarious if they ship it with the wrong size O-ring and you have to order a replacement from somewhere to get it to work right.
I spent a while reading E3A posts because I’m likely to buy one for myself, but I think AA or AAA lights given as Muggle gifts (i.e. to non-flashaholics) have to be able to run usefully on ordinary alkaline (alkaleak) batteries. I think the E3a may do quite badly with those. So I’d want to reprogram it (change the sense resistor to lower output to maybe 30 lm) before gifting it, or else include a pack of L92 lithium cells. Most non-flashaholics don’t want to deal with rechargers.
I think they may be out of production, but the Sofirn C01 (not the C01S) was a couple of bucks cheaper, single-mode, and on the dim side.
I find 1aaa lights to be rather too large for a keychain. They are great for the watch pocket of my jeans. I do like the tiny size of the E3A. The difference from the C01S (I have both) is pretty noticeable. On the other hand, the runtime isn’t that long, and you do want to run it on a rechargeable or lithium to get reasonable performance. Alkalines would be just for in a pinch. I think of backing mine off to maybe 20 lumens in hope of getting 5 hour runtime on an alkaline. But, that involves taking the light apart and changing a tiny SMT resistor.
Actually for a keychain light if you’re not too worried about robustness or reliability, I think you could do worse than the v1.0 Nitecore Tube that is on closeout for $5 at illumn.com. My review is here:
trustfire minix, but it is $15 though
VERY small
internal charging, built in cell, USB-C
Really can’t go wrong with Olight’s i1R EOS, now the v2… especially when you catch ’em during their free sale (you pay $5.25 shipping plus tax). Just got another one, now with 3 waiting to be given as gifts or serve as backups. My original i1R EOS v1 still works fine. But what really surprised me is the Sofirn SC01. It’s a heavy little thing, being mostly stainless steel, but such a wonderful tint, 2 useful modes, and super clean machining. Plus, removable 10180 battery.
Interested to buy one if someone know link.
Shipped from China or Europe, even used
That's actually a plus for me.
I have 2 of them
I especially bought it, because I need only one 100lm mode, and I need it always fast, not to "screw around" with it.
I use it as a key chain light, so I use it when I use my keys, so I'm always outside wit it. Why would I want something under 100lm outdoor.
I was going to mention the Olight i3E EOS. I’ve got one and it seems decent enough, I posted some comparison beam shots recently to my Nitecore Tini. There’s also a slightly dearer more powerful version which is brighter- 120lm vs 90lm.
That was a sale a couple years ago, I haven’t heard of it since. Awesome deal, though. I bought a couple to try out different emitters with. Very easy swaps if you can reflow at all. I carry one with a 219b sw35 on my keychain still.
At this point I’ll put WTB on the right forum section.
I need twist and push button AAA Lights that start in firefly mode easy to swap Led