Blast from the past

That got used! Mine has some pocket wear, not as much thanks to the switch.

Beautiful design really. Exactly correct about the ui.

It’s bright enough, not sure how anything new is that much better. Everyone I know would still be impressed with it new in box.

Looks nice, I have some old lights that I don’t use that I don’t dare sell.

The E03? Built like a f’n tank.

Lookit the finger-grips on the body. The body’s that thick to be able to cut them in.

Only 2 things I’m not crazy about. First is the MLH-nomem UI, ie, it always starts in M. I treat it as a 1-mode light and rarely change modes as a result.

Second is that mode-spacing changes a lot when switching alkaleak ⇄ 14500. Spacing’s good with AA, but not as bright. Lots brighter with a 14500, but all modes are bunched pretty high.

The ES1 is AA-only.

I think it is very nice. I probably ruined some of the beauty with the gitd rings, but flat surfaces are a danger for my flashlights so I add flair.

I think it was 300 lumens on high? Pretty standard AA/14500 EDC aside from the finger grooves, colors, CC, emitter choices. I had never seen any options on a flashlight.

Now that I picked it up a,gain I can feel the warm white beam costing me money on new lights.

I was honestly confused by all the 2.7k and 4k lights that get sold. I thought I liked 5k, but I see the attraction now… If I went back to AA for edc this might do it.

This is 100% accurate, I couldn’t even remember those details until you reminded me.

No one ever commented on the warm light, but I could always tell they took notice.

Some of my “early days” flashlights:

Incandescent! But replaced with LED P60 drop-in.

Here's a flashlight that was popular on BLF in 2010, the Lumapower MRV SE.

It was one of my first 18650 flashlights, and it was also pretty darn good over a decade ago.

(not my photo.)

My first “real” lights were a pair of 80buk (!!) Quark 2AA-Xes. Loved the UI, but hideously green emitters.

After that, I bought a one-way ticket to Drop-In City. ’501s and ’502s, mainly, then C8s (pills, not integrated shelves), then a coupla ’98s for variety.

Kept me busy a while.

Haha, I was late for drop-ins, but I learned enough about them here to steer some friends.

This thread reminded me of this one I created for “”incandescent palm-sized flashlights”:https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/58401”!
I guess my “thing” with lights started with that one, although only in recent years I actually started my addiction with “not so old” flashlights!

Back then, before the race-to-the-bottom to shiite quality, all the above were quite good to excellent, even the “cheap” knockoffs. C8s were at least Convoy/Thorfire quality, and you had to pay extra for better stuff like from XinTD, etc.

Switches were good and solid, bodies were stout, reflectors were metal, front-glass was, well, actual glass, drivers were at least NANJG quality, etc.

Later, everything went to shiite, with plastic front “glass”, plastic reflectors, “drivers” of just PWMed parallel-resistors to feed the LED, and emitters not even LatticeBright caliber, so knockoffs of knockoffs, and thinwall battery-tubes that were easily deformed and threads stripped.

I still got quite a few of the good stuff, and a small pile of the shiite. The latter is good for throwing together a cheapcrap light to give to kids to annoy all the neighbors at night, shining into windows and such.

I’ve have a blue E03 T5 that I’ve had for about 8 years and I got a newer red 6 mode late last year, in cool white.

I love the little guys.

Had the red one out the other night playing with it.

Chris

My first real performance flashlight: Oct. 2014, Four-Sevens MMU-X3.

Before that, I had (and still have) a few "first" flashlights. 3 x D cell Maglight, Brinkmann 2 x AA led, Mini-Mag 2 x AA, True Value Rayz 1,000 lumen 9 x AA, Coleman C-Tac60 600 lumen XM-L2 18650, Snap-On BCF.950BL 5 x blue led 2 x CR123, etc.

Still have it and love its design with the surprisingly comfy finger grip ; however I never liked using it because of its… how to put it… uncomfortable tail click button.

The piece which protrudes is placed in the middle of the button, so unless you exert pressur exactly in the middle of the button, it won’t actuate. I really hate that. So this beautiful lamp sits somewhere, unsued.

Oh, glad Bougie popped this back up.

Anyone know off hand the best tail switch to replace the original with. I have a bag of cheapos from many years ago, but wouldn’t mind spending a few bucks if someone knows a quality one that’d fit.

My biggest complaint about the Xeno E03 is that it has little ability to add a pocket clip, which is my main reason for not carrying it that much.

I EDC a lot of crap in all of my pockets and just don’t want to scratch it up, LOL.

I’m a fan, nevertheless.

Chris

My first real flashlight, Fenix TK70, bought around 2011 next to my D4V2 :cowboy_hat_face:

Lumapower. I have a bad taste in my mouth from that brand. I’d gotten on board with being an early buyer of the Avenger. An AAA light with a relatively rich UI for its time and versatile switch options. Well, mine had a flaky power connectivity problem that I couldn’t solve. And because the maker shipped from China, I’d have to pay full shipping to send it back. I did not like the guy who we were dealing with at the time over on CPF. He didn’t make it right, not even advising me how to correct it on my own. I couldn’t get rid of that flashlight. Nobody wanted it. Years later, I found it languishing in a junk box. Tossed it in the trash in disgust. I wish I could forget…

Do you remember the Regalight WT1 "Wrestler"? That was a great light. I still have the thing tucked away somewhere in original box w/accessories.

I found an old Fenix L2S in my flashlight junk drawer. No nicks. Looks like it’s fresh out of the box. AA light with an extension tube for 2xAA. Very cool tint from a 1W LED. Reverse clicky. No switch modes. Tighten for brighter output, loosen for lower output (the difference isn’t much to the eye, but lower mode conserves battery time). I don’t have a photo on hand. It has a very nice, clean design. I’d gotten it at the tail end of the product run. By then, the L0D had some out, a very nicely sized AAA light with 3 brightness modes plus strobe. So, the L2S never got much use. My intention has been to try my first emitter swap using this as the guinea pig.

I have some Xeno lights that I really like, and use often. I have the ES1, ES2, E03, F7, G5 and the F42. The last three being great forward clicky “tacticool” type lights. Well built lights. I think a bit underrated they are. My favorite single AA light is the L3 Illumination L10 4 mode light. It wasn’t at first because the pocket clip options were zero. A buddy gave me one that had been carried quite a bit and had the ano wore out in a bunch of areas so I JB welded a clip on it and now it’s useable for me. Not sure of the emitter but it is a very pleasant tint, 4500k’ish and what seems like a decent CRI. Looks like it may be a Nichia of some sort. Haven’t taken it apart to find out.

There I go rambling on, sorry. :slight_smile: