What's the best 10440 flashlight?

What is the advantage if at the highest level the runtime is only 30 minutes or less.

It’s brighter.

I like my Reylight Mini Pineapple a lot… There may be brighter 10440 lights out there, but it will do ~400 lumens at turn on, on high - and this is with a Nichia 219c, so the tint and CRI are great. On a 10440 light, you’re not going to get very much runtime on high - the thing that’s awesome about the Pineapple Mini is that it has a true moonlight mode even with a 10440. I use the moonlight mode at night all the time - it’s the perfect amount of light for in the house when all the lights are off, and the runtime is super long on this mode. As well, the medium mode is very usable on 10440. When you add in the solid copper body, and the great pocket clip, its the best 10440 light out there to me.

Edit: Rey is currently working on a Mini Pineapple with a tail clicky and programmable driver - I have the original, twisty Mini Pineapple. If banggood still has any of the original Mini Pineapple in stock (the Reylight website is sold out), there are coupon codes to get it for around $22, but it may be all sold out as he gets ready to release the newer model.

My two are the Thrunite Ti or Lumapower LM21. The Ti is a little smaller and nicer looking but I rather the LM21 because it’s a tad brighter and has a rear switch instead of a twisty.

Itp a3 eos

Have ordered a Sofirn C01s, but that is more of a aaa, light. Do we have any 10440 light, preferrably with USB-C that does hold its light for a while? A light that does not put all in on the power side for three minutes and then dies 80 degrees hot. Seems hard to find good lights in this category.

After a little research: https://www.reylight.net/product/reylight-pineapple-mini-aluminum/ seems quite nice! No USB-C, but a tritium slot instead, if you want a maximum of 3,6 Bq in your front pocket…

> reylight-pineapple-mini seems quite nice!

I agree, Rey offers excellent lights, and the one you found has my favorite LED, and a fully captive and deep carry pocket clip.

highly recommended

Great to hear! Have some l92’s in store for the sofirn, but will invest in a pine too. Just a higher threshold to have to buy a charger as well…

Manker E02 II

Ultratak K18 is my buy. Electronic lockout, great beam, useful to 50 feet/20 meters, BRIGHT (actually gets hot), good medium, and a useful low (but no moonlight mode).

My fave! Neutral White: 4000K CRI>95. Magnet in tail cap, excellent clip. Easy EDC and more versatile than a straight light.

Personally I don’t do 10400 though. AAA does everything I want. If I want more lumen I have other lights for that. Give up too much run time to gain lumen that aren’t really necessary for the close work that this is most useful for. (Fixing things, walking the dogs, etc.) Also, with the 10400 the incredible moonlight modes are sacrificed for a 5 lumen low. Unacceptable trade off for me. If 420 Lumen vs 220 lumen max is most important to you then the 10400 would obviously be the way to go.

Not the bestest, but the Olight IO3 is a pretty nifty AAA twisty, 3-mode, which has a pretty good high output, but not much variation between the medium and high, with li-ions.

I just use Eneloops in that one and they’re very hard to find these days. Wish I had bought more back in the day.

Chris

+1

Olight I7R seems quite incredible! I have to see a comparison!

I think it’s more the idea of having a rechargable flashlight. And with a modern 10440 the lumens on high with an enelop is around the same as the lumens on medium with the 10440, with a better runtime for the 10440. The only caveat left is the ultra low mode/ moonlight. I wish we had more intelligent drivers that were able to harness the energy better. 4.2v 500 mah or 1.2v 900 mah the wh is way better in the li-ion battery if we harness it effeciently.

I have a DQG Slim AAA that I put a 3000K Nichia 219b in and run with a 10440. Its fantastic: the tint is lovely, it has high and low modes which are v useful, its a very satisfying shape to hold, and it has to be pretty much the smallest AAA sized flashlight you could build with a tail switch.

The original led (xpg?) was pretty awful, but since swapping it out it might be my favourite flashlight.

The mushy tail switch is a real shame, and the only downside of it.

Do the Wurkkos WK01’s play well with 10440’s? I’ve heard they might get damaged if you try…

https://lygte-info.dk/ is done by a member here. Best info I can find. It appears that the most realistic expectations are at best 350 mAh. It also appears to me that if you drive them hard the capacity drops off a cliff. I really don’t believe that the difference in energy between a good niMH AAA and a 10440 is very significant. The higher voltage of the 10440 can give higher lumen than is possible with the AAA. Run times appear to me to be an entirely different story. Plus, as you point out, at least with drivers for lights that run both, the 10440s can’t do moonlight.

I get over 1000 mAh from a AAA nominal voltage 1.2 = 1200 mWh. Nominal voltage on a 10440 is 3.7 * 350 = 1295. Not much difference between the two in terms of energy. Actual testing from https://lygte-info.dk/ shows a fair number of AAA cells that actually have more energy than a fair number of 10440 cells.

On the E02 II, run time specs are AAA High 90 Lumen 1.5 hours. 10440 Mid 90 Lumen 1.2 hours. What flashlight shows better run times for the same lumen with a 10440 vs AAA? Would be interesting to see what is different about those drivers?

From product page:

Operating voltage:1.0V – 1.5V

I would say no.

Have one and they do not get much brighter with 10440 and will be damaged.