I know you are looking for an AA light but how about this AAA light from Coast for $3.50, you really can't go wrong for that price.
And welcome to BLF.
I already suggested it .but it's a AAA and it's only 10 lumens.. but i like how you're thinking ...and i love the light .
Sorry I missed that, he could buy two of them tape them together and have 2 modes 10 or 20 lumens and 21 hours of run time for 7 bucks.
Welcome to BLF gu9o7z!
Thank you for all the suggestions.
I actually have a couple of the Coast Mini Tac 1AAA lights and I really love them also. But they're just a bit too dim for my use. On Coast's website there's a newer model G10 using 1AAA:
http://www.coastportland.com/g10-led-flashlight.htm
It claims to give 20 lumens and 4 hr runtime. Perhaps in real use it's like 15 lumens/3hr. But I'm not able to locate any place that carries it.
I think CJ-1 probably gives about 12-14 lumens roughly--somewhat brighter than the Mini Tac. It gives about 3 good hours of usable brightness and that's what I really like.
So a light that gives about 15-17 lumens is perhaps good enough for me (instead of 25-30 lumens).
Still, I'm not sure if anyone has spotted a useable light w/ about 17 lumens w/ some good runtime (3+hrs) with my price range (< $7). I guess I still have the 5-6 bucks mentality (CJ-1 used to cost like 4-5 bucks 2 years back).
Despite the rough edges and threads, beam, etc. on the NF-05 (I think it actually gives about 15-17 lumens), I am quite impressed by the runtime it gives--roughly 4.5-5 hours. I can leave a couple around the house/garage/car compartment box and I don't need to think about recharging often. But the bad switch just makes it unusable... . If I can figure out how to remove the switch (it's a plain plastic and no leverage to remove it) and fix it that'd be really nice.
Try spraying WD 40 into the switch and then clicking it on and off a bunch of times, sometimes that will fix a sticking or binding switch.
Still have a good old bottle of WD40--and sure enough it helps!
It still works only 50% of the time now (before it was 90% not working). I'll keep clicking it on/off a bunch of times more and see if it eventually heals completely.
Now it's completely working. Thx E1320 -- that spray does the trick!
Now I have two NF-05's w/ working switches. :)
One of the NF-05 is dimmer than the other (one gives probably same output as CJ-1 -- perhaps 12-14 lumens, the other is brighter--perhaps 17-18 lumens). I'm going to keep them around now.
I am glad I could be of assistance.
Yeah Wd 40 is the shizzle for switch cleaning ..it works wonders on pots. sadly it has gone way up in price .. the days of the dollar can of WD and a 1$ roll of duct tape fixing all that ails ya is over ..
I remember when i was young we.......(wanders off towards the garage muttering... ##*^++^**##darnkidsthesedays..)
Unfortunately you get that wd-40 smell that kind of lingers, though.
But I like that smell. Used to spray it on the exhaust headers to smell it burn...
That would explain some things.... :D
I have the same problem. Too much time at the whiteboards.
OP, if you can pony up $10 more, this is an ideal power outage light: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2599#comment-46681
MUCH MUCH better designed than any of the cheapo chinese ones.
But Boaz is right, $7 light with cree is not feasible. What you're specifically looking for is a low end cree or osram with a pwm low mode of <25% for as cheap as possible. The problem is that even if such a thing exist, it's basically going to be crap build quality, not the kind of thing for either using regularly or emergency.
Hi there gu9o7z, we're very glad to have you here!
I have ordered 3 interesting 1xAA lights for less than $4. I hope to do a comparison review of them when they arrive in a few weeks. This price point is still my passion. It's what started the B in BLF! :)
Another one that just came out that looks pretty nice is:
http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/small-sun-zy5771-led-flashlight-black-aa-p-7131
There are quite a few places selling the power light hx-g011 which is basically the same as the BLF Delight from ebay. I agree there appears to be a large variation of reported brightness and run time by reviewers. Here are a few examples of sellers.
Focalprice Powerlight (has lots of other similar looking power lights)
@ sb56637 - interesting find, it looks like a Tank007. It appears it would tailstand well too. Let us know how it runs
Yep, the new small cheap Small Sun is a copy of the Tank007 TK-568 body, which is supposed to tailstand. I hope to try one out soon.
Small sun makes a lot of clones (of often already cheapo lights, which are sometimes clones themselves). Unfortunately while I find it interesting the compromises they have to make to reach the new low pricepoint, their lights do tend to fall apart on me. In general, nice enough exterior, cost savings on the inside.
I'm glad I still have that bottle WD-40 around in my garage. :-)
And that small Sun ZY-577 doesn't look bad! If it can provide up to around 17 lumens, I'm going to pick up a few. :-)
The Small Sun ZY-A29 looks pretty decent -- I might try one of that if the medium is >=17 lumens w/ 3+ hrs runtime... .
In the meantime, that rescued NF-05 is now doing a pretty good job in my garage/backyard @ night--I tend to do a lot of small projects well into the night and that little light is doing a pretty decent job lighting up the small area I work on.
I tested the runtime yesterday and the NF-05 lasted 4.5 hours before the output dropped noticeably--even then it's still higher than the around 8 lumen output of the Mini Tac and lasted for another 1.5 hours before the output really died down... . Don't know what emitter it has, but it gives a very narrowly focused beam perhaps that gives the relatively higher output.
@sb56637 Whats the latest news on these cheapies? Any luck?
>I have ordered 3 interesting 1xAA lights for less than $4. I hope to do a
>comparison review of them when they arrive in a few weeks. Another one that just
>came out that looks pretty nice is:http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/small-sun-zy5771-