Help me choose a good 1xAA/14500 flashlight

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
7

Thanks for the replys

@Vectrex

- AA-S1 it's an OSRAM light, while K2 have Q5. Did you tried your AA-S1 with AA or 14500? If K2 is brighter than AA-S1 with 14500... makes me think... OSRAM better than Q5?

- Yep, build quality is great on my K2, HAIII, waterproof and so on. And yes, it cost me about $35. The review I saw @ http://www.light-reviews.com/ helps me in my decision. Constant brightness is great, good regulation.

- Will take those Hugsby into account

- Yes, most driver can't be good for AA/14500 equally, but at least I know that it will work properly on AA and 14500 without burning the driver. As fran82 says in one of those Hugsby threads: "... if you have an emergency, i.e. a black out, or a hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, etc and you have not 14500 or dont have electricity in your house to charge it, you will be fuc***..." So, prefer sacrifice a little power, but have a light that is compatible with AA and 14500 Good lumens btw.

- I saw this C7 review. Looks like tactical version is better (a little bit brighter and has better regulation). http://www.light-reviews.com/itp_c7_tactical/

- Is K106 programmable is better than normal K106? Looks like the second one is brighter, and I don't mind switch between modes (although I don't like strobe or SOS modes)

P.D.: thanks for all those links, vectrex, good job ;)

@sb56637

Thanks. The runtime is not a problem. One question: why do you (and others) recommend AA-S1? Is it better than K106/F20 with Q5? Don't mind pay 3 bucks more for K106 if it's brighter.

@old4570

- A2 brighter than C7?

- "Going AA you will always lose output when comparing to 14500 " - Will lose output comparing to exclusively 14500 flashlight or you mean in general? I know that 14500 is much brighter than AA.

Thanks for your help!

EDIT: looks very interesting new Ultrafire U20 with XP-G R5.

8

If you want a nice AA light , AA-S1 is very good on AA's ...

If you want to run 14500 with AA for back up . Akoray AK-16 ...

I tested the Uniquefire AA-S1 , and got up to 120 Lumen on Alkalines , and 130L on Nimh , and I thought the 14500 was maybe overdoing it [ 200+ ] , I sent it of as a gift , as it was very nice ..

I need to pick up a few more as I was impressed by it ... For under $10 shipped

9

No problem Sashix... links are why we are here. I don't own any 14500... so my view is very heavily focused on max output on AA's and I really despise strobe modes, especially on lights with memory. This is why I would favour the programmable K106, if I had 14500's, but it lacks in the AA department.(review1,review2,review3) But the TrustFire R5-A3 seems to be good on both battery types.

Also it seems I'm the only one with second thoughts about the Uniquefire AA-S1. I liked it at first, when I thought it was a warm tint with the Osram emitter, but later I found out it was actually yellow, like with a yellow lens in front, but everybody else seems to love it here, so my model might have been faulty, or a bad exception. Also don't forget that the S1 is single-mode and you wanted multi-mode.

The K-106 in Don's table might be the non-programmable... at least that is, what it is linked to, but here the top of the pops:

On AA'S
EastwardYJ J09 High AA NiMH 916 750 706 164 135 127
Ultrafire C3 SS Q5 AA NiMH 718 620 574 129 111 103
Ultrafire C3 Grey Q5 AA NiMH 664 629 596 119 113 107
Hugsby P32 High AA NiMH 650 597 554 117 107 99
Trustfire R5-A3 High AA NiMH 650 117 0 0
Aurora SH-035 AA NiMH 644 116 0 0
Trustfire F22 AA NiMH 586 105 0 0
Uniquefire S10 AA NiMH 575 103 0 0
Uniquefire AA-S1 AA NiMH 565 557 531 101 100 95
Akoray K-106 AA NiMH 189 198 198 34 36 36
On 14500's
Trustfire R5-A3 14500 1630 1482 1416 292 266 254
Ultrafire C3 SS Q5 14500 1391 1259 1122 250 226 201
Ultrafire C3 Grey Q5 14500 1359 1205 1149 244 216 206
Ultrafire C3 (P4) No. 2 14500 1347 1118 1089 242 201 195
Uniquefire AA-S1 14500 1255 1183 1162 225 212 208
Trustfire F22 14500 1254 1128 1030 225 202 185
Ultrafire C3 (P4) No. 3 14500 1176 1099 977 211 197 175
Hugsby P31 with P32 Gold driver 14500 1176 1084 1064 211 194 191
Uniquefire S10 14500 1112 1017 962 199 182 173
Akoray K-106 14500 1055 1019 1004 189 183 180

I ordered the grey C3 Q5, as I want to see if it is really brighter on 1xAA than the Hugsby and brighter on 2XAA than the Solarforce L2R, but that one is only single-mode.

10

The ITP C7 may be one of my next elected...I have no flashlight with IBS system.

In the range of the cheaps,maybe you should consider the Ultrafire C3 SS. Very good amount of light as both AA & 14500 (5 modes although)

I'm actually planning to put a R5 in the C3 SS,although with no specific reflector ...

While it is true that the UF20 promises...if the driver holds the 14500 without burning the driver (Waiting confirmation of this).

11

Hi there SashiX. In terms of brightness, the Akoray K-106 3-mode programmable is not the brightest. The cheaper K-106/F20 are somewhat brighter than the K-106 3-mode programmable version. But the AA-S1 is far brighter and has an incredibly beautiful beam. But I personally prefer the flexibility of the K-106 3-mode. Another decent option is the Ultrafire M2, which is very bright on high, and it still has a decent runtime on low mode.

12

It is a programmable one. I was fiddling with it recently to see how low it would go.

The link is what I actually bought, most of those links come from my DX account history. But at the time they were shipping the 3 mode programmable though they claimed it was the less useful 6 mode.

13

Then you should switch to the Kaidomain purchase link. To avoid confusion.

14

Makes sense. Pity I didn't notice the link was to YouTube till I'd stuck it on the spreadsheet. Ah well, off to KD to play hunt-the-link. It will be sorted shortly.

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lol, the new spitting image flashlight, look at post #3, there is the needed link to KD.

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@old4570

- "If you want to run 14500 with AA for back up . Akoray AK-16 ..."

Akoray AK-16? Do you mean K-106?

As for SS-A1... good light for less than 10 bucks indeed.

@Vectrex

Yeah, don't know why almost all lights have SOS, strobe modes. I think momentary-on switch is much useful.

- "but later I found out it was actually yellow, like with a yellow lens in front, but everybody else seems to love it here, so my model might have been faulty, or a bad exception"

Yes, could be a batch issue. I've seen many lights (C3 for example) that had different tints, depending on when they were purchased/batch.

- "Also don't forget that the S1 is single-mode and you wanted multi-mode."- Well, If the light is only AA, could be an option, but if it's AA/14500... multimode is a must I think, because on 14500 it will be twise as bright.

Interesting results I see... Hm K-106 really sucks on AA... Can't believe it, so loooow lumen Well, on 14500 also. R5-A3 an C3 SS have great output.

@XRAYboy

Yes, C3 SS is a good choice apparently. Will wait review from Don. Looks like he bought U20. Or not?

@sb56636

Haven't found M2 @ DX or LT Where I can found it?

17

We should make a fundraiser to let Don buy every interesting light that is new... what are a few hundred lights more or less... right Don?

M2 Review / Purchase Link

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Thx for the links, Vectrex

sb56637, have you tried your M2 with 14500? Very similar to K106/F20/AA-S1 body.

19

I have the Akoray AK-16 , 3 mode programmable , AA - 14500 - CR123A [ very nice ]

20

No, sorry, I actually don't own any 14500 cells. But I'm almost positive that it will work well with 14500, because it appears to be a rebadged Akoray K-106 6-mode, which according to the reviews is bright and reliable on 14500.

21

Ok, guys, thx to all your posts on this forum, now I know much more things about lights, etc Tongue out So, now I have a bunch good lights to choose from. Also want to buy a relatively good multi charger (should be multi because I plan to buy 18600 in the future). Matt, I think you have tested most chargers available today in the market, hehe Laughing, which would you recommend? Xtar 2 bay that you suggested me before? Or Shekor? Or Ultrafire? In my opinion Xtar will be better choice.

Another thing. The friend of mine want to buy a good 1xAA light with the best/brigtest spill posible. He really need a good spill, less than brightest hotspot. What do you recommend? Of course we are talking about budget lights, about $20. Thanks in advance ;)

22

Uniquefire AA-S1 - if necessary hit the reflector with some hairspray to farther diffuse the beam.

23

I totally agree with Don´s suggestion. The AA S1 has a wide beam and a nice ww natural color. 10$ Cheap!

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Also easy modable. Just buy the ak-47 and you have a Li-Ion only 5 mode (or the modes you want by bridging the stars)

Also can use another 17mm driver or smaller and make multimode. AA or 14500, as you want!

25

Will ask my friend if he want a single mode light or multimode. The AA-S1 has the best spill with AA, 14500 or both?

26

I've been using the Trustfire TR-001 http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12594 for about a month now. I've been very pleased with it. I use it on 10440's, 14500's, and 18650's with no problems. It's a double charger with independent circuits that will cut off at 4.205v ( on all three battery types). It won't charge the 18650's as fast as some of the others, but it also won't ruin the smaller cells with too much current either. I'm going to order another one in the near future just to have a spare.

Just a heads up on the AA-S1. I just received one a few weeks ago and was less than impressed with it. After such rave reviews I can only assume I just got a crappy one (it happens...). On the other hand, the ultrafire C3 (DX sku 04452) has absolutely blown me away....on either 1xAA, 2xAA, or 14500(brightest). It has more throw than my Zebralight H51 and is almost as bright!

-Match