Budget AA/14500 non-tactical slim zoomie

Looking for a non-tactical AA/14500 zoomie w/ > 1hr runtime and found a few like these on DX:

(Looks like the older Spik SK58)
http://dx.com/p/flood-to-throw-zooming-3w-80-lumen-led-flashlight-1-aa-32722

(1.5 hr runtime)
http://dx.com/p/cree-xp-e-r5-348lm-3-mode-white-zooming-flashlight-blue-1-x-aa-14500-170673

H60 (3-hr runtime):
http://dx.com/p/designer-s-new-h60-cree-xr-e-q5-270lm-3-mode-white-zoom-flashlight-purple-1-x-14500-1-x-aa-136351
http://dx.com/p/designer-s-new-h60-cree-xr-e-q5-270lm-3-mode-white-zoom-flashlight-golden-1-x-14500-1-x-aa-136356

H8480 (from earlier review) (runtime: ?):

SMILING SHARK SS-P46 (2hrs runtime):
http://dx.com/p/smiling-shark-ss-p46-led-60lm-3-mode-white-zooming-flashlight-black-silver-1-x-14500-aa-192021

They’re all multi-mode so that’s nice. Don’t know what the real runtimes are.

Anyone got one of these above, or have found something better?

I really like the Smiling Shark SS-P46’s look. But have no idea of the performance.

I tend not to order from dx cuz I hate waiting almost a month to get my order, so I don’t have any of these lights, but the best zoomer you can get is only $5 at fastech the ultrafire z-06 ….oh wait it’s 18650. sorry my post is not helpful at all. lol

BTW, don’t know if there’re zoomie’s out there where you’d ‘turn’ to zoom. I find that mechanism works better than the sliding mechanism if you want the zoom level not to be accidentally changed easily.

Ok, two qualifying points first….

A zoom works because it has a big fat lens to magnify the light beam, so a small lens is not as effective.

And…the reflectors on the small lights are small, so they flood very well.

So you know what direction I’m leaning here…

But having said that…

Nebo makes a 1 AA Twist Zoom in their Blue Line series.

With the caveat that I don’t recommend Nebo products for price or build quality, but there it is.

I was tempted to get one of these when I first saw them at DX. They look a lot nicer than the SK-68 clones.

I prefer a slider because you can change the zoom with one hand.

I tend to avoid zoomie…so I might suggest Ultrafire C3 stainless steel version or Trustfire R5 A3…

No looking for a professional light that gets me best of both worlds at this price point. Somewhat zoomable is good enough. I just need a wider flood when needed and change to spot when I need to hightlight the target object.

I like the somewhat slimmer ones as they’d fit better (non-tactical means it won’t tear my jeans).

Th option for AA battery means in a power outage I can grab some alkaline batteries and it’s good to go for a short while.

I might try out some of these on the list from DX — as long as the runtime is > 1hr (for NiMH) and they don’t come DOA that makes my day.

$5 AA Zoom

Placed an order on one Mini XL-48 and one Mini XL-49. Let’s see how it goes. :slight_smile: