As most of you know, I had an interesting experience with a Thrunite Neutron 1A recently. It went back to the dealer. In short, if I now order a replacement, it seems to be a 50/50 shot of whether I end up with one with the same problem or not. Plus, with Thrunite's lame explanations and excuses, without actually offering to fix the problem for owners, I am a little bitter about Thrunite and I can't decide if I want to part with another $53 to Thrunite again. For a $20 light I wouldn't care as much if I got a crappy light, but I have much higher expectations for a high price "brand name" light.
So with that said I need to figure out alternatives. So far I have not been able to figure out any other light that does everything I want the way theThrunite does so I may be stuck. Here's what I'm looking for:
Noticeably brighter than my UF C3 SS on 14500. Don's figures say it does about 250 lumens OTF at start up and I do have the same 93mm version, so I'm probably looking at needing a minimum 325 OTF. I figure on the eye test a hard driven XP-G pusing 325+ lumens probably may seem as bright as the XM-L Neutron because the Neutron is so floody
Its pocket carry and I've found that 25mm is about the max diameter that I've found workable. This automatically rules out all p60 options. For length, I prefer no longer than 105mm, but if I need to go to the 115-120mm range, I may do it.
I don't want to get yet another different size battery, so I want to keep it to either 14500 or small 18650.
This is a big one and probably the biggest problem: a usable low mode. I'd go as high as 35 lumens if necessary, but definitely no brighter than that.
I'm a little bit of an oddball and prefer strobe in my pocket carry, but I'm wilign to sacrifice this if all the other requirements are met.
I've been looking at a ton a different lights and so far haven't found another one that fits everything. The Xeno E03 XM-L would have been perfect, but it has no usable low modes on 14500. The Yezl Z1X seems to have the same problem and the quality control seems to be highly suspect. The Ultrafire C303 is not quite bright enough. The Ultrafire P10 also is not driven hard enough for the high requirement. I wish the Trustfire T2 was 20mm shorter as it would have been perfect and damn does it look good. If Trooplewis's draw figures are right, I would have the high and low I needed. It seems that some people have gotten Trustfire R5-A3 that are pulling 1.5amp on li-ion. If true, that would give the output I want, but it sounds like a lottery. Don's figures only show 292 lumens at start-up for his sample, so it is a little short on output. You also run the risk of getting one without the real low it seems.
Any light that I am missing?