Olight I3E EOS replacement

I have Olight I3E and I’m perfectly happy with it. Except it’s 5 years old. Is there something substantially better now?
I strongly prefer single mode because I hand it over to kids and I have no patience to undo whatever mode changes they would do.
I use alkaline batteries exclusively - don’t need another charger.
I somewhat prefer twisties, just because they seem to be shorter and there is less of a chance to accidentally turn them on in a bag.
A bit more floody beam would be nice. And regulated output on alkalines instead of slowly getting dimmer. Otherwise 30-45 minutes of 70-90 lumens is perfectly acceptable. Is there anything like that out there?

Skilhunt E3A

I just got one of these in tonight. The Slate high CRI. It is impressive. Size, lumens, modes, fit and finish are the same or better than the Olight. I gotta say, that I think I like the Skilhunt better for now.

Skillhunt E3A High CRI

Yeh, I reviewed one and bought like 3 more “as gifts” (to myself, haha).

Too nice to do without.

Comparing reviews for Olight I3E
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?413911
and Skilhunt E3A

Both reviews have runtimes for Eneloop, so it’s apples to apples comparison, and there is virtually no difference. E3A got somewhat better lens. Not much to show for 5 years of RnD :slight_smile:

For me, the KEY Difference is High CRI

True. But it would be easy for Olight to keep up somewhat. The Luxeon TX is available at higher CRI. I personally prefer the 85 or so CRI 4000K to the SST-20.

A major improvement would be LVP, but maybe too few customers use Eneloops.

Yes, get the i1R 2 Eos!

I have not heard of a need for LVP for eneloop before.

Where did you find information suggesting that LVP is needed for Eneloop?

I found this, but nothing there made me fear overdischarge of an Eneloop.

E.g., Do NiMH's require a deep discharge conditioning? | Candle Power Flashlight Forum

Might not be true, but I’ve read something like that often. Please correct me if I’m wrong here.

Speaking of i3Es…

On Amazon, I see a whole array of colors available, but on the Oilight store, there’s only Basic Black.

What gives?

Yeah, yeah, I know, Black Lights Matter…

zeroair tested the neutral white version of Skilhunt E3A, not the high CRI. I would expect the high CRI emitter to give either somewhat shorter run time, or somewhat dimmer light output. So it’s a trade off, efficiency for better color rendering, not pure improvement. I was hoping for something like SSD progress - larger, faster, and cheaper, all at the same time. I guess I should temper my expectations :slight_smile:

Not looking to charge yet another gadget - only primaries. Too many things want my attention as it is.

Ordered E3A with high CRI on aliexpress. Thanks, guys!

I realized I was equating a flashlight having multiple modes with a flashlight having memory and being programmable. Which is obviously not the same thing - just stumbled upon Klarus Mi6. You twist the head to turn it on on low and twist further to switch to high, instead of pulse dialing the mode you want by quickly turning the light on and off again. I didn’t know this kind of UI was even possible in small flashlights! Too bad the model is on its way out. Does anyone have any other examples, still in production?

Wuben E-series keychain lights.

Which ones? I’ve checked E05, E10, and E18 - all have switches, cycle through modes by half-pressing, and remember the last mode. E19 is a penlight. I don’t see any other E-series lights on their site. Am I looking at the wrong site? https://www.wubenlight.com/collections/frontpage/series_e-series

Eg, the E349.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wuben+e349

Why they’re not listed on the Wuben site, I have no idea.

Thank you, Lightbringer! They are in the clearance section. It seems they don’t take primaries, but interesting lights nonetheless.