Hi, I’m looking for a flashlight with these requirements.
Must haves
Size 3-4 inches around a single AA sized light. Traditional cylinder shape.
USB C rechargeable without having to take the battery out to charge it
Tail switch operation that starts out in low mode.
2 way belt clip
under $50
Thanks for the help.
When you say ‘AA’ size, do you mean it uses a 14500 lithium battery, or do you want a Nimh battery flashlight that has USB C recharging?
That is a very uncommon combo. You might have to change a requirement.
Any power source is fine. I was just trying to give a size reference. I would like to be able to recharge the light with out taking out the battery.
I think a i5r is the closest to my requirements other than I would have to take out the battery to charge it. Is there any other simular options I should look at? Thanks!
I read it as using the AA to describe wanting something small - not necessarily something using said battery.
Sofirn have some models that may suit- apart from them having side switches. Rechargeable Flashlight
(You’d probably need one of the Pro models using Anduril to set it up how you want - low with no memory. e.g. Sofirn SC21Pro Anduril UI Mini Rechargeable flashlight, Keychain Light with LH351D LED …Someone who is more familiar with Anduril will be able to confirm…)
Any light that takes a removable 14500-sized cell will generally NOT have a charging port, because you positively know some smoothbrain will stick an alkaleak in there and try charging it.
Lights which have non-removable cells, though, you got a shot.
Oh I see, that makes sense. I don’t need a removable battery I just want to charge with USB C thru the flashlight instead of taking the battery out and charging it sepratly.
Thanks for the links!
If the issue isn’t opening up the light, but instead simply not needing a separate charger, the Acebeam Pokolit has a double-length Li cell with a charging-head built-in, and can use 2 alkaleaks in a pinch.
Pop out the cell, connect the cell to the usb cable (ie, no charger needed), and then stick it back in when done.
(Yeah, yeah, I know, “that’s what she said…”.)
Oh, and for that matter, there are single-AA lights that come with 14500 cells with a built-in charging head.
(So probably a 14430 under the wrap.)
Wuben E05 (?) is one, the Tool AA-UV came with one (dunno if regular Tool AAs do), but they’re out there.
Or you could buy the AAs-with-charging separately, but make sure they charge to Li levels and not to regulated-1.5V.
Streamlight Macrostream usb is an AA type rechargeable light
The aaa is named microstream, also has a rechargeable model
I’m looking for USB C, it looks like the macrostream uses micro USB.
I can never remember which is which, so I always have both cords 
I don’t want to have multiple cords and everything else I have is C so it would be a pain to have a single item on micro. That light otherwise would be a great choice for me. Thanks for the suggestion.
Bah. Get some of these…
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QXNLJG8/
…and never have to worry about it. Can get ’em cheap through vipon or just pick something on sale.
I got a 1-fer (all purple) through vipon, and the above 3pak later on. They come in handier than adapters.
Olight I5R EOS 350
Bit more than $50 but maybe on sale for Christmas.
Customized 1420mAh lithium-ion battery that integrates a USB Type-C interface for charging
This is what I ended up getting. It was $30 shipped on ebay from olight_direct. I might also get a Sofrin sc21 and hs10.
Thanks for all the help everyone.
The final “I got X” posts at the end of these recommendations/requests threads are the icing on the cake for others looking for similar lights- thanks for posting the update, enjoy your new light.
Re. HS10, I’m really hoping sofirn brings releases something similar in AA/14500 format in 2023, I’m not holding my breath though.