I like AAA lights as an always-carried light. It’s not that big, I have it whenever I have my keys, and they provide more than enough light in a pinch. So, of course I’ve tried a few even though the very first one I bought was pretty great. The Surefire has a cool emitter of unknown CCT. The Manker is a 4000K SST-20 and some anti-green magic Manker possesses. The Prometheus is a 4000K 519a. Anyway, here’s how they compare:
I started out with the Olight i3e EOS, which has been reviewed probably dozens of times already. I didn’t have any flashlight testing gear or inclination when I used it. It was a great light, very small, bright, and reliable. Mainly I felt it was too bright most of the time. Turning it on to see to put your keys in a lock or something, ~100 lumens is a bit much. So when I realized the Surefire Titan existed at all, and had a high and a low mode, I bought one. It’s a fair bit larger than the i3e, and the beam was a fair bit more green, especially on low. At some point mine stopped switching modes, though it still came on low which was mostly all I used. When I saw the Manker on sale, I thought it was worth trying due to having a real button for mode switching, a high CRI SST-20, and crazy low moonlight levels.
The Manker is great. Though I don’t find a right angle so useful in a light this small. It’s kind of awkward to hold and point at things. I deactivated the magnet because it constantly stuck to keys, so the right angle doesn’t pay dividends when attaching it to things. When Darksucks released a new version of the Beta, I though this might be the best choice yet. Three modes, to include a pretty low low mode, a high CRI 519a, and the quick detach seemed really nice. The Manker I’d keep lose in my pocket and the Titan I had on my keychain. Both are slightly annoying. Having to hold my keys to use the light is annoying, and having to grab my keys plus the light when I first put them in my pocket is slightly annoying.
I do like the Prometheus. I don’t really care that the runtime is the worst and the max output is the lowest. It’s a pleasant beam and it has the quick detach. I do find it finnicky to change modes. Often tightening the head quickly blinks one mode so you end up on one higher than you may have wanted. I try to put constant pressure pushing the head to the body to eliminate the slack in the threads but it rarely works perfectly.
Surefire replaced the Titan due to the mode switching issue that developed, which is why it looks brand new. Though, the finish did wear a lot better than the Olight or Manker before I sent it back.
