The Maratac TPF would have been perfect right up until the part about twisties.
Looking at <a href=“Parametrek FlashlightsAA/AAA lights sorted by flood the Zebralight H502 is the champ. As a mule it doesn’t get much floodier. A less expensive option is the Manker E03H which is very floody when the diffuser is deployed. The Fenix HL10 is AAA and also has a diffuser.
I am unaware of any AAA lights w Mule or Aspheric optics.
The McGizmo Mule and McGizmo Sundrop (aspheric lens) offer an AA body option, and both are very floody.
The Sunwayman you mention uses an Aspheric lens. It is MUCH MUCH MUCH floodyer than the TIR on an Olight. I know of 2 other lights with the same aspheric lens, the Utorch S1 Mini, and the Klarus Mi1c (aluminum version only).
here is the Olight S1 Mini w TIR lens, it is a bit of a fuzzy beam, no distinct hotspot. Im standing 12 feet from the wall.
and the Utorch S1 Mini w aspheric lens, the beam is much wider
and the Worm, which has the same beam as the Maratac AAA and Tool AAA, with the most defined hotspot
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Im Loving my aspheric experience for close range indoors.
consider how floody is good enough,
ranked from most floody to least floody:
Mule, McGizmo w AA body
Aspheric, 3 brands, all CR123/16340, except the expensive McGizmo w AA body
TIR, Olight S1A… possibly the closest match to your criteria, though not as floody as an aspheric, not even close ime
Reflector, everybody else… reflectors are not floody
I have the AA (or 14500 li-ion) SC52w L2 which was my EDC for a long time. Very small, great efficiency, side switch, pocket clip, nice tint, and rock solid. ZebraLight has had issues with green tint, but both of mine are awesome.
here is another AAA Mule, was produced by Oveready.com a few years back, I dont know if they are still available, but it is off topic for the OP, since its not a clicky… I cant resist posting a pic anyway
and some examples of mule and aspheric beams, with a conventional reflector beam for reference
on the left is the type of beam the OP first asked about, as in the Sunwayman, Utorch, and Klarus lights mentioned
on the right is a full mule, no optics
Olight S1A. The beam is about 27°, which is slightly floody but not quite floody enough. The Niteye SE-A01, for example, has a beam angle of about 37° which is nearer to what I'm after.
For the other replies, the light MUST have mode memory, MUST use AA or AAA size batteries ONLY, must NOT have a right angled output (usually seen in headlights), and should NOT be a "modded" light.
The Utorch UT01 is a clone of the Manker E11 I believe. The beam angle of these lights are about 34° which is fairly good, but I would prefer a wider beam angle if possible.
So I tell you my story. I bought Armytek Prime A1 PRO some time ago. Nice flashlight, maybe too big, but with great UI and impresive output. It has TIR optics, but I hate it - it produced one of the ugliest beam Ive ever seeen…
A piece of dc fix gives more flood than a mule and gets rid of the sharp edge of light like an aspheric lens. I thought the ring of light was cool when I was a noob but now I like an all flood beam with no transition from light to dark .
easiest way to check out a mule is just take the lens off your zoomie light .
I agree, the DC fix does a great job of helping to make a light a bit more floody and cleaning up the tint shifts and rings in the process. I prefer DC fixin vs aspheric or mule. Not to mention if you don’t like what it does you just peel it off and forget about it. I put DC fix on a Lumintop SD26, it made it an almost perfect long run time floody light. I wasn’t worried about losing throw on that light because I have other throwers in that same output category. I haven’t used it on a AA or AAA light yet. I have one of those Amutorch SS AA’s that I am not fond of the beam of that I may try it on though.