Zanflare F2 is fully regulated on all modes.
Convoy T4 and Wurkkos WK05 have regulation on AA and 14500. I have Boruit BC25 which was very cheap but very powerful for 2xAA light but user interface with direct switch is indifinitely stupid.
I like 2XAA format, it is blast from the past when it was very popular.
For a time, Illumn had some good deals on old stock closeouts for some EC4 series models… but then they suddenly vanished, later reappearing with higher prices. And that bites, when the price is almost what you’d pay for a more advanced driver, superior LED, and built-in charging capable flashlight. Anyway, they’re extinct now. So, I’m just thankful to have one in the arsenal. 
The Nitecore EA4 was a pretty decent 4xAA model. Compact, easy to handle, and decent performance. It’s just unfortunate that it couldn’t handle 4x14500… And then there’s that Nitecore tendency for 6000k+ emitters. I have the old one with the soft cover single button, so it’s not even worth selling. But I’ve never had any trouble with the button on it. Unfortunately no physical lockout… and that relies on electronic lockout. But even that has some parasitic drain.
I did say most 2AA lights have poor regulation, not all.
The Sunwayman does 240 lumens for 90 minutes or thereabouts:
The Convoy T4 is well regulated and does about 280 lumens for about 52 minutes:
So the Sunwayman does almost 50% more runtime consistent with 3AA vs 2AA.
The Zanflare does seem to match the Sunwayman from what I could find online. If o ly they’d put a decent emitter in, an XP-G say.
I couldn’t find any runtime graphs for the Wurkkos WK05 on 2AA. The claimed runtime figures are absurd. It looks nice. I also couldn’t find measurements for the Boruit. You like obscure lights. I once had Fenix L2D and FourSevens 2AA lights. The big names have largely abandoned 2AA. It’s a lovely format, very safe for kids, good runtime and brightness, and small.
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Several years ago I thought that I could engineer the f out of it and come up with a flashlight that was fan cooled and completely different design.
However…
There was a pile of R and D i had to do to make it commercially viable and it wasn’t going to be cheap. The company I contacted with actually wanted me to pay for the R and D and if it worked, I would “volunteer” they could use the design for free.
For me it was fun and what if…they wanted to profit from my work. THE END.
There is more that can be engineered into flashlights once you start to cool it with a fan, but that is also an enthusiast light that would cost north of $200 for a medium sized f-light. Few will buy it.
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I remember the days when a Xenon bulb upgrade to your mini Maglite was a big deal. We have come so far and are spoiled for choice. I get a lot of enjoyment out of my different lights.
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I remember cross country running at night across heaths and through forests with a 2AA incandescent Maglite, and tripping over tree roots. That 2AA LED Maglite was a huge upgrade.
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This is a big factor. During winter my S21E with XHP50.3 HI can sustain turbo pretty much indefinitely outdoors. During summer it steps down after ~2min for me.
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It’s not just 2AA it’s most dual fuel lights, especially single emitter ones. If it has to be regulated with either 1.2v or 3.7v and has a 3v LED then you need a buck and boost driver. You could use a boost driver and a 6v LED but that limits options. I think this is why the D3AA works so well, the LEDs are wired in series so the 3, 3v emitters could be driven at 9v using a boost driver and you get regulated output with either chemistry.
The TAC AA (single AA version) is good with NiMH and unregulated with li-ion.
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Stick in an MT-G2 with boost driver and I won’t complain…
I got the FireFly E90 with SBT90.2 recently and I must say it’s surprisingly neutral. Much less green than in my Maker MK37, I’d even wager it could have neutral DUV, I’ll need to white wall compare it with my 5700K 519A D4SV2 when I get back home
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I’d argue that the comming years will fucus more on application, than output and or colour rendering.
The wuben X1 comes to mind as an actively cooled example for people that need high output for some time in a small formfactor,
the rovyones if sidelights and multicolour are interesting.
Basicly something more fokused on usecase than flood/throw, brick /fits in a pocket.
Shurly there will be questinable things like apps, wireless charging etc, which will limet the lifeexpctancy of the light (non replaceable batteries included) but we’ll have to see how it plays out.
Personally, the ones with a ccfl sidelight are still fascinating. Unfortunatly I’ve missed out on getting one while they were still available.
Concerning the UI, the nitecore tube still has the best one for day to day live. It’s super easy to switch it on, and isn’t an issue if it turns on in a pocket. I’ve burned holes in 2 jackets and and some pants with “locked out” flashlights, but somehow the failing lockout is still a pita when I actually want the light to turn on.
Not before we have dual and triple channel LumeX1s! Consumer market is one thing but there’s always more to be done for the people who actually care about lights in depth.
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The big issue with multichannel is space. Throwing 3 FET channels on a 20mm PCB is easy, but 3 inductors and 3 sets of filtering caps are just huge. Then you also need one opamp per channel and quite a lot of passives. You can see that by how much I struggled on my S21E driver, and that’s only 2 DC-DC channels (one for battery charging, one for LED) on a 20mm driver. And on that one I’m already cutting quite some corners (running the MCU slightly outside of USB specs, running all DC-DCs with the bare minimum of manufacturer recommended capacity and smaller form factor caps than I wanted…)
Triple channel buck or boost needs huge driver PCBs or outrageously expensive chips + inductors
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I understand that fully, just daydreaming about -my- peak flashlight 
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AA is a super-niche market for flashlights, given a bad rap by cheap lights that perform poorly and are bssically throw-away/disposable or emergency lights. Plus the proliferation of good cheap 14500 doesnt help. Convoy, Hank, Skillhunt, and Fenix are keeping it alive I think with their dual-fuel lights. However, even the best AA LR6 are no match for even a low end 14500 for energy density and output. 2500 mAh NiMH will offer longer runtimes, but lower output on higher modes. I honestly would like to see a resurgence in like series/parallel AA lights.
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I assume you mean Alkaline/NiMh only lights?
Single AA/14500 format is, in my opinion, a pretty good compromise between bulk and runtime for an edc light.
I don’t disagree that the multi-AA/14500 format is lacking in options, however, for me this is the niche format though, more bulky than single AA/14500 but less capacity than 18650.
I’m of the opinion that more options are better, I’m done with boring black tube lights with a clicky one end and light out the other…
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Yes, the LR6 format (1.2, 1.5v) AA batteries. 14500 is srill relevant, and the dual fuel lights are the only thing keeping it propped up unless you want the cheap, low output xxxxfire stuff. I actually really like the 14500 format and it’s my preferred size (besides 18650) for EDC. 21700 is just too big. The only advantage LR6 has over li-ion is no recharging needed. Just replace the batteries and spares are cheap plus no need for LVP, over-undercurrent or temperature protections on drivers so they can be really simple boost drivers or buck drivers.
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I really like 2AA NiMH. 300 lumens for 90 minutes or more is pretty damm good, and they are a nice size for trouser pockets, cost pockets and car glove boxes. I suspect 3AA, arranged side by side not inline, would be nice too. Yes I know lithium walks over them in terms of size, but you can let children play with them, and leave them charging unattended without worry. But they’re unfashionable.
I think you’re right. I stopped using my lights about 9 years ago when my knees couldn’t cope with cross country running. Recently I started walking for an hour on days when not doing skating. And I remembered that I have torches, and walking at night in the countryside is fun.
So I guess I’ll wait ten more years and see how the technology has changed.
I bought an Acebeam L35 2.0, and I’m impressed that it can run on turbo so brightly for so long in cold winter air. Ten years ago comparable torches were huuuuge.