Maratac AAAx2 Opinions?

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AAA Flashlights
1

What’s the deal with this light.

Spec wise, its twice as bright as any other pen light I’ve come across on the market, but is that just it, marketing?

At a friend’s suggestion, I purchased a Maratac headlamp from Countycomm while back, not knowing it was just a rebranded Lumintop with a jacked up cost. However, the light was great, its still 100% functional & one of my go to’s despite it’s CW temp.

Since learning it was a Lumintop Ive directed all their emails to my spam box figuring it was one less brand to clutter my inbox.

However, with that said, as with the majority of their lights having a direct Lumintop equivalent, I do not see one for this “AAAx2 Extreme”. I also haven’t found any reviews or even mentions here, nor any useful reviews @ YouTube & absolutely no outdoor beamshots that I’ve been able to dig up. (There’s been 2 or 3 revisions too, so it’s been out for a while)

The same can be said about a few other 1D & 1C cell lights from them, I just can’t find any rewiews despite them looking like pretty bright “shtf” lights.

Am I just searching with the wrong keyeords/terms or is no one buying due to their claims being way off??

2

Maratac is a brand sold by a company in California. They buy products from China, and then pretend to be defense contractors, claiming their lights are super bright and tactical. They have excellent customer service…

there are many 2xAAA penlights on the market, for example Streamlight is very popular, it has 2 output modes.

Lumintop offers a 2xAAA w an XP-G3 and 3 modes very similar to the feature set of the Maratac. Although the body exterior looks different… as well as the pocket clip…

this Lumintop iyp365 bundles a rechargeable LiIon, for $10 less than the Maratac

this iyp365 is the same light without LiIon, for $20 less than the Maratac

if you search penlight on Amazon you can find 4 penlights for $10

when Maratac claims “revisions” it means they bought a model with a different LED. Different LEDs produce different outputs…

for example the Lumintop offer XP-G3 or Nichia 219c… the XP-G3 is brighter, but Low CRI (does not show red colors as well as the Nichia)

if you like the 3 mode Maratac and want to support a California company, then spend the $40 for their light…

if you want to save money and want 3 modes w XP-G3 or Nichia, buy the Lumintop

if you want to save more money and are OK w 2 modes instead of 3, buy a Streamlight or one of the other cheap Amazon listed lights

penlights all have similar beams, they use similar parts and reflector sizes…

enjoy whatever penlight you prefer aesthetically

try not to get caught up in Lumens claims… similar batteries with similar LEDs produce similar outputs

other companies that sell penlights include Reylight, here is their penlight (they also sell aluminium versions for less money, but are out of stock)

Another California company that sells a penlight is Darksucks, also made in China. (and out of stock)

decide if you want a fancy metal, for more cost, or are fine with Aluminium for less money.

3

Hey John.

Thanks for the multiple links bud.

I wasn’t aware of that 10880 3v offering for the iyp365 & i had indeed been wondering about its 10880 compatibility. Since they tuned that one down to 3volts, I guess not.

Ironically, I literally just bought a pink nichia one w/o battery for an xmas gift, just last night.

What originally interested me in the Maratac was the output claim (I had originally mistaken it for 700lm which is what they advertise the 2xaa at). Either way, I figured it may be possible due to recent advancements in lights, like the Frog, GT Nano, GT Nano Pro, etc, when running multiple alkaline cells.
I figured at the very least, after the BS factor, it would be around 400-500lm. Which is still pretty bright for a little pen jobber.

As of now, Id just like to know who’s manufacturing it for them. If it is indeed down around the 400lm mark, Id think it would be Acebeam as they have that PT10-GT & have sold to Countycomm in the past.

I do find it rather comical that they disable the comment section on all their youtube channel light marketing. Meanwhile every other company on the planet uses youtube to interact & bolster their sales. I find that seriously disingenuous. Theres no reason to do that unless your going out of your way to keep the truth from coming out.

Since I’ve purchased few of the Nano lights, Ive come to understand the AAA platforms shortcomings with high outputs. However, if I could get the warm Frog like output with more Runtime (like a 10880), a tail switch & pocket clip, it would most likley become my favorite light. I should probably just buy a Reylight 2xaaa Mini, i just can’t stomach the cost.

On a side note, does anyone know if you can overdrive a I3T Plus with a single 10880, or you can with the I3T & I3E?

4

If you want a penlight that actually has a lot of power, the new Wurkkos WK05 has a driver that works up to 8.4v with different combinations of batteries. Their claim is 300lm on high and 900lm on Turbo with a 519a Nichia emitter. You can get two for the price of the Maratac ones… Like Jon said, Maratac does a lot of legitimate bulk buys from real brands and put their spin on it, and they have a lot of Ali Express stuff too. Their Lumintop offerings had unique features that have been great to snag when they have coupons/sales. Their CS is legit and have been in business a long time.

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5

Yes, I know all about Countycomm. I just find companies who rebrand things & sell them as if they completely designed then, totally phony & disingenuous. In their video marketing they go on & on about “their engineers”, as if they (countycomm) are the ones brainstorming these products, then there’s the hype man in the background with the easy layup questions/commentary. It’s just cringeworthy & totally phony.

I’ve seen the WK05. I don’t personally consider it a Penlight though, it’s just too thick with the AA platform. While I do like it, I kinda wish they took advantage of that wide voltage range & transferred that into a output. What I mean by that is, if you can get 900-1000lm out of a single AA/14500 light, you should be able to get even more out of a 2xAA/14500. The whole Output VS Runtime compromise can be dissolved by just staying out of turbo.

On the topic of Wurkkos, Id buy a WK02 for myself but just can’t find them anymore.

I’ll probably end up with a Reylight Pineapple Mini or a Streamlight Stylus USB. What turned me onto the whole penlight idea was the fact that I had a Microstream for about a week & I found it to be of the perfect size where I could completely forget I had it in my pocket. It also fit my large hands perfectly, whereas my hand didn’t engulf the entire light & require fiddling around to reach the tail switch (my hands swallow most other AAA lights) However, while it fit perfectly in my hand, the problem I had was the actual tail switch, it was almost impossible to depress with my big fat thumb (known issue). The output for it’s size was half way decent too, just cold & fugly.

6

true :wink:
there are several USA companies that “design” products manufactured in China… for example Zebralight, Darksucks, Apple, Massdrop, The Sharper Image, etc :wink:

CountyComm just goes out of their way to falsely imply that their lights are “Manufactured in Sunnyvale”. They also obtain CAGE numbers for their products, and imply that they supply unspecified “US Govt Agencies”.

7

News to me, I thought majority of their stuff was USA made then a few products sourced from china to their “specification”.

I’ve some of their glow in the dark stuff, it’s better than anything else I own.

With regards to penlights, I’ve also been eyeing those reylight 2xAAA lights up for a while. Maybe one day I’ll treat myself.

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8

this is true, they buy Special Factory Orders (SFO) to their specifications… for example, they specify to change the knurling pattern, and sometimes the mode order, on some Lumintop models.

This means CountyComm has to pay Lumintop to manufacture a Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ, I think 500 units) to CountyComm specs.

Reylight does that too, they used to have their Copper single AAA light made by Lumintop. I think they changed to a different manufacturer now, but Reylight does specify useful features, such as High CRI LEDs, programmable drivers, and Fancy Metals…

And the products CountyComm sources are also good… price and hype aside, I sometimes buy from CountyComm, when I cant figure out where they sourced something, or when I simply like their Special Order knurling, such as for the AAA Copper Maratac…

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9

While I totally dislike their disengenuious marketing tactics, I do think a few of their lights are interesting for SHTF purposes.

Lights like the 1D & 1C.
Even then, I say I find them “interesting” only because I can’t find the OEM versions (which could probably be found for less, with free shipping somewhere, somehow). Hence the reason I’m bringing them up.

Does anyone know what the OEM models are for these two lights?

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