Mini AAA with modes?

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AAA Flashlights
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- Olight I3T EOS
Tail switch is making it a bit long, and it can’t balance :smiley:
5 Lumen, or max 180 Lumen (21min), doesn’t help with my typical work area of 20-30.

- Lumintop IYP7
Cree 5/40/130 lumen with 40h/4h/30min
or
Nichia 1/25/80
That’s looking much better.
Tail switch is making it a bit longer though.
No place for keychain loop, unless you make a lanyard and fit through the pocket clip.

- Astrolux A01
Not sure it can balance on its tail.
(Isn’t this a Manker light?)
The extra fat actually looks a bit nice :smiley:
1/7/100 lumen

- Drop AAA Tool
Tail switch make it a bit long
cree/nichia 5/3 32/20 110/85 lumen are good options.

- Thrunite ti3
firefly/12/120 lumen looks good, not sure if 12 will be too low

- Sofirn C01S
3 (25h) / 100 (1h21min) lumen
missing the ‘working’ mode for me

- Manker E02 II
Side light, not this time.
1/30/90/220 lumen though is a great celection.
5.5 hour in 30 lumen mode, is that correct ?

- Sofirn C01R
Looks to be moon/med/high
What numbers would that be with a Nichia, or a 351?

- Skilhunt E3A
0/100 lumen
Can’t stand on its tail
It does look nice and small though <3

Note.
I’m not conus, so can’t drop, and conus only options are hard to do.

What is a potted flashlight?

I really like the output options of the Manker, but it’s a ‘side light’.

Have anyone modded the C01R yet?
I’d be really curious about those output numbers.
(Would it be able to be moded with just droping in a pcmcb with another led, or a mcpcb that fit it would be hard to find, so would have to remove the led?)

(I checked ‘my’ cheapest option for a Ti3. It ended up with $44.18, including taxes and shipping…)

12

Did you do the emitter swap yourself? Would it be easy for a first timer?

I like the I3t host but have been contemplating the emitter swap too…

13

Oh come on, spend the big buck and get the Prometheus Beta :slight_smile:

14

For an AAA EDC or key-chain light, I really like the Sofirn C01S. It’s a good size. It comes in different colors. Having just the two modes keeps it simple and quick to use. The low is “just right” for a lot of tasks and lasts a long time. The high is plenty of light and lasts long enough for an AAA. The tint is decent and well-balanced for different environments. It’s also wonderfully affordable.

15

I just got a few Sofirn C01, Very nice for seven bucks.

16

Thanks jon_slider - great info! I’m heading to the workbench to try this mod.

Edit:

It worked: What did you mod today? Not too difficult of a mod. Now I like the A01 even better. Thanks again jon_slider!

17

I haven’t figured it out yet on mine, but I have the Astrolux A02 and I need to figure out which spot to “pencil” in order to fix the NMM. Anyone have any luck on that?

18

> Astrolux A02

maybe pull the driver and see if it matches the A01 driver?

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It’s not the same driver… It is similar, same two-tier assembly, and it has the same types of capacitors, but its not identical and I don’t want to short something by just… penciling capacitors until I find the right one. I will get some pictures up when I have a chance so maybe someone who knows more might be able to figure out which one.

20

that IS how others figured out the fix for the A01 and Ti3

you pencil, test, repeat… as described in the link in post 16

the mod is reversible, the pencil graphite is removable, and there are probably only 3 possible capacitors you need to test…

you cant short anything with a pencil… dont worry
You can Do It! :student:

21

Well, I suppose then in this case, I might end up being the one to solve the riddle. I shall give it a shot and let everyone know what I find!

22

For a keychain I think length / weight and material are critical as well as the 20/100 lumens you were looking for . The Dqg two mode NW clicky was a perfect keychain light for years until mine just finally bit the dust . I tried a $5 just pay shipping one mode Olight but one mode is a deal killer for me . A old version lumintop tool with the med/low/high and a 219B would work if i had the tailcap to turn it into a twisty . I don't mind the idea of a AAA keychain light but it has to be really small .tried to use a sofirn and think the two modes are pretty good but it's just a lil long ,Same as the old trunite original ti ...just a bit bigger than I want to be hauling around .

The rovy vons and nitecores etc with usb rechargable batteries may be the way to go but they aren't available at real budgety prices and all seem to have their own issues . Some still plagued with deadly PWM .

keep up the search .

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size matters :innocent:

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No doubt the olight i3e /SKILHUNT e3a are very attractive options for keychain carry due to size—BUT I so wish that they would make a multi mode. AAA light that can only do 100 lumens? It doesn’t make sense to me. If they gave it a 2 mode driver like the C01S it would be the perfect aaa light IMO.

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I agree that the single high mode on the Olight is not practical for me.

I prefer three modes.

size matters, but modes matter more

and High CRI matters even more, to me:

26

I’ve eventually settled on the Thrunite Ti3 NW on my keychain. I picked up a couple and most are a creamy neutral similar to a neutral malkoff (probably because they are both XPG2). One of my samples is a bit warmer and works out very nicely for my keys. Still very bright on high but the moon mode is nice and warm and easy on the night adapted eyes. Would be easy to swap LEDs if desired, and in fact I have done that on two of the titanium version.

27

another option
Lumintop Worm

and

Lumintop EDC01

I have not tried to figure out the specs, so I dont know if the worms are available in High CRI

note that worms have no pocket clips, which means they will roll off a table…

The Ti3 has a nice reversible clip option

I prefer MLH, but afaik these are now all LMH, like the Ti3

but the Ti3 low is sublumen of 0.03, on a Worm its about 5 lumens

I find it rather aggravating to have to double twist the Ti3, as I seldom need 0.03 lumens, so I dont like it to come first in rotation

but, the LMH lovers got their wish :slight_smile:

I prefer a center hanger, so the worm wins over the Ti3 on that account also

and the worm now has a pebbled TiR, which makes a very useful beam, imo better than the Ti3, for the intended close range use of an AAA…

28

On small EDC or key chain lights, I like LMH or LH depending on the low. The 3-mode Massdrop Brass I passed your way and the 2-mode C01S have what I consider to be useful lows. I don’t mind twisting up from there when I need it because I don’t always need it. Compared to knives, I see lights in this category more like Swiss Army Knives than fast-opening full-sized folders.

I get why people like moonlight out front. It's great for preserving night vision and getting extremely long run times. My problem is two-fold. First, I'm almost never in a situation where that matters versus a normal low. Second, I'm almost always in a situation where moonlight is too low or I just want a little more light. So it means extra steps for no good reason.

Honestly, the only time starting in moonlight has real value for me is at night if I'm camping or when there is a long power outage. In those cases (and whenever I'm wearing a jacket with pockets), I've already got an 18650 flashlight with Biscotti and I can make it so.

29

I have a C01R in the mail, so I will try to change out the emitter and see how it does for this.

Like jon_slider I do see the MLH or MHL as great modes for certain situations.
If it was programmable in what order you wanted the three modes I would just program before I went out to the option I most needed.
By default it would probably set to MHL for me, but on LMH for outdoor trecs.

30

good idea, I look forward to your success

fwiw, another flashlight UI option,
Some lights have Last Mode Memory
it lets you “program” what level the light turns on at…

The Jetbeam AAA has memory,

if you use it on Medium during the day, it will keep coming on at Medium until you change modes

same if you use moonlight at bedtime, it remembers

I personally have not learned to like memory, but some people find it very useful