I know, that’s why I posted. 
It will be no brighter than any other 1AA light. It’s just the same as having a 1D light. If they showed a 1D light you wouldn’t expect much out of it, so don’t go mad thinking it’s going to be very bright just because it’s got 3AA.
The only good thing is the large head, might make for a nice AA powered thrower.
I am pretty sure it’ll be fine with 3x14500 li-ion to make it much brighter, boost drivers will default to direct drive when Vbat > Vf, most times even modes still work fine.
The AA version on li-ion will be brighter than the 123 version, unless it’s got a buck boost driver rather than boost driver.
im reading this thread and i not grasping the purpose or reason why this light at this price range is a good purchase?
Maybe if you didn’t have or want the SkyRay King at $ 12.00 to $15.00 bucks more. A mini King minus 2
Leds and 1/3 the output 20% savings,Why?
Because nobody else has one.... yet. 
I'm in agreement with you. Don't think this is a good spend. Maybe if it was in gunmetal or black, but I'm just not diggin the pimpin' gold color.
Unless it ships for under $30 I won’t touch it. Absolutely no reason it should cost $45 when a King can be had for $59. A lot of Ric’s lights start out a little high then drop as time goes buy and they stop selling. Once all the “I gotta have it first!” folks get them and sales slow down you should see a pretty good drop in price.
I can’t speak of other people’s reasons, but for me, it’s the relentless pursuit of miniturization. I currently hold the record on the smallest Mad D mod. Mag Zero D The amount of work went into it makes me cringe just to think about it, probably why it’s never been done before.
I am curious as to compare it with the 3x123 XML queen, especially size & handling, as the Photon Grenade already won on Lumens/Tint & CRI. The queen could also be a platform for further modding if I am not happy with it or come up with some crazy ideas. To me, it’s an obvious bargain.
On the other hand, I have no interest in the King. It’s much bigger & fatter, plus a mere clone that offered no innovation over Nitecore’s tiny monster. This has nothing to do with the price difference between King & Queen. To me, the King should be a shamed, while the Queen offers some what a redemption. (I think they were made by the same mfg.)
Mag Zero D Triple Nichia 219 Hi CRI Photon Grenade ~1500 lumens.
Considering the KING started selling at around $75 the pricing for these two models is somewhat reasonable. Eventually $35-40 shipped would be a fair price to ask, assuming it’s a quality, PROPERLY functioning light.
I should have put in parenthesis ( ma_sh1 aside) . Im guessing you probably have most of the current 3T6
available. Im willing to bet you are disassembling these two mini’s before they arrive.
I have some components on the way and im looking for the perfect host. The gold just kills it for me.
Wow, ma-sha1 your mini mag is brilliant. i’ll leave it at that.
I like the gold anodize color. I have plenty of black lights. It is nice to see something different.
The 3AA woukd be cool with 3 XP-Gs and take 14500s.
I’m with you, I love the color, I think it’s great. Black is boring, I have more than enough in black. Everyone has their own opinion on style and color, but I’m happy to have this option. The only complaint I can come up with about my DRY is that it is truly boring, black and blah…until it comes alive…
I like the overall form factor. Less volume than a SR king, significantly lighter if you use energzier lithium primaries. (I’m still amazed how much lighter those things are than eneloops in my zebralight headlamp). Tail standing too is always a bonus for me.
Unfortunately they missed the boat on the power lockout feature. With a side-mount Eswitch thats asking for trouble for me as a pack carry light. A 2 second turn on delay might solve that, but it also might introduce other problems, as I have been conditioned to expect light immediately upon power click. Someone mentioned parasitic drain. Even 1-2mah is still a downer (maybe psychologically more than anything physical). I have E1320 mod lights that can turn that current into useful light. So its still wasted power in my book.
It all depends on the drive current and circuit efficiency though. 3P eneloops can easily handle a ~10 watt load. Hopefully the designers chose to ignore alkaline compatibility when they designed this one. Two of my favorite lights (Fenix LD25, MC10) draw draw too much current for alkaline. I have used these lights for 2-3 years on eneloops and haven’t missed alkalines one bit.
Its a new / fresh idea IMHO. Theres only one other multi-AA / parallel light I know of. I like the multi-parallel-cell format a lot… it just works.
Totally agree with you. In the case of the SR.KING, even at $80 it is still a great buy, but now it is $21 lower. The QUEEN is too expensive, a $15 C8 would have the same performance. If the Queen is under $20 I would buy one, more than that is way too much.
The designers need to just completely ditch the AA alkaline compatibility in lights like this… its such an inferior chemistry on multiple levels.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?64660-Alkaline-Battery-Shoot-Out
There’s nothing wrong with that light that 3 XM-Ls can’t fix.
I don’t understand the whining on the price. The King only has a couple extra emitters which are <10$ apiece. So this light should be $20 or so less than the king given equal build quality.
For alkalines, one of the major selling points of AA lights is that they can be powered with a battery available anywhere. Otherwise if you need “special” batteries anyway, just get lithium in the first place.
X - I like your approach. Same configuration as the King only a smaller host and over all package.
Ahhh,One day…A micro EDC with triple XM-L’s …. and new paint scheme. Cuz, the
gold is putting a serious hurting on my eyes…
Same here. The more I see that gold color the more it grows on me. Almost every electronics device around the house is black nowadays. Its nice to have something different and unique for a change. I wish they coated the AA light with the same coating as the RCR123 light. The matte sand color looks awesome.
No battery carrier… I wish more manufacturers would go this route.
They both look very tempting. A medium mode would have made them (almost) perfect
What was the total cost incl. everything?
I still don’t know. Mr. Tao is still in processing, I’ll know the shipping cost soon. But I got some pictures showing they got the light, now calculating shipping…
