I agree, thicker housing, bigger switch, decent size reflector gets you a better, more reliable light.
I just got my S2 host and for $9, the quality is amazing. Convoy is no doubt the best bang for the buck!
I have checked FT, GB, BG for Eagletac D25LC2 mini but this flashlight is not listed. Who sell this flight? Please give me a link.
Regarding SUNWAYMAN C20C, I found the cheapest price here:
Do you know if I can get it cheaper in some other store?
Thank you
Zebralight SC62 looks really nice too. Amazing output on it.
I normally EDC a Roche F6 F12. I find it to be a quality host, but I do not own the more expensive lights mentioned such as the Sunwayman, Eagletac, Nitecore, Olight, or CNQG/DQG options.
The Roche F6 F12 and Convoy options have the mid-grade “on time memory” that many of us find undesirable. For DIY purposes purchasing a host and installing a driver with “off time memory” would be best for those lights. If you are unable to do DIY, member RMM performs this service for a very low cost. Some other international members can also perform this service. If you are unable to DIY this may not make as much sense. Rather than spending extra to fix this shortcoming it may be best to simply go with one of the higher end lights to start with.
I suspect that the smallest light mentioned must be the Brass Beauty. It has been well received on BLF and I’ve considered purchasing one. I’m confident that this light also has the “on time memory” shortcoming.
EDIT: OOPS! I said Roche F6, but I meant Roche F12. Totally different light! Sorry.
Hi, just FYI, here’s the previous thread on this topic:
Copied from that thread, here are some measurements. Sorted by length:
- Nitecore HC50: 86.2mm x 33mm (max) x 29mm (min)
- DQG Tiny 18650 II: 87mm x 25mm (head) x 22mm (body)
- ZL SC62: 96.5mm x 24.4mm (head) x ??mm (body)
- Brass beauty: 97mm x 21mm
- Roche F6: 112mm x 27.5mm
- S-mini: 114mm x 22mm
- Convoy S4: 115mm x 23mm
- Convoy S3: 115mm x 24mm
- Roche F12: 115mm x 24mm
- Convoy S7: 116mm x 23.6mm
- Ultrafire HD2011: 117mm x 24mm
- Solarforce T1: 123.5mm x 24mm (head) x 22mm (body)
- Convoy S2: 124mm x 24mm
- Solarforce L2m: 136mm x 32mm (head) x 25.4mm (body)
These are all “small” 18650 lights, but the definition of small seems to vary quite a bit.
If I sort them by approximate volume (length * head diameter * tail diameter), the brass beauty comes out as the smallest (at 42.7 cm^3) and the HC50 is the second-biggest (at 82.5 cm^3). The L2m is, of course, the biggest (110.5 cm^3).
I really like my “brass beauty” lights. They’re small, they’re not the same boring old anodized aluminum, and they’re generally well-made. It’s probably my favorite 18650 light, and has stayed that way for a long time.
It has some limitations:
- Is relatively heavy compared to aluminum.
- Only compatible with unwrapped unprotected cells.
- Comes with on-time based firmware.
- I hear the switch assembly is cheaper on the newer models than it was on the originals.
The driver isn’t easily replaceable since it’s smaller than the standard 17mm models.(edit: nope, it’s 17mm)Maxes out at 1.4A power, since there is no room for more than four 7135 chips.(edit: it might be possible to add more power, but it’s untested… wight’s FET or FET+1 might fit, at least)
However, it’s generally easy to take apart and mod if you like, the driver is re-flashable, and thanks to a new memory decay trick it can be converted to use off-time memory. And brass is pretty and doesn’t show wear as easily as anodized aluminum.
The ZL SC62 series is also very nice, and is a great option for a small 18650 light. It’s not moddable at all, but they made it well so it doesn’t really need to be changed. However, if you don’t need the extra brightness or runtime, the SC52 series is smaller and still very nice.
Am I mixed up? The BG picture seems to show an AK47-C1 driver which should be 17mm. http://www.banggood.com/Cree-XP-G2-R5-5WXM-L2-10W-Brass-18650-Mini-LED-Flashlight-p-947695.html
No?
EagleTac are a USA brand. You won’t find them on Chinese websites. Going Gear in the US sell them and lots of US stores. Places in UK and Europe that sell them too. Might be worth checking eBay as some sellers list on there too.
Mine has a “NANJG 101-AK-A1” inside. I just re-measured it, and it looks like it is indeed 17mm. Perhaps a little smaller, maybe filed down a bit. I don’t have very precise tools to measure this.
In any case, the pill is pretty shallow so there’s no room to stack chips and the spring side may not be able to hold any 7135s either due to the tight internal dimensions.
Now that you got me to re-measure it, I’m tempted to see if I can fit something else (like the latest single-sided FET+1) or perhaps a moonlight special. Not sure there’s much point for my use though, since it’s already pretty nice after simply reflashing with a memory-decay off-time UI.
(edit: dangit, it seems I bent the wires one too many times when I measured it… just snapped the emitter leads right off of the driver. Looks like it’s time for me to do some upgrades I’ve been putting off)
Crap, sorry for that. I guess that’s opportunity’s harsh knock?
After being reluctant for quite a while (because of the unprotected cells - I had only one for a long time, but bought more recently) I finally got the CNQG brass beauty. It came with a somewhat strange driver, but it was easy to replace it with a standard NANJG105C; I chose 2.1A (by removing 2 AMCs). Funny enough, I tried RAM retention again, implemented it into lucidrv, and it works fine with my current batch of NANJGs (I got a way shorter timing with the NANJGs I had first tried, too short for my taste).
That light instantly became my new EDC. Significantly smaller than the Roche F6 I edc'ed before, and than all these Convoy S*.
Switching between normal group (moon-L-M-H, doubletap for turbo, short-cycle memory) and indoor-night-time group (moon1,moon2,low,med, doubletap for 50%, no memory - as not to blind anyone...) as needed.
I think it’s just telling me to work on this dual pwm firmware instead of messing with my older lights. I’ll probably just strip a millimeter or two and re-attach the old wires. I was expecting this to happen sooner or later anyway, after having it apart dozens of times.
Strictly regarding smallest 18650 lights, I started pulling the “roll-of-coins” bunch from FT into a table:
table(table#posts).
||CNQ Brass|C20 DIY EDC|Convoy S5|Roche F12 DIY|Convoy S7|Convoy S3|Convoy S2|Convoy S4|
|Width|21| 23|23|23.5|23.5|24|24|24.2|
|Height|97|115|115|114.5|116|115|124|117.7|
|Volume|33.6k|47.8k|47.8k|49.7k|50.3k|52.0k|56.1k|54.1k|
|Weight|75 g|60 g|31 g|41 g|87 g|70 g|76 g|47 g|
Nitecore EC21
I got it because I needed one hand access to a red lamp in a 18650 flashlight with good throw.
Good:
5 levels
Direct to Turbo, low, strobe, red, and memory.
Small light
Voltage test
Red LED
Deep carry clip
Good throw
Mediocre cells perform well
Good thermal management
Tailstands
Switch Lockout and unscrew body lockout
Nice fit and finish
Bad:
Small lanyard hole
Prefers button top batteries
Can be tough to find the buttons
Note:
CW tint only
Battery voltage only from unscrewing body
I had old and new baton s20…(XML & XML2)
All they have greenish tint for my eyes.
s20 was one of the best 18650 EDC light without tint.
I recommend Nitecore EC21.
FWIW, many of the Olight Baton lights can have their green tint fixed by replacing the lens with a plain piece of glass. They have a bad habit of using really green-tinted AR coating.
This nasty-AR-tint thing is unfortunately common on premium-brand lights. 
Here’s an Olight S10 (2012) lens next to an uncoated lens. When I swapped them, the S10’s tint went from puke green to pure white:
But how do you remove the lens and where do you get the replacements?
The bezel unscrews to get the lens out, though it may or may not be glued. And for replacements, I used a cheap lens from a UF-602C host. You could probably also get lenses from flashlightlens.com, who have a large variety of sizes.
I don’t like green tint…
I like SUNWAYMAN C20C but I must ask sellers if I can get better price, 50+ $ is too high for me.
If this will not be possible, I will maybe buy ROCHE F6 or NITECORE EC21
Is EC21 much better than F6?
Bye
I have used my EC21 for two months and can comment on it quite confidently.
It is a very nice size for a small-sized hand being only 10.5cm long. Has nice features like adnj mentioned above. All these make it a very well-made EDC light.
Negative would be:
- it is very cool white, cooler than other CW lights for example nitecore P12.
- Even though it is xpg2, it is not even as throwy (9,400cd) as P12 (13,500cd) which has a XML2.
- it has been reported by me and some other BLFers that the voltage displaying can be messed up at certain level, for example on my sample, when it is at 3.9V, it will actually tell it is 4.9V.
I don’t own F6 so I cannot comment on that. But I have seen people not liking its UI.