Tell me what is good lately in the world of 1xAA twist-operated lights, neutral or warm, bonus for high CRI. I used to have one that I loved on my key ring but it is long discontinued (L3 Illumination with Nichia 219A).
I made a topic specifying titanium twisties last year and not much luck…
The Skilhunt E3A is an AAA light, which is quite nice, but I think there’s an E2A that’s an AA light that’s similar, just for a different cell.
Just goggled it, the E2A has a tailswitch, so…
I guess technically, any tailswitch light can be used as a twisty, but…
Emisar KC1 but its AAA
Maybe the Lumintop Tool AA? I think it’s cold and low cri but with the magnetic tail cap it’s twistable…actually even with the clicky tail it’s still twistable I think.
It makes me sad that the world of twisty AA has depopulated. The AA size is a great form factor. Especially when just a little shorter without the button, it feels “just right” on a key ring with all the other doodads I have on there. Besides, I prefer twist operation for a key ring anyway.
Yeah, there are a bunch of nice twisty AAA lights still floating around. I stocked up on the C01 and C01S from Sofirn when they were doing those. Unfortunately, AAA always leaves me wanting more.
Lumintop sells a few AA twisty lights: EDC15, Silver Fox. However, they come with a horrible Osram P9 LED and a really floody TIR.
I have an EDC15 modded with a 15° TIR and a 519A 5000K. I also had a Silver Fox modded with the same TIR and an XP-L HI 4000K, but I sold it.
I like how tiny it is (EDC15) and keep it in my winter jacket breast pocket as a backup light.
Which TIR did you fit in that light? I have one modded to 519A, too, and it’s too floody for my taste.
Size wise the EDC15 is amazing.
Here’s beamshots of my AAA lights, including Hank’s KC1 in four LED variations: 9 AAA, a 10180, and a Rovy (incl 4 KC1's) : flashlight
Sorry, when Illumn put the L3 L10 on clearance for $9 each, I bought the rest of their stock. I’ve been giving them to friends and family as gifts for years.
… and I haven’t really seen anything comparable since then.
But there are some decent AA or 14500 lights lately. Not twisties, but the Sofirn SP10 Pro is pretty decent with a minus-green filter added, and the Wurkkos TS10 is pretty popular… and I think thefreeman is working on getting his driver into one soon too. I have a prototype using an old FWAA as the host, and it’s really nice. It takes AA or 14500 and is very efficient, complete with RGB aux LEDs which work regardless of the battery type.
This thread is making me nostalgic for my foursevens aa twisty. I carried that on my keychain for several years. High cri xpg2, I think. I wasn’t a huge fan of the tint and it took me a long time to realize high cri emitters can still be greenish. I should find that light and stick a 519a in it…
Here’s the link.15° conical stent. I had to remove the white TIR holder and trim the top rim off so it would fit.
Thank you! I found the same item yesterday but was unsure it’d fit. Ordered 15/30/45 now, and will see which I like best. I just noticed I mistakenly ordered cylindrical stent, but according to their tech drawings the “stent” is just the white holder I will have to remove either way.
Original TIR is 60°, right? Looks like it at least from beams.
Odd that the top rim was in the way, I just measured my OG TIR and it matched the masurements the seller provides. Maybe half a mm slimmer. But PMMA should be easy to trim with a sharp knife or a file anyway.
The fact that those are ~1mm deeper does not cause issues? I guess that just means the pill sits 1mm deeper inside the body, and the spring gets compressed a little more. Does the white centering ring supplied by Lumintop still fit those?
Edit: I see the confusion. When I said I trimmed the top lip, I meant of the stent/holder not the TIR. See pictures below.
I used the bottom part of the conical stent since it has a 3535 opening at the bottom and holds the TIR at the right height above the LED.
The stock LED gasket didn’t fit the new TIR hence why I used the TIR holder.
The new TIR has a bit smaller opening and doesn’t sit well in the stock gasket over the LED.
Here’s the new stent + TIR:
https://i.imgur.com/OUv0nNS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uz1uO6j.jpg
I have some candela measurements using the stock 60° TIR and the new 15°.
519A 5000K with fully charged 14500.
Note: measurements may not be 100% accurate but are good for a relative comparison between the TIRs
60° 480cd 420lm = 0.9 cd/lm ratio (yeah, that’s too floody)
15° 1800cd 500lm = 3.6 cd/lm ratio
So, TIR gives about 4x candela.
With the stock P9 and stock TIR I measured very close to Tim’s measurements:
https://timmcmahon.com.au/posts/lumintop-edc15/#performance
I also got 1000cd at 750lm
For reference, my other mod with XP-L HI 4000K measured 4000cd @ 800lm
Ooh now I understand - thank you very much. I contacted the seller and hope they will change my order from cylindrical to conical. Otherwise I will have to improvise 
Your way of mounting them makes a lot of sense, thanks for the pictures.
Also, thanks for the measurements! I’m not sure if I will prefer 15 or 30 yet, but the 60 are definitely way too floody. It illuminates everything a little bit, and nothing properly.
I have Luminntop tool AA 2.0 with magnetic talicap and my old eight years Jet Beam Jet-1 MK
I like twisty AA
The Emisar KC1. Any of Hank’s 3535 LEDs, including 519A, W1, 219B, colour LEDs, and UV. 10440 and eneloop compatibility.
Now that sounds interesting. What is the mode order?
Unfortunately it is single mode only. Not sure if Hank has any plans for another driver, but that would be nice. The up-side is you get access to Hank’s wide range of emitter options, but personally I don’t find that makes up for the single-mode only UI.
@LuxWad mentioned this in his video review of the KC1, but I kind of like the idea of tighten for off that used to be on some older twisties.
I still carry my Sofirn C01S which is quite worn down now. I once emailed Sofirn asking if they were thinking of re-releasing and updating the C01s (or indeed, producing any new AAA size light) and they simply replied with ‘we have no plans.’
That’s a shame but not necessarily a dealbreaker. What is the output level and how long will it last with an Eneloop Pro?
For instance, the old single-mode Sofirn C01 was amazing. Both the Yuji and Sophia emitters were rather pretty on the warm versions. They only put out like 5 or so lumens but they did it with a nice pattern and it was a surprisingly useful amount of light. It was “just enough” for lots of tasks and the battery would last a very long time.
(One downside to that efficiency was that it could run a battery down to zero. So it was recommended to avoid doing that and to use the less sensitive regular (white) Eneloops just in case. Even with their slightly lower capacity, I’d still get a huge amount of life between charging.)
The C01S had modes, so you can go high with quick consumption or stay low for longer life. While the high was welcome in some circumstances, it never managed to match the raw utility of the C01 for me, doing things like reading books at night in a tent, etc. If they had made an AA version of the C01, it would probably be my EDC today.
That depends on the emitter used. You could probably check in the hanklight thread here on BLF or on the subreddit /r/hanklights - there’s usually folks on there doing tests and stuff. I stopped paying attention to the kc1 when I knew it was single mode only. Unfortunately that’s a deal breaker for me - I’ve got no use for an AAA sized hotrod. Although you could probably get it in the lowest powered emitter or most efficient one for runtime.