Recommend me a single AA flashlight

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chaosdsm

chaosdsm

Enlightened
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Feb 11, 2014
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319
Location
Florida
I'm looking to buy 4-6 single AA LED flashlights - primarily for battery testing, so I want to be able to use any battery chemistry that is currently available in AA sized battery, I've eliminated all the checklist questions that make ZERO difference to me... I'll probably be giving these away after I'm finished, so they should be relatively decent flashlights.

I see the ThruNite Ti Pro fits all the check boxes, any others???

==================Flashlight Recommendation Checklist================

1) How would you prefer to purchase the light?
Online

2) Budget:
Up to, but not over $30 per flashlight.

3) Format / Size:
Tiny Single AA LED than can utilize any battery chemistry from 1.2V to 4.3V

4) Manufacturer:
I want to buy a light from a large/traditional/reputable manufacturer that is ready to go out of the box.

5) How much genuine out the front (OTF) light do you want/need?
At least 50 lumens on brightest mode with Alkaline AA

6) Switch Size, Type, and location (choose all that apply):
Any size switch will do in either tail or body location or both - separate on/off & mode switches is fine

7) User Interface (UI) and mode selection. Select all that apply.
I want 2 light levels minimum, 3 light levels would be preferred - as in low/high or low/med/high.... NOT high/strobe - low/high/sos - high/sos/beacon etc....

 
<$30 for a single AA that can take multiple battery chemistries is a big ask , I think.
Maybe Sofirn?

Found a few:
Sofirn SP10
Thrunite Ti, or T10
Lumintop tool
 
Last edited:
So this gives me a good starting point:
As the most expensive, and being a brand I've never heard of, I'll pass on the Sofirn SP10

Acebeam Pokelit AA
ThruNite Ti Pro
Lumintop Tool
All seem to be about $20 each on amazon

Also found:
Lumintop EDC $16
ThruNite Saber $16

Looks wise, I like the Acebeam, but I'm leaning towards the ThruNite Saber for the $$$ savings
 
I would think Convoy T3 makes a lot of sense if you can wait a month for them to arrive.
I like the two mode ThruNite Saber as a giveaway light, and feel free to send the 920mAh USB-C 14500s my way. $15.99 currently on Amazon for the grey cool white, but the neutral is what i like.
 
ThruNite Ti Pro is a twisty? Lumintop EDC has a floody TIR beam, and the Ti Pro has weird level spacing at least on LiIon, unsure about alkaline.

Lumintop Tool is a great light just in general, and I think they come with USB-C 14500s as well now. Bad for newbie use because the dang lighted tailswitch drains the 14500 in a week.

Might want to check some runtime reviews like this one so you know what to expect:
zeroair.org

Acebeam Pokelit AA Flashlight Review - ZeroAir Reviews

The new Acebeam Pokelit is an AA-sized flashlight. It supports 1.5V and 4.2V cells and includes a 14500! It's 5000K and high CRI, too!
zeroair.org zeroair.org
 
Last edited:
chaosdsm said:
I'm looking to buy 4-6 single AA LED flashlights - primarily for battery testing, so I want to be able to use any battery chemistry that is currently available in AA sized battery, I've eliminated all the checklist questions that make ZERO difference to me... I'll probably be giving these away after I'm finished, so they should be relatively decent flashlights.

I see the ThruNite Ti Pro fits all the check boxes, any others???

==================Flashlight Recommendation Checklist================

1) How would you prefer to purchase the light?
Online

2) Budget:
Up to, but not over $30 per flashlight.

3) Format / Size:
Tiny Single AA LED than can utilize any battery chemistry from 1.2V to 4.3V

4) Manufacturer:
I want to buy a light from a large/traditional/reputable manufacturer that is ready to go out of the box.

5) How much genuine out the front (OTF) light do you want/need?
At least 50 lumens on brightest mode with Alkaline AA

6) Switch Size, Type, and location (choose all that apply):
Any size switch will do in either tail or body location or both - separate on/off & mode switches is fine

7) User Interface (UI) and mode selection. Select all that apply.
I want 2 light levels minimum, 3 light levels would be preferred - as in low/high or low/med/high.... NOT high/strobe - low/high/sos - high/sos/beacon etc....
Click to expand...
Go over to Amazon and grab some UltraTac A1 lights. They'll take any AA you can throw at it, including button top and flattop AA cells.

It's a great light.
 
I do like my other Convoy flashlights, so the T3 Silver 4500k is a definite contender along side the Acebeam Pokelit AA Dark Green 90+CRI, and Lumentop Tool 2.0 in Panda White.... :unsure:
 
How firm is that $30.oo price-point?
For literally $6.oo more you can get a 5.11 RAPID PL1AA model.
190 lumens with a single-AA battery (included).
330 lumens with a single 14500 lithium rechargeable battery (not included).

You get a tailcap switch. Low-profile two-way carry clip.
190 rated lumens is very good for a light running off of one AA battery.
 
So.... I couldn't decide on one.... :unsure:so I have ordered the Lumintop Tool 2.0 AA (3 weeks for estimated delivery on the white one I liked, so just the black one with XPL-HD) and the Acebeam Pokelit AA, expected delivery for both is about 7AM tomorrow! :LOL:

Also ordered the Fenix E35R EDC 21700 based flashlight :D
 
S6OB09d.jpg

Already found a couple of negatives:
Acebeam: if flashlight is already on, you have to turn it off to switch output modes o_O
Lumentop Tool: With 3.7V battery installed, the tail clicky has a blue light on while the flashlight is off. Doesn't seem to be there if you have an alkaline battery installed or maybe it's just too dim to see

Lumentop came without batteries, at least the Acebeam's did come with Acebeam 920mAh 14500 batteries!

So far, the Fenix is nearly perfect. Came with the Fenix 5000mAh 21700 button-top battery, and works just fine with my 3mm shorter flat-top LiFePO4 21700 batteries, but will only do turbo mode with the Fenix battery... On high mode doesn't even get warm after 10 minutes!!!
 
Hmm. Didn't know the Tool 2.0 came with any kind of auxiliary light. Mine doesn't.

Sounds like your ideal AA flashlight turned out to be a 21700!

Maybe check the Amp rating of the 21700 that won't run turbo. Could be under powering the light. Or maybe Fenix lights have a prejudice against unprotected cells, or can't handle the shorter size w/o the tail spring heating up? Hard to say.
 
Last edited:
LOL, the 21700 is to replace my old Nitecore SRT-7 in a more pocket friendly format & don't need the red, blue & green LED's that were in the SRT-7.

The AA lights are more for AA format rechargeable battery testing... I want to check out:
> EBL 2800mAh AA 1.2V NiMh
> Eneloop Pro 2400mAh AA 1.2V NiMH
> EBL 3000mWh AA 1.6V Ni-Zn
> Xtar 4150mWh AA 1.5V Lithium rechargeable (worst for high discharge, but curious as to low discharge capability)
> 14505 3.2V LiFePO4 from battery space
> Acebeam 920mAh 3.7V 14500
> Orbtronic 1100mAh 3.7V 14500
I have at least 4 of each battery available

I though I read somewhere that some high power 21700 lights will only work in turbo mode with specific batteries that have a protection built in.... so, for the LiFePO4 21700 not running turbo mode, I kind of expected that would be the case since they are not protected cells. Though current wise, they're rated with max continuous discharge of 9A, & max pulse discharge of 15A. The included Fenix battery is only rated for maximum 7.5A discharge current.

I'm just hoping that the protected 5000mAh high drain 21700's I ordered from Orbtronic work with turbo mode. They should give a little better turbo handling as the protection circuit allows 10A continuous current.... though I imagine temperature cutoff would kick in first since this light doesn't allow for much thermal dissipation. But even if I were to never use turbo, the 1000 lumens in high is pretty accurate, and impressive!
 
chaosdsm said:
The included Fenix battery is only rated for maximum 7.5A discharge current.

I'm just hoping that the protected 5000mAh high drain 21700's I ordered from Orbtronic work with turbo mode.
Click to expand...
Well, discharge current clearly isn't your problem. @selfbuilt did a review on the V3 last year noting the following...

"Since the Fenix battery is quite long, I think you will find that few other brands will fit and work in the light (i.e., none of the other ones with integrated USB-C chargers that I have tried would work)."

...So it's maybe just the size of the unprotected cell. You're new cells will hopefully be a better fit.

Edit: model generation
 
sim1tti said:
Well, discharge current clearly isn't your problem. @selfbuilt did a review on the V3 last year noting the following...

"Since the Fenix battery is quite long, I think you will find that few other brands will fit and work in the light (i.e., none of the other ones with integrated USB-C chargers that I have tried would work)."

...So it's maybe just the size of the unprotected cell. You're new cells will hopefully be a better fit.

Edit: model generation
Click to expand...
Just got the package from Orbtronic! Their 21700 protected batteries are the exact same length as the Fenix (y) I have the new batteries on my chargers, so it'll be an hour or so before I test them out.

FPFr58k.jpg


I didn't notice when I placed the order, but those 1100mAh 14500's are also protected!!!
 
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