Re: IMO the bulb you need - if you can still locate it - is a 395x.
Resurrecting! I don't see a whole lot of interest threads in low lumen incan. It is on my mind more than high lumens.
The incan Solitaire I still like, but I use a little ring around the lamp, 10440 cells and higher voltage surplus military avionics lamps. Good runtime, believe it or not, mostly half as bright as incan MiniMag, and the lamps last. Problematic without an aluminum reflector and glass lens, but the entire light is replaced for $7 last I looked. I hope they are available for a while. This is not all that sturdy, and mostly for fun, but it works pretty good.
Everyone loves the E1e, but it is ultimately bashed for its low lumens. Stock, it is not impressive during the day. The curious are always pointed toward E2e for brightness, and I'm not sure that is a misdirection (for ENC, not EDC). IMO, an E1e with IMR cell and Tad Customs lamps is too bright, and only useful during the day (making 16340 low runtime not much of an issue), unless blinding yourself in the night with dark adapted eyes is useful, or if an outdoor night search or night woods walk comes up (sadly, rare for me). With IMR and matching lamp, I think it is too bright at night for the car or bedstand. I bought some primary cells that were old, had been shelved awhile, and the battery moon mode appears after 10 minutes. The lumen level is low, but right where I want it, and runtime is ordinary. New primaries give me the full 15 lumens much longer. 15 Lumens is bright as heck when your eyes are dark adapted, I prefer half that for low level incan. I save half-depleted cells for low lumen flashlighting.
2xAA E Series bodies with Elite heads give me nearly the same lumens with probably a flatter discharge curve with NiMH, if ever a full 15 lumens, it is brief, but love that flat NiMH output curve. Love this setup, need more. Hope Tad actually gets those 3012 lamps in, but they might be too bright, and I might stick with underdriving 3712 or others. I found Exell's 1600mAh 2/3A NiMH cells to fit E2e with a couple magnet spacers, work great giving good rechargeable runtime and E1e lumens, but the cells probably not all that LSD, and charging them takes a long time. I just need more and faster charger slots. The E2e is arguably a better hand/pocket size than E1e, if only it didn't come stock with too many lumens (for dark adaptation) then customized with absurd amounts of incan lumens, which the Exell 2/3A NiMH cells fix. I kid, perfect the way it is... for daytime, at least.
Others incan E users might be satisfied with the LightSaver Miser lower modes, for lower incans and longer runtime, but the slow PWM bothers me. The z52 can be tricked into lower "modes" without PWM, takes practice and isn't precise, may flicker, and though runtime is increased, it is not as much as we want. I'd like to see more tail mods to lower voltage (regulate) and increase runtime specifically for Li-ion... a lower lumen longer runtime E tailcap switch. It has been done, wish I had the hands, eyes, tools and skill to do one.
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