Ultralight or Lightweight Neutral 1AA

[jon_slider]

The mini uses PWM and neutral tint with Low CRI.
The Manix is a quick deployment, one hand operated, locking, tactical weapon with a pocket clip.

Opinel #8:
saves 1.5 oz without giving up blade length, and it locks, but it is not tactical.

L10 light:
adds .09 firefly, gets rid of the PWM, and adds High CRI, but it may not be as drop proof as the Mini

 

[lampeDépêche]

My lightest complete light:

Titanium Foursevens Atom 0, runs on AAA with beautiful Nichia 219a.

Weight: 7 grams empty, 14 grams with lithium AAA.

Too heavy?

Leave the battery-tube at home, replace with a paper-clip and some tin foil.

Weight: 4 grams.

(For head, foil, and paper-clip. This paper-clip is kinda big, because I usually use it on a D-cell, so you could save some weight there by using a lighter piece of wire).

And now you can run it on AAs as well as AAAs (or C-cells or D-cells or anything nominally 1.5v).

 

[eh4]

The Atom with Nichia is amazingly small and light. Without the threads on the light head it could almost be a jacket button.

 

[lampeDépêche]

I have unscrewed the light-engines from my Atom AA and Atom CR123 models, and they unscrew easily. The light engines are about 6 grams, because they are brass, and run on 1.5v up to 4.2v if you happen to meet an unattended 18650 in the wilderness!

The light-engine from a AAA Atom 0 does not unscrew as easily, but I did get one out finally, and it is 12mm in diameter, 5mm tall, and weighs less than one gram. When I twisted a paper-clip into a loop to hold the light-engine plus a tail to clip around the back of the AA battery, the light-engine plus paper-clip still registered as only 1 gram on my digital kitchen scale.

So the whole light is 1 gram more than the AA battery it runs on. That's probably the smallest, lightest piece of kit that converts an AA battery into an LED light. (A fiddly, non-water-proof, not easy to hold in your mouth, not easy to hang on a string, LED light. A test of just how much Bolster is willing to sacrifice for light weight!)

Oh--I should also say: all of the Atoms are mules, so their beam is too floody for what Bolster wants in any case. Those darn reflectors weigh a lot! Like, hundreds of milligrams!

 

[Snipe315]

How about the Olight S1A Baton?

Weight is 1.2oz and that can be reduced further by removing the magnet in the tailcap.

 

[reppans]

I'm into ultralight, right in your BPW range, have most the AA lights mentioned, and test them for low-lumen runtime, current, and output. Unfortunately the 47s Mini PWM driver happens to be the least efficient light (by nearly half) in terms of lumens/watt.

Just a different spin on things, but I also used to be strictly AA-Eneloop based, but smartphones/satellite communicators have forced in the USB/battery bank standard so I've now opened up. My flashlight priorities are now high efficiency (at low lumens) and extreme battery versatility as I ultimately want the option of cannibalizing all battery power to charge my comm devices, and then run my flashlights (efficiently) on any remain battery. Except for a USB battery bank, I don't carry any spare batteries - I just "shift" power around (if necessary).

Quarks (#1) and D25A Ti's (#2) are my usual picks as they can be easily rigged to run on any cell, and they have a bright moonlight + ~3lm low - which for me, just happens to be the just-right camping output levels, with good efficiency.

 

[lampeDépêche]

That sounds interesting, reppans.

So you are running your Quarks from 16340s or 14500s that you can charge from USB chargers?

Have you looked at single-cell charger for the 18650, like the Klarus CH1, that can be used *both* for charging cells from a USB source, *and* as a USB power-bank when you put a full cell into them? That strikes me as more efficient than using a dedicated USB bank, since the bank is like a non-replaceable 18650 with some circuitry glued on top, whereas the Klarus is like the circuitry that allows you to switch in and out different 18650s.

I'd like to hear more about your whole set-up.

 

[reppans]

Yes, the CH1 is an integral component for my power "shifting" which, in addition to Li-ions, also lets me charge/powerbank my AA Eneloops from/to USB -
clicky.

My favorite rig is a low voltage Quark running the KP 16650 cell (18650 won't fit), since its capacity makes it a good 2nd battery bank. The Quark then can then run any single AA/AAA/CR123/etc cell in the 2CR123 tube with MacGyvered tinfoil/$-Bill spacers. 14500s would be my next choice for Eneloop compatibility - I only run 16340s near home.

The D25A doesn't have the buck driver to efficiently regulate Li-ion (lower modes shift). But both lights can easily be paperclip-MacGyvered to run on any battery in at least a lantern mode.

Edit: Oh yeah, I get your point about multiple 18650 (or 16650s) but you'd still need 2 CH1s to charge Eneloops, for example, and my battery bank is nice and flat like my phone and with a capacity meter.

 

[lampeDépêche]

Thanks, reppans!

Yeah, the old Quark low-voltage head is still pretty hard to beat. I had one of the titanium run, back when an XPG was the cutting edge! With a AA tube running 14500, that was my indispensable light for several years.

Nowadays, I have gotten spoiled by good tints, and cannot go back to cool white. (And when they offered warmer tints, 4/7s usually offered them only with the tactical UI, which I really did not like!)

But the circuit in those was excellent, and you are right that it's more efficient than the Mini, and has a more usable moonlight.

Pretty clever running 3 Eneloops in series to make the CH1 into a powerbank. I don't think you can charge them in that configuration, though!
But it is nice that the CH1 will charge Li-ions or Eneloops.

Thanks for explaining the system to me.

 

[reppans]

Yeah, I like nice tints too.... but I guess specific low mode spacing, and battery flexibility, even more. I typically use lower outputs/night vision more than most folks so I probably see more mono-chromatic anyways.

I own a factory NW "Pro", and a modded N219. All CW XPG2s (any manufacturer) tints seem really nice these days and quite neutral, but the XMLs can still be iffy with green.

3 Eneloops will charge in series in any Li-ion charger like that, but only to ~60%.

 

[lampeDépêche]

Yikes! You can actually charge in series! Well, I hope I won't have to ever do that, but it's good to know that it's at least somewhat possible. I can imagine having Eneloops that are dead, and it being a huge help to be able to revive them to the 60% level.

A Quark modded with a Nichia 219...maybe that's what I should do with my beloved Titanium Quark. Give it a new life that way.

And...more money flies out the door to Vinh....