Trying to pick a AAA twisty

My wife recently lost her beloved red Fenix L0D so I'm looking for a replacement.

The primary use is outdoor urban, e.g. finding stuff in the shadows. The most important factors in order of importance are:

• High quality materials and construction
• Start in a medium or high mode bright enough to be useful in our streetlit urban environs
• Floody beam
• Twisty for reliability and no accidental activation

Other factors, also in order:

• Tailstand capable: the L0D has it and it has proven its usefulness
• A decent high mode, 100 or so lumens
• Bonus: available in red

Any ideas? The Surefire Titan looks promising, but won't tailstand. The Thrunite Ti3 starts in a firefly mode, so she would always have to change the mode. The Fenix LD02 is a clicky! From what I can tell the Fenix E05 starts in low, a little better than the Thrunite but still too dim.
I got her a red Maglite Solitaire for now. It is actually pretty good and always comes on in its one useful 37lm mode. But I'd like to find something nicer. It would be really great if it came in an attractive color, not just black or grey. Any ideas?

techie52 said:

• High quality materials and construction
• Start in a medium or high mode bright enough to be useful in our streetlit urban environs
• Floody beam
• Twisty for reliability and no accidental activation

• Tailstand capable: the LD01 has it and it has proven its usefulness
• A decent high mode, 100 or so lumens

Click to expand...

Maratac AAA Rev 3 from the CountyComm site...

Peak Eiger.

Stainless steel is my preference, but brass is another nice option.

And a limited run in copper ?

They did have a several versions in red, too, at one point ....

EDIT - looks like the red is still available at RMSK, at the time of this post

Lumintop Tool AAA and there is a replaceable tailcap instead of the clickie one. There's also Lumintop Worm in AAA. Hope you find what you're looking for and enjoy!

This is awesome, three solid recommendations in the time it took me to walk the dog. Thanks!

btw it was a Fenix L0D, not an LD01 (now corrected above). Though my friends see me as a flashlight fanatic, I don't collect them or replace them often.

I've used an Eiger daily for years ... very reliable [emoji106]

The Olight I3S - CU

Comes on in high
180 lumens with a std aaa [over 600 with a 10440]
Made of brass and has a shiny gold or matte finish
3 output modes.
XPL led

I picked one up the other week and i am very happy with it. It has a extra wide floody beam with a smooth transition from spot to spill. I measure it at 200 lumens on a fully charged eneloop and certainly impresses for a tiny aaa light. I bought this being an owner of the previous olight i3s 80 lumen model which is 3 years old and has been ultra reliable and robust.
The Olight I3S-CU also does NOT use an annoying flickery PWM driver which so many of the the other offerings in the AAA class do.
Good luck- so many good aaa lights.

Old stock LD01 xpg. Twisty and comes on in medium. Low of 3 lumens and high of 72ish. Beautiful beam that's floody and goes a bit. Also tailstands.

swan said:

The Olight I3S - CU

Comes on in high
180 lumens with a std aaa [over 600 with a 10440]
Made of brass and has a shiny gold or matte finish
3 output modes.
XPL led

I picked one up the other week and i am very happy with it. It has a extra wide floody beam with a smooth transition from spot to spill. I measure it at 200 lumens on a fully charged eneloop and certainly impresses for a tiny aaa light. I bought this being an owner of the previous olight i3s 80 lumen model which is 3 years old and has been ultra reliable and robust.
The Olight I3S-CU also does NOT use an annoying flickery PWM driver which so many of the the other offerings in the AAA class do.
Good luck- so many good aaa lights.

Click to expand...

Yep, winner here.... Hands down for the price.

Prometheus Beta QR.

SVT-ROY said:

Yep, winner here.... Hands down for the price.

Click to expand...

+1

I have to agree with Archimedes, Peak Eiger. I have one in my pocket as I'm typing...as usual.

OLIGHT I7R will be you best friend!

wolfgaze said:

Maratac AAA Rev 3 from the CountyComm site...

Click to expand...

This is my vote. Right now they have the brass, copper, and aluminum models in stock. OP: let us know what you end up getting!

Dhaval said:

Old stock LD01 xpg.

Click to expand...

From where?

Lol my bad didn't think about it. Found a seller here in India who has it and bought one myself but I doubt he'd ship outside the country.

eBay? Posting a WTB on cpfm?

How come no one mentioned the DQG AAA ? Solid, extremely reliable, great efficient driver, affordable, great beam, great balance of throw and flood, magnet on the tail, really tiny, available in CW or NW. On my keychain since 4 years, still perfect.

In my view, one of the most under-estimated light ever built...

Thrunight TiS. It's a single mode Ti3 with something like 80 lumen output.

Here is the SS version
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SFMFKQY/?tag=cpf0b6-20

The Maglite Solitaire is also a good option. I put a bit of contact cleaner into mine and it's been rock solid. It's output is lower but it's reach is good thanks to a somewhat more spot like beam. Inside my Ti3 is more useful thanks to the flood beam. Outside the Maglite's spot beam works better for me even though it's peak output is quite a bit lower. It's certainly available in red.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGK9DF2/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I agree with Olight i3s EOS. Starts on medium and the head is very smooth and I find it well designed for fingers.

I must recommend highly against i7R which was mentioned. It seems to have ideal design for keychain use but it came off the keychain and we lost it on the very first use. (Actually found later but was just chance!) The magnet system is essentially a design error and doesn't hold the light securely. Also the fact that you can't just use it while attached (you have to take it off keychain) basically makes no sense. They're definitely onto something great with the idea - it just needs to be properly designed.

By far the most interesting I've seen is the Jetbeam Jet-µ (jet-micro?)
http://www.jetbeamlight.com/ShowProducts.asp?ID=98
It simply looks impressive but mainly it apparently has a head that you just single-twist to progress thru the three levels. This should have been common much earlier in flashlights as the standard multiple-twist to level is completely ridiculous.

nitedrive said:

Thrunight TiS. It's a single mode Ti3 with something like 80 lumen output.

Here is the SS version
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SFMFKQY/?tag=cpf0b6-20

The Maglite Solitaire is also a good option. I put a bit of contact cleaner into mine and it's been rock solid. It's output is lower but it's reach is good thanks to a somewhat more spot like beam. Inside my Ti3 is more useful thanks to the flood beam. Outside the Maglite's spot beam works better for me even though it's peak output is quite a bit lower. It's certainly available in red.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGK9DF2/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Click to expand...

The Ti3/TiS starts off in firefly mode and is a multimode 0.04L, 12L, 120L light. OP wants to start in med mode.

The Mag Solitaire LED is 37 L singlemode...OP wants 100L or more.




I would suggest the Oilight I3S as others have suggested.