- Joined
- May 15, 2012
- Messages
- 1,877
Streamlight Nano Light II, AAAA
Short review: pretty good, could be better.
I love tiny lights, which usually means AAA lights. But for some time, I have wanted to try a single-cell AAAA light, which should be even tinier. Klarus used to make one (the "Mi X5"), but I have never been able to get my hands on one of them.
Recently, I saw that the big river had a single-cell AAAA light for sale from Streamlight: the Nano Light II, running on a single AAAA. Streamlight is a reputable company that makes solid lights, and I was curious about the AAAA format. So, I purchased one.
It is well-made and generally well-designed. It is a simple twisty, on-off, with a single output of 20 lumens, which is a decent compromise between output and runtime. The beam is a good TIR product, some hotspot in the center but diffusing outwards towards a decent broad spill. The color is a bit cool for my taste, and it is not what I think of as a beautiful color, but as a whole the beam is perfectly respectable. The threads are a bit loose, and some reviews complain about the head coming off and getting lost. I found that a wrap of waxed floss made the threads stickier without making them less smooth.
The light came with an included Energizer AAAA. It worked fine, right out of the package.
I have also run it on cells broken out of 9v batteries. As you probably know, the AAAA-format cells that come out of 9v casings usually have the physical casing reversed from what we expect – the flat end of the casing is the + side, and the end with a sort of nipple-looking protrusion is the negative side. The Nano has a small, raised circle of plastic under the light-engine to provide negative polarity protection, so you will need to put a small conductor inside of that plastic circle in order to make contact with the flat end of the cells you salvage from a 9v. A 2mm steel ball would work, or a piece of aluminum foil wadded up into a ball of similar size. Not hard to do, and then the salvaged cells work without any fuss (and the spring in the back of the Nano light takes care of slight irregularities in length).
The AAAA cell is smaller than a AAA cell: its official size is 8mm diameter and 42mm length, as opposed to the 10mm diameter and 44mm length for the AAA cell. The difference in capacity, though is greater than those measurements would suggest: an AAA cell will give you roughly 1000mAh if run at low drain, and the AAAA will give you about half of that, 500-600mAh, if run at low drain. So, the AAAA cell gives you only half the battery-life of an AAA cell.
The photographs tell the story of why the Nano is not, in the long run, a success in my opinion. The Nano is too big! It is nearly the same length and diameter as a small AAA light, the ubiquitous Olight i3e. If I had been designing the Nano, I would have given it much thinner walls and a slimmer head, in order to take advantage of the smaller cell. What is the advantage of starting with a smaller cell, if the light itself is no smaller?
Given its current dimensions, you wind up with a light that is about the same size as a AAA light (a very small AAA light, granted) but has only half the capacity. Furthermore, you can only use a battery, the AAAA, which is extremely rare in the wild. If I find myself anywhere in the world – a hunting cabin in Ontario, a beach-cabana in Thailand, an office-building in Frankfurt – I have a pretty good chance of being able to find a AAA cell somewhere. But AAAA cells are either special order, or have to be salvaged from a 9v battery (of the right kind).
So: I'm glad to have this light, because it scratches a long-standing itch for a single-cell AAAA light. But the rarity of the cell and its lower capacity are serious drawbacks, and this light would need to be a lot smaller than it is, in order to fully make up for them. Add one to your collection if you are intrigued, but for a user, stick with AAA lights.
Short review: pretty good, could be better.
I love tiny lights, which usually means AAA lights. But for some time, I have wanted to try a single-cell AAAA light, which should be even tinier. Klarus used to make one (the "Mi X5"), but I have never been able to get my hands on one of them.
Recently, I saw that the big river had a single-cell AAAA light for sale from Streamlight: the Nano Light II, running on a single AAAA. Streamlight is a reputable company that makes solid lights, and I was curious about the AAAA format. So, I purchased one.
It is well-made and generally well-designed. It is a simple twisty, on-off, with a single output of 20 lumens, which is a decent compromise between output and runtime. The beam is a good TIR product, some hotspot in the center but diffusing outwards towards a decent broad spill. The color is a bit cool for my taste, and it is not what I think of as a beautiful color, but as a whole the beam is perfectly respectable. The threads are a bit loose, and some reviews complain about the head coming off and getting lost. I found that a wrap of waxed floss made the threads stickier without making them less smooth.
The light came with an included Energizer AAAA. It worked fine, right out of the package.
I have also run it on cells broken out of 9v batteries. As you probably know, the AAAA-format cells that come out of 9v casings usually have the physical casing reversed from what we expect – the flat end of the casing is the + side, and the end with a sort of nipple-looking protrusion is the negative side. The Nano has a small, raised circle of plastic under the light-engine to provide negative polarity protection, so you will need to put a small conductor inside of that plastic circle in order to make contact with the flat end of the cells you salvage from a 9v. A 2mm steel ball would work, or a piece of aluminum foil wadded up into a ball of similar size. Not hard to do, and then the salvaged cells work without any fuss (and the spring in the back of the Nano light takes care of slight irregularities in length).
The AAAA cell is smaller than a AAA cell: its official size is 8mm diameter and 42mm length, as opposed to the 10mm diameter and 44mm length for the AAA cell. The difference in capacity, though is greater than those measurements would suggest: an AAA cell will give you roughly 1000mAh if run at low drain, and the AAAA will give you about half of that, 500-600mAh, if run at low drain. So, the AAAA cell gives you only half the battery-life of an AAA cell.
The photographs tell the story of why the Nano is not, in the long run, a success in my opinion. The Nano is too big! It is nearly the same length and diameter as a small AAA light, the ubiquitous Olight i3e. If I had been designing the Nano, I would have given it much thinner walls and a slimmer head, in order to take advantage of the smaller cell. What is the advantage of starting with a smaller cell, if the light itself is no smaller?
Given its current dimensions, you wind up with a light that is about the same size as a AAA light (a very small AAA light, granted) but has only half the capacity. Furthermore, you can only use a battery, the AAAA, which is extremely rare in the wild. If I find myself anywhere in the world – a hunting cabin in Ontario, a beach-cabana in Thailand, an office-building in Frankfurt – I have a pretty good chance of being able to find a AAA cell somewhere. But AAAA cells are either special order, or have to be salvaged from a 9v battery (of the right kind).
So: I'm glad to have this light, because it scratches a long-standing itch for a single-cell AAAA light. But the rarity of the cell and its lower capacity are serious drawbacks, and this light would need to be a lot smaller than it is, in order to fully make up for them. Add one to your collection if you are intrigued, but for a user, stick with AAA lights.
