Keychain Light Show-down

[Murph]

Wandering though REI this afternoon, I spied an addition to their shelves. The Gerber Tempo AAA keychain LED Light for $10.
I had been looking for a possible replacement for my LED Lenser that used AG13 watch batteries.


Look ma' their super tiny. The LED Lenser has a push button tail cap. Tempo, is operated by screwing the tail cap till in turns on. Oh, and it didn't come with that key ring either. (wtf, over?) Gerber, if you're listening, make a push button tail cap.


While the LED Lenser did come with a spare set of batteries, the Tempo wins this one for being AAA


Not really a fair test here, but oh well. The LED Lenser has been riding along with my keys in my pockets for several months now. It's been warn in, and turned on by accident more then once. The brand new Tempo throws out more light.

Tempo's Specs:
http://www.gerbergear.com/index.php/product/id/261

LED Lenser's (aka Coast) Specs:
http://www.coastportland.com/product.ph ... &prodnums=¿183¡186¡1030¡1036¡928¡943¡199¡204¡1029¡214¡216¡194¡271¡272¡274¡275¡953¡954¡18¡13¿&mastCat=1&catid=6

[xxxDarksidexxx]

im a big fan of gerber. my two knives, multi tool, and machete are all gerber, but dont own any of their lights. looks liek you have a nice little light there. i agree they should have a tap button on the back. i have an led lenser and i love it.

[sunspot]

IMHO, the ARC is the best AAA light on the market. Fenix makes a nice one also but I've used an ARC for about 8 years now. I never did the the Lenser/Coast line.

BTW, ARC is made in the USA

[Murph]

IMHO, the ARC is the best AAA light on the market. Fenix makes a nice one also but I've used an ARC for about 8 years now. I never did the the Lenser/Coast line.

BTW, ARC is made in the USA

Had to look them up. They look nice too... but again, no push button tailcaps.
http://www.arcflashlight.com/index.html

[joekaveh]

If I could combine my Fenix L0D-CE Q4 with the "tank" arc aaa and keep it under $75, I think we would have a winner.

[KMAC179]

ATM my keychain light of choice is a maratac AAA from county comm...

[Murph]

ATM my keychain light of choice is a maratac AAA from county comm...

Linky:
http://www.countycomm.com/aaa.html

Cool. I'm not sure I'd have much use for the three-modes but that is a nice feature.

[KMAC179]

ATM my keychain light of choice is a maratac AAA from county comm...

Linky:
http://www.countycomm.com/aaa.html

Cool. I'm not sure I'd have much use for the three-modes but that is a nice feature.

indeed it is. the low lumen setting conserves power, but if I really need the light, I can switch to high. I did a heads-up comparison to the fenix EO1 and it blows it out of the water. I would like to see it next to the gerber...would be an interesting match.

[metallifan]

if your willing to throw down the fenix LD01 is a whole lotta light for 1xaaa i believe 60 lumens max and has been very durable, also i prefer the rotating bezel for turn on because its near impossible to accidentally turn it on

[elkhills]

For the sake of variety, here's a side by side on 2 AAA lights I have; a Maglite Solitaire and a Fenix EO1.

I took this pic with the lights dimmed.


The Fenix is brighter, and bluer, and expected to last 5 hours longer than the Maglite. It also costs 3 times more.
At around 40' both lights hit the back fence well enough to see details, and to see where I was going down the side yard.
The Maglite can be focused to a point, while the Fenix is not adjustable; you get a very bright but diffuse blue light.

So while the Fenix certainly seems to me the better light, and at $15 it's not breaking the bank, for the same money you could have 3 perfectly usable lights, with a few drawbacks.

[Problem Child]

I have a regular ARC AAA and a Premium.The premium is noticeably brighter.The wife says I'm night-blind so I use the ARC a lot and both lights have been in heavy use for many years.I even use the ARC for getting in and out of the woods when hunting. You can't go wrong.....unless you lose the little sucker.

[sunspot]

You can't go wrong.....unless you lose the little sucker.

I lost mine once. Then I added Tritium

[Aceman]

I really dig my little Gerber Ultra

[Bonecrusher Doc]

I've never seen one of these except on NG's website, but the idea of a flashlight that you plug directly into your cigarette lighter sounds nifty to me:
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/ ... -spotlight
Also comes with an adapter so you can still plug in your GPS or whatever while the flashlight's charging.

[Murph]

I've never seen one of these except on NG's website, but the idea of a flashlight that you plug directly into your cigarette lighter sounds nifty to me:
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/ ... -spotlight
Also comes with an adapter so you can still plug in your GPS or whatever while the flashlight's charging.

I saw something just like that in Target the other day. It nearly came home with me, until I realized there wouldn't be a time that I didn't have the one on my key ring with me.

[Woods Walker]

I have a bunch of 1XAAA lights but often toss a coin cell on the keychain. These are cheap to replace. The 1XAAA are great backup lights for the pack and UL EDC. The E01 spanks a 1xAAA Mag by a long shot. The best looking are my Leatherman S1/S2. The stainless bezel is just cool and they have a tail clicky. Both are made for Leatherman by Fenix. The S1 is an E01 and S2 is a two mode LOD. I have a 3-mode iTP EOS and its the best of the lot. So UL sometimes I can't find what pocket the darn light is in. The lumen settings are well spaced with 2/20/80. Not sure if it puts out 80 on the high end but that XP-E Q5 LED is bright for sure.

[WhoShotJR]

Both are made for Leatherman by Fenix.

I had been wondering about that. Picked up a couple of packs at Costco last week with a LM Blast and LGX 200 flashlight for cheap. Thought that the flashlight seemed just like a Fenix but with thinner metal in the body. Has pretty impressive light output too, around 3/4 of my P2D.

[Tperkins]

I really like the Photon Freedom Micro I bought at REI. Best $12 bucks I'd spent in awhile, except it went missing on my last group 3-day river trip

I'll get around to a Fenix or two someday, but my Surefire G2 and either my Pelican L1 or my Maglite Solitare are good to go for now. The L1 is having some switch problems, it'll dim to about 20% of normal if you shake it up a little, but can be shaken again to get back to full power, its odd.

I'd like one of the SF backup lights, or the E01 sometime next year.

[deeds]

I have an Inova Microlight and a Photon Freedom Micro. The Photon is smaller, brighter and variable brightness (Inova has only bright and dim). The Inova has a better UI for the strobe functions whereas the Photon is a bit more tricky but has more strobe options. I like both lights but prefer the Photon. The only downside for me is the price since I can't find a local distributor and have to pay international shipping. That being said, I have a bunch of cheap copys I bought off ebay for EDC. That way, I dont worry about breaking/losing or even giving them away.

I'm going to have to agree with Woods Walker on the AAA front. I was in love with my OD Fenix E01 until I bought the upgraded iTP EOS (also in OD). It has far superior brightness (not to mention multi light modes) but only cost a few dollars more than the E01 (constant 10 lumens)? If you would like to compare apples with apples, the Fenix LD01 has similar specs and functionality but costs almost twice the price! I actually found this very strange since Fenix have always offered value packed lights.

IMHO the only downside to the EOS is how it defaults to Medium setting every time you turn it off.

[sunspot]

I went looking for the EOS and came acroos a nice read.

ITP A3 EOS & Maratac AAA Reviews: RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS, DETAILED PICS & more!

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=240639

[6shooter]

I've got a push button Energizer button cell light on my keychain right now that puts out a surprising amount of light. Plenty to light up a smooth trail or road to navigate, or find your way through the house in the dark in the event of a power outage. I think it cost about $7.


I do really want an Olight AAA Titanium light, same as the iTP A3 EOS, but with a titanium body(I only want the Olight version because it comes in a package with the Olight M20, for only $5 more than the M20 itself). Something about putting out 80 lumens for almost an hour on a AAA battery is just awesome. There are Surefire 2 CR123 lights that don't do much more than that.

[ZGhostRex9]

I have had my Gerber Recon for over a year now and I have to say it's been a pretty good light. It's not the brightest by far but the battery life is great and it's water resistant (not that it's a problem in the middle of the desert )

[Woods Walker]

Both are made for Leatherman by Fenix.

I had been wondering about that. Picked up a couple of packs at Costco last week with a LM Blast and LGX 200 flashlight for cheap. Thought that the flashlight seemed just like a Fenix but with thinner metal in the body. Has pretty impressive light output too, around 3/4 of my P2D.

Yea I think Fenix is behind most of the Leatherman lights, the S1-S3 for sure. I EDC the S2 for a few months before getting the iTP 3-mode EOS. The S2 is pure win however. The light is far under rated in terms of output. Hard to judge as the beam in floodier than the EOS but seems almost as bright. Guessing 60ish lumens on high. If not for the smaller size of the EOS I would still be EDC the S2 and even noW take it along sometimes. But for a keychain its a bit too big. The build quality is = to anything Fenix makes and is backed by Leatherman for 10 years. Also have a S1 in my little green Bag-O-Survival.

Here is my ZS review.

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=37865

[sunspot]

Dam it Woods Walker. Why did you have to post about the iTP EOS?

Now I have one on order.