Got this little guy from County Comm for around $40 a few months ago. It's based on their standard Maratac AAA platform, but instead of aluminum or stainless steel, they went with a beautiful hand polished solid copper body. It's heavy, and feels awesome in the hand. It's UI is slightly revised from the earlier AAA versions. The PWM frequency is much higher than the previous versions and instead of starting on medium like the others, it now starts on low. I prefer that. The light comes hermetically sealed in this foil pouch. Opening it up is like breaking open an ancient treasure chest. Unwrapping: This thing is so beautiful. The pictures really don't do it justice. And yeah, this thing is solid copper: The machining looks fantastic, as does the laser-etched logo. XP-E (notice the plastic aligning things on all four sides. Looks like a 4Sevens). The LED's tint is definitely classified as "cool white", but it's about the creamiest cool white I've run into. The LED is well centered: It was a lot smaller than I had expected, even with it being a AAA light. Here's it next to a 4Sevens Mini AA: I know this review is very picture heavy, but with a light like this it almost has to be. Part of the lure is the beautiful metal and its interesting oxidation. It'll look different depending on what part of the country you live in, how often you carry it, how often you clean it. Every one of them out there riding day-to-day in pocket look different. Like I said, it's gorgeously machined. The polished look lasted for about two days before a bright pink patina set it. The pink turned a bit toward the brown side, and more recessed areas that weren't disturbed during normal carry became the slightest shade of green (not Statue of Liberty, mind you). My only gripe is that the threads were dirty when I got it and it was mode skipping worse than any light I've ever had. But after I deep cleaned them and re-lubed them it was working a whole lot better, though it still skipped every once in a while. Through regular use the mode skipping is now a non-issue. The modes are low → medium → high, and there are no goofy blinky/strobe/SOS modes to muddle the flow. There is no memory, and it reverts back to low after being off for several seconds. Low mode is advertised as being 1.5 lumens, with medium putting out 18, and high 80. Those numbers seem on the money. Runtimes are 50 hours, 4 hours, and 48 minutes, respectively. The lens is treated with an anti-reflective coating and the light features reverse polarity protection, so you won't fry it if you stick a battery in backwards in the dark. The weight, without battery, is nearly 27 grams. Output is great. The low is low and the high is very respectably bright. Runtime is great for the output. It cost me approximately $45 inc. shipping from CountyComm.com (the only place you can buy it from). Maratac makes four other AAA models, all featuring the same body: two stainless steel models (a satin and a polished model) and two aluminum models (black anodized and "natural" anodized). Since I got it I've documented the patina progression. Here are some examples. Day 3: Day 5: Day 16: Day 40: Overall I'd say it was definitely worth the money. It's a curiousity, sure. You might think the novelty would keep it from functioning as a great light, but it in no way does. I've EDC'ed this many, many times and it's never failed me. If you dig copper things, you won't regret spending the money on this. ;D
i have one of these. got it about 5 months ago and it is still my go to flashlight when needed. i noticed that putting it in direct sunlight for days on end gives it a reddish tint. i started doing this but then gave up. i also have the polished ss and hardly ever use it. the light on this is brighter than that version by a small amount.
Thanks for review... Thinking on getting one of those, and yes copper embassy pen is ridiculously expensive!!!! Just too much!
Wow, that's a lot of output for such a little light. Very pretty and not too expensive. You have me considering one...
Like I need another flashlight, I knew I should'nt have read this post, time to order one, it is beautiful.:smitten:
Great review MH and AWESOME pictures. I'm drooling and I carry that same light every day! Mine rides on my keychain and took on a lovely purple/red patina before settling down to a nice aged look with pink tinges. Thanks for posting!
This review is very dangerous! I bought one at the end of the reading ;-) Thanks!! Alex Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Great review mhphoto: informative, thorough and well-written; superb photos. The only thing you could do to improve ... send Paypal to reimburse me for the purchase you caused. ;D
Thanks for the comments, everyone! Perhaps I need to be getting a kickback back from County Comm, haha.
Wow..very good review MHP...I have three lights in the mail on the way to me right now...and am VERY close to buying one of these...They are beautiful!
I bought one also , came three days ago in the mail. It is a little mini powerhouse, just might be my favorite.
Wow.. I must have gotten the last one. Mine came on Monday. Whew! Oh and Countycomm wasn't the only place that carried them. Almost all Countycomm stuff can also be bought at http://www.endtimesreport.com/survival_shop.html#Tweezers They were out of stock when I went to order mine though so was stuck with Countycomm.
Another place that sells them - and where I'm getting one for Christmas - is http://www.survivaldepot.co.uk. Such an awesome site for EDC gear, especially if you live in the UK.