Please don't fall for those HF ones, they are horrid. Yes, Most of those cheapie lights like that are 3 batteries in a holder
i ended up buying a led lenser which is fantastic but i bought it as an EDC and for work use. But had to buy a swiss tech as the lenser was blinding all my patients. so now i carry 2 because i like the lenser so much. ihave also ordered a few of the recomended flash lights, why i dont know but hey. Xiii
I forgot to add i work with a chinese guy who can get me the DQG AAA IV for half the price as his family live near where they are made and they will post them what a deal Xiii
Lol yea, barely. I'm no hippie but don't believe in buying really cheap stuff. It's likely to break and end up in a landfill. The soldering was probably done at a sweat shop for that price. At least buying fair quality ($15-25) Chinese lights you can hand them down to friends or sell them to recoup some of your money. Also, the light tint won't make you nauseous. Mmmm....10 purple lumens...
$20 AAA flashlights are like potato chips. But the ITP A3 EOS is the smallest, lightest and brightest I've found so far. It's my EDC unless I think I'll need my Eagletac D25C or larger. I'll be in the backyard playing with my flashlights. Why? I don't know.
I'm all for cheap, but not garbage. The x3 AAA are running 4.5v to get their output and runtime. Compare that to a $8 single AA light and you'll come out well ahead for the times you have to swap out three AAA batteries. By the time you're ready to swap batteries, you might as well throw the light out and buy a new one. And that's just...wasteful.
Go ahead with the DQG, they are excellent little lights. I travelled for a full month (camping, hotel, cabanas, etc...) and ended up using my TI one much more than my HDS. Solid, waterproof, shock resistant, small (REALLY small...), good balance of throw and spill, nice artifact free beam thanks to the optic instead of reflector, quite bright for such a small guy, very efficient analog driver (no annoying PWM), two useful levels, led is soldered directly on the driver board so less prone to being disconnected by a shock. And, the best part in my opinion, available in neutral white. One of the 3 lights I would keep among near 70 in my collection (even Surefire, HDS, Peak, Arc, Fenix, SWM, and many customs...). Here's a V2 stainless, V3 stainless and a TI one... They're all great but the TI one might be expensive a bit. There is really not a huge difference in weight with the SS since it's so small. The newest TI one (which I haven't seen) now support 10440 li-ion.
I too owned a few DQG AAA in Ti, and had been carrying them for more than half a year. Use the light a few times per week, and can say that they are decent in quality. And it is probably the smallest AAA (not Li-ion, but regular AAA) that one could find nowadays.
Instead of wishing for a better tool to do the job, the "best tool" you could possibly have is the one in your hand. I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment, but it's a very practical point of view.
That's also a good little light, but in another size category. It's almost 3/4 inch longer... (2-3 CM...).
I have a streamlight microstream that I've had for probably two years. It is bomb proof, its been dropped, used to chip ice, and through many washing machine cycles, thanks to my wife. If I was to lose it tomorrow, I'd buy another in a heartbeat.
IMO, even a large single AAA light is always pretty small. I have a Peak Eiger Keychain body in my pocket now, probably one of the larger lights of the category, and I forget it's there. Unless it's going on a keychain the "smallest light" often results in less than ideal stats or user interface. I really did like the DQG-II and it's very compact. Much like the Preon line I just wouldn't want to run over it with a car.
there a certainly a lot to choose from. i have had some really good advice on this subject from this thread and other threads on this forum about flash lights. some i think is brand related ( people gravitate to a favored brand ) performance related (lumens batteriy life etc) aesthetic related (smallest, shiniest, stone washed and etching etc) some on collecting, economy and practicality. its all been great advice but my head hurts and i cant afford them all. I have liked all the recomended flashlights. hell thats only the small AAA flash lights i am a bit nervous about asking about other sizes for my car, camping and shooting. cheers Xiii
It means that if, for example, you own an expensive high end light and a cheap light, but only feel comfortable carrying the cheap light every day, the cheaper light is your "best" light because it is the one you get the most use out of. While true, it's kind of a non-sequitur to say that when someone is asking what is the best tool to use. "I've never been to this restaurant. What's good here?" "The food you decide to order."
Metropolicity turned me on to them, but the 100 lumen Black Cat AAA from deal extreme is amazing. Tiny, bright, clicky.
