the_other_dougreeves
Well Known Member
I have been a happy owner of a Surefire A2 flashlight, which combines 3 low-power LEDs with a high-power xenon bulb. It's solidly built and works perfectly. However, it has three minor problems:
1. It's a bit big to leave in the flight bag.
2. Its too expensive to leave in the flight bag - $150ish
3. It takes Lithium 123 batteries, and we have moved everything in the aircraft and survival gear to AA batteries.
So, I picked up a Fenix L1T light. It uses a Luxeon III LED powered by a single AA battery. Its twin the L2T uses the same head but a body that takes 2 AAs.
The light is well built from aluminum. The anodizing isn't as good as the Surefires. It has a flat bottom with a recessed "clickie" switch, so you can stand it on the end and point it at the ceiling.
The light has a low and high setting. The low is reasonably bright - it's not something you want to use if you want to keep your night vision. The high is pretty bright - not as bright as a 60 lumen Xenon bulb, but pretty bright. High and low are selected by twisting the head.
It uses a voltage boost circuit to keep the output fairly steady until the battery is almost dead. A review puts the battery life on high at about 1:30. Since I normally use the low setting, I can say it goes about two weeks of daily use between battery charges - I use NiMiHi cells.
The lights are both about $45 at online stores. I like the single AA version because it's smaller and still plenty bright. Worth putting in the flight bag and survival pack.
1. It's a bit big to leave in the flight bag.
2. Its too expensive to leave in the flight bag - $150ish
3. It takes Lithium 123 batteries, and we have moved everything in the aircraft and survival gear to AA batteries.
So, I picked up a Fenix L1T light. It uses a Luxeon III LED powered by a single AA battery. Its twin the L2T uses the same head but a body that takes 2 AAs.
The light is well built from aluminum. The anodizing isn't as good as the Surefires. It has a flat bottom with a recessed "clickie" switch, so you can stand it on the end and point it at the ceiling.
The light has a low and high setting. The low is reasonably bright - it's not something you want to use if you want to keep your night vision. The high is pretty bright - not as bright as a 60 lumen Xenon bulb, but pretty bright. High and low are selected by twisting the head.
It uses a voltage boost circuit to keep the output fairly steady until the battery is almost dead. A review puts the battery life on high at about 1:30. Since I normally use the low setting, I can say it goes about two weeks of daily use between battery charges - I use NiMiHi cells.
The lights are both about $45 at online stores. I like the single AA version because it's smaller and still plenty bright. Worth putting in the flight bag and survival pack.
