Funny, if you had quickly flashed that photo in a game show, I would've blurted out "Crab Nebula"! It would make a nice special effect shot on a sci-fi movie.

Unfortunately, many of these cheap, tiny LED lights either use poorly QC'd components, like the LED, or don't go through much QC before being shipped off. But for $5, yeah, I would've expected something better than the Crab Nebula.

That Quark MiNi123 would be a most excellent light, IF it could use rechargeabled RCR123's. But it can't. What a shame. Buying primary CR123 cells just gets too expensive for me.

While we're talking 1xAAA lights, my latest pocket EDC light is a a Fenix E05 (just recently discontinued, I believe but some places still have stock). The flood optic on it gives a big, bright, even beam that is very useful for short distance lighting situations. Twisty switch, O-rings, not much to go wrong with it. Brighter than an E01, which can be too dim in situations where you have stray ambient light to compete with. Of course, you get shorter runtime than an E01, too.

My pocket AAA light has been a Fenix L0P SE (special edition) for more many years now and it has been flawless... I wonder what i'm going to upgrade it with if the need occurs!

There are some nice cheap lights out there, such as that Energizer one... enjoy!

same here