Hey all,
I'm putting togethather an altoids size psk for a relative who is going to be entering the military. From time to time I'll be asking questions of the brain trust here for advice and on certain items which will be included in it. This thime it's flashelights. What I'm looking for is a TINY flashlight. It must use AAA batteries so I can include the ones with a ten year shelf life. It must be LED and it must give the same amount of light or greater than the ultra inifinity light with a single alkiline A battery. Spare colored Lenses would be a welcome bonus. I saw a fenix lite in a catalog that I could possibly slim dowm and shorten a bit with my old pen lathe in a catalog but there was no mention of lumens and it was half inch diameter, the same as thier single A. Far too thick for such a small container.
A note on flashlights here. I bought a small rubber coated AAA model. On the package it clearly said IDEAL FOR EMERGENCY/SURVIVAL KITS. It also claimed 9000 lumens twice, front and back. It is manufactured by Vibe. I put batteries in it, new alkilines, and waited until it was dark and expected to light up the great room like it was daylight. "Old batteries," Bunny suggested and Tomboy rolled on the couch laughing. Three different sets of batteries later we compared it to the 5 lumen Everready head lamp I had bought anf the flashlight was barely brighter. So I strongly suggest caution when considering any VIBE product from Dollar General or any other source.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks, Izzy.
There are a lot of snake docs out there since that semi amusing series aired.I had the name long before the guy wrote the book. Never have found out where he heard the name. It replaced my old nick which got a little too well known for my comfort. I'll check out the kit you made. The Vibe light was three triple A batteries. I'll try and take a pic of the package and post it. Don't know a lot about flashlights, just that I want 'em to work when I need 'em and that I can buy the batteries at 7-11 24/7.
Thanks again for all your advice. Like the new pic.
Post Script: Nice kit you made. But I couldn't get the movie to play. The E05 Is my first consideration. Smaller size, longer run time and a bit brighter would be nice.

I have little use for the brightness conversation when talking about AAA lights. It always leads to disappointment because we all have bigger lights that are way brighter.

So, if you want something that is boringly reliable and infinitely better than no light at all, then I can vouch for Fenix E01. Fenix has other AAA lights that are brighter, but this is the AAA light I have. I actually don't want my AAA light to be too bright because someone is bound to borrow the light at some point, keep it cranked on to the max, and quickly drain the battery. I just want my AAA light to work, and the E01 just works.

Thanks Ireckon. Hopefully I've instilled enough sense in her not to be opening the kit except in a emergency. (One reason I won't mention the hundred dollar bill buried way down in the bottom. LOL.

The Ultralife Lithium U9VL-J 9V battery has a 10 year storage capacity.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=176514&page=1

Pak-lite LED heads can be swapped out for Red, IR Pak-lites etc if required.

Thanks for the in fo Am_Fear. Will definently go into the consideration file.

Hey Izzy. Saw the video until it froze. Nice, compact kit. Like the capsule you used. While I like in the air tonight by Phil collins I think it might be more informative to the newbs to have the model actually explaining what he's showing. Just my humble opinion.

A Feni LD01 fits nicely in an Altoids and mine could be easily trimmed. The brightest level is something like 70 lumens (real lumens that is). Mine is on my keyring and I would not hesitate to use it on a night hike as my primary light. Two lower light levels allow me to extend battery life.


You might post your question on Candlepower Forums. You will get lots of good suggestions there, including some custom makes.

Hmmm... unless his voice is as distivtive as mine is I doubt he has to worry about speaking. The face I can understand. I myself am extremely camera shy. Some told me there's apelican type case the size of an altoids for kayakers, have you seen one?

Thanks hiker. Sounds interesting. The smaller the light the more room I'll have to work with. I never even heard of the forum you mentioned. I'll check it out. Thanks again.