Has anyone seen the new white Inova Inova LED Microlight LED lights? Half the price of a Photon2 ($6 @ Wally World) and they are just as bright, come with an always on slide switch, 15 hour run time and they are waterproof. I sent my Arc AAA PE in for replacement and I'm going through withdraw so I have been rediscovering my Photons and trying out some new LED lights as well.

Those aren't new. I think they even pre-date photons. I've had a red one on my airplane keychain for at least 3 years.

I just happened upon the white ones in Wally World the other day. You sure the white ones have been around that long? Never seen them before. Can't imagine why people would buy white Photons for twice the price when these have been around for years.

Actually, I don't know if the white ones have been around long. Probably not, white LED's haven't been around very long. Like I said, I've had a red one for a long time that looks exactly like that. I never did like the metal strap it hangs from, it takes too much room on a keychain, and it doesn't allow the light to swing.

I agree. The first thing I did with it was remove the metal strap. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Those are nice lights, a little bigger than a Photon II and uglier, but certainly functional, and you can change the batteries without tools. There are two versions, one with the slide switch and one without. If they're selling the slide switch version for $5, that's a very good deal.

Countycomm also sells some slide switch lights for $1 each in bags of 20. Unfortunately they're out of the white-led version for now (more are expected soon). But they do have red and blue available last I looked.

All these lights are reviewed at the LED Museum, www.ledmuseum.org .