Help me pick a new EDC light

now you have the ld01, wait till the twisty switch annoys you then buy a $20 microstream and put the tail cap from it on the end of the ld01, no joke, it works, that was my favorite light till I lost it...think i'm going to do that again, there's still not a good aaa or aa that can match price/performance with a clicky switch form what I've been looking at.
 
My LD01 arrived yesterday and I was able to play with it a bit. Overall it seems very high quality. It is very bright for such a small light. Moving on I did notice a couple things:
- The mode selection is pretty picky. You don't have 2 seconds, but rather if you don't turn the light back on immediately it stays on medium.
- The beam is extremely floody. It is more floody than any other light I have ever had (I know... short list). It doesn't project very far, but it will light up the entire wall from across my living room (it's pretty small) where any of my other lights will have a hotspot in one area. I think this would be beneficial if I'm looking in the closet for something or walking on a trail. It's just very different from what I'm used to. Will take some getting used to. In the meantime I'm not sure what I think.

I installed a new Duraloop battery in it yesterday. Today I ordered a 2 bay Sanyo smart charger from amazon for $12.
 
I have three lights that are awesome.

JetBeam BC10, 270 max lumen, 1 cr123 battery. $45. (this pic uses the deep pocket clip of the RRT01 sold separately for about $6)
WSSMHAllBC10.jpg


Veleno Designs Quantum DD, 0-100 variable lumen, 1 10180 rechargeable. $60. Awesome keychain light and can be fitted with two trits.
OctoberKeys.jpg


Maratac (Copper version), 115 max lumen, 1 AAA battery. $60. This thing is super cool!
MiniCopperAlt3.jpg


For a decent budget light, the Streamlight Microstream is good along with the Nano. Both decent relatively cheap lights.
 
I recently upgraded from a Streamlight - Microstream(1x AAA) to a 4sevens - Preon2 (2x AAA) for $40 and I am extremely impressed!! The Preon2 is longer but I cant even tell its in my pocket, and the difference in brightness is unbelievable, so its worth the slightly larger size!!! It has all the standard modes, and at 160 lumens "High" it will run for almost an hour, and 2.2 lumens "Low" for 23 hours! I wish I would've found this light sooner because it truly is awesome!

I forgot to add that the only bad thing I can say about the Preon2 is its pocket clip SUCKS! Luckily for me, it broke off cleanly and my Microstreams clip fits perfectly and is MUCH nicer overall.
 
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Just got a Fenix E05. Not much use yet, but initial impressions are good. Feels good in the hand, easy to spin on and off with one hand, and has a decent range of twist where it acts as a momentary light if you just "pull" back on the head. really even flood, and good color. I'll see how it does in actual use at work, but I get the feeling that I'll be liking this light as an EDC. listed runtime is just under three hours, so I'll probably be getting some re-chargeables for it, but that depends on how often I end up replacing the battery, if it ends up being every couple months, it might not be worth trying to keep them charged. Time will tell. Either way, very good light for the price (even if it was inflated @27$)
 
soloz2 said:
...Today I ordered a 2 bay Sanyo smart charger from amazon for $12.
Click to expand...

Did you get any 10440 cells for it? They make an incredible difference in the light, though it heats up fast. I don't really use mine much (I like the medium and low settings on AAA), but if you're getting a smart charger an extra $3.50 or so for a high output battery will give you some fun for cheap.
 
I've found that I normally use low or medium on my ld01. I wish low was first. I have a Thrunite ti on the way.

I really like how small that little light on the key chain is.
 
Just read up on the quantum dd... Had I not spent this paycheck already I'd order one! I saw the thread, but didn't realize how smLl the light was.
 
I have carried an ITP A3 EOS upgraded for the past 2 years. It's been great until it recently crapped out on me. I think I'm going to try a Maratac AAA.
 
Preon 2 for the different modes but longer pencil type
Or
preon 1 or streamlight mircostream. Shorter
 
KYenglish said:
now you have the ld01, wait till the twisty switch annoys you then buy a $20 microstream and put the tail cap from it on the end of the ld01, no joke, it works, that was my favorite light till I lost it...think i'm going to do that again, there's still not a good aaa or aa that can match price/performance with a clicky switch form what I've been looking at.
Click to expand...

I was looking at this as an option. The twisty is ok, and but can be annoying and a nicer clip would be nice as I always carry it in my pocket. I Kershaw Skyline clipped in my right pocket and Ld01 in my left.
Does the preon body work for this mod as well? Or any other nice but not too expensive lights for that matter?
 
Not sure, I have only ever tried it with the microstream, which is cheap enough as well.

soloz2 said:
I was looking at this as an option. The twisty is ok, and but can be annoying and a nicer clip would be nice as I always carry it in my pocket. I Kershaw Skyline clipped in my right pocket and Ld01 in my left.
Does the preon body work for this mod as well? Or any other nice but not too expensive lights for that matter?
Click to expand...
 
Preon 1 all the way, and it comes in cool colors. Cheap AAA batteries, has a wide field of view. Pocket clip, super small and under 40 bucks, I got mine for 29 on amazon.com IN GOLD!
 
Preon 1 is alright, not sure if it packs enough punch to see 20-30 feet. The Preon 2 should be able to do that just fine. If you still want to aim a bit higher, $65 will get you a Quark Pro QP2L HCRI, which is 4.5 inches long and 0.86 inches in diameter. Runs on 2 CR123s(and rechargeables too) and puts out 230 lumens of High CRI warm light. I don't know if you ever notice this, but a strong cool tint light makes it difficult to make out specific objects from the surroundings, particularly if you're looking for a needle in a haystack. A warm tint light is closer to sunlight and most indoor lighting, which your eyes are more used to, so it'll be easier to make one thing out from the rest. You lose some lumens due to the warm tint, but I feel it's more practical.
 
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