In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

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vivi
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#21

Post by vivi »

my streamlight microstream came in the mail today. I'll report back later tonight. I expect to like it a lot as long as the clip works well.

hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I have big hands. :unicorn
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#22

Post by kerrcobra »

I've always loved the Streamlight Microstream. But I had earlier versions without the built in Li-Ion battery, and inevitably they all had switch failures.

I'll be interested in your thoughts on it.
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vivi
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#23

Post by vivi »

Image

the good

+ black clip
+ clip is sturdy and doesn't slide around easily
+ tail end switch
+ all modes can be accessed with the tail switch
+ very slim
+ very light
+ pretty deep carry
+ momentary on using either brightness level
+ integrated charger
+ sliding metal usb port cover inspires long term confidence more than the rubber covers on my fenix e03r & pd36r

the bad

- switch is pretty stiff when turning on the light
- took over four hours to charge from an outlet after I opened it, and the light would turn on so the battery wasn't even completely drained. that's surprisingly long given the battery capacity
- only goes from low to high, no way to program the opposite order

I like it enough I ordered the larger, brighter version (Macrostream). While it isn't perfect, it's pretty much what I was looking for.

It is a lot slimmer in the pocket than the PD25. Length doesn't bother me - I don't even notice my pen clipped to my left pocket. It's the width of the CR123 lights that sometimes bother me.

The integrated USB port is nicely done. The metal slide cover should last longer than the rubber covers in my other lights, and the o-ring should keep moisture out.

I tried the light out on some wooded trails at night and in some dark interior spaces. The low setting is good for general use, and the high easily lights up as much of the forest as I'd need to see to safely night hike.

While I'd like a lower low, I have my keychain light to fill that role. I'm willing to compromise there to get a slim, light package like the Microstream.

Image

This is my current flashlight rotation.

Keychain light - Must be very small and light. Must have a very low low. For example I found the Surefire Sidekick too bulky. I like this Fenix for the compact size, USBC charging, very low lows, and red light which preserves night vision.

EDC pocket light - Although new, the Microstream seems like it will fill this role well. Thin and light, but easier to access and turn on quickly compared to the keychain light. More powerful with longer throw too. Sufficient for anything likely to pop up day to day.

Backpack light - Long battery life and high intensity beam. For situations where higher max brightness would come in handy, or when battery life may be a concern. Useful for searching for things at night, using as a flare while attending to car issues, tactical uses etc.

I have other more specialized lights, like bicycle tail lights, shotgun light etc., but these three roles cover my general purpose uses.

hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I have big hands. :unicorn
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#24

Post by Evil D »

I've been carrying a Fenix PD36R for about a year now I think. It's a little bigger and heavier than I wanted but when I need the extra output it sure is nice to have. Fenix have a couple models similarly sized that shoot up to 3k lumens I'm thinking about trying.
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ladybug93
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#25

Post by ladybug93 »

vivi wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:34 am

- only goes from low to high, no way to program the opposite order
the brown version has the opposite order, if that's what you're looking for. that's supposed to be more tactical, i guess, so they made it brown to go with military uniforms and it goes from high to low.
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#26

Post by TomAiello »

JRinFL wrote:
Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:01 pm
I know nothing about these and I am not endorsing them! However, these flat flashlights look interesting. https://www.panthervision.com/product-category/flateye/
I own two of them. They're not bad for the price point, and the form factor is pretty good for carrying in a pocket.
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#27

Post by z4vdBt »

AA for me, + Foursevens Quark QK2A MK III and single AA body. A great walking beam. Use it every morning at the dog park.

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kerrcobra
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#28

Post by kerrcobra »

z4vdBt wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:38 pm
AA for me, + Foursevens Quark QK2A MK III and single AA body. A great walking beam. Use it every morning at the dog park.

Image
This was going to be my original recommendation, but it wasn't any slimmer than his PD25. However, this one is my personal favorite; I have the Nichia 319a version. Love, love, love the Prometheus lights!
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JD Spydo
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#29

Post by JD Spydo »

Well I'm still staying with my two old standby, dependable Surefire units. I've got a Surefire E2D Defender LED model and a Surefire model 6PX. Both use 123a rechargeable batteries and both units are just super dependable. I've had both lights for some time now but when my shoulder ever heals I'm going to check out some new units as well.

That Surefire E2D Defender is just the totally ideal EDC flashlight. The 6PX Pro ain't bad either. I just love the dependability of those Surefire flashlights. So I'll stick with them for the time being.

I kind of wish that Spyderco & Surefire would some day do some type of collaboration together.
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#30

Post by TomAiello »

JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 11:12 pm
Well I'm still staying with my two old standby, dependable Surefire units.
How long have you had them?

'Dependable' and 'Surefire' haven't really occurred in the same sentence for me. I wonder if maybe they used to build good lights, and they've gone downhill. For sure, the Stiletto I bought in 2019 was totally dead within 9 months of purchase, and Surefire was unwilling to do anything about it.
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vivi
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#31

Post by vivi »

So far the streamlight has been treating me great. Pocket clip could stand to be a touch stiffer, but I can fix that easily.

Got these two lights in the mail to test against it. A Rovyvon and a Nebo.

Image

hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I have big hands. :unicorn
JD Spydo
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#32

Post by JD Spydo »

TomAiello wrote:
Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:03 am
JD Spydo wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 11:12 pm
Well I'm still staying with my two old standby, dependable Surefire units.
How long have you had them?

'Dependable' and 'Surefire' haven't really occurred in the same sentence for me. I wonder if maybe they used to build good lights, and they've gone downhill. For sure, the Stiletto I bought in 2019 was totally dead within 9 months of purchase, and Surefire was unwilling to do anything about it.
Well Tom I do find it very interesting and somewhat coincidental that you would bring up the point that you have had some bad luck with Surefire's products. Because this morning I was listening to the John Moore Show on (www.republicbroadcasting.org) and he had a guest named Sam Andrews who is a well known firearms expert who is on John Moore's show periodically. He had a call from a listener who was complaining about a Surefire firearms flashlight in which you mount on a gun. Mr. Andrews who works on guns said that he has had nothing but terrible luck with Surefire's products for use on firearms in the past 4 years or so. He went on to say that their customer service was horrible to him when he tried to remedy the problems he was having. I was just dumbfounded to hear that.

I got my first Surefire flashlight back in 2006 I think it was. Personally I've had great luck with their stuff over the years.

The other unit I currently have is a 6PX Pro and I've put it through some pretty rough jobs and it's been a very dependable unit. But between you and Mr. Sam Andrews and the bad luck you two have had you guys have me really curious.

The only gripe I have with these two units that I currently use is that they drain batteries pretty fast. However I am using rechargeable batteries and I've noticed over the years that those rechargeable batteries don't seem to last as long for whatever reason. I'm going to have to check this out. That's so strange that I would hear these two complaints on the same day. Feel Free to PM me Tom because I am curious as to what type of problems you all are having.
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#33

Post by kerrcobra »

vivi wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:10 pm
So far the streamlight has been treating me great. Pocket clip could stand to be a touch stiffer, but I can fix that easily.

Got these two lights in the mail to test against it. A Rovyvon and a Nebo.

Image
I'm very interested in your thoughts on that Rovyvon after you test it out. I have a couple of their small keychain lights, and I really do like them, but the e-switch has some terrible parasitic drain which makes me wary of depending on one. I usually end up carrying one of them in conjunction with my Prometheus Beta QRv2. I'm probably going to pick up one of those new Microstreams. I prefer low > high, so the black one sounds like the right choice for me.
--Jeremy
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#34

Post by TomAiello »

JD Spydo wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:04 pm
That's so strange that I would hear these two complaints on the same day. Feel Free to PM me Tom because I am curious as to what type of problems you all are having.
When mine failed, it just basically wouldn't power on. When I plugged it in, it showed charging, but when I unplugged it, it acted as if the battery was totally dead.

I suspect that the battery had failed, but I can't say for sure. I could have torn it apart and tried to figure it out, but once it became obvious that Surefire wasn't willing to fix it (I had sent it in to them), I basically just abandoned it.
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vivi
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#35

Post by vivi »

Some quick impressions

Image

So the Fenix PD25 has been my EDC for a while. The things I never liked about it were:

- Have to remove battery to charge it
- It's thick
- Silver clip
- Using the side button to switch modes

All of these lights avoid all of these issues, aside from the A33's shiny clip.

In order of bright to least bright: Rovyvon A33, Fenix PD25, Streamlight Microstream, Nebo Inspector RC.

Image

The A33 can't really be topping out at 200 lumens considering the Fenix is rated at 550.

The Microstream is the only one that uses PWM on these higher modes.

The Microstream has been working well for me, but the small size and light weight make it feel like a bit of a toy compared to the Nebo and Rovyvon. It has a slide cover for the USB port instead of a screw down cover, another drawback. The beam also has a green / yellow tiny compared to the white / blue tint to the others.

The clicky is also the stiffest to operate. It feels bad to use, I have to push way too hard. This combined with the light being shorter than my palm is wide make it uncomfortable to turn the light on for me.

To be fair, the Macrostream I have in the mail is probably a more comparable light to the Nebo and Rovyvon than the Micro version.

The Microstream gets high marks for the small size and weight, nice flood to the beam, and a nice black finish across the light body & clip.

Next, the Nebo.

Right away the mode switching caught me off guard. If you tap or full press the button, it turns the light on high. Press it again it turns on low, press a third time for strobe.

What confused me is I could turn the light on, use it for 20 seconds, then turn it off. When I turned it back on, it'd be in a different mode.

No instructions and the box didn't mention it, but you have to wait about ten seconds between uses for the light to turn on in high mode. If you turn it off and on wuicker than that, it changes modes. Easy enough.

Other than that little learning phase, I like it. The beam is bright and has a neutral tint. The clip works with less fuss than most flashlight clips, and seems to grip well enough. Carries well. The extra length over the others is noticeable, but not as big of a deal to me as thickness, YMMV.

Always found zooms gimmicky but this one does make the middle of the beam noticeably brighter. Time will tell if I ever use that function.

Screw down cover for the USB port is another plus over the Microstream. The clicky is much better too. Easier to depress but not so easy it'd come on by accident tossed in a pack.

For the price I think the Nebo is a good value.

The Rovyvon A33 has two things I dislike about it, but it the light in my pocket as I write this.

First, the clip. Shiny silver. Black would have gone with the light so much better. May spray paint it tonight.

Second, the beam doesn't turn on if you tap the tail switch. You have to hold or double click. Not a fan of that. With how the switch is slightly recessed from the body I think its overkill.

Other than that, I love it. The size is the best for me. Not as long as the Nebo or fat as the Fenix. Feels much higher quality than the Microstream. Compared to the Streamlight the beam is brighter and has a more neutral tint. In fact the light is much brighter than the 200 lumen rating suggests. It's brighter than the Fenix that is supposed to be around 550 lumens!

Operation is pretty straight forward. Hold the switch for about a quarter of a second to turn on the light to the lowest setting. Tap it to cycle between the four modes. Hold it to turn off. Triple tap for strobe.

Now where things get interesting is memory mode.

I found out right away I not like holding the button ane cycling through the very dim modes to get to a general purpose 150 lumens or so.

With the memory feature you set the light to your desired setting, then double tap. The light flashes to confirm.

After that, when the light is off, you can double tap the light to access that setting immediately.

So if I tap and hold I get super low moonlight mode. If I double tap I get brightness level 3 of 4. If I triple tap I get strobe. I like this setup.

Despite not liking the color of the clip, it is the best functioning one of the bunch. It actually has enough clearance to easily slide on to a thick pair of pants. Just look at the clip on the A33 vs the Microstream and you can see what I'm talking about. It takes me two hands to get the Microstream clipped to a pair of carhartt work pants.

Most flashlight clips have extremely little clearance and make it difficult to reclip them one handed, for reasons beyond me. Trying out different flashlights really makes me appreciate spydercos clips, because most flashlight clips have significant issues.

I'm impressed with the A33 and plan to browse the rest of their line tonight.

TLDR: Rovyvon A33 is favorite

hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I have big hands. :unicorn
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#36

Post by Surfingringo »

Hey Vivi, I’m not really a flashlight “Afi” but I decided to buy something small a couple of years ago and settled on one of the Olights. I’m not sure which model it is…maybe the S2R? Anyway, I have been quite happy with it overall but the main feature that I appreciate is the dual direction clip. It can clip in the pocket but also has a reverse bend so you can clip it onto the bill of a hat. For me, this is BY FAR the most useful feature on the light and after having that one for awhile I would not even consider a light that didn’t have a dual direction clip like that. I see from your photo above that the Streamlight Microstream has that style of clip.

The only thing I don’t like about the Olight is it is a little on the heavy side and though the clip has enough tension to keep it on the bill of a hat, I would feel a bit safer about it not coming unclipped if it were a bit lighter weight. The power is beyond what I really need so if I ever replace it I am willing to give up a bit of power for something lighter weight.
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vivi
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#37

Post by vivi »

I ended up painting the A33 clip black. Matches my blacked out Pacific Salt much better now. I'll post some pictures later today. Giving it a bit more time to dry out before I put it back on the light.
Surfingringo wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:23 am
Hey Vivi, I’m not really a flashlight “Afi” but I decided to buy something small a couple of years ago and settled on one of the Olights. I’m not sure which model it is…maybe the S2R? Anyway, I have been quite happy with it overall but the main feature that I appreciate is the dual direction clip. It can clip in the pocket but also has a reverse bend so you can clip it onto the bill of a hat. For me, this is BY FAR the most useful feature on the light and after having that one for awhile I would not even consider a light that didn’t have a dual direction clip like that. I see from your photo above that the Streamlight Microstream has that style of clip.

The only thing I don’t like about the Olight is it is a little on the heavy side and though the clip has enough tension to keep it on the bill of a hat, I would feel a bit safer about it not coming unclipped if it were a bit lighter weight. The power is beyond what I really need so if I ever replace it I am willing to give up a bit of power for something lighter weight.
The microstream sounds like it could work well for you then. It has the dual clip but it really light, so it should work well clipped to a hat.

I never use that feature personally, not a hat guy. But its a neat way to make a light double as a head lamp.

hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I have big hands. :unicorn
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#38

Post by JD Spydo »

TomAiello wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 4:35 pm
JD Spydo wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:04 pm
That's so strange that I would hear these two complaints on the same day. Feel Free to PM me Tom because I am curious as to what type of problems you all are having.
When mine failed, it just basically wouldn't power on. When I plugged it in, it showed charging, but when I unplugged it, it acted as if the battery was totally dead.

I suspect that the battery had failed, but I can't say for sure. I could have torn it apart and tried to figure it out, but once it became obvious that Surefire wasn't willing to fix it (I had sent it in to them), I basically just abandoned it.
Like I said earlier all of my Surefire units that I have now all use 123a rechargeable batteries. And I've been rotating 8 of the 123a rechargeable batteries that I got from Surefire>> and I got the charging unit from them as well. But I do find it interesting that in the past 2 months or so I've heard some complaints about Surefire's products. And to hear you and that gunsmith both in the past 24 hours registering complaints has got my attention I can assure you.

In the past they've been a great American Company it would be sad to see them go downward in their ratings :( I've always had great luck with their customer service as well. It is sad to see many of these companies to take a turn for the worse especially after they built such a good name over the years. :(
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vivi
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#39

Post by vivi »

This is better:

Image
Last edited by vivi on Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

hey guys, I just wanted to let you know I have big hands. :unicorn
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Re: In search of the perfect EDC flashlight

#40

Post by JRinFL »

I think the decline at Surefire started when Paul Kim left. Now it is mostly due to layoffs after the US military stopped buying as much gear and the unending pressure from Chinese companies that don't have to deal with California's anti-business regulations.
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