Slim single AA flashlight?

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

I will stick it out for a bit, but ...

That guide you just did for me ... torches shouldn't need that ... should they?

It kinda reminds me of the old finishing moves for Mortal Kombat on the Sega Megadrive. You'd tap buttons like crazy, get something slightly wrong, your character would lift one leg slightly as if he was gonna drop a cloudy one, then your opponent would just wobble and fall over. A few rounds of that and you'd got blisters on your fingers but still not ripped their sodding skeleton out 

It's the price for having a UI that allows you to access either low or high from off.  That's why I say it's a different mindset.  The UI of most torches produces what I call the "Quark Shuffle", which is having to repeatedly half-click through all the modes in sequence, even the disco modes. 

I cut my flashaholic teeth on Quarks, but their UI has really begun to wear on me, and the only FourSevens torch I have now that I bother to EDC anymore is my HCRI Preon, which I use with a one cell body and a clicky switch.  The disco modes are hidden, you have to go through a particular click sequence to get to them, and it only has three main modes; low, medium, and high.  I've gotten sick of all the clicking and combined bezel turning involved with all the other Quarks.  The main reason they're still my second most used lights after my Zebras is their Lego-ability, so I can mix and match heads, tailcaps, and body tubes and make just about anything I want with them. 

I've had a few Jetbeams too, only one left now though, my old Jet-III Pro ST, which has their "IBS" fully programmable UI.  Only three modes, but you can program each of them to be anything you want.  Main problem with it is that it's too easy to accidentally go into the programming mode.   

I've had some NiteCores, too, and they were nice for the most part.  I ended up gifting away all of the ones I had though.  My old EZ-AAw belongs to my son now, and it's still going strong.  I just don't care for twisty interfaces that much; although they do have some advantages for durability by not relying on a switch.

I've also had a few Fenixes, and their interfaces make the Quarks look like a walk in the park... twist, then click, then double twist, or double-click then double-twist then click... yada yada yada.     Needless to say, I no longer have any of them, either.

If it was just the UI that was an advantage of a Zebra for me, I probably wouldn't be as big on them as I am.  But, my experience with them has been very good in terms of their build quality, and particularly in terms of their consistency in their emitter tints.  I won't actually buy a Quark anymore unless I have some guarantee of what the tint is going to be, such as if it's a warm HCRI XPG emitter.  In the past, their tints, even with their neutral emitters, have been all over the map, and I've been extremely disappointed in the amount of variation in their tints. 

Zebralight is very picky about their tints, and their CS dept. has told me in email responses to questions I've asked them that they often have to wait to get emitters that are just the tint they want, which is why it takes them longer sometimes to get a particular "w" model to market; when Zebra says their emitters are going to be 4,200K, or 4,500K, I've learned I can trust them.  Add the side clicky design, and the single button UI that doesn't require me to do the Quark Shuffle, or deal with any bezel-twist jive, and I'm in heaven.  They're just fantastic little lights, and they're pretty much perfect for me. 

I guess that's why I already have five or six of them, and have a couple more on my wish list as well.  I'm waiting for a W or C version of the SC52, and am looking forward to a new 3xAA model they've got up on their comparison list as well.  Now I just need to figure out if I should get a new Solarforce host for another Nailbender P60 module I want first, or wait for the SC52w, or get the Spark ST6-460nw headlamp I've been wanting, or perhaps the new Spark SX5-320nw headlamp they just came out with... 

Okay, I'll shut up now!    In short, give yourself some time, be patient with the light, and you will eventually get used to it.  Once you do, you'll wonder how you ever got along with a torch with a Quark Shuffle UI in the first place!

[dks]

Makes me want to buy one of them fancy programmable torches to see what is all about.

[gregozedobe]

Makes me want to buy one of them fancy programmable torches to see what is all about.

They are a bit thin on the ground, and as Heinz says "Main problem with it is that it's too easy to accidentally go into the programming mode."   Unless I use a light a lot I can never remember how to get out of programming mode. let alone how to program it properly (yes, I do have way too many lights). 

So these days I usually end up EDCing Zebralights, Photon Freedom Micros or SafeLights (the 9V ones), I can (usually) remember how to use them.

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Makes me want to buy one of them fancy programmable torches to see what is all about.

They are a bit thin on the ground, and as Heinz says "Main problem with it is that it's too easy to accidentally go into the programming mode."   Unless I use a light a lot I can never remember how to get out of programming mode. let alone how to program it properly (yes, I do have way too many lights). 

So these days I usually end up EDCing Zebralights, Photon Freedom Micros or SafeLights (the 9V ones), I can (usually) remember how to use them.

Yeah, one reason I trimmed my stable down over the last year or so is because I got tired of forgetting which light I was using and ending up messing something up in the programming because I forgot I was using a Jetbeam instead of a Quark, and messed up the IBS settings and all that...     I guess I'm not a true flashaholic since I don't buy every new and fancy torch that comes out anymore, but I'm not a collector, and it bugs me to no end when I can't find one of my lights (or other tools).  It's a lot easier on my aging brain to only have to remember one or two different UI's, and the simpler they are, the better. 

I suppose a light with a mag-ring UI would take all the guess work out of that, but so far I've been happy with my Zebras, Quarks, Sparks, and the odd Jet-beam, Romisen, and SolarForces I have.  Honestly, I think I only have about a dozen different lights anymore; maybe 15 or so if I count the Photons and other keychain lights I've got.  If I include my old repurposed headlamps; PT's, BD's, and so on, I might hit two dozen total, but my working rotation of lights is only about 10 - 12 anymore, and I am very judicious whenever I buy another light anymore.

[Cupboard]

You want a Fenix E11 IMO

No fancy UI, you just have on and off with twist to select high or low.

I've had an LD01 and two LD10s and love them.

[Singh]

I have a Quark Mini AA, and I'm pleased with it.