Okay, it's been a couple months since I bought a new AAA Maglight Solitaire to replace my ancient and battered Fenix E01. Have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, its a 'Made In U.S.A." product and has great factory service. On the other hand, it's a bit longer than my old Fenix. Does it make a difference? On one hand, battery life has been poor by comparison to my old Fenix. The original battery in the Solitaire was done in a month. It didn't get predictably dimmer like the Fenix, it just stopped working. It would come on then blink out. I thought something was wrong with it, and called Mag Industres to send it back. The nice lady on the phone informed that they do that when the battery gets low enough that it won't run the circuit. Who knew? I was using it as my night dog walking light, so every night it was on a constant run for 15 minutes every night for the first month. Stragely, the new and second battery seems to be lasting longer. Same brand of Everready energizer. On the other hand, it puts out a bright white light that puts my old Fenix to shame. I can shine it down the dark sidewalk and see way farther and clearly than my Fenix ever did. And it has a bit of focus from spot to tighter beam. Okay, less run time, more light. A trade off. I also like the simple on-off. No modes to fool with, no flashing strobes. Just twist on-twist off. I like that. The jury is still out, and most likely will be for some years to come. Had the old Fenix for over ten years, so we'll just have to see how the Maglight holds up by comparison.
I'm sure you could get a E01 here in the trade forums for a song, heck, I'd send you one for all the cool posts you made if the intercontinental shipping wasn't more than the light itself. I was always a fan of the E01 and stocked up on them a bit, gave away one or two and am down to 3 now. Love that thing. It's not just a lower output, longer run time thing. The E01 is something we call a battery vampire, a flashlight that sucks every last bit of juice out of a battery. For instance the Gerber Infinity ultra was one of the battery vampires in the AA format as well. I run my E01s on batteries that won't even work in a remote control, but the'll give a few hours if light when put inside a E01.
It was the light to have before all the newer ones came out. I really like Solitaires but as you've noted there are trade offs, thats with most anything. I dont suspect it'll fail as Maglite makes a good product. I have a 2C Maglite thats easily approaching 20 years. I'm sure there are many who have Magites much older that are still performing.