Pocket/Keyring torch - recommendations?

[daved]

Can anyone recommend a reliable lightweight torch small enough to carry (comfortably) in your pocket?

Photons sound about right but I have never seen them in the shops here and they seem kind of pricey. Used to have a "Cyba-lite" LED torch but the rubber switches perished and the whole thing packed up.

Any views or suggestions?

 

[Ogri the trog]

Maglite Solitaire.

Ogri the trog

 

[Justin Time]

Photon's are great but at £8.95 it's hard to beat the Princeton eclipse from Heinnie Haynes clearance.

 

[innocent bystander]

Photon's are great but at £8.95 it's hard to beat the Princeton eclipse from Heinnie Haynes clearance.

Good call. I've just bagged a couple

 

[JonathanD]

Inova microlight, or the ASP light, both very bright, small and last for 110,000 hours plus.

 

[mark wood]

I recently got a Photon Freedom with the new brighter (supposedly x2 with no loss of run time) white bulb plus magnetic clip for less than a tenner off ebay (including shipping from the states). It's very good indeed!

Mark

 

[arctic hobo]

Ask Leon - he's a bit of a torch guru. His Inova torch impressed me a lot - I'd recommend it

 

[innocent bystander]

One that been chatted about on BB is this one :
http://www.theorb.co.uk/raw-torch.htm

Look's interesting, and supposedly a bit of a pocket searchlight. I think it'd have to be with a 12 minute run time !!

 

[swamp donkey]

I would go for princeton aurora for small and versatile, may be a little bit dear for some but takes normal batteries all my family have one for general use. only problem we have had is one got a bit loose but easily done up.
Black diamond gemini for heavier use (ie if you want to see a bit further).but still nice and small

inova micro lights lst about 15 hours on one set of batteries in my experience

 

[stevec]

personally i've got an ARC AAA, i put a threat up about them a little while back. they are not cheap, but solid and well built. they have(or had i suppose) quite a following on equipped.com, not to mention the cpf.
sc

see this post
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=6851

 

[MartiniDave]

I use a cheap & cheerful LED key-ring torch I got in Millets for about £8, its a Cyba-lite A31. Quite bright and pretty robust.

Dave

 

[daved]

Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

I used to use a Maglite Solitare but it is just a bit too large for a trouser pocket and I got a bit upset by how badly it got scratched by keys (OK call me shallow) so now it lives in my bag instead. I am really looking for something smaller if possible so the LED options sound good.

How does the Princeton eclipse compare to the Photons (other than being half the price!)? Looks kind of chunky in the pictures.

Talking of clearance sales, I came across the following US website which might be of interest:
http://www.theledlight.com/LEDFlashlights.html

some really cheap deals on photons ($7) if you don't want a white one. Postage seems a bit steep, although it is only an estimate. Does anyone have any experience of them?

 

[daved]

I use a cheap & cheerful LED key-ring torch I got in Millets for about £8, its a Cyba-lite A31. Quite bright and pretty robust.

Dave

Dave,
if that is the flat one that looks a bit like a photon then take care as my one fell apart really quickly - the rubber switches just seemed to perish and fall apart. Perhaps my trouser pocket is a more noxious environment than yours!

 

[MartiniDave]

Daved,

Thanks for the warning, but no, its not the flat one. I had one but it sort of fell apart. The one I mean is a bit smaller than a Maglite Solitaire, machied aluminium, quite nice really and a good bright beam, been in use since last October and still going strong on original batteries and looking good.

Dave

 

[Lost_Patrol]

Martinidave,
I've had (and lost) a couple of the cybalights that you have got - they are great little lights but watch out for the weakness in the chain. The swivel joint in the middle breaks, leaving the chain on your keyring, but no torch

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Andy]

Streamlight keymate seems to be just what your after. It's tiny and bright. Danzo has mentioned them a fair bit on britishblades so you should be able to dig up info from there. I believe Joe sells them (www.extremeoutdoorgear.com)

 

[innocent bystander]

Always had maglights, so i thought i'd try out led's by getting the princeton attitude (yeah - i got attitude !!), and the quality always impressed the heck out of me. Never saw light so bright and white from something so small. Until i got the inova x5. Now that is awesome. Hopefully my Gladius will turn up tomorrow.
Shouldn't really go to the BB forum, it's bad for the wallet.
Anyway, if the eclipse is as good a quality as the other stuff they do, it'll do good keyring duty i reckon....