This little thing is thin, lightweight, solid construction, and cranks out more lux than I've ever seen from any other pen light. Incredibly handy and not heavy when you find it stuck in your mouth for 20 minutes looking for something that fell into one of those crevices under your car seat that is, for all intents and purposes, a black hole. You'll have a hard time finding AAAA batteries at most stores (not that you'll need them often as it runs A LONG TIME per set), but here's a trick. Peal open a good quality (copper top) 9 volt battery and inside you'll find 6 AAAA batteries that will fit!!! I will be getting one of these for each car since I've discovered this nifty trick!! For this price at amazon, it's a must have and great gift that anybody is likely to appreciate. Streamlight 65018 Stylus 6-1/4-Inch Penlight with Pocket Clip and White LED, Black
First, I've found all LED lights that make outragous claims of average battery life of dozens to hundreds of hours is either misleading or totally wrong... no matter what brand or where you bought them from. They either go totally dark in much less than half the rated time, or have gone too dim to even read large print with the light pressed closely to the page. To even get close to half the rated life, skip the alkalines, you must use expensive lithium or the highest capacity NiMi rechargables available on the planet.
So they all lie about or misrepresent your actual battery life. I'm sure some of them, if you put the most expensive batteries in the world in them, run the light almost to their rated battery life, if you take them into a fully darkend room, & hold the light to your face, strain your eyes, you will find the LEDs are still glowing very faintly... but that's not useful light.
I haven't found AAAA rechargables or lithiums, but you won't need them.
This is the only LED light I ever found that doesn't give you bull on battery life. It uses a single LED & 3 AAAA alkaline batteries that can be obtained cheap from many sources. Slightly longer than an oridinary pen, I take it everywhere, & is always with me at work. As an engineer, I've used it several times daily for over 6 months with the original batteries. I thought it might be getting a little dimmer so recently put fresh batteries in it. Although it got brighter, not significantly, so I put the old batteries back in. This light just won't die. Lot's brighter than any keychain light, it's as useful as most big lights. It fell 14' from a ladder onto solid concrete, into puddles, snow, & got paint & glue on it. Using harsh chemicals & scraping to get all the paint & glue off, it still looks & works like brand new. I don't know what they used to paint that light with, but there's not a scatch on it anywhere... no dents yet either. Solid & durable. Your best light will be the one that works when you need it to, & is close at hand. Best $14 I ever spent!
Update: AAAA Batteries can be found right here at amazon. Just type AAAA or streamlight in the search box. The streamlight AAAA 6-pack runs $6-$7 & are really alkaline energizers. Also if you tear off the metal around a "copper top" alkaline 9 volt battery with a couple of pliers you'll find 6 aaaa batteries inside. But beware... the AAAAs inside the 9 volt battery have the polarity reversed! So you must put those in your light BACKWARDS. You should also stretch the light's spring out a little for a tight fit & better contact. This won't effect it if you go back to ordinary batteries, just make sure to get the polarity right.
While not the brightest flashlight, The stylus is ultra dependable. I've had mine three or four years, it has bounced around my motorcycle bags on camping trips, sits beside my bed in case of power outages, etc. It is very usable lighting your way walking, tasklighting, etc. I would not use it to investigate a dark warehouse.AAAA batteries not too easy to find, but they last forever it seems.
Wow. This thing is bright. I actually bought this for testing ocular reflexes, but I'm a little bit afraid to use it on my patients (the package actually warns: "AVOID DIRECT EYE EXPOSURE").
It's a little long, but fits into a shirt pocket (or lab coat) fine. Solidly constructed. I haven't tried throwing it against a wall, but I think it would survive. The LED sticks out, so you could possible break that easily. I would recommend keeping the glare guard on (plastic sleeve that fits around the end of the light and shields the lateral edges of the bulb). Two convenient ways to turn it on: push button that you have to hold; or turn the cap and it will stay on. I just got it, so I can't comment on battery life. When I first received it, I immediately wrote a review saying that the light is very white. After having used it to look inside people's mouths, it's actually slightly bluish (it is more obvious when you use it to look at pinks/reds).
How does it compare to similar lights?
Coast Cutlery V16: nowhere near as bright as the Streamlight--but the Streamlight is almost twice as long, twice as thick, and weighs about three times as much.
Coast Cutlery V9: short (half as long as Streamlight) and stubby (about 50% wider), and maybe a little heavier than the Streamlight. Its light is pretty good, but still not up to the Streamlight's (its size is perfect for key chains though).
Eveready pen light: about the same thickness as the V9, but about twice as long. This is the heaviest of the bunch (probably because of the battery type--2 AAA's). It is not as sturdy as the others; but, as long as you don't do anything extreme, it will probably last you until the incandescent bulb dies. It is second in brightness to the Streamlight. Its light is much warmer in color temperature due to the incadescent bulb.
Overall, I would recommend the Streamlight over any of the others based on its incredible light output. If you want a key chain light, then I would recommend the Coast Cutlery V9 (or one of their other key chain varieties). - Tools - Led - Penlight - Streamlight'
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