MagLiteSolitaire LED 1-Cell AAA Flashlight Black - SJ3A016

you would think that someone that buys a solitaire wouldn't be serious about lights, but i am.as a steamfitter, my job requires me to carry just a few tools with me at all times and weight adds up fast. i can use this light 20-50 times per day. i try to carry the lightest tools possible.pros:-made in the usa.-takes an aaa battery. those button cell lights are worthless to me.-at 37 lumens it's almost too bright inside small pipe. luckily, i'm a green fella and i like nimh batts. and at 1.2 volts, they take a little bite off the brightness while still leaving a very bright light.-focused beam!!!! yep! if i fancy a flood to walk around the yard, it's there. if i wanna tighten up the beam to see across a big pipe or an otherwise longer distance, i have it! oh, joy; oh, rapture!-great price. around 15 smackers is a dandy price and it should last years.-aluminum construction. plastic lights melt on hot pipe.-pretty tough, yet not described as "tactical". what is the deal with everything painted black being described as "tactical"? whatever. i'm up to my knees in cheap, imported, "tactical" trash. i wish this stupid marketing trend would end.-it has a lens to ward off lint. cool.cons:-the threads are poor. when i unscrewed this baby, the bottom threads were loose and rough and the top threads were about the same. personally, i always tighten up the top (bulb end)threads of any maglite by wrapping them with teflon tape. do this at your own risk. i likes my threads smooth and tight. the problem with the bottom threads was mitigated with some very high-dollar never-seize. this also should be done at your own risk. a person could also use a tiny amount of silicone lube. once again, this is at your own risk.*edit: i actually found that this stuff is the best lube for the threads if you don't want to make a mess with teflon tape. works really good and makes the thread action very smooth::Silicone Grease 2 0 oz Jar* edit 2: lets ease up on that con. my light has never failed due to the treads or anything else. still, lube ain't a bad idea.-with 37 lumens coming from a single aaa batt.,somethings gotta give...and today that something is battery life (i'm comparing this light with my trusty fenix e01 here). the fenix, while only putting off about 10-13 lumens, has a batt. life of way over 20 hrs....this solitaire shuts off at around 2 hrs. with a stout alkaline and at about 90 minutes with a 800 mahr nimh rechargeable. i would really like to see this light knocked down to 20 lumens to bring an alkaline up to 8-10 hrs. but it's american made and we like hot-rods and hot-rods eat fuel, huh? well, i can deal with it with decent rechargeables because everything else about this little light just plain rocks.-not a huge big deal, but a had to find a pocket clip to fit this. no biggie. a clip from a regular 2 aaa maglite will also work and keeps the light from rolling.to end, this light was worth the wait. maglite did such a great job with this product. sure the threads need help, but that whole problem was fixed in a few minutes for me. the poor threads and the low battery life is what cost a star. if i could give another half star, i would.the battery use is just fine for me. i figure i can pop in a fresh nimh cell every 2-3 days and my world will keep spinnin'.Mag instruments just got my business back.good job, folks :)*update 11-5-13*this baby has been through hell and it still performs flawlessly. sure, when i turn it on it sometimes flickers, but that's the nature of the switch and it doesn't really affect anything. this light is always on my person and it does not get babied.some other guys that i work with have bigger and brighter (too bright imo) lights, but theirs are bigger and harder to carry on their person...so guess who is always loaning out his light? this guy!i put a fresh battery in it every week and i have not had one go completely dead on me. i always carry an extra battery in my lunchbox, but i haven't had to break one out.perfect luminosity.perfect build (after the thread mitigations described above).this is it. this is the light i have been searching for and i'm glad its an American company that makes it...it has earned it's name....and did you see the price? deal of the century.*update 8-29-15*:still. going.but man is it ever beat up.i average 1 battery charge/week out of this baby.i don't even bother with a big trouble light when i have to crawl inside of a pipe for a repair (many times it's someone else's weld).the guys that have the flash lights with a click-switch always have to buy new lights, but my silly little maglight just keeps on going.after i bought this on, i bought some more because i figured i'd lose it (to a borrower, most likely), but i'm still using the same one.because the battery lasts about 90 mins.(rechargeable nimh), i carry a fully charged battery in my lunch-box. i"ve never had to change batteries during the work week, so i guess 90 mins. is long enough.the people that built this need to congratulate themselves.*update 5-18-2017*still works, but i bought a new one. i had beat this poor girl up for years and the lens was just to dirty/messed up to use anymore. i removed the lens and use it around the house now. it surely isn't maglite's fault. the amount of abuse the poor light went though was way above and beyond (also, it still works!).here's to years of faithful service from the new one.*update: 9-24-2020* still carrying the 2017 one and the original one still works. i beat the heck out of this poor light. it's not intentional; i get into my work and sometimes things just get abused. at work, my maglite is always on me and always ready to grab and use. it's just nice to have one thing that can be counted on. it gets dropped, lent out, forgotten, and sweated on but it just keeps going.*update: 12-31-24* hey everyone. funny how time flies. looking at retirement in a couple years...guess i'll be carrying one of these little solitares when i'm fishing, huh? had to lay the 2017 maglite to rest.... still works but there was some catastrophic damage by a certain steamfitter...yeah. that poor little guy was really beat up. i like to buy them a few at a time and use different colored parts...makes it hard to steal my light,lol. the one i'm carrying now has about a year of service under its belt and is always hanging on my t-shirt collar when i'm working. i'm a very quick draw, too.still use my solitare at work and it's about 20 times a day...eyes are getting bad so i try to work less in the shop and more in the field (less welding--less politics). seems like the little solitare is the one thing that always works. it would be pretty neat if they built an aa version. exact light, but with a single aa battery. meh. whatever..the aaa version has served me so well! good job maglite!

This is my favorite small flashlight. It is perfect for my pocket, shaving kit, backpack, flight carry-on bag or etc.This may sound odd, but as a flashlight "geek", I have been waiting for this LED light to come out ever since Maglite announced it. I have looked intently for a comparable pocket LED flashlight, and to be honest I have had no luck at an affordable price. This flashlight seems a great blend of features and price.I wanted a flashlight that had the following features, this light does them all well.1) LED (currently the brightest and longest lasting technology for a small size)2) Bright (the Maglite Solitaire LED is 37 lumens compared to 2 lumens for the conventional Maglite Solitaire incandescent bulb)3) Small size (takes up minimal room in pocket)4) Runs on a single AAA, for inexpensive and easy to find battery5) Twist on/off, this is so it is not turned on accidently in a pocket like a push button6) Rugged construction7) Has a lanyard hole, for keychain, etc.8) Easy to find, i.e. not a custom product or special factory run9) Fairly inexpensive. Some competing pocket lights fit the bill above, but came in at $35 to $60 or more! Yikes!This Maglite Solitaire LED AAA fit my wish list perfectly. There are many, many small lights out there. Some are excellent in different ways, but looking through my feature wish list, all that I looked at came up short in some way.One note: A company named Fenix makes an LED model E01 that was the best affordable runner up to this Maglite LED Solitaire. However, it is not nearly as bright at 10 lumens (compared to Maglite's 37 lumens).Regarding brightness, according to Maglite this light has a 37 lumen LED. That is more than twice as bright as a larger incandescent flashlight by Maglite. The commonly found 2 AA Maglite regular INCANDESCENT flashlight is 14 lumens according to Maglite.For size comparison, this light is the same size and weight of the "old" traditional Maglite Solitaire AAA light.Added pros of this Maglite LED Solitaire:1) It can be used in candle mode. That is, aim up and rest on tail cap to illuminate a room. While this light isn't going to give you reading light, it will allow you to see the furniture or etc.2) Made in the USA (according to the Maglite website).3) This light has a lens instead of just the bare LED like some other pocket flashlights I've seen. This is nice for a pocket/bag as it protects the light from getting a lot of lint and obscuring the light.4) The light goes on when the head is twisted just shy of half way (maybe 45%). This seems a nice balance between too little (could turn on in pocket accidentally) and too much (could prove tedious).Minor con:The light rolls easily when on a flat surface like a nightstand or table. But this is easily and cheaply fixed by attaching a key ring or similar clip to the lanyard hole. It doesn't even need keys on it, virtually any ring will do. A ring came in the Maglite package I got this in.UPDATE:I tested how long a "normal" off-the-shelf alkaline AAA battery would last in this flashlight. After an hour it dimmed ever so slightly and the flashlight itself got very slightly warm, but both were hardly noticeable. Then at 2:16 hours (aka 136 minutes), the light quit abruptly, and the flashlight did not give any more light. These "new" LED flashlights regulate the power so you get the max light for the max time out of the battery, but then when it gets below a certain level, it can't give you any light at all. Immediately after the light quit, I pulled the battery and it measured 0.9 volts (a new one is approx 1.6 volts). So it will do well on diminished batteries (in a pinch), but very dead batteries will give you nothing; not even a slight glow.Bottom line, this is a great small flashlight. For slightly larger flashlights, see these other two I like below. My reviews on both are also under the pseudonym "Spiced Rum":Maglite's XL50-MAGLITE XL50-S3016 LED Flashlight, BlackEnergizer High Intensity LED-Energizer High Intensity LED Flashlight with 2AA Battery.

[EDIT]: I'll let the rest of my review stand, but in the week since writing it, I've had to change the battery again because the damned thing is so flimsy it comes on in your pocket. So I'm actually going through more batteries than I did with an original solitaire.Also, about 20% of the time it just doesn't turn on at all. This is awful, and I'm going to buy a different flashlight (I might even go back to an original Solitaire if they're still made well.)----I've used Solitaires for more than a decade. Always loved them, but of course you end up changing the battery every week or three with the standard once.This one is the same exact size and shape. Upside: it's crazy bright! But it's not as well built and just sort of feels a little flimsy. As bright as it is, there are two real problems:- the on/off toggle (which is the same twist as the original) is waaay too loose. So it comes on in your pocket, and you still have to replace the batteries.- it doesn't always turn on! Like, WTF?!? A *maglite* that doesn't turn on all the time?!? The original Solitaire would stop turning on all the time after years of use. You know how you had to stick some tinfoil in there, or stretch the springs? But that was after years. This one comes this way. Sometimes I have to actually bang it - and sometimes that doesn't even work.So why 3 stars? Because (a) it's really bright and (b) it's the best pocket flashlight I know of. The "Streamlight 73001 Nano" is great, but too small for my hand (and uses watch batteries.)I'm hoping MagLite starts making these as well as the original Solitaires, but I doubt they will.