TacticalGearReview

The NiteCore EZ AA in original packaging.

What a difference a few years makes. It doesn’t seem like all that many years ago that flashlights with LEDs were just starting to show up on the market. I remember what a hit it was when I gave out Photon Micro-lights one year at Christmas. They were incredibly bright for a light that size and I believe my mother is still using hers with the original batteries. I should probably replace those for her. Those little LEDs were convenient and cute but if you wanted a serious light, an incandescent was still the only way to go. 60 lumens from the Surefire 6P was the king of the hill. I remember picking up a pair of the 3P lights, again at Christmas time. I believe I gave a Christmas green one to my tactically minded cousin and kept a red one for myself. With only one 123A battery it put out an impressive at the time 30 lumens and we were both quite pleased with our new compact tactical torches.

A few years passed and I came upon a couple lights from PEAK Solutions. Both were Matternhorn single AAA lights, one with a single LED and another with three LEDs. For their small size they put out respectable power and the triple LED Matternhorn had been a constant companion on my key-chain since before I pulled duty assisting with hurricane Katrina evacuees. That light has always been great for simple tasks: finding the key hole in the front door, checking the connections behind a PC, looking for lost change under the seat of my car. I thought it was all I really needed for all the time carry. Then about a month ago leaving a Little League baseball game I realized how ineffective my little 3 LED light was. As we were getting ready to leave the field, they turned the lights off, all of them. In an instant the park went from bright enough to play baseball to completely unlit and totally pitch black. Fortunately I thought, my key-chain flashlight would come to the rescue. Well it provided enough light that I don’t think anyone banged their head on a light pole or their knee on a picnic table but it was far from impressive and mostly ineffective past about 10 feet or so. My mind turned toward replenishing my stock of 123A batteries and carrying a 6P sized light again.

The NiteCore EZ AA

Well all that brings us up to my following along another EDC flashlight thread over at one of my favorite hang outs, The Martialist’s forum (Pax Baculum) and the suggestion was made to check out the NiteCore lights.  They were available for a good price and delivered impressive performance. Well I followed the link, curious to see what they were offering but expecting I wasn’t going to be getting another 123A light, I have several. And the light they were suggesting was a 123A light, and it’s specs and price are impressive, maybe I do need another one. But that isn’t what really caught my eye. Their new little light, shipping soon, was the NiteCore EZ AA. Immediately it had my attention, a single AA battery, a CREE XR-E LED, current regulated circuitry, military grade aluminum with type III hard anodizing and two output modes; a low mode with 10 lumens for up to 20 hours and a high mode with 130 lumens for up to 50 minutes! 130 lumens from a single AA battery, maybe I wasn’t going to have to start packing around a 123A size light again after all. Immediately I contacted the manufacture, NiteCore at Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China and requested a review sample. About a week later by international mail an EZ AA was on its way.

Powered by a single AA battery, the EZ AA puts out a whopping 130 lumens!

The review sample arrived about a week after shipping and survived the trip well. Thankfully absent is the hard plastic clamshell packaging that takes a par of tactical scissors to penetrate the outer layer. Inside a tastefully simple cardboard box was the EZ AA, a generous length lanyard, a key-chain clip and some simple instructions. After a quick glance at the instructions to make sure I didn’t insert the battery the wrong way and accidentally damage the circuitry, a new Energizer came from the packaging and brought the EZ AA to life. A simple twist of the head controls the operation. The first setting is the low which at 10 lumens is plenty bright for most tasks and easily out performs the 3 LED that was on my key-chain only moments earlier.  Output is in a very nice circle, the reflector and lens doing a great job of providing a very evenly balanced larger circle with an extra bright round center. Twisting the bezel a little further gives a high mode that I previously didn’t think was possible from such a small power source. Again the light is a nice even circle with an extra bright center. Apart from some Inova lights I have tried, it is the best beam I have seen in a non-adjustable beam light. For all around use I don’t think they could have struck a much better balance. The threads have the slightest amount of grit in the area between low and high power but not enough to be distracting or to come even close to making operation difficult. Size of the light is just what it needs to be to house the single AA battery, the circuitry, LED and reflector. Held by itself it feels quite compact. Placed next to my Peak AAA key-chain light it seems enormous. My mind starts to consider that maybe this light is a little too large for a key-chain light (although certainly not too heavy at only 20 grams without a battery).

The EZ AA at home on my key-chain.

After a couple weeks serving as the replacement for the Peak AAA on my key-chain I am happy to say that the EZ AA easily passed the test for a key-chain light.  I’ve not noticed the difference in size or weight in the pocket so my concerns about it being a little too large were unfounded.  The battery is still powering the light well after two weeks of daily playing between the high and low beams and my being generally fascinated with the high levels of output.  Everyone I’ve had a chance to show it to has been impressed with how bright it is for such a small light.  One unique feature of the EZ AA is the universal 1/4 threading in the tail cap to allow you to mount it to just about any camera mount.  Attached to my mini-tripod I had an easily directable light that I could point just about anywhere.  Nice touch.  For an every day in your pocket, either alone or on a key-chain, flashlight, the EZ AA is a winner and I can’t imagine any light performing its role better on my key-chain.  Unfortunately, with its rotating head controls, this light would be difficult to manipulate as a support for your concealed handgun or any other use when you would want momentary on/off.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll be looking at some other small (and bright) LED flashlights appropriate for that role.  Regardless of that slight shortcoming, I highly recommend the NiteCore EZ AA flashlight.

The EZ AA is manufactured by NiteCore  http://www.nitecore.com

The NiteCore EZ AA is available to order from 4Sevens.com

Product sheet for the EZ AA from NiteCore

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