I used to carry a Stylus Pro and loved it… until I fell down the rabbit hole and discovered MUCH better flashlights.

My first was the Rider RX. Rugged, simple to learn (though with problems… I’ll get to that), and the lowest most was 12 lumens with the included 14500. Still more than I like for pupil exams having worked Optometry so long, but low enough to get the job done. Just hold it back a little further. It also has great CRI, which helps with a lot in medical settings. Then I found better. Much better.

Everybody need a TS10.

There’s a bit of a learning curve, but once you get past that, it’s simple. The hard part is just that it’s different. The lowest setting can be so low that it’s useless for pupil exams; that’s how dim it can get. But you can change that. The brightest it can get is probably brighter than you need. Again, that can also be changed. Going from pupil exams to over ten times what your lost Stylus Pro can do, and in something smaller.

While many are intimidated by the diagram that shows the full capabilities of Anduril, in actual use in the really real world, it’s a lot like most other flashlights. A simple click will get it to the last-used brightness you had it. A double-click while on will make it as bright as it can get. Those are near-universal in high-end flashlights. Holding the button will start dim and make it brighter; many other lights have you hold from Off for low levels. The main difference with Anduril is that, by default and with no programming, it raises brightness smoothly when you hold the button; just release the button when it’s at the level you want. If you overshoot while raising brightness, just let off briefly and then hold the button again to dim it. If you need to dim it it after not adjusting it upwards, press-release-press-and-hold (2H). Like the Rider RX, it has excellent color rendering to aid with pupil exams and wound inspections. It’s also at least as rugged as your Stylus Pro, and slightly cheaper. Once you get used to it, it’s pretty easy. And my wife got used to it in under a minute with no instruction at all; possibly because she never saw the manual and wasn’t intimidated.

The downside is that it cannot accept regular AA batteries, and lacks onboard charging. That means you need an external charger and spare batteries… not unlike the radio you probably carry if you do SAR. There are some low-priced Xtar chargers, and spare cells are cheap, though my experience is that the TS10 requires recharging less than half as often as my Stylus Pro needed batter swaps; one charge on my TS10 lasted longer than 4 AA’s in my Stylus Pro or 2 AA’s in my Rider RX unless I cranked it FAR beyond what either light is capable of.

If you want a light that can survive being drop-kicked repeatedly, allows you to get a good look at wounds, and can go from “too dim for pupil exams” to “DAMN, that’s bright!”, for less than the cost of a Stylus Pro, then grab yourself a 4000K TS10.

Jerv is right about how awesome the TS10 is (I have four). Buuuuut I don’t think it’s what I’d choose for a SAR focused light. You should still probably get one just to play with it though: it’s a cheap introduction to Anduril, the emitters are fantastic, and it’s capable of (temporarily) putting out a shocking amount of light for how small it is. 3000K is gorgeous but all of the temp options are pretty great, honestly.

If you’re looking for something rugged, you can’t really go wrong with Zebralight. The SC64 is about the smallest 18650 light out there (don’t get that one though, see below)—it’s efficient, it’s rugged, it’s easy to use. You can customize the output levels as well (a little bit of a learning curve, but once you get it it’s easy). It’s not insanely bright like a lot of modern lights can be, but it’s plenty bright for most applications. If you had any interest, wait until the SC65c HI is available—the new 719a emitter should have better qualities than the LH351D in the SC64 series.

If you could go even bigger, then there’s the SC600 series with 50.3 HI. There’s some tint lottery, so quite a few people end up with some green in the beam, but it can get considerably brighter than the SC64. Bigger though, more expensive, and the pocket clip isn’t as good.

If you want to stick to a smaller light since you’ve been using a 2xAAA model, then consider the Skilhunt M150. It’s a 14500 that also accepts regular AA batteries, gets quite bright for its size, has onboard magnetic charging (for lithium ion cells only), and is generally seen as one of the favorite 14500 lights around here.

You might also consider some right-angle headlamps. Zebralight, Skilhunt, and Armytek all make well-respected headlamps for hands free light that can also be used hand-held or clipped to something like backpack straps.

It’s a bunch of info. Check out Zak’s arbitrary list of popular lights to see lots of other options, see what might interest you, and ask more questions!

If a penlight (2x AAA) is what you’re looking for, I recommend the IYP365 with Nichia 219c from Lumintop. That emitter is high CRI, bright, and very efficient so you won’t be changing the batteries very often. I use this in the hospital daily for ocular and physical exams as well as handyman work as needed, though when I make a field call I always bring something larger as well.

If you can move to something larger then a Zebralight would be a great choice. I cannot say which one but I’m sure others here can.

A nice combo for SAR could be the Wuben X1 + X2. The X2 is one I take on field calls pretty often. https://tgreviews.com/category/wuben/

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