Photon PH545-BRK Freedom Micro, White Beam

For those of you looking for a decently bright and FEATHERWEIGHT edition to your keychain, this is your light. After all, we cannot ask for a 200 lumen floodlight torch in such a small package. But, for its size, this light is BRIGHT. I have compared this mini-flashlight to several other keychain lights in my possesion and they pale in comparison. It truly is worth the money, outshining its competition. It is so small and light, you will not be able to notice the weight difference on your keychain.In addition to an exceptionally vibrant flood of light, the Freedom offers other key features which further exemplify its dominance. It has the ability to ramp up its brightness. However, to get it back up to full vibrancy, you must tap to shut it off, and hold to gradually decrease to desired brightness. So, if an improvement was to be made on future models, the ability to ramp back up would be on the list. Nonetheless, the ramping down feature helps you conserve the battery when needed. Although the battery is easily changed, it is nice to know that conservation is an option.Also, this light comes with a swiveling clip and lanyard. The clip allows you to position your Photon on an object, such as a hat, to utilize as a headlamp, a cool little feature. This clip also swivels 360 degrees, proving its versatility. The lanyard, on the otherhad, is a nice addition, but is not something I plan to use, personally. Its not of great quality, like paracord or tethercord, but is a thoughtful touch from the company. As long as you do not plan on thrashing the lanyard, it should serve its purpose; I'm just not one to place confidence in it to secure my light as I do not want to loose my light. The Freedom also come with a carabiner-esque gate clip for easily addition and removal from a keychain. It seems to have good strength and has been holding up to past few months I have used it. You do not have to worry about this light coming off your keychain at all, its secure.Overall, this is the best keychain light of its kind I have come accross. And this is saying something, as I thouroughly analyze the market to ensure my money is well spent. If loooking for this type of lighting tool, look no further, this item is a win. And for those who want USA made to support our economy, this light is certainly a must. If these are good enough for astronaunts, then they must be good enough for us normal folk.

I've had two of these. Unfortunately my keychain's split ring got bent and I lost my first one (white LED). Not the light's fault, obviously. For my second one I bought the "night vision green" (NVG) turquoise color, for reasons I will describe below.These lights come in numerous colors. Battery-wise, the red, orange and yellow ones ship with a single CR2032 battery, which are about the most widely available button cell, and sold for an excellent price at Swedish furniture stores. The other colors (blue, green, white, etc.) have LEDs that require higher voltage to operate at full brightness - this is due to the chemistry of the different colors of LEDs, and is true for all brands, not just Photon - so they ship with two CR2016 batteries.You can put a CR2032 in these higher-color-temperature lights, since a CR2032 is exactly the same thickness as two CR2016s. (Do not do the reverse: two CR2016s will burn out a red, orange or yellow light). On a single cell, these lights will operate at reduced brightness but vastly improved battery life (approaching 100 hours, supposedly). After burning out several sets of CR2016s (at a typical cost of $6/pair!) I switched my white one to a CR2032. While it burned forever on that battery, it just wasn't bright enough for everyday use (maybe just a lumen or so, if I had to guess) and I went back to the CR2016s.The reason I bought the NVG turquoise this time around is (1) it's supposedly more efficient than the white, and in particular works better with the lower voltage of a single CR2032 and (2) human eyesight is most sensitive to the wavelength produced by this light, so it will appear brighter to the human eye than a white light with the same measured output in lumens. Bottom line: unlike with the white, I find the turquoise acceptably bright for everyday use on a single CR2032, so I can look forward to very infrequent (and inexpensive) battery changes.By the way, the color is *exactly* the same as "green" traffic lights in the US: basically green, but definitely bluer then grass or tree leaves. Be aware that although turquoise is promoted for night vision because our eyes are very sensitive to that color, it does *not* preserve your night vision like red lights do. Turquoise will blow out your rods just as effectively as white light, it's just that it will give the most apparent brightness. If you really want to preserve your night vision and do tactical work in the dark that requires you to see where your light isn't shining, get the red one instead. It also runs on a CR2032 and has long battery life. However, red can be really hard to use for some tasks, like reading, because it makes it hard to focus and things like print appear blurry. Also, while turquoise isn't anywhere near as good as white light in terms of being able to see color, it's a lot better than red. So there are your reasons to get one color vs. the other. I may also consider getting an orange one, because I think it may be more usable than red while still having the long battery life and night vision preserving qualities, but that's just speculation.I think long battery life is important because I doubt the Photon can take very many battery changes. I use a jeweler's screwdriver to open the case and change the battery, as recommended, but you have to pry really hard, it always does a bit of damage to the battery door. On my first light, the door actually cracked on about the third battery change. This is maybe the one major flaw in the light.Battery life is also important because in its normal mode, the Photon can easily run down its battery(ies) by accident. I'm not one of these guys who leaves his keys sitting on the counter, or desk, all the time. They stay in my pocket, and I'm an active person who's often exercising or doing physical work. With my Photon in normal mode, I will find it turned on in my pocket at least once a week. Two incidences of that and the standard batteries are pretty much toast.However, there is a super-secret auto-off mode, which I just discovered. In this mode, anytime you turn your Photon on, accidentally or on purpose, it will shut down again after 3 minutes. To get there:- First, get it into Morse Code (i.e., momentary rather than on/off) mode. To do this, press the button rapidly 4-5 times, until pressing the button only keeps the light on while you're holding it, rather than turning it on and off.- Once in Morse Code mode, hold down the button for several seconds until the light turns itself off, and then KEEP HOLDING IT down several more seconds until it makes a quick flash. Auto-off is now engaged, and the light will otherwise work normally in on/off mode.One other thing that everyone needs to know about this light is that it ships in Demo mode. If you get your fancy new light, but get frustrated that it turns itself off after a few seconds, it's because you haven't taken it out of demo. Hold down the button for what seems like a reaaaally long time (like 20-30 seconds) until it flashes, and you'll exit demo mode.There are other modes, like SOS and other flashing modes, which I don't personally care about, but they are there if you do. Fortunately the interface is designed well enough that you're not likely to engage them accidentally.Love this light. It weighs something like 7 grams, so I can carry it on my keychain without even knowing it's there until I need it, and it's plenty bright when I do. And with the turquoise LED and a CR2032 battery it's still fairly bright, plus nearly endless battery life. If you want maximum brightness and are okay with shorter battery life (still a few hours), just get the white one and engage auto-off mode to save your batteries, and you're still good to go. Everyone should have one of these. The lithium batteries will also last for years in storage, so not a bad idea to keep a couple of these in your emergency kits.