LightStar 100 LED Ultra-Compact and Water Resistant Mini Flashlight - 3 Modes - 110 Lumens, 4 Inches Length

My 8 year old son loves flashlights, so I bought one of these for him on a whim; I'm a Prime member, and at $20 why not? My expectations were high based upon the reviews, and I am happy to say that neither I nor my son were disappointed. This is a fantastic light for the money.It is light and very compact, fits easily in the pocket for every day carry. Comes with a belt pouch. AAs are probably the most common battery out there, and we use Eneloops and have solar chargers for them so we have an essentially unlimited supply of batteries for it. Many comparable lights use the CR123 type batteries which have a long shelf life, but are relatively expensive, so having a light use commonly available and relatively inexpensive AAs is a big plus. I can't speak to battery life, as that likely depends heavily upon what type of batteries you are using, but if it is between 2-3 hours I will be happy (and see no reason why it wouldn't be).The light itself has a fairly well focused beam, and output is great for a light of this size / class. I was pleasantly surprised that on high power the light effectively lit up almost our entire backyard. There is a high powered and a low powered option, and both are perfectly adequate in most circumstances (and my kid loves the strobe function BTW). The build quality seems fine, it doesn't feel flimsy or like it would break unless you were very careless or trying to break it. The only minor gripe I have is that you have to cycle through all of the options too often to get the one you want, but it can be done quickly if you are familiar with its operation and is really not that big of a deal.Thanks to the great pricing on this Prime deal I plan on getting another 4 or 5 of these. You can never have too many flashlights, and this particular one is easy to squirrel away just about anywhere due to its small footprint.EDIT: So a few months later, and I have gotten another 3 of these lights. All of them work perfectly (no QC issues), and I am planning on ordering even more. At this price point there is no reason you can't have one in your EDC, in your car, heck, just about every room in the house for those situations when you need a powerful light fast. I am even ordering them for family and friends now, they are such a fantastic deal.My first one is still on the same battery with almost daily use, so battery life is not bad. I have a bunch of Surefire G2s sitting around with their expensive CR123 batteries... They are backbenchers now.

Edit: I initially gave this light four stars. Heck I almost gave it five but after owning it for a day I've come back to change that to three stars. The light is good. I love the beam that comes out of it when it works. I mean the beam is a bit tighter focused than most use their light I think but its bright that way. It is bright. It is neat but several times now this light has turned itself off after I turned it on to use it. No reason for this, it just turns off. The first time I thought maybe I bumped the button since you can cycle through the settings of high low or strobe once the light is on. But one time I was not even touching it but had it sitting on the counter and it shut off on it's own! A couple times it has turned on with a 'delayed reaction' also where you hit the button like normal and nothing happens and just as you start to say WTF! It turns on bright like usual nearly shining you in the face by that time as you tilt the light to look at the bezel. I'm bordering on sending it back waiting for it to die for good anytime now. I'm not really too impressed at this point with the switch on this light. Since its cheap if it dies I may elect to do some surgery on it to see if I can tweak the switch to permanent one setting high or something like that since when it does work its certainly one worth using. My views at this time are that the light is good with a lot of potential but you get what you pay for. Buy the better light. TerraLux has some quality control issues with their switch on this light as I'm finding now others have reported issues with these also pretty much just as mine is doing to me. Close but no cigar on this light if you ask me. Back to the drawing board for the TerraLux guys!When it comes to value or bang for the buck regarding flashlights the one shown here is a good one to look at as it is a great light with lots going for it when it works! Key words for me there are when and works but chances are I just got a iffy one! I was caught up in the reviews of this cheaper light by TerraLux and thought well, I'll give it a shot and see what it is about. I did much the same with another light, the Nebo Redline 220 S.O.S which is also a good value for what you get. As far as $30 lights or under the NEBO gets my nod for the best buy. I like the NEBO. Can't say I'm a big fan of the red band but at least it works. Yet another fine light along the same lines, albeit a higher priced one than either of these ones is the Streamlight Protac 1AA. Even thought I've made up my mind that this light is not as good as these others I'd say this info. is probably going to be wondered about by some so I'll leave it. The TerraLux Lightstar 100 does have better throw than the PA10 by JetBeam but it has a very narrow beam focused way tight by comparison.I like the size of this light better than the Nebo but the Nebo light is better for spot light type use and its certainly brighter although this TerraLux light is plenty bright with what appears to be an honest 100 lumen rating given by the manufacturer. So many of them are so far off from what they say with their ratings and apparently there are different ways of measuring this and it varies with battery type so you have to watch and take what is advertised sometimes with a grain of salt. I mean when you read 270 Lumens and your 131 Lumen 3D Maglite is brighter and there is no doubt about the fact that its brighter, meaning ten out of ten people would tell you the MagLite is brighter then you have to wonder. Anyway,when I first looked at this light I wondered to myself how it compared to the Streamlight Protac 1AA which I have and carry quite a bit. The way I see it the Protac is still my favorite for the momentary switch. I've gotten so used to that feature that to not have it with the Lightstar 100 is the deal breaker for me. I like this light and I'll certainly keep it but to me it won't see as much use as my Streamlight or the JetBeam lights I have. The Protac is not as bright and at 50 Lumens for the bright setting or highest setting it is not the strongest light throw around but it brings a few things to the table over this TerraLux from my view. The Protac is made in the USA and it has the momentary switch. The Protac pocket clip does not snag the pocket during use but the TerraLux is better for clip positioning I'd say.The Lightstar 100 pros1)it is brighter than the Protac and with only a slight hint of blue,2)it has a better clip position so the flashlight buries in the pocket but you have to be sure about it (see below).3)100 Lumen high,4)50 Lumen low5)and strobe.6)The best thing perhaps is the price which is nearly half what the Protac will run you.7)Stands on it's end to light up a room unlike the Protac that will fall over easily. The NEBO sits flat quite well also. Not near as convenient to carry around as these two other lights to consider though.Cons for the TerraLux.1)Made in China2)The Lightstar 100 is bigger than the Protac both in length and diameter.3)No momentary switch and you cycle through one click after another to get to the lower settings. I find the button harder to find and/or click on this light in comparing it to my Protac but not so bad as to call it a bad button. Its actually not a bad button just not as good as the Protac.4)The pocket clip screw heads stick up too high catching the rim of your pocket with each slide on of the clip. The space between the screw heads and the clip stem is very shallow so there isn't much room for the pocket fabric of thicker pants to even fit up under or in there without being blocked by the screws. I find I look down a lot noticing the clip is not all the way down due to this. I would suggest to the company that what you want here for mount screws on the low rider is small 1-70 or 2-56 size button head screws with a T-5 or T-6 size. These sit way low and do not catch pant pockets.Bottom line: If TerraLux was to put a momentary option on this set up called the Lightstar 100 and drill it for the clip to be flipped from bezel up to bezel down carry at the owners whim this would be a much more complete package. As it is they are close. I've found that once you click the light on that after that just a touch of the button, even an accidental one will change the brightness.As a side note the carry case quality difference between the TerraLux LightStar 100 and the Streamlight Protac 1AA are way different. The Streamlight is high quality. If the carry case of the TerraLux is any indication for build quality I'd say it is likely to be that Streamlight even if weaker by half for the Lumens is simply the better light. I know I find the 50 lumen output of the Protac to be more than adequate although it is a bit yellow for the light output.In the end if you like the made in the USA for a single AA battery light the Stremlight is a great choice. If you just want a great light for a small investment the TerraLux Light Star 100 is a great light to give serious consideration to.

Well, I am a bit disappointed in this flashlight. That is also a bit of an understatement there! Torch just quit working after less that 2 weeks. Now I hadn't taken it out into combat or even used it on the street yet, just picked it up and, nothing. Switched the battery, nope, nada. Switched to another battery, nope. Tried said batteries in another torch, and they worked fine. The beam on the torch WAS good, when it actually worked, and the size was fine for me, warning there, I have no where near what would be called large hands, wear a medium in most gloves. The tail switch (what I think is the culprit here) does not have a momentary on/off function. You have to fully depress the switch to activate the beam, although I don't consider that a deal breaker, just prefer the ability to partly depress said switch for light. Would not consider buying another one of these. Will stick with Streamlight's, Safarilands and other such quality torches. Took a flier on this one, due to price, and got burnt. Maybe I got a lemon. But, if you look up the reviews on this brand, I am far from the only one with this complaint. I would not advise wasting your time with one.

This light works fine. The design is a little dated and it is fairly large for a single AA battery. My gripe is the fact that the clip is held on with triangular screws (a pain to remove). Why put a theft resistant screw on a flashlight? Torx screws seem like a better choice.