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73 of 75 found the following review helpful:
 Big punch from a little light Jul 08, 2009
By L. Miller
"ultraconsumer"
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/REM8O2WXDOGCA I purchased the LD01 because I was looking for a durable and bright light to add to my keychain. Usually Inova or Photon are the first brands that come to mind for this type of light, but in this case I'm glad I did a bit more research because this is a very nice little light. It was also a no-brainer to go for a light that uses triple-A batteries rather than button cells, because I can have this thing back up and running with greater flexibility should it go dead, plus it's cheaper to run.
Pros:
+Small size (about the size of a Chapstick)
+Big power (80 lumens max? Better than most full-size flashlights!)
+Well built, probably will never break
+Uses AAA battery (easy to find replacements and cheaper to run)
+Three brightness settings for different applications/battery conservation
Cons:
-Anodized black finish will wear off pretty quickly when in pocket with other keys/metal
-Low/Medium settings emit a bit of a high-pitched hum (due to ultra-fast flickering technique used to achieve partial brightness, some people may not even notice)
-Can be inconvenient to toggle through medium/low/high settings. Would prefer unit to default to low instead of medium.
Other thoughts:
If you are on a budget (or just don't want to spend forty bucks on a keychain light), go with the Fenix E01 instead. It will provide great performance at less than 1/3 the price of this light.
31 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 No more MiniMags for me Apr 24, 2009
By Jordan Brown
Even on "dim" this little light puts out plenty of light for walking around in the dark. On "bright" it's bright enough that I can stand in one place and scan my ~10,000 square foot lawn for toys left out. Wow.
Comparing to Maglite, it's roughly as bright as a 3D flashlight (with much shorter run time, of course), or brighter than the AAA flashlights (with longer run time).
Specs:
Dim: 10 lumens, 8.5 hours.
Medium: 27 lumens, 3.5 hours.
Bright: 80 lumens, 1 hour.
Compare with traditional Maglite:
Solitaire: 2.3 lumens, 3.5 hours.
Mini AAA: 15.6 lumens, 2 hours.
Mini AA: 15.2 lumens, 5.5 hours.
2C/D: 36.5-40.6 lumens, 5 hours C, 9-10 hours D
3C/D: 76-82.5 lumens, 5 hours C, 9-10 hours D
(Maglite does not advertise lumen rating or run time for their LED flashlights.)
I have two relatively minor quibbles:
1) Since "dim" is plenty for most uses, I would prefer if the sequence was dim-medium-bright instead of medium-dim-bright.
2) I think (though I am not sure) that I would prefer a pushbutton switch over the twist switch. Not sure where you'd put the button on a lamp this small, though.
24 of 24 found the following review helpful:
80 lumens from a single AAA battery. This baby is bright! Mar 09, 2009
By J. M. Barbera
"jimbarbera"
Update: The review below refers to the LD01 which has flashing and SOS modes and 80 lumens. If you don't need the flashing or SOS modes, go with the Fenix LD01 instead. It's brighter and has less PWM flicker at the lower light levels.
Original review:
If you're looking for a compact LED flashlight that runs on a single AAA battery and will always be ready and available, the Fenix LD01 is by far the best in terms of light output, beam quality, efficiency, and durability. It's about the size of a ChapStick so you can carry it in the change pocket of your jeans. I've used it as a bike headlight with great results. Other flashlights I've tried give off a dim, poorly diffused, blue tinted beam. The Fenix LD01 provides three levels of very useful white light. It's great for camping. If you store one in an emergency kit, install a lithium AAA battery as they have a long shelf life and won't leak if it ever does go dead. I recommend getting flashlights that take either AA or AAA batteries as they're the most readily available and come in NiMH rechargeable and lithium versions. It may seen like a lot of money to spend on a dinky little flashlight, but it's worth every penny. It will outshine flashlights several times its size.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
The Fenix LD01 or how I stopped worrying (about the price) and came to pay $40 for a key chain light Oct 05, 2009
By Sideslip
After 9/11 it became apparent to me (and, I'd warrant, a good number of other New Yorkers) that it would be a good idea to carry around some sort of small flashlight, underscored every time a subway train stopped unexpectedly in a tunnel. It was one of those background amendments to life in NYC that just happened, like the way we react now when a plane flies overhead.
I bought a MagLite Mini and stuck it in my bag. The light seemed reasonably bright, the unit was small and clever with the switch incorporated into the head and being able to stand it on end to use as a candle. I felt a little smug for making such a fine choice.
But I don't always carry my bag with me and the flashlight was too big to carry around regularly in a pocket. As well, because I don't use the light enough, I worried that the batteries would leak. So I took them out. But now I'd have to remember how old the batteries were and replenish them from time to time. The light had now become an end unto itself and not much use to me in a darkened subway tunnel.
A friend gave me a small Orvis keychain light. This solved both the battery problem (some sort of life-long battery in it) and the portability problem but the light was pitifully weak - fine for reading menus but barely enough even to find a keyhole in a darkened apartment building hallway.
Though not as bright as the Mini, the MagLite Silhouette was an improvement over the Orvis (now I could see my shoes in a darkened apartment building hallway), uses only a single AAA battery which I always have on hand to power my insulin pump, and I could attach it to my keychain and as such I'd probably use it more often mitigating the risk of leakage. It felt good in my hand. I congratulated myself for another fine choice.
But in a pitch black subway tunnel?
A review here of small flashlights mentioned the Fenix (pronounced Phoenix) with all the convenience of the Silhouette - a single AAA battery, portability, good build quality, and most important vastly more light than the Silhouette. But $41 (ca. $50 full price) for keychain flashlight? I was suspicious (and bridled at the pronunciation of Fenix). Reluctant, I ordered it.
The scales have fallen from my eyes. It's as trim as the Silhouette, with better build quality and an on/off twist-switch that permits 3 light levels of varying intensity (turning it off and back on within 1.5 seconds moves to the next intensity in order: med, low, high). Unlike the MagLites, the head is loosened to switch it off, not tightened. I've found that I can easily manipulate the switch with one hand and that it quickly becomes apparent how much to loosen it to insure that it won't inadvertently turn on in one's pocket or be so loose that the head will fall off - a few dozen times of turning it on and off and pushing on the lens end with one's thumb sort of trains the fingers, and the threads of the head seem long enough and tightly machined enough to prevent loosening so much that the head will fall off.
But the light! More than enough to see the third rail in a darkened subway tunnel and to scare the bejesus out of rats. $41 will quickly get absorbed and sufficiently amortized by the comfort and confidence I get from reflexively clutching it my pocket when the train stops unexpectedly in a tunnel. Now I'm REALLY smug.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Amazing -- and Amazingly Functional Jan 10, 2009
By W. Noble
"noblebill"
First, a disclaimer: I have no connection to Fenix. I saw a review on [...], ordered two, and am just ordering a third for my son, who's about to set off world traveling. I have mine on my keyring. It's extraordinarily bright (and has three controlable brightness levels for battery conservation (or discretion), which the catalog info doesn't seem to mention. It's waterproof, built like a brick s**thouse, and barely adds to the bulk or weight of the keys in my pocket. This new generation of super-brilliant LEDs is instantly transforming flashlights, making ANY older light obsolete -- and is apparently on the verge of transforming household lighting too. Fenix mini LD01 CREE Q5 80 Lumens LED Flashlight - black color, using one AAA battery
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