LRI FMIC Photon Freedom LED Keychain Micro-Light with Covert Nose, Infrared Beam

I've been a flashlight junkie for a long time, and have owned a number of expensive tactical flashlights. Yet, I consider the Photon Freedom to possibly be the best flashlight available when you add up all of its advantages. In fact, I've gotten rid of a few of my other lights and built a tiny army of these little guys. Here is why I think these have the best combination of features for daily carry use, as well as survival situations: Small but bright. The photon is not as bright as a tactical flashlight, but it's bright enough for most of what you're likely to need. You should keep a good tactical flashlight around for security, defense, and those times when you really need to light up an area. But for all other times, the new LED in the Freedom light puts out a good amount of light. The fact that the whole light is not much bigger than a coin means you can drop one into your pocket or keep it on a key chain and always have a light with you. Just like a knife, the flashlight you have with you is always better than the one you left at home. Quality and value. These are very tough little lights, yet they do not cost much at all, which makes them affordable to stock up on, and no big loss if you lose one. Would you want to lose your $30 - $100 (and up) tactical flashlight? With the Freedom light, you can keep them all over the place, in the car, briefcase, EDC pack, in your wallet, etc., and always have a light handy. The lithium batteries will hold their charge, so the light will always work. Low power usage. For some reason (perhaps the power requirements of the different LED colors?) LRI uses either two 2016 batteries (6V) or one 2032 battery (3V), depending on the color. LRI says the 2032 battery lasts ten times as long as the two 2016s. I bought a few different colors to try out and take advantage of the longer battery life. Unfortunately, the white light uses the shorter-life 2016 batteries, but this is not a major issue. By dimming the light, you can greatly extend the battery life, which is pretty good even at full brightness. Check the LRI Website for more info. Batteries. The lithium coin batteries can be gotten in bulk for greatly reduced prices, making them affordable and practical. They have a shelf life of ten years, and -- most important -- take up very little room, which makes it easy to carry many spares with you in a bug-out pack, EDC bag, or similar. This is a major advantage over traditional cylinder-type batteries that will quickly fill up valuable space and add weight. This is a major reason why I consider these little guys to be the "best" light for survival and EDC. Versatility. The clever little clip is terrific. It lets you mount the light on a hat brim to give you an effective headlamp without the bulk of other headlamps. (Yeah, you need a hat with a brim, although it will work with a sweat band or Buff-type head wrap, too. Sort of.) Or it can clip onto most anything else and swivel enough to point in almost any direction. The magnetic base adds another level of versatility, too, and is quite strong. You also get a neck lanyard so the light can always be with you, hanging around your neck, or hung over other objects for convenience. Covert nose cover. Some people have complained that the covert nose cover does not block all the light coming from the side, or that it doesn't concentrate the light, and other complaints. C'mon, this is just a simple ring of plastic on a light that costs as little as ten bucks! What do you expect? The covert nose does a good job of blocking the side light that could interfere with your vision, and keeps the light basically in front of you. If you were in an escape-and-evade survival situation using a dimmed red Freedom light while traveling at night, the covert nose might just be enough to keep you from being spotted. I'd spring for the extra dollar or so to get the covert nose. Color options. There a few colors that use the 2016 batteries, and a few others that use the longer-lasting 2032. I got white, which uses the 2016s. There are other colors with specific applications that also use the 2016s, but I did not need those, so I can't speak to how they are. I also got red, orange, and yellow, all of which use the 2032. Red is great for maintaining night vision. They are actually very bright, and would work for signaling or marking a dangerous area. LRI says that orange is "bright and outrageous; doesn't disturb night vision as much as yellow; and illuminates better than red." I would agree (although I don't know how "outrageous" it is, but it is cool). The yellow was the only disappointment. LRI says yellow is a "traditional flashlight color" and has good projection. I thought it was actually the weakest color of them all. At first I thought the battery must be low, but a new replacement didn't make any difference. The LED seems as bright as the other colors when you look at it, but it just doesn't light things up much. I had hoped it would be bright enough to substitute for white. With the longer-lasting 2032 battery, it might make more sense for times when you need to keep the light on for hours. But it's just too dim. I suppose mine might be slightly defective, but it's not worth sending back or buying another. The red and orange work well enough for night use, and the white is the best when you really need to light things up with normal color. At this writing, I see the prices have dropped since I bought mine. These are really a no-brainer if you want to stock up on lights for emergencies, survival, or just to have on your keychain. They really are the best compromise of size, performance, cost, and durability I've seen. Oh, and they are made in America, which is a nice extra. Highly recommended.

I got this light to use in the cockpit at night using night vision goggles, because I can't get my hands on a good finger light. I attach this to one of those cheap retractable ID badge holders, so I just have to grab it near the collar of my vest and pull it to the point in the cockpit I need and turn it on. Please note that the "Night Vision Green" is actually a blue-green that is designed to not create a glare on a windscreen sufficient enough to hinder the performance of the night vision goggles. If you're just considering a light to preserve your natural night vision, you may want to consider the red colored light. The Night-Vision-Blue-Green light passes the test and does not interfere with the night vision goggles. The covert nose on it illuminates only the area I want and reduces the chance of the other pilot catching a bright glare in his/her peripheral vision. On its brightest setting I can easily identify any switch, particularly when the instrument back-lighting fails (which a lot of Army helicopters have a tendency to do). Many other lights have only one, maybe two settings at the most, and they force you to have to cycle through the brightest setting to get to the dimmest. I love the circuitry on this one: it allows you to brighten or dim the light through a whole range of brightnesses. By holding down the button when it's off, it starts at the dimmest level (which is very dim indeed) and works its way up. This feature is really nice when flying in 0% illumination and the aircraft is completely blacked out: I can use just the amount of light I need without having to distract the crew with a comparatively bright light. The downside to this light is it's not hands free, but once you turn it on it stays on, so you don't have to hold down the button all the time, but I can live with that. Also, it obviously makes it difficult to distinguish certain colors on a map due to it's blue-green color, but helicopter pilots should expect that. Haven't used the strobe features, but it's nice to know they're there. Oh yeah, it also comes with a handy little hook and a clip-on swivel mount. Because of these features I actually bought a second one of these lights for my kneeboard. I just clip it to my clock, and I angle the light in a way that illuminates my notepad, E6-B navigation computer, or any other reference cards in the kneeboard. All in all, these little lights had a lot of thought go into them. The general manufacturing quality and user control make them well worth the price. Way better than those crappy $2.00 ones. They come in several colors and have a myriad of uses, and you will not be disappointed. This Night Vision Green color in particular is great for the cockpit. I'm about to order a third one for a back-up in case I lose one in Afghanistan.

I purchased this light to put on my Wife's keychain. Very happy with the simplicity and amount of lumens this light puts out. No one needs an overcomplicated light when trying to unlock their vehicle at night in a parking lot, and this works perfect. Puts out the right amount of light, is very durable, and I can even replace the batteries when they go dead. Very happy with this purchase.

I bought this to keep on my key ring for when I walk the dogs at night, and it works well for that purpose. It provides enough light to illuminate the darker areas of the neighborhood, and enough light to find the poop to pick up! It's small and light, so it's no problem at all keeping it on my key ring all the time to have a flashlight handy. I bought the one with the "covert nose" so that it wouldn't shine in my walking partner's eyes, and it has worked well in that way. I took off one star in the review because it's supposed to be able to also get into flashing mode, but I haven't figured out how to do that. Also, when you first get it, be sure to read the instructions -- the first time you use it you have to press down on the button past when it blinks off. If you don't do that, you'll think you got a broken one because it will turn off after a few seconds. This seems needlessly complicated. One other thing -- I wish the side with the one/off button were more distinctive in feel from the side with the battery cover. Sometimes I find myself pressing down on the battery cover side and of course nothing happens. They DO feel different once you get used to it and remember which is which -- but it could be MORE different for the on/off.

I’ve used Photon lights since seems like forever. I even got the company I worked for to hand out branded Photon lights for promo items, like for trade shows. My prior Photon Covert nose finally crapped-out (button caved-in) and I just received this current version, which is functionally much better than the prior one I had before. Full-range brightness control, slow, medium, fast strobe, SOS and Morse code signaling mode. Auto-shutoff in flashlight mode - it won’t accidentally stay ON in your pocket! It’s BRIGHT, and always in my pocket when I need it. I love my Photon light! 5-stars!

I am a night photographer and light painter and this is an essential tool and permanently attached to my key chain. It is bright enough to see anything you need at night, but not overpowering like head lamps. It can also be dimmed further by holding down the button when starting it. It auto-turns off after some time. Battery lasts forever. At high ISO, it can be used to light paint, too, see example photo, which I took.

This is what a flashlight should be! The one button control is genius. Click on, click off. OR, you can hold it down, and fade the light up or down. So, say you are getting up in the middle of the night, and want minimal light ... super easy, it will get as dim as you want. You can also hold the button down, and it will flash SOS. Seriously, if you are out camping, and get into trouble, isn't that exactly what you want? The cowl around the LED is simple, and brilliant. Shines light in front of you, NOT in your eyes. And the battery life? They spec it at over 18 hours! Um ... wow. I haven't tested to see how long it actually lasts, but that's pretty amazing. One thing, and other reviewers have commented - when you first get it, the light comes in "demo mode," where it turns off after six seconds! This is a deliberate feature, presumably so when they sell it in the stores, someone doesn't leave it on and burn out the battery but MAN ... if you don't read the instructions, you will think it's broken. To take it out of demo mode, you just hold the on button for 20 seconds. Don't forget!

My wife has had one of these in her purse for many years - it just works. I saw a bushcraft YouTube guy recommending it and realized what a good idea it is to have one. Now I do again.

かなり丈夫な作りで、家の鍵などと一緒にカラビナにつけて雑に扱っていますがビクともしません。 特にこのモデルはLED部分がカバーされていますし耐久性が高いです。 明るさもかなりありますし調整が出来るので言うこと無しです。

The form factor is very compact and well suited to wear discretely around the neck or on a keychain, however it is by no means a flashlight replacement. It emits a fairly dim and narrow light, limiting it's use to illuminating very small, confined areas such as below a car seat. Additionally, the light must be turned on every 10 seconds—just as frustrating as those auto-off sinks!

I keep this on my keychain and use it all the time! I also took it camping for a week, it came with a lanyard to hang round my neck, which was really helpful for quick access. I found it so useful for spotting tents in the dark and avoiding trips and falls. The beam is very bright. It survived drops and bangs, got soaked a few times, and the battery is lasting very well. Recommended!

メチャ小さいので、お財布の小銭入れに入れてます。 電池は、100均でも置いてある率が高いオーソドックスなCR2016が2枚です。 小動物の寝姿をコッソリ観察するのに使ってます。

Its a small torch. It fits on a key ring without getting in the way. They are surprisingly useful.