Flashlight Review - Maratac AAA Copper (Rev. 2)

I plan to do more reviews on this blog, and instead of free-forming my reviews to try and convey my experiences with a piece of gear, I thought it would be much better to try and use a consistent scale and measurement approach.  To that end, I reached out to Tony over at Everyday Commentary to see if I could steal, borrow, re-purpose, err… utilize the very well-thought-out methodology he has come up with for rating gear.  Tony was kind enough to let me use it, and I am truly appreciative – in fact, I hope more people pick up the use of this scale and maybe we could enrich the overall discussion of this kind of stuff across the board.  There are a lot of truly subjective reviews out there on gear, some using a methodology of sorts, but nothing I have seen that is truly repeatable and balances the objective with the subjective like this one, so let’s give it a whirl.

Everyday Commentary flashlight review methodology

I have a love/hate relationship with AAA flashlights.  Well, let me be more specific, I love the form-factor of these lights, plus I love how much innovation has been happening in this space since the historical benchmark Arc AAA came on the scene.  At one point, I thought I had standardized on single CR123a/RCR123a lights – but when minimalist carry is the order of the day, nothing compares to a good AAA.  They are light, small, and disappear in the pocket and make it that much more likely that I am going to carry them on a day-to-day basis.  So, I guess the hate part is more directed at myself – I hate that I just keep losing these damn lights.  I think I am up to 4 or 5 at this point  (Fenix LD01 – sigh, in beautiful stainless – loved it, an L0D, an E01, Foursevens Preon 1, and Olight I3 with that great clip - immediately come to mind).  So I guess there is nothing to hate about AAA lights inherently, but there is something to hate about my own lack of skill in hanging on to them – but then, this is not meant to be a psychological analysis of me, so let’s just move on, shall we?

A link to the light at the distributor of Maratac products, County Comm

A video review from ‘Patriot36’

The Maratac AAA Copper Flashlight (Rev 2) is a two-mode, twisty actuated, single AAA flashlight, featuring a solid billet copper body, a friction mounted clip and split ring loop.  It is supposedly on a “limited run”, but it has been for sale at County Comm for almost a year at this point.  Some basic specs:

LED: Cree XP-G R3

UI: Twisty

Modes: 2 (low and high)

Claimed lumens: 1.8 low / 115 high

Weight: 1.2oz with an Energizer lithium installed.

Length: 2.6”

Diameter: .5”

Current Price: $41.95 at County Comm

Picture of light when I received it:

After 8 months:

Design: 1

The design is not a slam dunk on this light, even though it is effectively what drew me towards it (along with its simplicity of function and overall size.)  The solid copper construction is cool and unique, no question about it - I love how it has developed a nice patina (which obviously can be polished out if you don’t like that particular look), and the overall shape of the light feels good in the hand, and it is easily actuated with the knurling on the head – my hand has never slipped.  The weight of this piece is really great – it weighed in less than the manufacturer specified, on my scale it was 1.2oz.  It also fits into the hand nicely, the first three fingers of my hand are all able to positively engage the body, and then my thumb/index finger can easily actuate the two settings – ergonomically I like this light a lot.

It is, however, let down by the clip and a couple of flaws in the finish.  Two parts of the knurling are a little sloppy, raised up, and not even with the rest of the pattern – this is probably a bit nit-picky, as it doesn’t factor into the “feel” or usability of the light, but I see it often and it is a minor cosmetic annoyance.  

The clip is a bit of a Catch-22…I am really not a fan of these type of friction fit clips – the one on my previously beloved Fenix L0D was horrendous, in fact, and is probably the reason why I lost it.  The Maratac one-ups this bad design a bit, however in that it provides a nice location for where the clip connects with the body, and it is probably the best version of this type of clip design I have seen.  It has never, ever pulled off; the location where it sits has a raised area that will keep it from sliding around.  In fact, I don’t even want to tempt fate by removing it at this point, as it is a very thin piece of metal (another downer), but when I pull on it with decent strength, it will not pop off at all.  But lets be honest – a well executed friction clip is still a friction clip – suboptimal at best – and while this one has never failed me – I do worry a bit about it, and question its potential longevity.

The split ring loop clip which also slips around the end of the light (not in these pictures), has two little indentations for the ends of the clip to click into (which seems like a nice idea.) Unfortunately this clip is even worse – it has deformed over time, even with no use, and was just rattling around, so I removed it.  I am sure one could bend it back into shape, but the width of the clip material used for this piece virtually guarantees it will happen again.  I don’t keep lights like this on a split ring, I prefer to clip them, but if you do – this design is not perfect – while I don’t think there was any danger of it falling off, it was loose and sloppy.

Here you can see the indents that hold the split ring loop into place:

The light features an o-ring, and I have dunked it a few times and it has proven to be waterproof.

So in essence, 1 point for solid copper and 1 point for the overall solid function of the design, 1 off for the clip and the split ring loop.

Fit and Finish: 2

The copper looks really cool, as I mentioned the patina looks great to my eye, but the knurling is a little sloppy.  The threads are butter.  Nicely machined, the actuation, without any cleaning or lubing since I bought it has been perfect every time.  Smoooooooth.  It feels good in the hand – the shape of the light is both attractive and ergonomically sound – the clip can dig into the hand some, but I already griped enough about it.

The light originally had 'Maratac AAA' imprinted on it - that is long gone after 8 months, so it wasn't an etching or imprinted in any way that will last.

The lens appears to be glass, and is reportedly treated with an anti-reflective coating, I don’t baby this light in the least, and there are no scratches or issues with the lens material.  The LED itself is very nicely centered and the lightly orange-peeled aluminum alloy reflector/LED assembly looks solid and fits tightly into the head with no play or looseness whatsoever.  As I mentioned, there is that small flaw in the knurling, but I don’t consider it important enough to affect the scoring, as the rest of the knurling is well made, and very functional in the process of actuating the light.

Grip: 2

With the exception of the feel of the thin metal of the clip that can dig into ones hands, the overall grip of this light is great.  The knurling, as I mentioned, is VERY high-grip in all the right places and functional.  For me, a AAA light should be small – if I wanted a penlight, I would buy a penlight – this thing mainly lives in the inside pocket of a suit coat, the small pocket of my jeans, or clipped to a zip pocket on cargo-type pants.  At 2.6” length, in my hands, the feel is great and perfect for what I find myself using an every day carry light like this – peering under a sofa to find a comb for a My Little Pony (I am no “bronie” – I have a 5 year old daughter!), under my desk re-connecting a USB cable, under the hood of a car or what-have-you.  It’s not important that I can hold this thing securely in my off hand while aiming my 9mm, for example.

The only downside of the grip is the copper tastes nasty, and when I can’t get to my headlamp and decide to “mouth grip” this thing – it ain’t great!!

Carry: 1

Lets keep this one simple.  The size is great, the weight is great, it has never been a troublesome carry, but….yup, you guessed it, the clip…which I just don’t have a ton of faith in.

Output: 1

This is a two-mode light.  The first version of this light in copper was a single mode, and if it still was, I probably would not have purchased it, as I really like having a low.  Maratac claims the lumens for each setting to be 1.8 and 115 respectively.  I have no way (or interest) in measuring lumens, but the high seems a little over-rated in terms of lumens when compared to my other lights and their reviewed/manufacturers ratings.  The manufacturer estimates runtime at 55 hours on low, and 60mins on high.  I never understood why this light didn’t have a 3-mode output capability, as its aluminum brother has 3 modes. 

Practically, this has never been much of an issue for me, I use both modes pretty much equally – however I often use high for anything where I am in a lit area, looking into a dark area (i.e. under a desk or sofa in a lit room), as the low just doesn’t cut it.  But if I am in a dark room and need to locate something, the low is just fine.  A medium mode would push the high into more of a “one-off/emergency” mode – rarely used, and would more than likely positively affect the overall runtime of the light.

Incidentally, I ran it on high for 10 minutes and measured the temperature with a Cen-tech laser thermometer, the highest read I could get off the black of the clip attached to the body was 96° F – not too bad at all, and probably testament to the thermal transfer capabilities of the copper.

Runtime: 2

I suspect the manufacturers ratings on runtime are a bit conservative.  I have been using this light fairly often (albeit usually not for long sustained periods of time) since I bought it 8 months ago, and I have used one Duracell alkaline, and one Energizer lithium up during that time, and I am on my second which is still running strong at the moment.  I have not scientifically measured the overall runtime I have achieved, but subjectively, I would have to say that the runtime seems great.  As I mentioned before, however, I think it would be even better were there to be a medium mode, that would be more useful than having to utilize the high as often as I do.  Again, the fact that they didn’t include this third mode as they did into other versions of the light is a bit baffling.

Beam Type: 2

The beam is basically one big hotspot - very floody, the light orange peel of the reflector helps tremendously here.  A light like this, for truly day-to-day EDC, has to have a ton of flood – I never need to do any kind of distance spotting, if I was in that kind of situation I have various other lights that are way more appropriate.  For this form-factor, and this kind of use, the beam is perfect.

Beam Quality: 2

The large, floody, hotspot works well for all of the purposes a AAA light are typically pressed into.  It is a big blob of a hotspot, then a very dim thick ring then a very thin ring of light, then a dim large ring again on the outer limits of the full beam.  So is the beam pretty? No.  Compared to my reference Novatac 120p it looks horrendous – but again, for this kind of light, the big blob of a flood-y hotspot is really all that is needed for this light, all the rest of the beam is pretty useless both in practice and in looking at a white wall shot. 

The tint and color rendition is pretty good – I would describe the tint as a warm white – no greens or blues to my eye.  I consider my reference Novatac to be a very white, neutral light – the Maratac is slightly warmer. 

In absolute terms, I would probably knock down the beam quality to either 0 or 1, however that would be purely an academic rating – for its intended use, and in my experience using it nearly every day, the beam is great for this kind of purpose.

UI: 2

Twist once for low, twist twice for high.  See all the previous points about how easy and smooth it is to engage the modes, it doesn’t get more simple or easy than this.

The light always starts on low, which I prefer.

Hands Free Use (Tailstand & Antiroll): 1

The light tailstands…sorta.  The clip (the darn clip again) loops back in on itself – making for a pretty deep carry, but it extends just past the tail of the light and as a result, the tailstanding is not the most stable that it could be.  Maratac/County Comm: just fix this clip!!   Clip notwithstanding; the light has a very stable tail/base that would allow for good tailstanding.

The only thing that keeps it from rolling is the clip. 

Final Score: 16/20

There is a lot of competition in the single AAA light space.  The Foursevens Preon 1, Streamlight Microstream, and the Olight i3 (among others), are very well executed budget lights in this category.  At the higher end you have some customs, and       the Peak Eiger which has made quite a splash (I just ordered one, too!)  The Maratac sits somewhere in the middle, price-wise, which I think is largely due to the solid copper body material. 

I really like the look and the feel of this light, its weight and size are perfect for my application, and it is plenty bright.  I think it basically comes down to the copper, to be honest – because if you really like some of the features of this light, but don’t care about the copper, then the aluminum or stainless version of this light would be a better choice as it has three modes.  If you just love the copper look and its uniqueness, there aren’t many choices out there and this one is a good one.

If this light had a more securely mounted and beefier clip, and three modes – it would be killer.  That said, my search for the perfect AAA light continues…let’s see if the Eiger delivers!