Maratac AA Revision 2

Well CountyComm advertises this light as "the world's smallest, brightest, AA flashlight", and once you get one in your hands this really starts to become apparent. Its dimensions are 2.99" in length by 0.7" in diameter which is 1" longer and 0.2" wider in diameter than the battery that powers it. This light is very small indeed and it weighs about the same as a lithium primary AA, so about half the weight of an alkaline AA cell. The weight of the Maratac is almost identical to that of the Streamlight Microstream with the added benefit of an additional mode and more power. With the Maratac AA, you will also receive two additional O-rings, a silicone diffuser and an instructional card.

The Maratac is a AA powered light that has two modes of operation; high (125 lumens), and a low mode that CountyComm refers to as "lunar low" (which is only 0.25 lumens). Runtimes on these two modes are as follows; 90 minutes on high and 225 hours on lunar low! While it is true that 0.25 lumens is barely anything, if you are in total darkness and do not want to be seen or need to see something without ruining your adapted night vision, then 0.25 lumens is more than you think!

The body of the light is machined from aircraft grade aluminum and is type 3 hard coat anodized for its high level of protection. The glass lens is treated with an anti reflective coating to make sure that as many lumens as possible are able to pass through to help you see. The emitter is a Cree industries XP-E R3 which is an older almost pre-historic LED in terms of its efficiency and power, but given the size and materials of this light, its use is acceptable and more than adequate. If you utilized a newer, more powerful emitter in this sized light you could end up burning your hands as there is not enough material on the light to absorb the heat created so it would transfer directly to your hands. If you look at the review of the Balder HD-1 I posted a while back, I stated that the light gets very warm when left on high for an extended period of time, and the Balder weighs about 3 times more than the Maratac!

 


The above picture is a great representation of the small size of this light. It also shows that the threads are adequately lubricated to ensure smoothness of use and to make it easy for single handed operation. To keep the light as short as possible, there is no button anywhere on the light. Instead, the light is operated by twisting the head. once the light is on, to switch modes simply loosen and tighten the head by about 10 degrees quickly.

My only real complaint with the Maratac is the pocket clip. If you look in the picture above you can see that it is a "deep carry" clip which is great. my problems are that the clearance on the portion of the clip all the way at the tail end (all the way to the left in the picture) prohibits the light from deep carrying unless it is in a shirt pocket or the pocket on a pair of slacks, and that the overall retention provided by this clip is grossly inadequate...

Now the inclusion of a silicone diffuser on the other hand, is something that I like a lot!

While tail standing, this light can light up a whole room with the implementation of the included diffuser.

I think that the Maratac AA would make a great EDC light if it had a better clip (unless you would just toss it in your pocket/purse anyway) and a great car light. I say car light because it is small and wouldn't take up any space in a glove box or console, and it runs on AA batteries that you can find anywhere.