To start off, I LOVE my USB Microstream AAA. I’ve had one for about 4 years. I lost the first one I had (came unclipped during a hayride one Halloween and fell out of my pocket). I’ve had the replacement ever since. It’s small/compact, lightweight and has a great battery life with a common inexpensive replacement.

I thought I’d lost my current one about three weeks ago and my wife got me the USB model in brown (there’s a slight difference between the black version, will describe down below) as a last minute stocking stuffer but I found my AAA version a couple days before Christmas woo Hoo.

Size comparison with 55gr 223 Rem:




AAA Specs:
C4 White LED bulb
45 Lumens/2.25hr runtime
3.6”
1.1oz

Light test outside:


USB Specs:
50 Lumen/3.5hr run time
250 Lumen/1.5hr run time
3.87”/1.2oz
4hrs to recharge, battery lasts 300 full recharges (red indicator by charge slot turns green when charge is complete) and then only has 60% charge capacity. New battery is $8.50 on Amazon.

Light test:
Low:


High:


USB Low setting compared to AAA LED:



The Coyote brown version I have goes High beam to Low beam, which requires a double click I haven’t mastered the rhythm of yet. I do a Michael J Fox Morse code until I get it right. The Black version goes Low to High, which I think would be more my preference AND have less run time on the battery. I didn’t know there was a difference until I started using it and my wife sure as hell didn’t when she bought it.

The Microstream AAA is still an awesome light but the USB version blows it away even with a small Lumen difference (on Low), the color warmth makes a massive difference to the eye when using it. I’ll probably get a Black version since I use the low setting more and use the Coyote version as a backup in my GHB or something