Placing the reed torches aside for a moment...
NZcaver wrote:Mr Lipton still seems to miss a couple of important points entirely. His own state-of-the-art Olight (and many other LED lights) should work just as reliably and efficiently - if not more - using good rechargeable AA's instead of alkalines.
My earlier assertion was only based on a hunch, and it was bugging me that I might be wrong. So I did some research, and thanks to one of the fine people over at Candlepowerforums it seems I was right after all.
In max brightness mode, Mr Lipton's Olight T-15 should provide about 52 minutes of light on a Duracell AA alkaline battery. But if he were to use a rechargeable Duracell 2650 mAh NiMH AA battery, it should provide a full 2 hours of light. Big difference! (Times are based on how long it takes for the light to dim to 50% of its original intensity.)
This information and more (comparing several similar flashlights) can be found
hereEven though it's twice as efficient, I imagine Mr Lipton might counter by saying he feels any newfangled NiMH battery would only be "half as reliable."