Preface
The Maratac AAA Titanium REV 5 is the second run of the original Maratac AAA Titanium (REV 4), that operates on a single AAA battery.
Let’s check out the merits and demerits of this Maratac AAA Titanium model.
Fun Fact: The Maratac brand name is a registered trademark of CountyComm, which mainly specialises/deals with USA government agencies. Any excess flashlight inventories are sold under the Maratac brand name.
Packaging & First Impressions
This is what the light will come with as shown below.
- Comes in a small rectangular style (has 2 curved corners) minimalist plastic box.
- The plastic box is secured by a magnetic closure.
- The threads and o-rings were mildly lubricated but the threads are a little rough still (slight galling). Cleaning the threads and re-lubing with Christo-Lube MCG 111 helps to make the threads much smoother.
- Ample threads for a twisty light to remove any likelihood of the head unscrewing off from the body and dropping off by accident.
- Included GITD (Glow In The Dark) diffuser is flexible and its glow last fairly long. As the GITD is flexible, it can fit other slightly larger diameter flashlight too.
- There is a GITD oring around the reflector but its glow does not last as long as the GITD diffuser.
- The provided clip comes pre-installed and can be reversed installed. Hence, attachment of the light to a baseball cap for hands-free usage is possible.
- There is a removable Lanyard Attachment Point that should be able to the test of time.
- Clip has sufficient tension to ensure that the light will stay clipped to any material to prevent the light from falling out.
- Battery compartment holds Ni-MH batteries such as Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloops and GP ReCyKo+, Energiser Ultimate Lithium (L92) and (Energiser and Duracell) alkaline batteries without any fitment issues.
Top:
Bottom:
Side:
Box Contents:
Quick Overview (Manufacturer Specifications)
- Body Material: Grade 5 Titanium (Ti 6Al-4V)
- LED: Cree XP-G2 S4 Bin
- Battery Format: 1 x AA (1.2V NiMH rechargeable/1.5V lithium primary batteries/1.5V alkaline [not recommended]) ONLY
- Output & Runtime (with 1 x AAA Duracell Alkaline battery):
- Low – (5 lumens / 2days 17h)
- Mid – (65 lumens / 10h)
- High – (180 lumens / 1h 15min)
- Waterproofness: Rating not available
- Dimension: 66.04mm (length) x 12.7mm (diameter)
- Battery reverse polarity protection
- Accessories Included:
- 1*GITD Diffuser
- 1*Clip
- 1*Lanyard Attachment Point
- 2*Spare Orings
- MSRP: $75
UI (User Interface)
UI for this light is great for EDC, keychain or pocket duty due to its ease of operation.
Switching ON and OFF is done by twisting the head of the light. Twist the head clockwise will activate the light. Likewise, twisting the head anti-clockwise will deactivate the light.
Normal Operation
As there is mode memory, the flashlight will switch ON to the last used Mode (last mode memory).
Mode changing (LOW, MID and HIGH) can be done via the twisting action mentioned above. After the light is switched ON, a quick twist anti-clockwise (till the light goes off) and clockwise again will bring the light into the next mode. Repeat till the desired mode is achieved.
The Mode sequence cycling is (MID, LOW, HIGH ⇒ MID, LOW, HIGH). However, since there is mode memory, the flashlight will appear to have the following mode sequence instead (HIGH, MID, LOW ⇒ HIGH, MID, LOW).
Form Factor
The light is extremely small and is not much bigger than the AAA battery it uses to power the light. So much so that it could even disappear from view in a clenched small sized hand.
Owing to its light weight and size, it will slip into a pants coin pocket or any place you would like to carry it and you wouldn’t notice it is there till you actually need it.
With the clip attached, it will prevent the light from rolling freely on its sides and still enables it to tail-stand perfectly. Tail-standing might be affected if the Lanyard Attachment Point is used (dependent on the thickness of lanyard).
The “knurling” on the flashlight provides ample grip without sacrificing on being overly aggressive (i.e. still fabric-friendly). The light is extremely “grippy”, even with wet hands/gloves.
With Diffuser Attached:
Beam Style/Beamshots
For this light, the spill, corona and hotspot is somewhat predictable due to the rather shallow light orange peel reflector. With the LED used, the beam is mostly a floody-style type for recognizing items in the up-close to near range distance.
With the diffuser added, it helps provides a soft flood beam for recognizing items in the up-close distance only.
The beam has a slight squarish spill with a wide circular hotspot and the corona blending almost entirely with the spill. It also helps that the LED is perfectly centred in this sample. There is a slight ring in the beam when whitewall hunting but not visible in real world usage.
Here are the pictures of the GITD O-ring and GITD Diffuser at their brightest (fully charged by the LED on HIGH).
All of the beamshots taken below are done so with the following camera settings (LOW: 2.5sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, MID: 1sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB and HIGH: 0.5sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB).
Some pictures have been adjusted slightly to depict as close as to what is seen in real life. The distance of the light from the door is 4.6m.
Without Diffuser
Control shot:
LOW (5 lumens):
MID(65 lumens):
HIGH (180 lumens):
With Diffuser
LOW (5 lumens):
MID(65 lumens):
HIGH (180 lumens):
Mode (Output) Spacing
Mode spacing appears to be progressively brighter to the eye and the modes are well spaced enough to be able to know which mode one is currently in. With that in mind, TLR tend to view mode spacing as battery life indicators (amount of runtime left) rather than the specific output (lumens).
There isn’t a true MOONLIGHT mode of under 1 lumen for this flashlight for bedtime night snack runs or with night-adjusted eyes. That said, when the diffuser is added, the LOW mode can pass off as a MOONLIGHT-ish mode.
Tint & CRI
Maratac did not disclose the tint (color temperature) and/or the CRI (Color Rendering Index) for the LEDs used in their headlamp. For this headlamp, a guesstimate would be in the 6500K and 70CRI ballpark.
There are tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The hotspot is mostly cool white tint whilst the corona possess a slight yellowish green tint; and the spill having a slight purple tint.
This is not as noticeable in real life usage.
Waterproofness
Even though there is no official rating for the light, we went ahead to test it like as though it was rated for IPX6.
The light was subjected to being left under room temperature running water at full blast whilst running on HIGH.
No signs of water intrusion in the head or body was seen.
Lockout Capability
No electronic lockout but mechanical lockout is possible when needed, like during transportation in a bag.
A quarter turn (clockwise) of the head will enable mechanical LOCKOUT.
Scale Comparison (Ruler)
Summary
To sum up, we believe that the most important part of any review is if given the chance to purchase the same light for our own usage or to gift to our loved ones out from one’s pocket (wallet), would we still do it?
For this light, it is a definite YES, if the cool white tint shift is not an issue for your usage.
The flashlight’s straightforward UI, Grade 5 Titanium material being used, great knurling on Ti, uniform satin finish, included GITD diffuser, GITD O-ring and deep carry pocket clip are all plus points for this flashlight.
That said, it would be nice if CountyComm has a Neutral White or High CRI option (e.g. Nichia), that some of the other REV models (including the ones from the AA model).
Here are some of the other flashlight options that are similarly sized and operates on either 1 AAA or 1 AA battery.
From Left to Right: Tain Ottavino V1, Maratac Titanium AAA REV 5, Fenix E01, McGizmo Sapphire, Prometheus Lights Beta QRv2 and Olight I3T EOS.
From Left to Right: Maratac Titanium AAA REV 5, Fenix E01, Prometheus Lights Beta QRv2, Olight I3T EOS, Streamlight ProTac 90, Reylight Ti Lan V3, Fenix LD12, ASP Guardian AA DF and Malkoff MDC HA 1AA.
As with all gears, two is one and one is none.
Stay safe,
The Lite Review
Disclaimer: Light was provided for by CountyComm for this review. No other compensation was provided.
Where to Buy Links
Disclaimer: The link to the Maratac Titanium AAA does not contain any affiliate or tracking links.
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It will NOT cost you anything and is a way to help support the website to keep pumping out reviews like this.
Maratac Titanium AAA REV 5
CountyComm: Click Here
Christo-Lube MCG111
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