Hi there, I’m glad to see a flashlight community here! I lost my trusty stylus on a call and I’m hoping that y’all could recommend a worthy replacement. I would happily purchase the same but I’m wondering if there are some other options that I might be missing out on.
Rugged and easy operation are key requirements. If it’s very bright it would be handy to have a low intensity setting for checking for pupil dilation on a subject.
Jerv is right about how awesome the TS10 is (I have four). Buuuuut I don’t think it’s what I’d choose for a SAR focused light. You should still probably get one just to play with it though: it’s a cheap introduction to Anduril, the emitters are fantastic, and it’s capable of (temporarily) putting out a shocking amount of light for how small it is. 3000K is gorgeous but all of the temp options are pretty great, honestly.
If you’re looking for something rugged, you can’t really go wrong with Zebralight. The SC64 is about the smallest 18650 light out there (don’t get that one though, see below)—it’s efficient, it’s rugged, it’s easy to use. You can customize the output levels as well (a little bit of a learning curve, but once you get it it’s easy). It’s not insanely bright like a lot of modern lights can be, but it’s plenty bright for most applications. If you had any interest, wait until the SC65c HI is available—the new 719a emitter should have better qualities than the LH351D in the SC64 series.
If you could go even bigger, then there’s the SC600 series with 50.3 HI. There’s some tint lottery, so quite a few people end up with some green in the beam, but it can get considerably brighter than the SC64. Bigger though, more expensive, and the pocket clip isn’t as good.
If you want to stick to a smaller light since you’ve been using a 2xAAA model, then consider the Skilhunt M150. It’s a 14500 that also accepts regular AA batteries, gets quite bright for its size, has onboard magnetic charging (for lithium ion cells only), and is generally seen as one of the favorite 14500 lights around here.
You might also consider some right-angle headlamps. Zebralight, Skilhunt, and Armytek all make well-respected headlamps for hands free light that can also be used hand-held or clipped to something like backpack straps.
It’s a bunch of info. Check out Zak’s arbitrary list of popular lights to see lots of other options, see what might interest you, and ask more questions!