One of the selling points of the EOTech Model 512 when I first started hawking them was the fact that they used the common AA-size batteries rather than the esoteric N-cell used by the Model 511. When I purchased one of my own, I was happy with the fact that I could pick up batteries at any old convenience store to keep my optic running.
Just a few short years later, almost nothing I own runs on AA batteries except for my camera and the flashlight I keep in the bedroom for blackouts. All my other lights, from the light on my carbine to my Surefire "tactical" flashlight and even the little TwinTask 1L I keep in my purse for general flashlight chores, use lithium CR123 cells. This means I need to keep the little battery compartments in my foregrip and pistol grip filled with two different kinds of batteries. This is a pain in the butt. I need to get rich so I can replace my 512 with a 553 that takes the newer batteries. Plus it comes in flat dark earth, which would match my gun, and that's important to the style-conscious armchair commando like myself.
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Guess I'm just an old fart(44) but I prefer the iron sights on the AR.Natter of fact I like the old type better than the newer A2 sight.et45
I have the EOThingie on my Bushie V-Match carbine which is the go-to gun behind the front door. Not unusual to take coyotes with it from right off the front porch. It's a truly great sight and like Anonymous I thought I would never prefer any kind of optic on an AR over iron sights. But the EO is so fast and you can do really great work with it out to about 300Y. Also, excellent on running targets. A coyote in the open under 200Y is a dead one.
Ya, sure, it would be nice if the batteries matched.
But, what about during the zombie apoccy? Say you are pinned down in an old convenience store, and the only thing left not looted are the AA batteries (nobody worrying about powering digital cameras right at the moment). Then what you gonna do, since you switched to them fancy little batteries that only camera shops and home supply stores and mega marts and drug stores and news stands carry?
Betcha THEN you'd wish you stuck with the reliable old 512 like we both have on our fun-guns.
Besides, with a pair of lithium AA's in there I'm not sure you CAN kill them dead. I'm going on maybe 10 months with mine now.
Tam,
How much you want for the 512? I'm in the market, and I keep about 300 AA batteries put away. :)
Well, first I have to get rich and buy a 553. :D
Yeah, I have about two dozen each AAs and CR123s on hand. Plus a bunch of those quarter sized 2032s as well.
I think I'm going to need a fridge dedicated just to batteries. At least the CR123s claim to have a 10 year+ shelf life.
well I was gonna ask about you selling the 512 to me when you win that lotto thingy. I just have a cranky old man attitude toward esoteric battery sizes.
Plus with the new amp hours a AA stomps a D-cell....
Just try to find some CR123s in my neck o' the woods. The current stash came from eBay.
Hell I'll just be happy to get an EOTech of any flavor someday... though the Aimpoint T1 I got a deal on isn't too shabby, I have a feeling the other might make me happier.
Like I need more toys to lust after.
The newer nitecore flashlights run on AA...
90Lumens from an LED for ~10 hours?
Sign me up!
I have lots of AA's. . that probably says too much about the antiquity of my technology or my leisure activities.
I don't have all that stuff, just batteries for the flashlight and the Shortwave radio, AAs of course, need to get more. The end is near.
Loved listening to the Hobbit on BBC during the first Gulf War. And I had the NEWS.
Jeffro said: "Just try to find some CR123s in my neck o' the woods."
Try surefire.com. They have them for $1.75 each. I have yet to find them cheaper and most places are way more.
Medicman
For CR-123 batteries, try your nearest Snap-On tool truck. Not unusual to find them at about $1 each in packs of ten.
Snap-On sells a kick butt 5 watt LED flashlight that takes them.
A small, slightly off topic suggestion even for people who do not have too much time on their hands. I have maintained for the last 10+ years a simple spreadsheet for tracking the inspection of installed cells/batteries. Each item I own that is battery powered: description, cell/battery type, number of cells, last month of inspection, last date of replacement, next year of replacement, comments, etc. I have had enough battery powered devices damaged or destroyed by leakage that I check them every six months, usually in June and December. I also have listed the equipment for which I have removed the batteries. For about 10 years the manufacturers of batteries have usually printed a sell by date on the cells. After this date you should inspect the batteries for leakage more often. I check the function of the device as well as looking carefully for battery leaks so that in an emergency everything will very probably work.
What kind of battery life do you get with the 512 in the real world? And would the 553 have even longer?
Be very careful about cheap CR123s, surefire's excluded.
The cheapest ones aren't designed for heavy amperage draw, shove 'em in a high-wattage flashlight...
...I'll put it this way, ORNL put out a safety bulletin, complete with photos, where a workman put two Chinese-sourced CR123 batteries in a Surefire G2, was working on something, put it in his shirt pocket still on, where several minutes later it exploded complete with a little flame and corrosive chemicals. Big scorch marks, safety warnings, "Please read this and return the signed reciept to X", all the OSHA bullshit involved...
less wrote: "The newer nitecore flashlights run on AA... 90Lumens from an LED for ~10 hours? Sign me up!"
Yes, indeed. I showed Tam mine when she was in K-town. I need to finish up my review and post it.
But, yeah, the other way to go would be to switch everything to AAs. When the Zombacalypse strikes and you smash open the door at the Qwiki Mart you ain't gonna find any 123A batteries.
Tam,
I just ordered an optic for a project gun, and I had the same fashionista issue you mentioned, as I was all worried that the flat black was going to clash with the FDE paint on the rest of it.
I then figured that I was either being vain, or a bit too Carson Kressley about the matter.
In the end, it's just a gun, and it's in need of an objective being satisfied, so I canned the urge to make the shoes and belt match, though your rationale for making the swap due to battery compatibility is a very good argument.
BTW, what sort of sling did you use for your house'clearing AR?
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