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Super Flashlights; Small tough flash lights, extreme brightness
Topic Started: Jan 19 2012, 10:47 PM (2,484 Views)
crankcase


My son bought a flashlight that ran on 1 AAA battery that he said he paid almost $40 for at REI (Fenix brand). I thought it was kind of silly to say the least. When he showed me how it worked, I was thinking that maybe $40 was not so crazy after all. Being a nice kid, he bought me a similar light for Christmas. It was only $26 and ran on 2 AA batteries. This light is even brighter - over 100 lumens - and it hurt to look into the beam even with the house lights on. The best krypton bulbs I found put out around 30 lumens in an average flashlights.

This light sold me on high end flashlights :rocker .

I just bought one that does almost 250 lumens off ebay, and they make lights that do over 300 lumens. These are supposed to be able to illuminate objects at well over 200 meters, or over 2 football fields away and I don't doubt it. These have a semi-focal point like a spot light, but they also have a pattern like a flood light. Many are digitally controlled, can run at different brightness levels, have built in beacon and SOS, and can run for 70 hours on low power.

There are a few companies that make similar flashlights. The Fenix brand use a new LED that yields extreme brightness, lasts long enough to basically never need to be changed with averag use (50,000 hrs), and also use a moderatley small amount of power.

I had never seen these new generation of flashlights and wanted to enlighten everyone and turn everyone on :P .

Here is a link
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vr4


Costco has a 3 pack of led lights that use 3 aaa batteries for 20 bucks. Comes with duracell batteries too. I dont know their lumen output but its good for 7 bucks each.


My work light is an led streamlight that is extremely bright. For 170 bucks it better be. Lol
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Coche Blanco
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http://www.fenixtactical.com/
http://www.surefire.com/
http://www.4sevens.com/

The three brands that come to mind.


EDIT: Misunderstood your posts.

I have a Surefire, and a converted 4 or 6 cell Maglite... they are KILLER.
Edited by Coche Blanco, Jan 20 2012, 12:40 AM.
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JellyBeanDriver


I became a flashaholic a few years ago. Bought a bunch of different models, trying to get the ideal EDC (every day carry) light. Have a Fenix LD01 that's always on my keychain.

FWIW, Dealextreme has a great selection. Romisen brand is very well made - nice fit and finish unlike much of the other brands (other than the name brands like Fenix). The RC-F4 and RC-M4 are very nice and bright. The RC-G2 is a good performer too.

For a very good thrower, the 3D Maglite LED, onsale for $15 now and again, is a really good light. I put in NiMH AA's in D-cell adapters. Lighter weight, cheaper batts, long run time. Completely blows away the incandescent Mag's, and a lot of the aftermarket LED drop-ins too.

My 'torch' is a 35W HID light. Portable, but not something you put in your pocket. Here's what it looked like at my house on Halloween. Kids were coming from all over to see where the light was coming from.
Posted Image

Here's a place where flashaholics hang out.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com
Edited by JellyBeanDriver, Jan 20 2012, 01:18 AM.
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crankcase


Streamlight looks like they carry mostly professional grade stuff.
The Surefires are way expensive, but appear to have very nice (nicest ?) fit and finish.

The Romisen RC-T7 looks very interesting, it's a 750 lumen light for under $60.
Dealextreme looks to have killer prices on very powerful lights. They look high quality, but some of the reviews said they were skeptical about actual output, stating rated outputs were used instead of actual output. Still these look like an economical alternative.

The Fenix LD01 is the one my son bought that got me started. It's a really nice, small light to have on the key chain. I've been thinking about getting my wife a Fenix E15. It's a little shorter but fatter than the LD101. It uses the CR123a battery. It's not real common, but allows the little E15 to put out a 140 lumens, about twice the LD101. That's some serious light from a tiny flashlight that fits comfortably on a keychain. It appears that many of these super lights use a Cree LED bulb. Some of these higher output flashlights are almost like having spot light capability in a small pocket flashlight. I could see myself becoming a flashaholic too.

I've spent a good chunk of money in on flashlights that look good but weren't. They would usually fail before I lost them. I've had some good maglights in the past, good fit and finish, but just typical brightness with adjustable beam and kind of expensive. These new generation flashlights are something different. They are more expensive but much higher quality and capability than what I am used to.

I have often regretted buying cheaply made products, but have never really regretted buying higher quality items. This is starting to become an increasing trend for me. I think too if I pay more for something I take better care of it, and keep up with it. I have a lot of Harbor Freight stuff that is scattered about, often purchased just because it was on sale. My better tools are cherished, and carefully put up.

Please excuse my introspective rambling.
Edited by crankcase, Jan 20 2012, 02:20 AM.
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billy508
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billy508

Save me a little time. What kind of light would you suggest for a bicycle?. Maybe something I could mount in a bracket or on a helmet. I know they make a jillion different bike light but you guys know the real deal. I would think it would need to use AAs. :banana :banana :banana
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bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

JBD, with that beam, it isn't kids I would be thinking of coming to your house, but low flying air craft ;)
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DesmondGhostRider
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I want this one

http://www.fenixoutfitters.com/fenix-tk70-led-flashlight---2200-lumens-in-stock-357
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crankcase


Billy,

In the up to $50 price range from the Fenix line I'd say choose from:

E11, $26.95 Amazon 1AA, (32 or 105 lumens selectable outputs)
E21, $32.45, Amazon 2AA, (52 or 154 lumens selectable outputs) - I like the compromise here!
LD25, $46.59, Amazon, 2AA, (45 or 180 lumens selectable outputs)
HP11 $53 ish, Various, 4AA, (4, 55, 133 or 277 lumens selectable outputs) - Headset style.

The one the one the ghost likes is cool too, but you would probably want to mount it to the handle bars.
Of course it's a few more $ too :D .
Edited by crankcase, Jan 20 2012, 02:03 PM.
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billy508
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billy508

Ok Thanks :thumb I will check it out. :banana :banana :banana
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Horn


Went on ebay and just bid on 2 cree led lights. They may be a cheap brand but one of the lights have 250 lumens and the other is 1000.... Only have about $8 in bids
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Cobb
BANNED

I use to like LED lights and found I was always buying another one as they kept getting brighter with better run times. THen I got suckered into the golsten where the output was rated in watts and basically they kept adding a larger and larger resistor so it drew more power vs putting out more light. I think the most I spent was 100 bucks for either a 5 watt light from cabelas or a twin 3 watt model. Both are bright and still work til this day. The twin 3 watt is a 3 d cell, the 5 watt takes 3 a123 cells.

Currently I wont even look at a light that takes 3 batteries. That means its unregulated or CHEAP in design.

Funny thing, regardless of the design, led just doesnt throw like an HID or halogen does.
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crankcase


Cobb,

I'd say as you go over the 300 lumen mark you start to get in the neighborhood of close to HID, but still a ways off from halogen. I think at around 800+ lumens you could start to compare the lighting capability of these on a more equal basis. That's only a guess though.

A big difference is that the HID are more a spot type beam, and the halogen are usually more flood type. Both type beams are measured differently too, the directed type beams are in candle power and the flood type beams are in lumens.

The example I read from the web was contrasting a sun light beam entering a room with the shades drawn vs a table lamp in the same room. The sun beam is more intense, but won't light the room nearly as well as a low intesity table lamp, thus the contrast in measuring lighting in lumens vs candle power. The Cree type led flashlights tend to be made as kind of a semi-spot or semi-flood.

Horn12007, there are some intresting looking Cree lights made in the lower price range. Billy, some of these might be worth taking a look at.
Edited by crankcase, Jan 20 2012, 08:00 PM.
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Cobb
BANNED

One of my side projects I have never started was to buy a 12 volt cordless spot light and out in a automotive HID lamp. 3000k color 50 watt ballast and stand back. :)

I saw a prius 3 with led head lamps. Cant say that looked as bright as halogen or hid.
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crankcase


Quote:
 
Cant say that looked as bright as halogen or hid
Yea, I know for sure. That is my experience too.



I saw a thread in honda-tech.com about the output of HIDs. It said they put out between 1200 and 1700 lumens depending on the brand of bulb.
I didn't try to verify this, but it seems about right. There are several flashlights out, such as the one Ghost linked to, that claim to excede this output, but it's kind of hard to wrap my mind around it.

It will be intresting though to see what the next generation of LED lighting brings.
LEDs have such low power consumption and long life they may become mainstream as lighting,
and compete with florecent.

The lighting world it is a changing.

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