The poor flashaholics top 10?

[offroadcmpr]

twentysixtwo - I've never heard of using a KPR 18 bulb. Is it a radio shack bulb? How does it compare to bulbs such as 1185 of 8 cells or any other similar bulb set ups in terms of runtime and brightness? I've been looking for a bulb that will work well with 8 cells.

Edit : assuming this is the bulb 4 watts probally won't cut it.

 

[FredM]

Most off-the-shelf (plastic/alum) D cell lights can be upgraded with a halogen bulb. ($4 to $8)

.

Where can I get such a bulb?

How does it affect runtime on 2 D cells?

 

[wwglen]

I think that a POOR MANS list for flashlights should be in the under $20 range (Same as a Mag 3D).

Anything more puts it outside the mainstream price list.

So given that...

1. Dorcy AAA $6.00
2. Dorcy 1-Watt 3D at target $21 (OK I went ove a little so sue me)
3. River Rock headlamp $14
4. River rock 2-AAA $10
5. Brinkman MaxFire $17
6. Dorcy 3-AAA Lux
7. Streamlight polypro AA Lux $24 (I went ove a little again)
8. River Rock AA LAntern $18 ?
9. Niteze AA Mag Upgrade $5.00
10. Energizer 4-AA folding LED lantern $5.00

Honerable Mention $6.00 1-AAA LED light from ebay says one watt (and lies) feels a little cheap but still a good EDC with long run time.

 

[LEDninja]

For budget reasons I do not have many of the lights discussed on CPF. Among the ones I own my most used are:
01 LEDcorp's turtlelight upgraded with a Tectite LPR-113 bulb. $35
02 LEDcorp's turtlelight upgraded with a Superbrightled PR2-W1-WVR bulb. $20
[EDIT] 03 Nuwai TM-310H 1AAA 0.5W $10
04 UK 2AAA eLED. $12
05 Kevin L 26K keychain $2.50
[EDIT] 06 Emillion's 7x7mm $10

The following are always loaded with batteries and used sometimes:
07 Dorcy 1AAA 1LED $10
08 Energizer stretch flashlight lantern with MJLED/BA-1. $25
09 Minimag AA with MJLED and Kroll clickie. $25
10 Minimag AAA with Microstar TLE-10 $35

[EDIT] Xnova AA 8LED new model. and Fenix L1P removed from list.

Do not buy the turtlelight from LEDcorp unless you want a green barrelled one. The Dorcy 4AA 1LED floating lantern/Cool blue is half the price and is usually available locally (no shipping & handling).

 

[PlayboyJoeShmoe]

I think that a POOR MANS list for flashlights should be in the under $20 range (Same as a Mag 3D).

Anything more puts it outside the mainstream price list.

So given that...

1. Dorcy AAA $6.00
2. Dorcy 1-Watt 3D at target $21 (OK I went ove a little so sue me)
3. River Rock headlamp $14
4. River rock 2-AAA $10
5. Brinkman MaxFire $17
6. Dorcy 3-AAA Lux
7. Streamlight polypro AA Lux $24 (I went ove a little again)
8. River Rock AA LAntern $18 ?
9. Niteze AA Mag Upgrade $5.00
10. Energizer 4-AA folding LED lantern $5.00

Honerable Mention $6.00 1-AAA LED light from ebay says one watt (and lies) feels a little cheap but still a good EDC with long run time.

I pretty much ditto this list! I only lack 7 and 8 from having all the above!

And I very much agree with 2, 3, 4 and 6!!!!

 

[notrefined]

1) PT Attitude at $10 a pop
2) any 6V lantern with a 3-cell bulb and sputtered reflector- I get mine for $3.50, less than I can buy the battery alone for
3) Rayovac Industrial 2AA w/ any good 5mm-10mm LED, comes to $5 a piece
4) Rayovac Industrial 2D with 6 or 8 AA's in series in adapters with appropriate overdriven bulb, $12 (PT's 8AA offering is steep competition when it can be found on sale for $15)
5) Energizer folding LED lantern at $3 and change
6) PALight Safe-Light PAL with the current 50% off promotion, comes out to $4.50 a piece (shipped!) for 2 or more
7) generic/chinese 5-LED, 3xAAA headlamp (something like a PT Aurora clone, but not quite) at $6 a piece, shipped
8) $5 single AAA keychain lights from ebay, soon to be rivaled by the nicer $9 ones?
9) Nightcutter lights, while they were available, could be had sometimes as low as $7 for the 3LED version in white or green
10) Brinkmann Maxfire LX at $16

 

[yaesumofo]

add the blaster jr to that list.

GREAT LIGHT $40.00
Yesumofo

 

[twentysixtwo]

Offroadcampr - yes, that's the one.

It's "only" 4 watts at 7.2 v, but with 8 or 9 AA's you've got 9.6 or 10.8v and therefore more like 5 to 6 watts. When you consider the increase in efficiency with the higher voltage, it's the equivalent light to a 7 or 8 watt halogen. A Mag 3D with this setup is $19 Mag+$3.50*3 battery holders + $1.40 bulb = about $30. A Mag 85 is $19 Mag + $3.50*3 + $7 Borofloat + $20 Aluminum Reflector + $11 Magcharger switch + $5 01185 bulb = about $72.50.

Bulb life with 9 AA's is about an hour or more, runtime is about five times longer than a MAG85.

I have MAG85 and it's really a kick in the pants, but the KPR18 is a great way to start.....

 

[357]

I'd put the UK 4aa eLED near the top of the list, along with the SL Lux 4aa/3C.

The UK 4aa eLED ($20) has 11 hours of constant regulation, and more output than a 2aa Maglite.


The SL Lux 4aa/3C ($40) has 4 hours of good regulation, and lots of throw.

And for fans of metal lights:

Pelican M6 led ($45), Pelican M6 LED Lux 3 HA regulated: $99.

My list (top 5) goes like this:

1. UK eLED 4aa
2. Pelican M6 LED Lux I
3. SL Lux 3C
4. SL Lux 4aa
5. Pelican M6 LED Lux III HA Regulatieon

 

[Robocop]

When they could be had for 15 dollars at CountyCom the Ultra-G was and still is an incredible light. It is simple and works every time without fail.

The latest suprise to me was the Nuwai 2-AAA at Target. For 10 dollars this light is simply amazing. I just ran mine in a test on some cheap rechargeables and it got about 8 good hours of brightness with several more of dimming but usable light.

The QIII goes without saying....incredible for the price and so far mine has worked well each time I needed it.

The Dorcy AAA has always been my favorite for the simple reason that I have used that board for so many other mods that I was tinkering on. It is simple and works every time as well. Dorcy is good at providing lights for a good cost and keeping them interesting. I always said that Dorcy did seem to listen to the people as they have brought some good contenders to the mat as far as people with less money to spend are concerned.

I recently bought the NiteIze conversion for 5 dollars and I must say that for the cost the wow factor of this item is incredible. It is simple and effective and actually does all that it is said to do. Any normal person can install it and the improvement is worth the cost many times over in my opinion.

I have not handled the light known as the BlueGhost however I have read on it here. It seems that the dealer has some interesting lights and for the cost...well the prices seem too good to be true at times. I have seen many who say this light is incredible for the price so I must assume that this light is also a poor mans contender. That entire website is really very poor man oriented and sure has some cool lights. I think it is Emilion who has the web site but most of his stuff seems to be a good bang for the buck.

The list goes on and on as lights have came so far this year. It seems now that we are paying 35 dollars for a light today that we would have gladly paid 65 for 3 years past....(Fenix comes to mind here)...(Or even the QIII)

I enjoyed this thread and have found a few lights that I need to have for myself as a result.

 

[twentysixtwo]

Thanks to everyone for some excellent suggestions - when I get the time I may go back and modify my original post. I think some improvements may be to add some guidelines to truly make it a "Poor Flashaholics" list

1) Top price of ~$50
2) Readily available through retailers or online (non ebay) vendors.
3) No significant modding required (Plug-in type mods only)
4) Best brightness for form factor and / or price.

What else?

 

[BlackDecker]

Thanks to everyone for some excellent suggestions - when I get the time I may go back and modify my original post. I think some improvements may be to add some guidelines to truly make it a "Poor Flashaholics" list

1) Top price of ~$50
2) Readily available through retailers or online (non ebay) vendors.
3) No significant modding required (Plug-in type mods only)
4) Best brightness for form factor and / or price.

What else?

I like those modifications to your post. $50 is the most I've spent on any light so far (Petzl Tikka XP headlamp).

 

[stogiez]

Whoa. Hey Notrefined,

Where are you getting the price for the PALlight? If they are that price, I'm all over that. That is exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[notrefined]

Whoa. Hey Notrefined,

Where are you getting the price for the PALlight? If they are that price, I'm all over that. That is exactly what I'm looking for.

See the PALight/Safe-Light CPF October Special thread in the dealer's forum

 

[olebluebird]

Where can I get such a bulb?

How does it affect runtime on 2 D cells?

Streamlight made halogen bulbs at one time. It has been at least 15 years since I bought some and upgraded my 3-cell Maglite. I recently checked Radio Shack and they only had the 6 volt lantern version which would be o.k. in a 4-cell and I think it is good for 7.2 volts. There is a British site that list halogen bulbs.

http://www.reflectalite.com/halogenpage.html

I was thinking of using a 2-cell Maglite with 5-AA conversion and a halogen bulb. The run time should be 1.5 hours using the Radio Shack bulb with 200 bulb lumens.

Oleblue

 

[UnknownVT]

twentysixtwo wrote: "these are the ones that even flashaholics with deep pockets can respect. They are (IMHO) the top "Bang for the buck" lights and cheap / easy mods.."

Great thread... I love finding bargains or at least great value for money.

I agree with most mentioned already - here's my list with links to reviews and comparison beamshots - not in any particular order, but I'll put the ones that didn't get a mention first.... all prices are including shipping costs if applicable.

S1801 1w Luxeon 1xCR123 for $20 incl shipping when bought via eBay from GoldenGadgets.com - one of my favorite 1 watt Luxeon 1x CR123 lights......

Nite-Ize LED Drop-in for MiniMag 2AA $4.99 from WalMart for drop-in module + either about $9 for MiniMag 2AA or better yet $2.50 (each) for Quest 2AA from ****'s Sporting Goods.

MJLED drop-in for MiniMag 2AA - I have slight preference for this over the Nite-Ize above - BUT this is now harder to find and the $5 bare cut-down MJLED requires more work to install unless one can still buy the $10 kit including pre-drilled reflector + cost of MiniMag or Quest..... One can make one's own Homemade MJLED

70cent white LED keychains from Emilion - the title says it all that has got to be a bargain - cheap Photon 2 "clone" - there are also 70cent Color LED keychains from Emilion with specifically Interesting Purple LED keychain also 70cents. Emilion has recently changed his shipping structure - but these are very good value bargains still.

20 for $20 LED Lights from CountyComm - possibly eclipsed by Emilion's keychain lights.... but still bargains.

Energizer LED Head Beam - I really like this small compact/light headlamp using two white LEDs and switchable to a single red LED $12.99 WalMart or at one time at $9.08 at a Target closeout (some got it even lower closeout price ~$6.48?)

Dorcy 1AAA - less than $6 from WalMart - my out of the house EDC......

8LED 1AA "Xnova" New - very bright uses a single AA - $5.49 from LightHound.com (great vendor) (+ shipping $ 3.49 for orders up to $19.99) was my at home EDC

Fenix L1 v2.5 (Non-Premium) - currently one of the most talked about lights $28 shipped from the GroupBuy - this is now my at home EDC

Nuwai Q3 with RCR123 + Nano Charger - with a 3.7V RCR123 rechargeable Li-Ion battery the Q3 is noticably brighter than its older original brightness - almost "free" power but runtime can be low at about 30 minutes on the RCR123 - light will get hot $34 + $8.50 for charger and RCR123 ........original comparison review of Nuwai Q3

Thast's 10 already, so +1 bonus....

$1.99 Keychain LEDs LED Club brand at WalGreens are worth looking at - especially for a Blue-Green LED.......

 

[BobVA]

4) Rayovac Industrial 2D with 6 or 8 AA's in series in adapters with appropriate overdriven bulb, $12 (PT's 8AA offering is steep competition when it can be found on sale for $15)

Ditto - the Ray O Vac has a nice reflector. I keep one in the office with 6xAA's because I know it won't walk away like a more expensive light would.

- The Inova 2XAAA I got recently at Target is a very nice bargin. Works great and, unlike a lot of 2XAA or 2xAAA lights, does actually put out more light than an ARC AAA

 

[GadgetTravel]

I second, third, fourth or whatever we are up to now the QIII. At $29 it is a steal. I run rechargeables in mine, which is unmodified. I cant get over the quality of the beam and its brightness. And all of my other lights Im comparing to are Surefires or Streamlights.

I would also second the SL Twin Task 2L. A really flexible light for a great price.

I would like to add three additional lights for consideration.

First is the Streamlight Jr. Luxeon. I really nice light for a decent price. Plus you can use NiMH rechargeables in it or AAs you can find virtually anywhere. It is a great form factor with easy to find batteries.

Next the Eternalight Elite Max 4. Mine was a bit under $50 and a great buy.

Last but not least, the Photon Freedom Micro. They are all great, especially the new 2x brightness version. Love them and always have a couple within reach. Under $20, and some versions under $15 if I recall correctly.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I have a few to add.... coleman micro fluorescent lanterns for about $5.
Energizer doublebright/etc CCLF lights, the LEDs suck but the CCFLs are nice.
$7.47 clip on 3LED headlamps are pretty useful. If you have or can make 3LED PR bulbs there are many hosts that can be nice long running lights like rayovacs 4AA kids lantern for 5.88 and the prodigy 4AA flashlights for 3.99 at biglots.
The 15watt twister coleman lantern for $20 is nice. A $7.99 rechargable 500kcp spotlight on sale often at harbor freight is a good entry level blaster for cheap.
The UK2AAA eled is a nice survival light at 20 hours runtime and waterproof.

 

[TKC]

This is an excellent thread!! Great list too!! THANKS!!