A well regulated light being necessary...

Ok ok it's not an amendment - yet. To me one of the most interesting things upon discovering this site is the regulated flashlight. I'd never heard of regulated flashlights before and always hated the slow, and frequently not so slow, decline in output. Hence I have zero interest in the Fenix L1P but will be ordering a L2P soon.

I was shocked when I discussed this with a hunter recently, who happens to be an electrical engineer, and he claimed he preferred the slow decline in output, so he wouldn't be stuck in the woods without a working light. I mentioned spare batteries were the way to go with a small keychain type light to help change the batteries but he wasn't interested.

I'm I going overboard on this? Are regulated lights critical to you or just a nice to have? Are there applications where a non regulated light is preferred or just as good?

Note: please ensure your responses don't lead me into desiring or buying more of these things. <grin>

Here's my $.02-
The first time I had a bulb die on me in the middle of the dark woods was the last time I ever went without a backup light (or a backup anything that I really needed!). (Those mini-mags always had that cool spare bulb in the tailcap and all but I found out that was meaningless without at least a little light available to replace it, not to mention find it if you drop it..).
The newer regulated lights are a wonderful thing for me, but I still carry that small backup. The regulated life equates to "useable" for me, the non-regulated ones really had a short useable life and then a long drawn out "I just wish this thing would die now so I can put in new batteries" type mentality. I felt like I was wasting batteries that still had "some" life in them. I've got some new NiteIze drop-ins for my old minimags now, and I am actually using up the whole battery now.
I understand the guy's train of thought though, the dimming light does give you some warning, my original lesson on that was when I tried older rechargeables in that minimag---they got dim, then they died- no time to do anything about it.
Hope this helps
Rando

First off, the L1P is a semi regulated light. You just have to use NiMH or lithium batteries with it to get the flatter output. See graphs half way down page: www.lighthound.com/info/runtime.htm

And, with a regulated light its not like when the regulation kicks out, the light just dies. You still typically get a couple of hours of usable, diminishing light. And, the L2P just happens to have one of the fastest dropoffs after regulation. Most lights drop off even slower so you get even more useable light for longer. Plus like you said, just carry a spare/spares if you are concerned.

Myself, now that I have bought/used regulated lights, I will never go back, for most uses anyways. The only exception, for me, would be if I wanted a really bright incandescant for special purpose. ie: search and rescue. And thats only because most bright lights like that arnt regulated. I guess mainly because they draw extreme amounts of power and kill batteries in like 20 minutes anyways so carrying extras is a must.

Really what it comes down to is personal preference. But for most people, I suspect the flat output of regulated lights is an appealing feature.

Dark Knight

With led lights I really don't much notice the output declining since the color doesn't change. So I like semi-regulation. It uses the battery energy more efficiently.

it depends on the light's regulation. Some lights when the run out of regulation, die in a few minutes, some take few hours. You have to check out the light before you get it to see which one it is.

I like BBXXXNG type converters. Regulated til it can't hold it, then boosting til it dies

With the technology these days, there's no reason (except cost perhaps) you need to be limited to a regular, gradually (or faster) dimming flashlight. Regulation provides constant output, and multi-level switching can give you several hours of runtime. Even if you don't have a low level, most regulated LEDs have a moon mode, unless you're running off NiMHs (bad idea, since you'll damage the battery), and a hunter should be using lithiums anyway to combat the cold.

Incans are a different story, I guess, since few are regulated, but even with incans, spare batteries are essential to avoid dim, yucky brown beams.

Ok I see that my SL 4AA lux and the L2P just happen to have exceptionally flat regulation and then a flat drop off. The Arc P isn't as flat. I'll have to show him the graphs since others don't cut out as quickly.

Personally I'll keep looking for the flatter curves.


Regards

Use of Ni-MH cells can make a boosted light, such as the Fenix L1P or Costco luxeon behave as though they are partially regulated.

Depends on what you mean by well regulated,
Generally speaking, your eyes won't notice the brightness drop until the output drops 30 to 50% down from max brightness. This makes the L1P great for "real world" regulation using NiMH rechargables. Once you notice the light is starting to dim, the battery is then going into the gradually dimming "tail" of light.
For work use, I prefer very well regulated lights or current regulation specifically. It is nice to always have the same amount of light when working.
When going out into the woods, I want good regulation with a long tail of light indicating the battery is getting week. Two levels of brightness helps with this when you realize you are hours from home camp so the option to kick down the brightness to conserve battery life is there. The L1P is a good option by adding a 5 ohm resistor to the clickie switch for hi/lo and over 2 hours of runtime/8-10 hours low.
If I was roaming around in the woods at night, I would carry the following flashlights. Peak Mediterranean 2AA (twistie tail switch) loaded with lithium AA cells for 3 hours of bright current regulated light. MillerMods L1P 5 ohm two-stage switch and single lithium AA for 90 minutes high/8 hours low output just in case. Peak Pacific AAA but with optional AA tail body on a lanyard. The Pacific with AA body is a regulated luxeon light that uses a "twisty" tail switch so you know it will not break at the wrong time. Since the Pacific using a lithium AAA runs for 5 hours of regulated runtime (then drops off for the next 90 minutes) figure 12 hours of regulated runtime and that will get you through until morning.
If you come completely lost, use the MillerMods L1P as a battery holder and save the lithium battery for another 12 hours of use in the Pacific. Don't carry a spare battery, carry a spare flashlight or two!

lets face the general crowd (the one mentionned in 1st tread, who a: dont have a clue on "regulated lights" and b: still think anything more than 10,-- ist way too much for a light)

When choosing very small lights (=Minimag size), they are completely satisfied (with incans), just because they dont know better.

regulated (semi, full, whatever) is great for led-applications, because when the cells die so much that the circuit stops working, there will still be plenty of time with at least "emergency level" light, to get home.

I too, didnt know about regulated lights until I found CPF. I have since decided that I would like all my lights to be at least semi regulated.

The L1p with a lithium gives me satisfactory performance even though it is boosted not regulated.

I am really excited about the new peak pacific. It has the runtime plots that I really like.

Are there any incans that are regulated?

mtnwalker said:

Here's my $.02-
"I just wish this thing would die now so I can put in new batteries" type mentality. I felt like I was wasting batteries that still had "some" life in them.

Click to expand...

I hate that feeling. It drives me nuts.

Regulation increases the 'usable light' of a flashlight. When purchasing a light, I look at where the brightness will be most of the time. In a regulated/semi-regulated light, that will be between 50% and 95% initial output. In an unregulated light, it may be between 10% and 40% of the initial output.

GarageBoy said:

I like BBXXXNG type converters. Regulated til it can't hold it, then boosting til it dies

Click to expand...

That's just perfect!!!:rock:


All LED lights should work like that.

yellow said:

lets face the general crowd (the one mentionned in 1st tread, who a: dont have a clue on "regulated lights" and b: still think anything more than 10,-- ist way too much for a light)

When choosing very small lights (=Minimag size), they are completely satisfied (with incans), just because they dont know better.

Click to expand...

You got that right. In our discussion he specially mentioned the mini mag was all he needed for a small light.

Just last week I was inspecting a boiler with another guy. He whipped out yep a minimag. Guess what the batteries were about dead and we couldn't see anything. I whipped out the massive ARC AAA P to view the tubes. Now you know another reason I want the L2P. At least the Arc got the job done.