Needed: Fairly small, very bright hand light, for ATV night riding.

I got my first ATV a couple weeks ago. WOO HOO
Brand new Honda 05 Rubicon.
Pics -> http://www.jtice.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Honda-2005-Rubicon

Its stock lights are fairly nice,
but I do plan on adding HIDs to it,
I think I will get a set of these for it.
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1393

But after a couple nights of night riding,
I realized that I need a very bright, realitively small, hand light.
Even though the Rubicon has a light on the handlebars, that you can point around some,
I still found that I wanted to look down side trails, or into feilds.

I was also thinking about getting a HID setup for my helmet later on also, but I dont know if it will throw enough.

Right now, I would like to get something that is 2C Mag size, or smaller,
that is super bright, and throws really well.
Something I can keep clipped onto the fender maybe,
and it be easy to stop, grab it, and shine it down a few side trails.

I was thinking maybe a hotwire C mag mod,
maybe a couple 18650s with a 5 cell bulb?
I really dont know much about the incan mods at all.

I would like to keep this cheap, thats what made me think of the hotwire mods.

The Rubicon has a 12V cig plug on it also,
and I have a, sorta small, spotlight, that I thought about using,
but I havnt thought of a good way to secure it, in an easily accessable place,
that is also very sturdy, and wont vibrate.

Thanks in advance for the ideas guys!
~John

I'm going to guess you will see the words "Sandwich Shoppe" in this thread quite a bit

Modified mag is probably your best bet, esp if you already have the mag.

hogx1 said:

I'm going to guess you will see the words "Sandwich Shoppe" in this thread quite a bit

Modified mag is probably your best bet, esp if you already have the mag.

Click to expand...

Well, I have a couple LED mag mods,
which throw well, but I was looking for more lumens also.
So I dont think the Shoppe is going to be all that much help this time around.

I dont think my LuxIII mags have enough lumens,
and I dont think my 5W mags have enough throw lol
I will have to test them out though,
My 5W PocketW MAY be enough to do it.

~John

Doh! I was thinking you could get the stuff to do the Incan mods from there. I guess not?

i really think it would be best to get a 12vdc light that can use the socket directly.

i mean, boats are sort of the same way atvs are, with the fact that it can be really hard to get light where you want it.

you would probably be able to make a mount for the spotlight.


the only other thing i can think of is shock. you may want to try to duplicate a "shock isolated bezel" type with some soft, heat resistant o-ring.

i dont have an atv, but to me, spotlights are awesome, except that they are bulky, and batteries usually dont last very long, if you take it very far from an alternator.

so if it was me, i'd try to mount a light, but also carry a 2x123 xeon light, just incase.

hope that helps!

Hey Jtice, I've been reading about the ROP LE Roar of the Pelican/ lithium edition. It looks pretty simple , bright , relatively inexpensive and with the low "Big D" bulb fairly decent runtime (at least for a light that will be your secondary light source). I'm seeing figures of 350-400 output lumens.

Basically the ROP/LE is just a 2C maglite, an aluminum reflector, pelican #3854 bulb(s) , a UCL or borofloat lense, and the 2 x 18560 cells

If you want cheap and very bright I suggest the Princeton Tech Surge. A powerful 7.5 watt incan that should fulfill your needs. I'm not sure about how to secure it to your ATV though. a review by Quickbeam: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/princetontec_surge.htm

I am leaning toward just using the spotlight also,
sence almost no mag mod will get that bright.
I think I have a "small" Brinkman 1MCP spotlight that I can use.
Thats gonna be brighter than a mag.

The problem is getting it secured nicely, while its not in use.
Dont think I am gonna be able to just clamp it in place.
Might have to have it in some sort of pouch, but then thats sorta a pain to get out quickly.

~John

Gotta love fee lumens...

ATV Spotlight

I recently bought some Mag 5 cell krypton bulbs and threw one in an old Mag 2c along with a pair of li-ions I had 'lying around'. The beam competes with my Brinkmann Maxfire, and the mod was cheap, fun, and was instantly gratifying. Stippled the reflector a week later, and was even happier.

It occured to me that this is a nice way to work your way up to a ROP. From here, all you need is glass lens, aluminum reflector, and big D bulbs. Viola! ROP/LE.

3x123's do work as good or better than Li-ions with the 5 cell mag bulb too, and no spring mods to the 2c host. Spare bulb compartment still works as a bonus.

Preserving the spare bulb compartment in a Mag with li-ions is possible, it's just a compromise. You could use 18650's in a 2D mag, no mods to the spring, at the expense of a larger host. Also, 17500's or 18500's fit in a Mag 2C without any spring mods either, albeit at reduced runtime.

AW's C-size li-ion cells would be the no-compromise solution.

2x 18500's in a 2c with the 5 cell Mag bulb may be a nice balance bewteen size, runtime, brightness, and spare bulb compartment preservation. Carry 3x123's for backup, and you'd be good to go.

Food for thought.

Princenton Tec apex head light,point your head and see.

not sure if this is anything like what you are looking for, but god does it throw...picked one up about a month ago, and it's been riding around on the dash of my truck and it takes alot of abuse....http://www.gascatch.com/store/product.asp?ID=720 :rock:

i was thinking you may be able to get away witn some adhestive (sp) velcro, because the spotlight itself does not weigh very much because it has no battery, so the velcro would not have a huge amount of force on it.

you may feel the force, and overestimate it. remember that if the spotlight weighs one pound, it will only have 1/(your body weight) of the force you experience.

some velcro sticks very well, but if things get muddy, it may not stick as well. I dont know if there is such a thing as marine velcro, but it would probably be best suited for your application, if such a thing does exsist.

good luck!

I'd get a Strion, because of it's versatility. You can get it with a 12 volt cigarette lighter charger. The charger holds the light fairly securely, though not well enough on its own for rugged ATV riding. However, adding a velcro strap would be sufficient. I bicycle with a Strion in a cyclopblock velcro mount, and it's never come loose, even when off road.

The Strion is so small and light, while still being incredibly bright, that I end up using it a lot more than my other, larger lights.

i would go for a rechargable light, something like http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/11...ghts/Niterider-Trail-Rat-2.0-Light-System.htm it is pretty small, comes with an attachment to attach it to your handle bars, rechargable, and bright, 10 watts. When you add up the cost for a mag mod, reflector, mag body, lens, bulbs, batteries, battery holder, and so on, it would probably cost around the same as this light. 2 hour battery life also.