Lost noobie trying to help cop brother, please help

Hello all,

Just found this forum and wow, overwhelmed. Basically my brother is a police officer here in Las vegas Nevada and I wanted to buy him a new flashlight. He currently uses a huge maglite (6D cells) but has complained a few times its not bright enough. For those of you that don't live here, Vegas is in a perpetual dusk because of the massive amount of city lights so flashlights tend to wash out in certian parts of the city (the parts he patrols). I ran across this forum searching the internet for an upgraded or brighter maglite (he loves the flashlight case, just not the intensity of the light) and by reading this forum I found elektro lumens Tesla and many other maglite "upgrades".

Here is what I'm asking from you guys, in a large maglite case, what company or private individual makes the brightest maglite that is fairly robust? Price isn't really an issue unless the numbers start getting insane. I would like to buy or order one as soon as I can find one. Any help would be really appreciated, and I'm sure I could get you out of a ticket or two for your advice next time you visit sin city.

Thanks

Many urban police departments mount a rechargeable light like a Streamlight SL-20 or Mag Charger in the car, I'm kind of surprised that Vegas Metro doesn't do that. Either will work well, and a Streamlight Stinger on the utility belt is an excellent backup to either the SL-20 or Mag Charger.

A MagCharger is a good sub-$100 off-the-shelf option. It's the brighter, rechargeable brother to the Mag 6D. Other than that, a Surefire 8NX Commander, 9AN Commander, or 10X Dominator will all be brighter, and rechargeable, but a bit pricey, about $150 and up.

As far as Mag mods, the best advice I can give you is to go to the Custom BST forum on CandlePowerForums and ask for some quotes on *bright* Maglite mods. I'll leave the floor for someone more knowledgeable in bright LEO lights now.

You're in Mag country out there. Get a Magcharger, a better battery pack, and a WA01160 bulb. The WA bulb gives you twice the output at half the battery life. Let him choose which bulb works best. The Magcharger is a great solid light. Half the legth of a 6D and more durable.

Surefire makes some good rechargable lights, but I have yet to see them work as slickly as the more common police lights (Streamlights, Magcharger, etc). The tactical design gets in the way.

If you decide on going LED over the incandescent, give Wayne @ Elektrolumens a call. Choose between:

Tesla-6 / 2D
Tesla-6 / 3D
Pentalux / 4C
Pentalux / 4D
Tesla-6 / 6D if he wants to stick with that size light! We are not allowed to carry those in the NYPD.

Regards,

John

Others have already mentioned the MagCharger, so what I'll do instead is point you to flashlightreviews.com and theledmusuem.org Both sites are maintained by CPF'ers and are a wealth of info. Also, following the links on my CPF Specials thread might save you a buck or two in your purchase.

Welcome to CPF!

I would also say an electrolumens light would be good.


-David

carrot said:

A MagCharger is a good sub-$100 off-the-shelf option. It's the brighter, rechargeable brother to the Mag 6D. Other than that, a Surefire 8NX Commander, 9AN Commander, or 10X Dominator will all be brighter, and rechargeable, but a bit pricey, about $150 and up.

As far as Mag mods, the best advice I can give you is to go to the Custom BST forum on CandlePowerForums and ask for some quotes on *bright* Maglite mods. I'll leave the floor for someone more knowledgeable in bright LEO lights now.

Click to expand...

According to Maglite's website, the 6D with the magnumstar bulb upgrade is quite a bit brighter than the Magcharger and we're talking about a lot longer runtime with the 6D as well.

I would imagine it's not brighter than the Magcharger with a WA01160 bulb. Though still a longer runtime.

Btw, if he's already having washout problems with a 6D incandenscent, an LED will actually be worse in that respect, so I don't think you'll wanna go that route..

My favorite mod for the 6D maglight is the mag35-8 this is MUCH brighter than his current mag 6d but you have to DIY no one manufactures this mod, just gotta buy the parts and put it together! great mod for the big dog though!

Mag's site specifications are FOS. I have both with stock bulbs. The Magcharger is so much brighter than the 6D it's not even funny. Totally blows it away.

I don't think I'd recommend a custom light for something like this. You need absolute reliability, charging in a car, and the ability to fix it fast. Overdriven stuff, weird battery setups, etc can be a liability.

Greetings and Welcome to CPF! :wave:

Certainly would evaluate the Tigerlight
Tigerlight Home page

it is incandescent and very bright, can be charged in a car.
There are also threads and discussions on this board.

Good Luck!

jeffb

ABTOMAT said:

Mag's site specifications are FOS. I have both with stock bulbs. The Magcharger is so much brighter than the 6D it's not even funny. Totally blows it away.

Click to expand...

That's what is says on the website as well. I'm referring to a Mag6D with the Magnumstar xenon upgrade bulb. I know the specs were recently 'doubled' on everything.

InfidelCastro said:

According to Maglite's website, the 6D with the magnumstar bulb upgrade is quite a bit brighter than the Magcharger and we're talking about a lot longer runtime with the 6D as well.

Click to expand...

The specs are refering to the light output the instant you turn on the light with a fresh set of alkalines. The thing you have to remember about alkaline Mags is that in 1 hour, you're at 1/2 output. Around 5 hours you'd be lucky to have 1/4 the light.



If the Mag 35-8 mod only has an estimated runtime of 40 minutes, I'm not sure if that's enough for police duty. The incand. bulb overdriven at 9.6V is also not a smart idea for longitivity (again, necessary for police work). I'd just stick 6 D nimh cells in there, giving 7.2 V and easily double the runtime.

These put out an adequate amount of light for most basic law enforcement activities:

http://www.revanos.com/productdetail.php?pi=1

InfidelCastro said:

According to Maglite's website, the 6D with the magnumstar bulb upgrade is quite a bit brighter than the Magcharger and we're talking about a lot longer runtime with the 6D as well.

I would imagine it's not brighter than the Magcharger with a WA01160 bulb. Though still a longer runtime.

Btw, if he's already having washout problems with a 6D incandenscent, an LED will actually be worse in that respect, so I don't think you'll wanna go that route..

Click to expand...

How can you say an LED will be worse??? The 6D Tesla-6 pumps out 432 lumens! It's blindingly bright for an LED light.

ABTOMAT said:

Mag's site specifications are FOS. I have both with stock bulbs. The Magcharger is so much brighter than the 6D it's not even funny. Totally blows it away.

I don't think I'd recommend a custom light for something like this. You need absolute reliability, charging in a car, and the ability to fix it fast. Overdriven stuff, weird battery setups, etc can be a liability.

Click to expand...

If you drop a magcharger to the street while it is on, the bulb is a blown! Don't ask me how i know! If you drop an LED magmod you can just pick it up & just keep going. If you need absolute reliablity LED not incandescent is the way to go.

NewBie said:

These put out an adequate amount of light for most basic law enforcement activities:

http://www.revanos.com/productdetail.php?pi=1

Click to expand...

hey if you want to spend the ~$3000 for one i'll be glad to test it for you for a year or so during my "most basic law enforcement activities"

RoyJ said:

The specs are refering to the light output the instant you turn on the light with a fresh set of alkalines. The thing you have to remember about alkaline Mags is that in 1 hour, you're at 1/2 output. Around 5 hours you'd be lucky to have 1/4 the light.



If the Mag 35-8 mod only has an estimated runtime of 40 minutes, I'm not sure if that's enough for police duty. The incand. bulb overdriven at 9.6V is also not a smart idea for longitivity (again, necessary for police work). I'd just stick 6 D nimh cells in there, giving 7.2 V and easily double the runtime.

Click to expand...

You're right 40 minutes is not enough. 40 minutes can go by real fast at the scene of some "incident" A EL Tesla-6 in a 6D should be very bright for 6 to 7 hours. My Pentalux 4C stays bright for 3+ hours with 6000mah ni-mh C cells. So a 6D should be good for at least double that time.

RoyJ said:

The specs are refering to the light output the instant you turn on the light with a fresh set of alkalines. The thing you have to remember about alkaline Mags is that in 1 hour, you're at 1/2 output. Around 5 hours you'd be lucky to have 1/4 the light.



If the Mag 35-8 mod only has an estimated runtime of 40 minutes, I'm not sure if that's enough for police duty. The incand. bulb overdriven at 9.6V is also not a smart idea for longitivity (again, necessary for police work). I'd just stick 6 D nimh cells in there, giving 7.2 V and easily double the runtime.

Click to expand...

actually that bulb is more than hearty enough to handle it, i recently pulled the light right off the charger and turned it on even with 11V going to the bulb it didnt pop, keep in mind this was the ORIGINAL bulb 7 battery cycles into it and still running strong. and my mag35 is rock solid just to let you know.