Flashlight Search

Got sent over here form a couple of guys on some of the gun forums I frequent... did a brief search but figured I'd go for the direct input method...


Ok all let me give you a little background to claify our needs here at work...

Up until a few weeks ago we pretty much all carried a Surefire of one type or another... both LED and Incand. varrying form 1 cell to 3 cell. One of our less than stellar employees through stupidity or ignorance decided it was a great idea to mix a LiIon 123A battery with its Alkaline counterpart in his G2 Nitrolon... Must have missed the huge safety warnings all over the battery packaging and the flashlight packaging... Long story short in typical kneejerk reaction from my employer was to "outlaw" any Surefire or similar light that uses the 123A batteries.


So this brings me to my issue...

My employer bought us all new Leatherman Monarch's which is a very good flashlight and very bright, but is a LED bulb... While this would not normally be an issue the tools in the area I work in have blue lexan doors on them. An while the LED is plenty bright enough the door blocks 80% of the light which makes it ineffective at best. Can't open the doors on most of the tools because they are interlocked and contain chemicals under pressure.


So what I'm looking for is a ~80 lumen flashlight that is Incand. and runs on AA or AAA batteries. Must be small and light enough to wear on your belt ( i.e. something in a form factor similar to a G2 Surefire)

Thanks in advance

Gunner69 said:

One of our less than stellar employees through stupidity or ignorance decided it was a great idea to mix a LiIon 123A battery with its Alkaline counterpart in his G2 Nitrolon... Must have missed the huge safety warnings all over the battery packaging and the flashlight packaging... Long story short in typical kneejerk reaction from my employer was to "outlaw" any Surefire or similar light that uses the 123A batteries.

Click to expand...

....wait a moment...he banned 123A batteries and lights that work with them but you don't have to search only AA or AAA type lights...

for example surefire has got some rechargable incan lights like 8AX or 8NX

Hi Gunner69! Welcome to CPF!

bear with me here, I have a habit of writing short books around here... Sometimes they are useful

...decided it was a great idea to mix a LiIon 123A battery with its Alkaline counterpart in his G2 Nitrolon

Click to expand...

this statement has me confused as there is no alkaline cell on the market, that I am aware of, that comes in the size of a CR123 primary cell.

Was there some sort of explosion event that triggered your employers decision to "ban" the use of CR123 primary cells?

I Ask because, for many applications, in order to get respectable output in an incandescent platform from a compact package, lithium chemistry cells are the ONLY option because they are the only option with enough voltage to drive reasonably bright incandescent bulbs. AA and AAA alkaline cells are hopeless for producing any respectable amount of light with any reasonably stable output for any length of time worth beans. In LED lights, alkaline cells do a little better as the drain rates are *usually* lower. (though this is not always the case with some compact heavy hitters)...

If the size of a 2-3 CR123 size flashlight is the requirement, then there isn't a lot available in similar brightness powered by AAs.

If this ban on CR123s is something that can be negotiated, then I'd recommend holding a few safety classes and treating CR123s as semi-hazardous material themselves, storing them in non-flammable sturdy containers, along with the CR123 powered flashlights, etc, buying only quality name brand USA made cells, and never mixing cells of different states of charge, by following a few simple rules like this, the risk of having an incident that is a danger to anyone is very low.

Assuming CR123s are gone for good...

If you are willing to go slightly more bulky than a G2, I think about the brightest most compact AA powered incandescent light you are going to find with 80+ lumens is probably the princeton tec torrent xenon:
http://www.brightguy.com/products/Princeton_Tec_Torrent_Xenon.php

Runs on 8AA batteries, so it's going to be a bulkier light, but is available with a holster and should be manageable.

The smaller brother to that light, the Tec40, is worth a look as well. but nowhere near 80 lumens.

In either case, I'd personally make an investment in quality low-self-discharge NIMH cells and decent multi-bay smart chargers. NIMH has a very safe track record, nothing to be concerned about there. Running a 4AA or 8AA light on alkaline would be a huge bummer, as only about the first 10-15 minutes of runtime on an alkaline light is actually pretty bright, after about the 20 minute mark it's around half as bright as initial, then you get a steady decline of output that's often far less than impressive that can last hours. Which makes ya want to replace the cells all the time, but makes ya feel guilty going it because the ones that are in there aren't dead yet! NIMH cells have a flatter discharge curve, so you get most of the run above 50% output, which for most flashlights designed around alkaline, is a solid runtime of around 2 hours or more as the bulbs always draw ~0.6-0.9A, and NIMH LSD(low-self-discharge) cells are around 2AH capacity...

Hope that helps...

Eric

Maybe a Streamlight stinger. They are nice, decent size, adjustable focus, good output + rechargeable Ni-cad, pretty much standard issue for most police departments.

I'm also a bit confused about the cr123/alkaline comment. All I can visualise is a guy trying to jam a cr123 and an AA battery into a g2. kinda funny actually.

Maybe it was a 2/3 a Nimh cell? Like this: http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/cellinfo.asp?invid=ELITE1500A

kind of odd as they are used mostly for R/C cars and, around here, incan hotwires.

Gunner69 said:

Long story short in typical kneejerk reaction from my employer was to "outlaw" any Surefire or similar light that uses the 123A batteries.

Click to expand...

Why not have your employer ban the less than stellar employee?

I actually like the Streamlight Stinger suggestion (or even a Strion)....a nice small rechargeable option, but that would violate your AA/AAA requirement.

Any dollar limit on budget?

80+ lumen and AA powered in a G2 sized package.

This a bigger then the G2 but the Princeton Tec Surge could work.

Wait? How did he mix a Alkaline and Lithium battery in a G2?

I think you should show him the warnings clearly printed on the sides of the battery packages.

:welcome: