Outdoors hiking, camping, geocaching, etc.

Just found this area thanks to another user. I'm looking for a general use light for outdoors. I own a couple of Quarks which are decent but I have some needs that require a different type of light control - no twisty action. I need these features in a handheld unit:

- high output 300 lumens OTF with a single 18650 cell: XM-L or XP-G emitter
- Neutral White emitter for outdoors use
- current regulated output for constant brightness at all levels
- decent amount of spill light
- straight body and head like a Quark 123x2, no large heads
- must accept 18650 Li-Ion protected cells
- 3 modes with Low about 5-10 lumens, Med about 50 lumens
- clicky action only, no twisty action - used to activate and change levels
- no memory so the light always starts in Low
- anti-roll head or grip ring
- tailstanding clicky switch with momentary on
- the usual o-rings for dust and water resistance
- Hard Anodized in black or dark grey
- coated glass lens, no plastic junk
- pocket clip is not essential but a clip point for lanyard is required

I think that's it...cost is not a major factor if it meets all my needs, but I'm not buying a $500 light.
:thumbsup:
Oops forgot to add that I'm in Canada so shipping to Canada is a must.

The S-mini by Shinning Beam is worth a consideration. I think the XP-G R4 version would be best suited for you.

BLUE LED said:

The S-mini by Shinning Beam is worth a consideration. I think the XP-G R4 version would be best suited for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, but the light doesn't have momentary on tactical switch which is required, and it has memory which I would like to avoid. The Med output is also too bright at 172 lumens. I'll keep looking though...

bfksc said:

Thanks for the suggestion, but the light doesn't have momentary on tactical switch which is required, and it has memory which I would like to avoid. The Med output is also too bright at 172 lumens. I'll keep looking though...

Click to expand...

We could easily change it to a forward clicky, but the medium mode would still be too bright. Sorry I can not think of a light that forfills all of your requirements.

bfksc said:

Just found this area thanks to another user. I'm looking for a general use light for outdoors. I own a couple of Quarks which are decent but I have some needs that require a different type of light control - no twisty action. I need these features in a handheld unit:

- high output 300 lumens OTF with a single 18650 cell: XM-L or XP-G emitter
- Neutral White emitter for outdoors use
- current regulated output for constant brightness at all levels
- decent amount of spill light
- straight body and head like a Quark 123x2, no large heads
- must accept 18650 Li-Ion protected cells
- 3 modes with Low about 5-10 lumens, Med about 50 lumens
- clicky action only, no twisty action - used to activate and change levels
- no memory so the light always starts in Low
- anti-roll head or grip ring
- tailstanding clicky switch with momentary on
- the usual o-rings for dust and water resistance
- Hard Anodized in black or dark grey
- coated glass lens, no plastic junk
- pocket clip is not essential but a clip point for lanyard is required

Click to expand...

Aside from the "no twisty head", the Fenix PD31 seems to be meet all other requirements. You'd need to tighthen the head to go into turbo though.
The Low on the PD31 is rated at 2 but in fairness is brighter than the 4-lumen Low I have on other lights. It has a reverse clicky but it doesn't have momentary on: you can buy the PD32 forward clicky separetely though and the problem would be solved. If you have Quarks though, you'd probably already have more or less the same features.

Otherwise you can consider the Link removed. See red banner at top of page. no head twisting but you have a tail clicky for on and off and side one for switching modes. Apparently they can both be operated with different fingers in the ice-pick grip so you wouldn't have to change hold. It has memory though so you'd have to remember each time to set it to Low before switching it off.

A Solarforce L2p or L2t with a "start on low" p60 dropin would to all of that.

Get a S9 tailcap and a lanyard ring with the host.

It might need to be a custom dropin, though...

Labrador72 said:

Aside from the "no twisty head", the Fenix PD31 seems to be meet all other requirements. You'd need to tighthen the head to go into turbo though.
The Low on the PD31 is rated at 2 but in fairness is brighter than the 4-lumen Low I have on other lights. It has a reverse clicky but it doesn't have momentary on: you can buy the PD32 forward clicky separetely though and the problem would be solved. If you have Quarks though, you'd probably already have more or less the same features.

Click to expand...

Exactly...the Quarks work well for my wife and general use around the house. But for my own use, I need single-handed operation with a clicky, no twisty and no second button. The second button on the PD32 has to be under your other finger to activate level changes which requires that you hold the light in a specific way - I don't want to fumble with it looking or feeling for the button when the rear clicky can do the level changes for me.

bfksc said:

I need single-handed operation with a clicky, no twisty and no second button.

Click to expand...

The only true single-handed operation I've heard of for the size you describe is the Klarus XT2C but it goes on always on high. The medium level is also 150 lumens and not 50.

Far from knowing all LED flashlights out there, I'd expect such a feature as starting always and only on Low to be extremely rare.

mvyrmnd said:

A Solarforce L2p or L2t with a "start on low" p60 dropin would to all of that.

Click to expand...

I already looked at that option, and I would like the L2p with SS bezel. Unfortunately no one seems to make a dropin that has a low enough Low output - they all seem to start at 5 or 10% which puts minimum output around 20 lumens for XP-G and 45 lumens for XM-L emitters. I really need 5-10 lumens for minimal lighting on Low.

Labrador72 said:

The only true single-handed operation I've heard of for the size you describe is the Klarus XT2C

Click to expand...

Any flashlight that has a single clicky for activation and level change is a single-handed light. That's why I want a clicky that changes levels, so I don't have to change my hand grip, just press to turn on, and soft-press to advance output levels as needed.

I'd expect such a feature as starting always and only on Low to be extremely rare.

Click to expand...

I had a Quark regular that always starts on Moonlight and progresses with soft-clicks. It is a bit rare, but seems to be less popular. I find no practical use of having a light remember that you were on Max or Med last time it was used and then blind you when you want to turn it on at Low for general outdoor activities. My wife feels the same...no need to have it come on at blinding levels. For tactical use, coming on at Max is beneficial, but this light will not be used in those situations. I have other lights with high output that are set to come on in Max for tactical use - one in the car and one at my bedside.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

bfksc said:

I already looked at that option, and I would like the L2p with SS bezel. Unfortunately no one seems to make a dropin that has a low enough Low output - they all seem to start at 5 or 10% which puts minimum output around 20 lumens for XP-G and 45 lumens for XM-L emitters. I really need 5-10 lumens for minimal lighting on Low.

Click to expand...

If you get a more floody light, you don't need the lumen out put to be as low to get the equivalent lux.

Traditional lights are handicapped by low total lumen output, so the beams are concentrated into small hot spots to generate enough lux on target to see with (You can't see lumens, what you SEE is the lux on the target).

A floody beam takes the lumens you have, and spreads them out over a wider surface area of the target...so the LUX on the target is lower, but you see more OF it.

(A larger, dimmer beam)

So a floody beam with 10 lumens might provide the same lux as a tight beam with 0.1 lumens, etc.

This means you have no way of knowing how many lumens you need for low light, unless you also know how large a pool of light those lumens will be used to cover.

You can work backwards, and say you want X lux covering a surface area of Y, at Z range.

You can then try to calculate the lumens that might due that with the beam angle that gives that sized patch of light at that range, etc.


A Zebra Light SC600 for example is programmable, and uses clicks not twists to set brightness/modes, and you can set it to remember 2 sub sets for each mode...IE: More than one low, med or high, etc...with even more high options than that.

You can also set it to come on at a particular brightness from those sub-levels as its default, etc. It maintains the memory even if you change the batteries, etc.

Its only about 4" long, the head is barely wider than the body, and it has a high mode of 750 lumens, in a large floody beam, but can be throttled down to a very low low: From 0.1 L up to 2.8 L for example.

High could be a Turbo mode of 750, or a throttled down to a High from 500 -200 L, Medium could be from 65-21 L, and its current regulated.

In short, it over laps your specs very well.

The new Eagletac D25LC2 Clicky with XML will meet all your requirements. While it does have a similar twisty operation to the Quarks, the loose bezel mode looks like it'll run 5/50/370 on a 18650 (up to 550 with tight bezel turbo, but I assume you can just ignore this for your purposes).

Pre-order, but supposed to be out "by the end of April"

TEEJ said:

A Zebra Light SC600...In short, it over laps your specs very well.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't fit my criteria of having a tactical momentary on clicky on the tailcap, in fact I don't think it has momentary on at all. The light will be used one-handed in a standard tactical hold with my thumb on the rear clicky 99% of the time, so the side switch doesn't work for me. And unfortunately it can't be programmed to come on in Low immediately, you need to press and hold to activate Low first, if you don't hold it long enough - High output blasts out at you. That's not acceptable. The head is also larger than the body, something I'm trying to avoid due to the way it'll be carried, but I could deal with that issue if the others were not present.

If the light had a rear clicky with momentary on and could be programmed for Low>Med>High I might have been interested. None of their lights use rear clickies from what I've seen.
Thanks.

reppans said:

The new Eagletac D25LC2 Clicky with XML will meet all your requirements. While it does have a similar twisty operation to the Quarks, the loose bezel mode looks like it'll run 5/50/370 on a 18650 (up to 550 with tight bezel turbo, but I assume you can just ignore this for your purposes).

Click to expand...

It sounded like a good recommendation at first, but twisty is out of the question. I already have Quark lights which function similar and I don't want a twisty as the head needs to be loose all the time to maintain Low output level. I've found that inserting and removing the light from it's carry location tends to adjust the head and sometimes it comes on in High by accident or loosens too much. I simply do not want a twisty - a tight head means no movement, no output changes, and less worries. I just read the webpage info and noticed the light seems to cycle through several modes when switching, including strobe, beacon, SOS, which I don't want, just 3 basic levels of output is all I want.
Thanks for your input though.

Update:

A fellow CPF'er let me know about the Lumintop ED20 which fits all of my criteria except PWM on Low mode. But it sounds like the PWM is not an issue at 800Hz so it should be ok. Unfortunately I contacted SBFlashlights to place an order and they no longer have the Neutral White version in stock and they don't expect to get any more.

Does anyone know of a vendor who can ship one to Canada for a reasonable price?

I forgot about my ED20. You can the purchase the T5 version from HK Equipment.

bfksc said:

It sounded like a good recommendation at first, but twisty is out of the question. I already have Quark lights which function similar and I don't want a twisty as the head needs to be loose all the time to maintain Low output level. I've found that inserting and removing the light from it's carry location tends to adjust the head and sometimes it comes on in High by accident or loosens too much. I simply do not want a twisty - a tight head means no movement, no output changes, and less worries. I just read the webpage info and noticed the light seems to cycle through several modes when switching, including strobe, beacon, SOS, which I don't want, just 3 basic levels of output is all I want.
Thanks for your input though.

Click to expand...

The strobes on the EagleTac are buried, like the Quark minis and Preons (but unlike the regular Quarks) requiring 2 full cycles in x secs to access. The clicky is a reverse, not a momentary - but I always assumed that would be a given on a multimode with a single tail clicky. Tactical tailcaps lego'd on Quark regulars are a pretty poor UI, IMHO.

I know exactly what you mean about the loose bezel, and I've actually modded one of my QuarkAA regulars so that it operates the low range with a tightened bezel. Simply put some Teflon plumbers tape at the end of the threads so that it covers/insulates the edge of the batt tube. Then tightened, the head never makes electrical contact and is effectively operating in loose bezel mode. You lose Turbo and Strobe, of course, but on a Quark 1xAA, Turbo is about the same as a high anyway (NiMh). I did it because I like the solid feel of the tight bezel too.

reppans said:

The strobes on the EagleTac are buried, like the Quark minis and Preons (but unlike the regular Quarks) requiring 2 full cycles in x secs to access.

Click to expand...

Ah, hence the UI map showing the cycles. That makes more sense.

The clicky is a reverse, not a momentary - but I always assumed that would be a given on a multimode with a single tail clicky. Tactical tailcaps lego'd on Quark regulars are a pretty poor UI, IMHO.

Click to expand...

I kinda like it, you get momentary on but I don't like all the output levels. That's why I switched to the Quark Tactical versions where you only have 2 levels. I prefer 3 levels though, a Low for just seeing around, a Med for walking/hiking, and a High to scare away the boogey man.

I know exactly what you mean about the loose bezel, and I've actually modded one of my QuarkAA regulars so that it operates the low range with a tightened bezel. Simply put some Teflon plumbers tape at the end of the threads so that it covers/insulates the edge of the batt tube. Then tightened, the head never makes electrical contact and is effectively operating in loose bezel mode. You lose Turbo and Strobe, of course, but on a Quark 1xAA, Turbo is about the same as a high anyway (NiMh). I did it because I like the solid feel of the tight bezel too.

Click to expand...

Exactly...I prefer my lights to be fully tightened at both ends and let the UI do the switching. It makes them more water/dust resistant too.

Anywho, thanks to BlueLed I placed an order from HKequipment and will see if they can ship it.
:thumbsup:

bfksc said:

Ah, hence the UI map showing the cycles. That makes more sense.

I kinda like it, you get momentary on but I don't like all the output levels. That's why I switched to the Quark Tactical versions where you only have 2 levels. I prefer 3 levels though, a Low for just seeing around, a Med for walking/hiking, and a High to scare away the boogey man.


Exactly...I prefer my lights to be fully tightened at both ends and let the UI do the switching. It makes them more water/dust resistant too.

Anywho, thanks to BlueLed I placed an order from HKequipment and will see if they can ship it.
:thumbsup:

Click to expand...

Fear not HK Equipment ship worldwide including Canada.

BLUE LED said:

Fear not HK Equipment ship worldwide including Canada.

Click to expand...

I'm not worried about the company as I did a little googling of them before placing an order. I'm just hoping that since they're in HK they actually have stock or access to stock for the T5 emitter version as SBFlashlights can't get them anymore. I also ordered two 18650 Xtar 3100mAH batteries which have good reviews and the price was good. Since ordering I've already received two emails from Stanley about my order, which is great.

When the light and batteries arrive, I've post my thoughts and opinions.
Thanks everyone for their input!
:twothumbs