SAFARI!

My sister and brother-in-law are going on an African safari in Zimbabwe. It will be winter there, so the nights will be longer.

Yes, I understand that many campers would suggest something low level. But what about something for "general usage", trekking or those "WOW! Look at that!" moments...or any other situation that they may encounter.

My sister and BIL are not flashaholics nor particularly technical...so, generally, the simpler the flashlight, the better.

I'll gladly loan them my first generation, 2xCR123, Q5, 60/250+ lumens, 2 level EagleTacs...my P10C2 and T10C2...the "P" throws a nice spot with modest spill...the "T" has a small spot but brightly spills, seemingly forever. I can also loan them my 1xAA P10A with a piece of diffusion plastic behind the bezel.

These ETs are my most recent flashaholic purchases...so it's been a while. Some of the XM-L pocket monsters have given me "lumen shock"! As white and bright my ETs are, my concern is that they tend to render organic colors almost monochromaticly. I'm hoping that XM-Ls are a little more neutral than the "driven to the brink" Q5s of my ETs.

Out in "the bush", I'd suspect that resources and services will scarce to non-existant, so I intend to supply my sister and BIL with enough charged LiON/NiMH and primaries for the trip.

I'm taking a closer look at "the usual suspects"...the EagleTac Gs and Ts, ZebraLight's ZL600, Fenix's LD35 and their "vaperware" LD41 as well as some others.

What do you suggest?

73
dim

What do you think they're going to be doing at night that is going to require that much portable lighting power?

Really, I don't know.

But as most contemporary flashlights are multi-level, power can be adjusted to suit.
So why not have to power if needed?
I would think that a safari would be a different experience than camping...but as I have no experience with either, I can't say for certain. Besides, for low level lighting, there are single and multi Nichia style LED options...An Inova X5 perhaps.

If you think that something more modest would better suit them, I'm open to suggestions.
I just saw in a camping thread how the new Quark 2xAA XM-L is recommended. 280 lumens from 2xAA..nice!..plus nice alternative levels and spacing.

My taste for Hi/Lo two level is just a personal thing. I even prefer my Fenix L2T (Rebel 80) to my L2D (Rebel 100).

And while the two level simplicity MAY be best for my non-flashaholic sister and BIL...as I've said, I'm open to suggestions.

73
dim

i'd +1 to the quark AA, they will most likely not be able to find cr123 batts as easily as AA, and the XML emitter is awesomely efficient for the power it lays down, the interface is prolly a little complicated, but from my quark experience it has always been intuitive. They have some of the lowest lows too, really can't go wrong there.

You have so many options for a good outdoor flashlight, but it seems like a nice thought would be putting a AAA key chain light in each of their pockets, it might end up being the most appreciated, something like an E01

Ordinarily I would would agree about AA vs. CR123 availability...especially for non-flashaholics.
But as they will be "out in the bush" with little to no resources and services, I'd suspect that their resources will be limited to what they bring with them.

Additionally, while I'd also like for my sister and BIL to have the flashlight for general use when they return home (really an after thought)...the reality of high powered XM-L 2xAA flashlights is that despite that alkies will fit and work in the flashlight, they really need NiMHs...a specialty battery to non-flashaholics.

According to what I've read, the Quark 2xAA XM-L runs 0.8 hours (48 minutes) on turbo using Eneloops (I think) . Thats over 2 amps! Oh!..Those poor alkies.

In my opinion (not worth 2 lumens), once "specialty" NiMH rechargable batteries and a charger are requiered, LiONs are no longer "extreem".

So when "out in the bush", if rechargables are drained, alkies would be a poor to mediocre subsitute for NiMHs where as CR123s are a perfectly viable alternative for LiONs. CR123s and LiONs are considerably lighter than alkies and NiMHs too.

73
dim

Big Sam went on an African Safari with a couple of lights and he ended up only using the SC600 most of the time.