I am looking for a 500+lumen focusable torch ?

Hi there. this is my first post on here so please be gentle.
I am am looking for a strong led torch that is focusable to use in my nocturnal light painting activities. I have looked around on youtube etc and seen that there are lots of cheap torches out there(I have had a few but they dont last long)
I require one that is quite durable and well made rather than cheap and falls apart as soon as it gets past a month or two old.
I have been looking at the lenser x7r but its quite pricey and a few people bash them for not being worth the money .
I have also been looking at the Coast hp17 ,but cant find any uk stockists or many reviews?

It looks like there is a wealth of knowledge on here and I am eager to read what you guys n gals have to say on the subject

thanks

Hello sofaking, welcome to CPF. :wave:

I have moved your thread to the 'Recommend me a light...' subforum, which is a relatively new subforum created for topics such as this.

Best of luck,
Kestrel

LEDLenser and Coast sell the same lights IIRC.

What's your price range on this light? Would you be up to making the light yourself?

A Cree XM-L focusing light might work for you. It probably won't hit 500+ lumen out the front or be super high quality but they might work. Some budget lights are pretty well build for the money. You'll probably want a neutral white version too.

:welcome:

Call me biased but here is a very durable, fully focusing and 700+ lumens

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?340093-FS-Shorty-C-D-26650-M*glites-XML-and-more

thanks for the replies.
price wise I was looking at £100 or so maybe more for the right torch.

as for building my own. I would not be up to the task

that stumpy mag looks interesting . do you have some beam shots ?

If you scroll to the bottom of the first post there is a comparison shot of the output of a standard LED maglite, and then with the camera on the same settings I took a shot of the XM-L shorty output.

sofaking said:

I am am looking for a strong led torch that is focusable to use in my nocturnal light painting activities.

Click to expand...

Can't say I have any experience with light painting, do you need to adjust the hotspot depending on distance of subject etc? I only ask because fixed focused lights should (theoretically) be more durable- less moving parts/less to go wrong!

I've had a LEDLenser P7 - The tint of the beam was too blue for me but it focused pretty well. I'm not sure if LEDLenser have started putting regulation circuits into their lights.

What kind of batteries do you want to use?

GM

gravelmonkey brings up a good point. If "tint" is an important factor, another advantage of going with a quality custom built light ( even if its not one of mine) is you dont have to play the "tint lottery". You know exactly what you are getting. Currently I am using 2T color bin because its cool white with a slight lean toward a neutral ( its got a touch of yellow) so it looks about as close to the color of an incandescent light as I have seen.

Here is the color chart if you want to see it.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/199/ansiwhite.jpg/

My goodness. Those are simply beautiful. Saving up.

How about a lenslight mini? (http://lens-light.com/store/products/LensLight-MINI-(1)-Cr123:-Handheld-EDC.html). It's not 500 lumens, but it's 300 lumens with a focusable lens. Built like a tank. It retails for $159, but often sold out. There were a could sold recently in CPFM.