A little about my current light collection intentions

In case anyone looks up other posts by me when they are wondering what my intentions are I figured I would post this thread. About a year ago I decided to start gearing myself in the event of non standard living conditions. Sort of like prepping. Sure it may or may not happen, but even if it doesn't it would still be good for camping and outings and other general uses.

I generally do a lot of research into stuff before I head down that road, and about a month ago I started researching flashlights. All I can say is WOW, and batteries/chargers.. bigger WOW. I mean, there is a whole lot of information I had no idea about, especially concerning batteries and chargers, and that will be addressed over time in the batter section.

My flashlight collection at this point will start off being mostly cr123 - due to the lightweight and smaller more practical flashlights, AA for battery availability(just bought the new eneloops as well) and 18650's for the rechargeability and usualy interchangeability in lights that use cr123 as well.

I currently have a streamlight protac 2l, a recently purchased fenix pd35, an order im about to place for a nitecore p25, and next a 2 x 18650.

I chose the nitecore because its usb rechargeable, very cool, and in the rare event I will need to, can be charged from a portable solar panel, the one I chose to go with is the Instaspark 10w.

Anyhow, long read, but a little history into my thought process. Thanks again, and really digging this forum.

:welcome:

Welcome to CPF, Pipes. Looking forward to seeing your collection as it progresses through the different stages

Hi Pipes,

Great start on a light collection and welcome to the CPF!

123A lights are a great way to start. Make sure you learn about the differences and issues between lithium primaries and rechargeables as there are some potentially serious pitfalls and hazards with lithium lights whether primary or secondary. The CPF and websites like BatteryUniversity are great sources of information on this topic.

I'm still relatively new myself to the CPF but not to light collecting. I would say just go slow at first, explore, and find out what really interests you, and then go on from there. Whichever way you go, welcome to the CPF and good luck!

Don't forget lanterns and headlamps. "Non-standard living conditions" often mean lights out everywhere, and for a while.

Lanterns: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?90-Lanterns

Headlamps: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?6-Headlamps

Thanks a lot, I haven't seen the battery university but that sounds really interesting. I'll be looking for it and learning more about batteries. As I understand so far, which may not be entirely accurate, but rechargeable 123 are not very good. Again this is preliminary through the threads Ive looked at so far and the videos Ive seen. I tackled some basics on batteries and will be diving more into them soon. At this point Im going to stick with protected 18650's before I move into unprotected. Thanks for the replies all!

Oh, so far Im sticking with streamlight 123 batteries. Ive done a lot of looking at the battery comparisons that, I believe hjk does. Never really knew there was so much to learn about something so little!!

dss_777 said:

Don't forget lanterns and headlamps. "Non-standard living conditions" often mean lights out everywhere, and for a while.

Lanterns: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?90-Lanterns

Headlamps: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?6-Headlamps

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Oh yes, those are definitely in the future as well. Headlamps have a great variety of uses in everyday life as well! And I own zero good ones lol.

You've be made a great start. I can also recommend the book, Batteries in a Portable World, by Isidor Buchmann. It gets very good reviews on Amazon. I bought the Kindle version.

As far as primaries vs. rechargeables go, it really depends on what you want to do. It's good to learn about both. I've transitioned to about 90% rechargeables in the last six months. It saves money and is more environmentally friendly. For me it wasn't so much the money as I got tired of the alkalines leaking occasionally and having to constantly buy new batteries. Once I switched to rechargeable NiMH batteries I figured what the hell, I might as well do the same for the lithium ions. Also, learning about chargers and rechargeables was interesting and fun too.

About the only lights I have a few primaries for now are my little CR2 battery lights. I have a Muyschondt Aeon Mark I and II and 3.0V primaries are recommended by the maker as 3.7V rechargeables may overdrive the emitter. But some of my CR2 lights such as my Nitecore Sens Mini and my MJP Extreme Micro can handle the rechargeables. But that meant I needed to buy a charger switchable between 3.0 and 3.7 volts. Fortunately Xtar makes one just that purpose so I bought one recently and it works very well.

Anyway, these are just some of the interesting and fun things to learn about batteries and flashlights.

pipes said:

Thanks a lot, I haven't seen the battery university but that sounds really interesting. I'll be looking for it and learning more about batteries. As I understand so far, which may not be entirely accurate, but rechargeable 123 are not very good. Again this is preliminary through the threads Ive looked at so far and the videos Ive seen. I tackled some basics on batteries and will be diving more into them soon. At this point Im going to stick with protected 18650's before I move into unprotected. Thanks for the replies all!

Oh, so far Im sticking with streamlight 123 batteries. Ive done a lot of looking at the battery comparisons that, I believe hjk does. Never really knew there was so much to learn about something so little!!

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Check out the retail shops plenty of bargains to be had in there and can only increase once the big sheds realise there is a market for decent kit at a realistic price,the UK is slightly ahead as you can buy the likes of Fenix and Olight along with Streamlight and the worlds best seller Led Lenser.

mcnair55 said:

Check out the retail shops plenty of bargains to be had in there and can only increase once the big sheds realise there is a market for decent kit at a realistic price,the UK is slightly ahead as you can buy the likes of Fenix and Olight along with Streamlight and the worlds best seller Led Lenser.

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Hey there Mr. McNair

Still loving that Led Lenser eh? I don't know my friend, I had the opportunity to try one in a nearby store a couple of weeks ago, and it was a bit underwhelming to me. I am with you though, that I am happy to see the big box stores starting to carry more competitive lights and lanterns at highly competitive prices.

Good start there, some good thinking.

Given that you are just starting, and are only getting a small number of lights, it could be worthwhile to standardize on one type of battery. AA is easiest, and you can get a charger that connects via USB.

With the mixing of 123 plus 18650 plus AA you are already into two different types of chargers and battery chemistries, and need at least 3 different types of battery tubes. Is it worth it for four flashlights! I'd say no personally.

With standardizing on AA's you can get a nice 1xAA EDC light, a nice 2xAA light with a few useful modes, and even a bigger (perhaps 4xAA) flashlight with a bigger reflector and lots of lumens. Headlamps easily can be found in AA format as well.

Some of the custom drop-in type of lights can also be found in 1xAA or 2xAA if you want to go that way as well.

Anyway, if you already got some 123A type of lights, you can return them or sell them and reconfigure your collection.

For emergencies/prepping, AA are good to go as well, you can keep lithium energizer AA's for the same kind of advantages the CR123A's have, and use eneloops for "normal" situations.

Poppy said:

Hey there Mr. McNair

Still loving that Led Lenser eh? I don't know my friend, I had the opportunity to try one in a nearby store a couple of weeks ago, and it was a bit underwhelming to me. I am with you though, that I am happy to see the big box stores starting to carry more competitive lights and lanterns at highly competitive prices.

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I have several Led Lenser and most are rubbish compared to other lights i own but the 7.2 is a good light and is ideal for the use i give it,not charged it up in weeks but my most used lights are Fenix PD32&PD35