1) How would you prefer to purchase the light?
Mail order or in person, doesn't matter.
2) Budget: An easy question, but you may change your mind after answering the rest!
I'd like to stay around $50 but I would go up to $90 if it really was demonstably better than anything I can get in the $50 range.
3) Format:
Hand held cylindrical flashlight
4) Size:
Length doesn't matter. Smaller diameter is better. I'm using this to inject light into the end of fiberoptic wands. Their acceptance area is about 3/4" (19mm) in diameter. The head of the flashlight should be about this size.
5) Emitter/Light source:
LED
6) Manufacturer:
I'd prefer to buy a pre-built ready-to-go flashlight but I'm willing to hear quick and easy ideas about assembling one.
7) What power source do you want to use?
18650 unless you can give me a really good reason not to.
7a) If you have selected a rechargeable option
Separate stand along charger is OK
8) How much genuine out the front (OTF) light do you want/need?
Something in the range of 1k lumens continuous is recommended by other people doing similar work. So I need a light that will output that kind of power and not melt itself if I use it continuously for an hour.
9) Flood vs Throw
Super, super throwy in the category of narrow beam or even turbo head. The things I'm going to be injecting light into predominantly accept on-axis light. Any photons that count as spill or flood are just wasted and turned into heat. As an example, in these tools, my ancient 2xAA Fenix LD20+ is just as bright as my Sportac 1.2k Lumen Nichia triple P60 in a 9P host because the Sportac is so floody. Even with a 10x output advantage to the Sportac, it doesn't get any more light into the fiberoptic than the weak LD20+
10) Runtime:
60 +/- 15 minutes
11) Durability/Usage:
Minimally important. It's not going to have a hard life but if I drop it in a puddle from 3' off the ground I'd like it to survive.
12) Switch Size, Type, and location (choose all that apply):
BIG switch. Side about 1/3rd of the way down the body would be a little better than a tailcap, but I can live with either. I'd like something easy to operate with numb hands and/or gloves, so no really fiddly dials or anything. No twisties.
13) User Interface (UI) and mode selection.
Multiple levels with a repeatable UI. Meaning I want to be able to deliberately put it back to the same output time after time. Dials or sliders are crap at this. Toggling through output levels is much more repeatable.
14)Material/Finish/Coating
Cheap.
15) Water resistance IPX 4 or 7
16) Storage conditions
In house for true storage, will get baked in the car on shoots when it's not being used.
17) Special features
A stable-frequency strobe at max output mode is very desirable but not required.
Any good leads? One popular light for this use is the Eagletac D25LC2 Tactical but it was recently changed so that the strobe mode isn't constant frequency so it's less desirable for this kind of work. I'm just trying to see what else is out there.
Mail order or in person, doesn't matter.
2) Budget: An easy question, but you may change your mind after answering the rest!
I'd like to stay around $50 but I would go up to $90 if it really was demonstably better than anything I can get in the $50 range.
3) Format:
Hand held cylindrical flashlight
4) Size:
Length doesn't matter. Smaller diameter is better. I'm using this to inject light into the end of fiberoptic wands. Their acceptance area is about 3/4" (19mm) in diameter. The head of the flashlight should be about this size.
5) Emitter/Light source:
LED
6) Manufacturer:
I'd prefer to buy a pre-built ready-to-go flashlight but I'm willing to hear quick and easy ideas about assembling one.
7) What power source do you want to use?
18650 unless you can give me a really good reason not to.
7a) If you have selected a rechargeable option
Separate stand along charger is OK
8) How much genuine out the front (OTF) light do you want/need?
Something in the range of 1k lumens continuous is recommended by other people doing similar work. So I need a light that will output that kind of power and not melt itself if I use it continuously for an hour.
9) Flood vs Throw
Super, super throwy in the category of narrow beam or even turbo head. The things I'm going to be injecting light into predominantly accept on-axis light. Any photons that count as spill or flood are just wasted and turned into heat. As an example, in these tools, my ancient 2xAA Fenix LD20+ is just as bright as my Sportac 1.2k Lumen Nichia triple P60 in a 9P host because the Sportac is so floody. Even with a 10x output advantage to the Sportac, it doesn't get any more light into the fiberoptic than the weak LD20+
10) Runtime:
60 +/- 15 minutes
11) Durability/Usage:
Minimally important. It's not going to have a hard life but if I drop it in a puddle from 3' off the ground I'd like it to survive.
12) Switch Size, Type, and location (choose all that apply):
BIG switch. Side about 1/3rd of the way down the body would be a little better than a tailcap, but I can live with either. I'd like something easy to operate with numb hands and/or gloves, so no really fiddly dials or anything. No twisties.
13) User Interface (UI) and mode selection.
Multiple levels with a repeatable UI. Meaning I want to be able to deliberately put it back to the same output time after time. Dials or sliders are crap at this. Toggling through output levels is much more repeatable.
14)Material/Finish/Coating
Cheap.
15) Water resistance IPX 4 or 7
16) Storage conditions
In house for true storage, will get baked in the car on shoots when it's not being used.
17) Special features
A stable-frequency strobe at max output mode is very desirable but not required.
Any good leads? One popular light for this use is the Eagletac D25LC2 Tactical but it was recently changed so that the strobe mode isn't constant frequency so it's less desirable for this kind of work. I'm just trying to see what else is out there.
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