Brightest flashlight available

Hello everyone,

I have a simple question /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I'm interested in purchasing a new torch and was wondering who makes the brightest flashlight on the market? The only catch is that I need it to be less than 6". Recently I purchased a new ASP Triad (have not received yet) that is supposed to throw 7000 + Lumens. Time will tell if that's true or not.

Thanks for your help,
Jamison

Newbies get a two part reply to their first questions....

Part One
These generalizations are true in the vast majority of circumstances (but there are exception to each one of these)

1) Brighter the light, the shorter the runtime!
2) LED's come in two types, smaller 3 or 5 mm diameter with outputs of 1-3 lumens each OR Luxeon Star LEDS made by Lumaleds with outputs around 17-30 lumens each.
3) Incandescent lamps (regular light bulbs) still kick LED's butt if you want to throw a beam of light beyond about 30 feet.
4) Surefire Lights are Tactical lights, not general purpose lights for the homeowner. As such they are usually purchased (except for CPF members) by taxpayers for issue to special people who do tactical things.
5) Textured reflectors produce a smoother beam that smoothly polished reflectors.
6) Adjustable focus is a lie. There is only one focal point, you are de-focusing a light. Marketing people love this bullsxxx. Some people find the feature helpful anyway, when they need a less intense light. Me I set the focus to the least annoying beam shape and then never fiddle with it again.
7) Flood v Spot. 90% of people should buy a flood beam that throws no more than the length of their backyard. Questions like "Hi I'm new here and I want a flashlight with a tight spot that lights up a tree 300 yards away to impress my friends, what do you recommend" makes me roll my eyes and say to myself here we go again.
8) Lithiums are really not that more expensive and kick alkalines butt for several reasons, however they are harder to find. Buy from Surefire or other vendors here on CPF ($1-$2 each)
9) There is no easy chart or conversion formula between Candlepower and Lumens. Lumens is the total amount of light produced, whereas Candlepower as typically advertized is the brightest part of the beam. So while they are related Candlepower is often misleading and can be used by market departments to hype their products. That is why some manufactures say Lumen is a more honest means of measure light produced. To give you an example of how Candlepower can be manipulated, take a laser pointer for example. I would imagine even a cheap one is probibly a million candle power yet it makes a horrible flashlight, because the amount of light (lumens) is really small.


Part Two
A Surefire C3 with the hi output lamp would give you 200 lumens of light for approx 20 minutes (it uses three 123 lithium cells) and is 6.4 inches long.


P.S. that Triad is 7000 candlepower, not Lumens

Welcome to the board. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I believe the ASP Triad is supposed to have 7000 Candlepower, NOT lumens. I think it all depends on how much you're willing to spend.. For now, I believe that the brightest modded flashlight that is around 6" (6.69" actually) is a Silverlegacy Mini-HID that puts out 500 lumens. See a review of it here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For production flashlights, you might want to consider a Surefire M2 (120 lumens for 20 minutes) at 5.45" long..

I'm sure someone else will chime in here on other suggestions..

Using Quickbeam's Throw and Output table on Flashlight Reviews, the Surefire M2 (P61) has the most light output at that size. The Streamlight Strion has the brightest beam.

So it depends on whether you want more light in a wider, dimmer beam (M2), or less light in a narrower, brighter beam (Strion). These flashlights also have some other meaningful differences, so read the full reviews to help you decide what you are looking for.

where can you buy that mini mini mags?? i've never seen them before and its kinda cute~

Thank you for the info. I just purchased a new M2 Centurion from SureFire.

Jamison

Nice choice Jamison. That was my first "high-end" light.

One thing that seems to have been left out of the above (but very good) comments is that frequently the answer is more than one flashlight! I have yet to find one flashlight that suits every need. Hence the frequent CPF response, "Buy both".

Welcome to the forum and the start of a quest.

[ QUOTE ]
Double_A said:
Newbies get a two part reply to their first questions....

Part One
These generalizations are true in the vast majority of circumstances (but there are exception to each one of these)

1) Brighter the light, the shorter the runtime!
2) LED's come in two types, smaller 3 or 5 mm diameter with outputs of 1-3 lumens each OR Luxeon Star LEDS made by Lumaleds with outputs around 17-30 lumens each.
3) Incandescent lamps (regular light bulbs) still kick LED's butt if you want to throw a beam of light beyond about 30 feet.
4) Surefire Lights are Tactical lights, not general purpose lights for the homeowner. As such they are usually purchased (except for CPF members) by taxpayers for issue to special people who do tactical things.
5) Textured reflectors produce a smoother beam that smoothly polished reflectors.
6) Adjustable focus is a lie. There is only one focal point, you are de-focusing a light. Marketing people love this bullsxxx. Some people find the feature helpful anyway, when they need a less intense light. Me I set the focus to the least annoying beam shape and then never fiddle with it again.
7) Flood v Spot. 90% of people should buy a flood beam that throws no more than the length of their backyard. Questions like "Hi I'm new here and I want a flashlight with a tight spot that lights up a tree 300 yards away to impress my friends, what do you recommend" makes me roll my eyes and say to myself here we go again.
8) Lithiums are really not that more expensive and kick alkalines butt for several reasons, however they are harder to find. Buy from Surefire or other vendors here on CPF ($1-$2 each)
9) There is no easy chart or conversion formula between Candlepower and Lumens. Lumens is the total amount of light produced, whereas Candlepower as typically advertized is the brightest part of the beam. So while they are related Candlepower is often misleading and can be used by market departments to hype their products. That is why some manufactures say Lumen is a more honest means of measure light produced. To give you an example of how Candlepower can be manipulated, take a laser pointer for example. I would imagine even a cheap one is probibly a million candle power yet it makes a horrible flashlight, because the amount of light (lumens) is really small.


Part Two
A Surefire C3 with the hi output lamp would give you 200 lumens of light for approx 20 minutes (it uses three 123 lithium cells) and is 6.4 inches long.


P.S. that Triad is 7000 candlepower, not Lumens

[/ QUOTE ]

Double_A, this was a NICE response. Right on! Truly inspiring.

I especially agree with part one #6. Ginseng was saying this very thing to me not two weeks ago--in regards to reflectors, anyway. This is why I dislike the cam focusing action on a Mag lite. Most of the time it just annoys me, but sometimes it is downright frustrating.

Anyway, what about the SL TL-3 Xenon? According to brightnorm's INSTANT SPEC's, it puts out 175-200 lumens and is 6.25" long.