miss_kabrit
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2014
- Messages
- 9
Greetings, CPF.
This is a post (rant) regarding several flashlights I recently purchased. I'm not a "flashaholic". Just the fact that such a word exists is bizarre to me. But I do use flashlights A LOT. I'm legally blind, with no night vision whatsoever. And I've been living in a very dark and dangerous 3rd world country for the past 10 years. Most places I've lived here either have no electricity, or very rarely. Even if there is power, streetlights are few or non-existent. And the city where I now live is quite treacherous, with dangerous obstacles everywhere. The primary spoken language here is screaming. I recently fell into a gaping hole in the street the size of a small car simply because my flashlight wasn't bright enough to allow me to see properly.
I haven't been back to a developed country for several years, so I was unaware of the advances in LED and flashlight technology. A short time ago I randomly searched for LED flashlights on Amazon and was thrilled at how bright and sophisticated flashlights have become. So after much research (thanks in part to CPF!) I purchased 5 flashlights online along with batteries and accessories, which I rate below. The flashlights are:
-Olight S10-L2
-Nitecore HC50
-Nitecore P12
-Thrunite Neutron 1C
-Thrunite Neutron 2C
I then had to wait a couple months for them to be shipped and then for someone from the US to travel by plane and bus and anther bus and a motorcycle taxi to get to my area, and then I rode on a motorcycle for a day and a half through rain and mud and horribly bad roads to get to him to pick up them up.
Now, my first impressions when trying out the lights, during the day, in a well-lit area: "Hmmm, pretty bright, I guess. Maybe not as bright as I was expecting."
Then my first impressions trying them out at night: "HOLY SMOKING MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, THAT'S INSANE!!!!"
Other people's first impressions at seeing my lights: "OMG OMG OMG!!! You hold the power of God in your hand! You are the promised Messiah!! WE WILL FOLLOW YOU WHEREVER YOU GO!! LEAD US TO SALVATION!!!"
Some statements are slight exaggerations. But anyways, they're quite bright. In fact, almost too bright. The P12 is so bright it hurts my eyes to use it on turbo mode when shining it at anything that is not more than 4 kilometres away. Which is my first point for normal people (not flashaholics), that you really don't need 17 million lumens as you're led to believe by some flashlight geeks. 950 lumens is too much for any normal application. 400 lumens is already a lot. And this is coming from someone legally blind with 0 night vision living in a particularly dangerous area of a very dangerous country.
I mean, what do you people use these lights for anyways? How could I possibly walk the dog with a 2000 lumen light? How would that not attract every insect within 5 miles? Sure, they do have specialty applications, such as hunting. But that's the point of hunting with a bright light. You can blind the deer or bear or sabre-toothed tiger and then kill him because of your superior intelligence and technology. It's about killing inferior forms of life by seeking every possible (and unfair) advantage. Or perhaps these kind of lights are useful for security guards, where it's your job to incapacitate an aggressor, and so an insanely bright light would be useful.
Other applications I can think of:
-shining the light straight up so that the reflection off the clouds lights up the neighbourhood
-signalling to a small plane that's bringing in cocaine (here they stand motorcycles on their tails for that (apparently), but that's much more difficult)
And that's it. That's all I can think of. Because in any normal application, insanely bright lights blind everyone else around you, destroying their night vision, making them hate you, generating enemies for life. So if you're going to be buying a bright flashlight for the first time, I would recommend something more reasonable to start, such as an AA powered light, like the Olight S15-L2. Since AA batteries are much cheaper and readily available, that's probably a smarter route for most people (who don't hunt sabre-toothed tigers at night and who isn't an African drug lord), but should provide enough light for anything you need, with less enemies for life.
Now, to my reviews:
- Olight S10-L2: I bought this as a EDC light. What more could you possibly want from an EDC light? It's ridiculously small, is bright enough for any reasonable application, is very well built, has a fantastically sturdy pocket clip, tail stands, magnetically attaches to any ferrous surface, etc. Sure, it doesn't have a "Police Warning Light" like the SRT-3 or "3rd Generation Smart Selector Ring Technology" or a "stainless steel window breaker" in the head, but I'm not a police officer, the button on my S10 works just fine, and my house doesn't have any windows, and even if it did, I don't plan on breaking them, and certainly not with my flashlight. (A rock would do that just fine) So, this light is the benchmark to me. I give it 5 stars, only because I can't give it more. By the way, I got it on Amazon for only $35. It keeps blowing me away with how much light you get out of such a small package. [thinking] Yup, still blown away.
- Nitecore P12: It's a very good light. I get the feeling it's not as small as it could be. Does the head have to be that long? Personally, I prefer a more floody beam, since there aren't many sabre-toothed tigers in my area. A floodier beam is more appropriate for lighting the ground in front of me while walking . But this is a "tactical" light, a "thrower", so I can't complain about that; that's what they built it for. It's pretty chic. And that IS important. I don't just buy jeans to cover my naked flesh and protect me from sharp objects, but to look good, too. So a flashlight should not only function as one, but be somewhat of a fashion accessory, too. I think Fenix needs to understand that point better. Some have complained that the side switch for changing modes is hard to find. That's true, perhaps if you have gloves on, or if you're a buffoon. But I have no problem finding it. It's right there on the head. So, since we're being picky, and since the fantastic S10 is the benchmark, this one deserves a 4.8 stars.
- Nitecore HC50: Excellent headlamp! It feels pretty heavy on your forehead, but I guess that prevents it from heating up and lighting your hair on fire, so it's a trade-off. The beam is great. The batteries last a long time. I would have preferred a mode between 35 and 170 lumens, whereas I don't really need 350 lumens. As some have noted, what's really important is ratios. 35 to 170 is almost 5 times brighter, whereas 350 to 565 is less than 2. As well, some have noted that the button can be finicky. When you turn it off you can accidentally increase the brightness level for next time if you don't fully press the button quickly enough. I guess Nitecore dropped the ball on that one since they could have made the half-press a sort-of reverse clicky, in that it only registers a half-press if you don't fully press afterwards. But that's being very picky. Just get used to it. Pushing a button isn't too difficult, which I'm sure if why Nitecore just left it like this. I use mine every day, sometimes even during the day, so it's going to break down at some point. I'm curious as to which part goes first. I assume the rubber button and the silicone holder will go first. And so far the elastics have gone in all my other headlamps (mostly Princeton Tech). We'll see how long this one lasts. But by then nobody will care anymore about the HC50 since it will have been replaced. Nitecore seems to offer excellent value for money. I give this one 4.9 stars as well, but that's just being picky. It's a great headlamp.
- Thrunite Neutron 2C: Does anyone care about these lights anymore? Well, if you (probably singular) do, read on. This light blew me away! First of all, I only paid $10 for it on Amazon, and it's much slimmer and shorter than the P12, has a more useful, floody beam, and yet is comparable in brightness to the P12. Sure, not at long range. But that's OK. Again, I'm not an African drug lord. The difference in size is a big thing, since this light is pretty much just like a fat pen, whereas the P12 is definitely a flashlight, not comparable to a pen. So it's able to be an EDC light, while still having practically all the functionality of a larger 18650 light, except perhaps runtimes. I think Selfbuilt noted that at lower lumen levels it has noticeable PWM issues, and is also somewhat less efficient. But I wouldn't have noticed that if I hadn't read it. The light works perfect for me. Because of the economical issues I'll give it 4.8 stars, but if you factor in the price I paid, it deserves 7 stars. It's just plain better (to me) than the P12. You read that right. It's a better light than the P12. That may go against everything you thought, since technically the P12 is superior, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
- Thrunite Neutron 1C: I haven't used it much. It's mostly a backup, and for other people to use. It's also very slim, and well built. Pretty much the same as the 2C, but shorter. Paid $20 for it. No clip, so 4.9 stars.
- Nitecore NL189 3400 mah batteries: I got 4 including what was included with the lights. They're excellent. They quite unliterally last forever. No complaints whatsoever, other than the price (the two I bought separately were around $22 I believe).
- Fenix ARE-C2 charger: What can I say, it works like a charm. But it's definitely bigger than I expected, so not that mobile, which is too bad.
- Tenergy 750 mah LifePO4 batteries and Tenergy charger: I almost didn't buy the charger, thinking the Fenix charger could do it all. But then I realized it can't. This charger seems pretty cheaply made (cheap plastic), though it functions well. The batteries didn't seem to get great reviews, but they're relatively cheap, and work just fine for me, though I haven't tried all 16 yet. I'm afraid at some point it will just break down and I'll be left without a charger for my LifePO4 batteries. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to but one of the new Nitecore chargeres that support these batteries too.
- Nitecore NDF25 Diffuser: 2 stars. Pretty useless as is. It's mostly clear, not tempered plastic, so it acts almost the same as if you just put nonclear scotch tape on the glass in the head. It's still very much a flashlight, whereas I was hoping it would become a sort of light bulb. Oh well, I ended up fashioning my own diffuser out of white paper and tape and storing it in my cell phone pouch for when I need it. It works on all my lights except the headlamp. I'm sure there's no danger of it catching fire or melting. I mean, these lights don't heat up, right?
- Amazon: I noticed on CPF they don't talk too much about different sellers. And not many people seem to recommend Amazon. But I didn't have too much of a choice, since I wasn't the one buying directly, nor was it shipped directly to me. But my experience with them was great. First of all, I found great deals. The S10-L2 for $35 was a great deal, and the Neutron 2C for $10 and even the 1C for $20 were absolute steals. As well, buying several items together allowed me to get the batteries and charger for cheaper, too. Everything came exactly as advertised, except Olight included an extra free battery that they failed to mention. Of course, not all sellers are reputable, and there's a lot of bad deals on there too. But if you grope around and have patience, you can get some great deals.
- Unprofessional YouTube flashlight video reviews: 0 STARS!! Please, people, no more amateur video reviews! There are too many videos out there with people eating the camera mic while smacking their lips and clearing their throat every 6 seconds, without any kind of informative help. "I think this flashlight has thermal protection" DOES NOT HELP ME! Leave this to the people who can, such as Selfbuilt; informative and clear but without wasting your time. (Can someone start a thread "Worst YouTube flashlight review"? It would be hilarious. We could rate them based on how many times they clear their throat in the mic, or say "I think…", or say "Uuuumm…", etc.)
That should be it. So now, here's a question: What more modern light is there that's just like the Neutron 2C? As in, floody beam, only takes RCR123's, so slim and short enough to comfortably be an EDC light? Go!
This is a post (rant) regarding several flashlights I recently purchased. I'm not a "flashaholic". Just the fact that such a word exists is bizarre to me. But I do use flashlights A LOT. I'm legally blind, with no night vision whatsoever. And I've been living in a very dark and dangerous 3rd world country for the past 10 years. Most places I've lived here either have no electricity, or very rarely. Even if there is power, streetlights are few or non-existent. And the city where I now live is quite treacherous, with dangerous obstacles everywhere. The primary spoken language here is screaming. I recently fell into a gaping hole in the street the size of a small car simply because my flashlight wasn't bright enough to allow me to see properly.
I haven't been back to a developed country for several years, so I was unaware of the advances in LED and flashlight technology. A short time ago I randomly searched for LED flashlights on Amazon and was thrilled at how bright and sophisticated flashlights have become. So after much research (thanks in part to CPF!) I purchased 5 flashlights online along with batteries and accessories, which I rate below. The flashlights are:
-Olight S10-L2
-Nitecore HC50
-Nitecore P12
-Thrunite Neutron 1C
-Thrunite Neutron 2C
I then had to wait a couple months for them to be shipped and then for someone from the US to travel by plane and bus and anther bus and a motorcycle taxi to get to my area, and then I rode on a motorcycle for a day and a half through rain and mud and horribly bad roads to get to him to pick up them up.
Now, my first impressions when trying out the lights, during the day, in a well-lit area: "Hmmm, pretty bright, I guess. Maybe not as bright as I was expecting."
Then my first impressions trying them out at night: "HOLY SMOKING MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, THAT'S INSANE!!!!"
Other people's first impressions at seeing my lights: "OMG OMG OMG!!! You hold the power of God in your hand! You are the promised Messiah!! WE WILL FOLLOW YOU WHEREVER YOU GO!! LEAD US TO SALVATION!!!"
Some statements are slight exaggerations. But anyways, they're quite bright. In fact, almost too bright. The P12 is so bright it hurts my eyes to use it on turbo mode when shining it at anything that is not more than 4 kilometres away. Which is my first point for normal people (not flashaholics), that you really don't need 17 million lumens as you're led to believe by some flashlight geeks. 950 lumens is too much for any normal application. 400 lumens is already a lot. And this is coming from someone legally blind with 0 night vision living in a particularly dangerous area of a very dangerous country.
I mean, what do you people use these lights for anyways? How could I possibly walk the dog with a 2000 lumen light? How would that not attract every insect within 5 miles? Sure, they do have specialty applications, such as hunting. But that's the point of hunting with a bright light. You can blind the deer or bear or sabre-toothed tiger and then kill him because of your superior intelligence and technology. It's about killing inferior forms of life by seeking every possible (and unfair) advantage. Or perhaps these kind of lights are useful for security guards, where it's your job to incapacitate an aggressor, and so an insanely bright light would be useful.
Other applications I can think of:
-shining the light straight up so that the reflection off the clouds lights up the neighbourhood
-signalling to a small plane that's bringing in cocaine (here they stand motorcycles on their tails for that (apparently), but that's much more difficult)
And that's it. That's all I can think of. Because in any normal application, insanely bright lights blind everyone else around you, destroying their night vision, making them hate you, generating enemies for life. So if you're going to be buying a bright flashlight for the first time, I would recommend something more reasonable to start, such as an AA powered light, like the Olight S15-L2. Since AA batteries are much cheaper and readily available, that's probably a smarter route for most people (who don't hunt sabre-toothed tigers at night and who isn't an African drug lord), but should provide enough light for anything you need, with less enemies for life.
Now, to my reviews:
- Olight S10-L2: I bought this as a EDC light. What more could you possibly want from an EDC light? It's ridiculously small, is bright enough for any reasonable application, is very well built, has a fantastically sturdy pocket clip, tail stands, magnetically attaches to any ferrous surface, etc. Sure, it doesn't have a "Police Warning Light" like the SRT-3 or "3rd Generation Smart Selector Ring Technology" or a "stainless steel window breaker" in the head, but I'm not a police officer, the button on my S10 works just fine, and my house doesn't have any windows, and even if it did, I don't plan on breaking them, and certainly not with my flashlight. (A rock would do that just fine) So, this light is the benchmark to me. I give it 5 stars, only because I can't give it more. By the way, I got it on Amazon for only $35. It keeps blowing me away with how much light you get out of such a small package. [thinking] Yup, still blown away.
- Nitecore P12: It's a very good light. I get the feeling it's not as small as it could be. Does the head have to be that long? Personally, I prefer a more floody beam, since there aren't many sabre-toothed tigers in my area. A floodier beam is more appropriate for lighting the ground in front of me while walking . But this is a "tactical" light, a "thrower", so I can't complain about that; that's what they built it for. It's pretty chic. And that IS important. I don't just buy jeans to cover my naked flesh and protect me from sharp objects, but to look good, too. So a flashlight should not only function as one, but be somewhat of a fashion accessory, too. I think Fenix needs to understand that point better. Some have complained that the side switch for changing modes is hard to find. That's true, perhaps if you have gloves on, or if you're a buffoon. But I have no problem finding it. It's right there on the head. So, since we're being picky, and since the fantastic S10 is the benchmark, this one deserves a 4.8 stars.
- Nitecore HC50: Excellent headlamp! It feels pretty heavy on your forehead, but I guess that prevents it from heating up and lighting your hair on fire, so it's a trade-off. The beam is great. The batteries last a long time. I would have preferred a mode between 35 and 170 lumens, whereas I don't really need 350 lumens. As some have noted, what's really important is ratios. 35 to 170 is almost 5 times brighter, whereas 350 to 565 is less than 2. As well, some have noted that the button can be finicky. When you turn it off you can accidentally increase the brightness level for next time if you don't fully press the button quickly enough. I guess Nitecore dropped the ball on that one since they could have made the half-press a sort-of reverse clicky, in that it only registers a half-press if you don't fully press afterwards. But that's being very picky. Just get used to it. Pushing a button isn't too difficult, which I'm sure if why Nitecore just left it like this. I use mine every day, sometimes even during the day, so it's going to break down at some point. I'm curious as to which part goes first. I assume the rubber button and the silicone holder will go first. And so far the elastics have gone in all my other headlamps (mostly Princeton Tech). We'll see how long this one lasts. But by then nobody will care anymore about the HC50 since it will have been replaced. Nitecore seems to offer excellent value for money. I give this one 4.9 stars as well, but that's just being picky. It's a great headlamp.
- Thrunite Neutron 2C: Does anyone care about these lights anymore? Well, if you (probably singular) do, read on. This light blew me away! First of all, I only paid $10 for it on Amazon, and it's much slimmer and shorter than the P12, has a more useful, floody beam, and yet is comparable in brightness to the P12. Sure, not at long range. But that's OK. Again, I'm not an African drug lord. The difference in size is a big thing, since this light is pretty much just like a fat pen, whereas the P12 is definitely a flashlight, not comparable to a pen. So it's able to be an EDC light, while still having practically all the functionality of a larger 18650 light, except perhaps runtimes. I think Selfbuilt noted that at lower lumen levels it has noticeable PWM issues, and is also somewhat less efficient. But I wouldn't have noticed that if I hadn't read it. The light works perfect for me. Because of the economical issues I'll give it 4.8 stars, but if you factor in the price I paid, it deserves 7 stars. It's just plain better (to me) than the P12. You read that right. It's a better light than the P12. That may go against everything you thought, since technically the P12 is superior, but that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
- Thrunite Neutron 1C: I haven't used it much. It's mostly a backup, and for other people to use. It's also very slim, and well built. Pretty much the same as the 2C, but shorter. Paid $20 for it. No clip, so 4.9 stars.
- Nitecore NL189 3400 mah batteries: I got 4 including what was included with the lights. They're excellent. They quite unliterally last forever. No complaints whatsoever, other than the price (the two I bought separately were around $22 I believe).
- Fenix ARE-C2 charger: What can I say, it works like a charm. But it's definitely bigger than I expected, so not that mobile, which is too bad.
- Tenergy 750 mah LifePO4 batteries and Tenergy charger: I almost didn't buy the charger, thinking the Fenix charger could do it all. But then I realized it can't. This charger seems pretty cheaply made (cheap plastic), though it functions well. The batteries didn't seem to get great reviews, but they're relatively cheap, and work just fine for me, though I haven't tried all 16 yet. I'm afraid at some point it will just break down and I'll be left without a charger for my LifePO4 batteries. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to but one of the new Nitecore chargeres that support these batteries too.
- Nitecore NDF25 Diffuser: 2 stars. Pretty useless as is. It's mostly clear, not tempered plastic, so it acts almost the same as if you just put nonclear scotch tape on the glass in the head. It's still very much a flashlight, whereas I was hoping it would become a sort of light bulb. Oh well, I ended up fashioning my own diffuser out of white paper and tape and storing it in my cell phone pouch for when I need it. It works on all my lights except the headlamp. I'm sure there's no danger of it catching fire or melting. I mean, these lights don't heat up, right?
- Amazon: I noticed on CPF they don't talk too much about different sellers. And not many people seem to recommend Amazon. But I didn't have too much of a choice, since I wasn't the one buying directly, nor was it shipped directly to me. But my experience with them was great. First of all, I found great deals. The S10-L2 for $35 was a great deal, and the Neutron 2C for $10 and even the 1C for $20 were absolute steals. As well, buying several items together allowed me to get the batteries and charger for cheaper, too. Everything came exactly as advertised, except Olight included an extra free battery that they failed to mention. Of course, not all sellers are reputable, and there's a lot of bad deals on there too. But if you grope around and have patience, you can get some great deals.
- Unprofessional YouTube flashlight video reviews: 0 STARS!! Please, people, no more amateur video reviews! There are too many videos out there with people eating the camera mic while smacking their lips and clearing their throat every 6 seconds, without any kind of informative help. "I think this flashlight has thermal protection" DOES NOT HELP ME! Leave this to the people who can, such as Selfbuilt; informative and clear but without wasting your time. (Can someone start a thread "Worst YouTube flashlight review"? It would be hilarious. We could rate them based on how many times they clear their throat in the mic, or say "I think…", or say "Uuuumm…", etc.)
That should be it. So now, here's a question: What more modern light is there that's just like the Neutron 2C? As in, floody beam, only takes RCR123's, so slim and short enough to comfortably be an EDC light? Go!