$20 Budget, One CR123 Light? -Yes, one of THOSE threads-

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NotASolder

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
Messages
27
Okay,

I've been here for a few years and had found ALL THE FLASHLIGHTS I WOULD EVER NEED.

Had not logged on since late 2005. I thought I was safe.

As it often happens those lights no longer fit my needs :oops: I'm back. And I'm lost. Very lost.

2 Quick questions to get my bearings:

What's the BEST (yes, there I said it, BEST) LED light with:
  1. One cell CR123 light.
  2. Forward, reverse clickie, or momentary switch. No twist-ons please.
  3. Spot or Flood. No preference.
  4. With or without clip. No preference.
  5. Maybe Single or Multi mode, but must be able to start on HIGH. Yes, I'm tacticool.
  6. Moddable or Not. Look at my screen name.:sssh:
  7. Twenti$h. $20-$30 :broke:
  8. This will be an EDC for a college student. Me.
  9. Nightime commute is 60 miles, I want something bright!!!
What's the BEST LED light with:
  1. Two CR123 cells.
  2. Thirty$h $30-$40 Did I mention I'm :broke:
  3. Other req's as above, but this will be a bedside table/What was that noise in the backyard light.
  4. I expect a notable improvement in brightess or runtime from the light in question 1, if there is no such beast in this price bracket I'll just go with two of the single cell lights.
If it's any help, the only lights I have that are still working are a couple or three Gerber Infinity Lights and a Surefire G2. State of the Art :twothumbs
 
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Mu suggestion is a few points short of your list, but as no one else has responded, beggars can't be choosers !!:nana: Besides, it's a great suggestion.
The Lumapower LM31 is a fantastic little single battery light ( AA but you can get lithiums if ya gotta have 'em) with two stages, ( can't remember if it starts high or low), with Seoul emiter that rocks out 70 lumens,decent run-time, O-ringed ( so assume SOME level of water resitance).You changed your criteria from $20 to "twentyish, $20-30 ", and this name-brand,very popular light can be all yours for the low,low price of about $34 delivered from BatteryJunction,using our CPF discount and choosing US mail. I lost one of these recently, and missed it so much, i bought another. Along with my new Surfire E1L, it's my favorite EDC. Other than this,for $20,expect you're gonna get a lot of suggestions for junk from Dealer Extreme. Hope this was remotely usefull !!:D
 
I don't know of many 1xCR123A LED flashlights with a price tag about $20 except for the Dorcy 41-4262. You can buy them at Target. I have one and it is a decent light for the money.

It has a reverse clickie (no momentary) tail switch and uses an older Luxeon LED, not a Cree or P4.

Another alternative is to buy a used, one-cell Inova T1. I sold one in the price range you mentioned. It is a spot light without much spill. The Dorcy does not throw light as far but has a good amount of spill.
 
This one has gotten good reviews and I'm probably going to buy it very shortly.

- Features a Cree Q5 Bin LED Emitter
- 5-Mode Tail Clicky: Mid > Lo > Hi > Fast Strobe > Slow Strobe
- Glass lens with aluminum reflector
- Powered by 1 x 3.6V/3.0V CR123A Battery (sold separately)
I believe its rated around 120lumens on high



http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10806
 
Get the Cree upgrade module for your G2 from Surefire or any other company. Costs are $20 to about $40 depending on brand and brightness bin. That's in your budget for the two cell light. It will only be one level though (bright). Avoid the ones run hard at one amp or close to it. The plastic Surefire G2 offers no heatsinking.
 
NotASolder said:
Okay,

I've been here for a few years and had found ALL THE FLASHLIGHTS I WOULD EVER NEED.

Had not logged on since late 2005. I thought I was safe.

As it often happens those lights no longer fit my needs :oops: I'm back. And I'm lost. Very lost.

2 Quick questions to get my bearings:

What's the BEST (yes, there I said it, BEST) LED light with:
  1. One cell CR123 light.
  2. Forward, reverse clickie, or momentary switch. No twist-ons please.
  3. Spot or Flood. No preference.
  4. With or without clip. No preference.
  5. Maybe Single or Multi mode, but must be able to start on HIGH. Yes, I'm tacticool.
  6. Moddable or Not. Look at my screen name.:sssh:
  7. Twenti$h. $20-$30 :broke:
  8. This will be an EDC for a college student. Me.
  9. Nightime commute is 60 miles, I want something bright!!!
What's the BEST LED light with:
  1. Two CR123 cells.
  2. Thirty$h $30-$40 Did I mention I'm :broke:
  3. Other req's as above, but this will be a bedside table/What was that noise in the backyard light.
  4. I expect a notable improvement in brightess or runtime from the light in question 1, if there is no such beast in this price bracket I'll just go with two of the single cell lights.
If it's any help, the only lights I have that are still working are a couple or three Gerber Infinity Lights and a Surefire G2. State of the Art :twothumbs
Click to expand...
Price aside, you are looking for something like the SureFire E1B Backup. You won't find anything similar in this price range though.
 
hmmm...you mentioned you have a surefire G2...you can get a nice bright Cree droppin for that as your higher output/throw light(although there maybe a little heat issue so maybe not super high) for < $20 from DX...i'm sure someone can advise on which to get! and they also have a fair few cr123 lights for about $20 although i think most are brighter on 3.6V rcr123.

or

you could combine your budget $50-70 and just get 1 quality light maybe a Olight T10 Q5 if your only using cr123 or the new 2008 Olight T10 Q5 for a bit more if you want to use rcr123. or if you want a 2 x cr123/rcr123 light the Olight T20 Q5. The olight have a tighter focused beam for throw although i'm not so sure how well they do that tho. Fenix-store(free shippin) and battery junction has them. battery junction also has the lumapower incendio which is a 1cr123/rcr123 light it has lower output but a longer runtime than most. Or from fenix-store you have all the fenix lights to choose from which should fit into your combined budget!

Although others might be able to advise you on better lights thats just my 2cents!

Edit: oh wait i missed the part that ur 2nd light was for ur bedside table...
in that case, you could use the G2 with cree droppin for that and maybe still afford a quality cr123 light? or would you want to carry somthing somthing cheaper on you?
 
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Another vote to upgrade the G2. How long do you plan on running it? If it's less than 15 minutes at a go, you'll probably be fine with the ones feeding the emitter thick chewy amps.

Alternately, you could grab one of these to host your Cree module. The brightest of the cheapies at the moment is a Solarforce R2, which is perhaps optimistically rated at 290 lumens or so - firsthand comparisons peg it as slightly dimmer than a Malkoff in the real world, if only barely perceptible. The host and diode should be about $40 taken together, and if you play your cards right, that'll include shipping.

Alternately, pool your money and buy a Surefire, maybe an E1B Backup like Outdoors Fanatic suggested. You'll probably never outgrow it, when you're sick of it, you can sell it and get a surprisingly large chunk of your money back, Surefire warranty, and Surefire lumens - their rating is a guaranteed minimum, not rated under ideal conditions. That puts you $40 over budget, but a lot of dealers will throw in free shipping and/or batteries when you buy that one.

Deciding factor is really do you plan on retiring these lights in a few years, or keeping them forever and ever?
 
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Thanks for the enthusiastic responses so far :clap:


I'm almost decided that the best course for the 2 cell cr123 will be the Cree Upgrade to my Surefire G2, I'm not too certain whether it would be best to buy the module or just a 'Solarforce' branded product (with its reported parts exchangeability with the G2) with the "Cree Q5 295 Lumens" for a few bucks more and then I would have an 'extra' body just in case. I can even order one complete with a picatiny rail mount for $36 shipped from one of those 'Straight from HK to You' dealers in ebay. I would prefer to use one of CPF's sponsors.

As far as the single cell light I still have to read through all the posted reviews. Thanks, further suggestions welcomed. And encouraged.:poke:

I want THE BEST :dedhorse:




BTW, I just remembered that I also have an Inova X-something or other, the last (maybe next to last one) AA cell with the third gen recessed glass/formerly spot now not so much so. The one that was on sale last summer at Target. I was looking for one cell cr123 so as to get something with more omp in a similar form factor. That Inova is my EDC (when I can find it).
 
Last edited:
NotASolder said:
Thanks for the enthusiastic responses so far :clap:


I'm almost decided that the best course for the 2 cell cr123 will be the Cree Upgrade to my Surefire G2, I'm not too certain whether it would be best to buy the module or just a 'Solarforce' branded product (with its reported parts exchangeability with the G2) with the "Cree Q5 295 Lumens" for a few bucks more and then I would have an 'extra' body just in case. I can even order one complete with a picatiny rail mount for $36 shipped from one of those 'Straight from HK to You' dealers in ebay. I would prefer to use one of CPF's sponsors.

As far as the single cell light I still have to read through all the posted reviews. Thanks, further suggestions welcomed. And encouraged.:poke:

I want THE BEST :dedhorse:




BTW, I just remembered that I also have an Inova X-something or other, the last (maybe next to last one) AA cell with the third gen recessed glass/formerly spot now not so much so. The one that was on sale last summer at Target. I was looking for one cell cr123 so as to get something with more omp in a similar form factor. That Inova is my EDC (when I can find it).
Click to expand...

Be careful on the SureFire upgrades. If you are dropping it into an older light, some will not fit. I know for a fact that this one fits old SureFires cuz I just upgraded an old 6P and G2 yesterday.

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3513


As far as the single cell light I still have to read through all the posted reviews. Thanks, further suggestions welcomed. And encouraged.:poke:
Click to expand...

Save up for an IncenDio :poke:
 
NotaSolder, you could check out the Lumapower LM33...basically the 1 x CR123a version of the LM31. 2 hours on high @ 90 lumens, 4 (or 8, depending on whose specs you read) hours on low. This light has also gotten good reviews. $35 - 5% CPF discount + shipping from BatteryJunction.

Saiga said:
The Lumapower LM31 is a fantastic little single battery light...with Seoul emiter that rocks out 70 lumens
Click to expand...

Is this really putting out light in the 70 lumen range on 'high?' I've been eyeing this light, but have seen several people writing and saying it isn't very bright at all. 70 lumens still seems pretty bright to me from a 1 x AA light. Anything you can compare it too, output wise. SS C3? RC-G2? RC-A3? Fenix L2P? If it is indeed as bright, or brighter than, any of these, I'm getting one!
 
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lazerboy2000 said:
This one has gotten good reviews and I'm probably going to buy it very shortly.

- Features a Cree Q5 Bin LED Emitter
- 5-Mode Tail Clicky: Mid > Lo > Hi > Fast Strobe > Slow Strobe
- Glass lens with aluminum reflector
- Powered by 1 x 3.6V/3.0V CR123A Battery (sold separately)
I believe its rated around 120lumens on high



http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10806
Click to expand...

This NEEDS an RCR123A to light up brightly. A primary CR123A will barely light it up. Been there, done that. It's a direct drive driver, no boost capability so a 3.0V primary doesn't drive a white CREE LED very well.
 
lazerboy2000 said:
This one has gotten good reviews and I'm probably going to buy it very shortly.

- Features a Cree Q5 Bin LED Emitter
- 5-Mode Tail Clicky: Mid > Lo > Hi > Fast Strobe > Slow Strobe
- Glass lens with aluminum reflector
- Powered by 1 x 3.6V/3.0V CR123A Battery (sold separately)
I believe its rated around 120lumens on high
Click to expand...

Sadly this does (as you point out above) start in Medium then goes to Low then can be set to High. Start-On-High is one feature I'm not prepared to give up :D

I re-read (pheew!) bessiebenny's thread on Budget Lights.

 lazerboy2000, How would you compare the 602-C you posted to the output from the Romisen RC-N3 CR123A/2AA from bessiebenny's thread. The RC-N3 looks good unless I'm missing something :thinking:

Coming back to two cell 123's... Would I be correct to conclude that the Eastward YJ-XAQ5 18650 would be a better buy, than the Solarforce CREE G2 LED upgrade plan. I see there are 'issues' with the non-existent heatsinking, also my older G2 may not be a good fit to some LED modules.



I believe I have done just enough research to be utterly confused. Must...keep...reading... :sigh:
 
may I add my 2 cents ???

Well IMHO this ultrafire C3 with extension tube is good. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7938

Pros :
- works with 1AA,
- works with 2AA,
- works with 1 14500

5 modes (2 are useless), HI, Med, Low --> very usefull to manage properly your power and battery duration.

Beware that the simple UF C3 mono mode has not a very efficient driver (see Benny's tread)

with the various combinations of battery you can get pretty much what you want from 100 mA up to 1A current into the led.

I have moded this led by repalcing the bulb with a Cree Q5... even better :twothumbs

See other info and mods here : http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=192893

cons :
- no memory mode...
- what else ??

JP
 
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