A Bit of Buying Advice

LEDBE
C

Cpfoxhunt

Newly Enlightened
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Jun 12, 2007
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Hi, whilst i'm not a flashlight nut, I did just manage to break my LED mini mag lite, and have decided to replace it with something a bit better. (I also have a nitepalm pc-8, which for some reason doesn't seem very bright.)

I'm in the UK, and don't really want to spend more than fifty pounds. So far all i've seen is the surefire 6p - looks nice enough (brightness is certainly a good thing), but one hour on a set of £10.00 batteries tends to rankle a bit.

So is there anything as bright that doesn't use expensive batteries at such a ferocious rate? Maybe even something using LED's? Or is the 6p my best bet?

Cheers
Cpfoxhunt

EDIT: just found this as well - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STREAMLIGHT-T...yZ117110QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem - any good?
 
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For LED:

On the expensive side, I believe that 50 pounds will get you either a Pelican LAPD (when available from battery junction), a Lumapower MRV (Actually about 70 pounds) etc, Lumapower D-Mini etc. These do not run off of cheap batteries though.

On the cheaper side (for batteries as well), anything by Fenix under LxD-CE (AAA or AA). You won't be disappointed with these.

I'm sure someone else can help you out on incandescants in that price range.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. I'll have a look at the Fenix. I'm kinda looking for something very bright though (hence the surefire), so perhaps an incandescant is the way to go? And how does the surefire G2 stack up to the 6p?
 
You can get an Orb Raw for 40 pounds. It comes with everything you need for it to work. I'm actually debating if i should get one as well. I just can't find too many reviews on it. However, from most of the posts I've read about this flashlight, it's very very good.
 
The orb raw looks a bit tiny, and i think the fenix is brighter. Any thoughts?
 
Breaking that Mini Mag*Lite was the best thing that could have happened to you. For 50 pounds you can find plenty of great replacements.

The Surefire 6P is based on an aging technology that I don't think is suitable for the price. Surefire's description of their wonderful little light is:

Compact (palm size) high-intensity incandescent flashlight for tactical, self-defense, and general use. Produces a smooth, brilliant, pre-focused tactical-level beam with four times the light of a big two D-cell flashlight — bright enough to temporarily blind and disorient a person by impairing his night-adapted vision. Light output may be nearly doubled with optional P61 lamp. Small size and high output make it an excellent everyday-carry light.

I believe the best lights on the market for almost all conventional applications are the Fenix P2D-CE and the P3D-CE. In your case, I would recommend the latter. Both Fenix lights will do everything the Surefire 6P will do plus a good deal more:

1) The Fenix lights use POWERFUL Cree LEDs that never need bulb replacement. Surefire used to say their incandescent (Xenon) bulbs had a life of 30 hours before burning out. Recently, they've changed that to 20 hours.

2) Both Fenix flashlights have multiple modes that give you more power and light than the P6. In their low-light settings, they provide hours and hours of reading light. On the highest setting, it rivals the P6 with a P61 lamp.

3) Regardless of mode, the Fenix lights have better, more efficient runtimes than the Surefire. The P6 has a runtime of one hour. The P2D Fenix has one hour of runtime in a brighter mode and uses only one 123A battery to do it! In "high" you get two hours! On the lowest setting, which is used for reading or just to provide ambient light in total darkness, the runtime is 30 hours on one battery! The P3D takes that up to 65 hours. In max/turbo mode, two 123As give 1.8 hours and 4.8 hours in high mode.

The performance of the Fenix Cree LED lights is nothing short of amazing when compared to the older Surefire Xenon technology. I picked up one of Fenix's L2D AA lights today and was very pleased at its performance.

As much as I love the Surefire P6, I'd rather buy two Surefire G2s than one P6. Both are proven winners if you want to go the incandescent route, and by buying two of the G2s, you're getting a backup light or a spare, however you look at it.

Good luck whichever way you go.
 
If you are still buying a Fenix P3D-CE, look at Fenix-Store. Shipping and taxes are included in their price and CPF8 is a coupon code for 8% off. £28.76 total with discount. You could also buy the L1/2D-CE, P2D-CE instead and have the choice of 1 AA(L1D-CE, dimmest, still pretty bright but not as powerful), 2 AA(L2D-CE) or 1 CR123(P2D-CE) battery tube. They all use the same head so the battery tube can be changed. With a price of £48.40, you can afford one P2D-CE with the L1D-CE and L2D-CE body tube.

I would not recommend the Fenix if the light will see lots of abuse. Fenix is great for general use and will take a bit if abuse but I would not trust my life on their quality. Flashlightreview's Cree section
Streamlight TL2 Review,(overall output of 59, about 96 lumens,vs 83 of the P2D-CE, about 114 lumens)

LEDs don't have the color rendering of incandescent lights. So depending on the task, a incandescent might be better then a LED light.
 
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it won't get LOTS of abuse, but it will get some, the odd drop onto concrete etc. And I like the idea of the p3d a lot more - i'll just shell out for the batteries as and when I need them. The brightness at the top end makes it that bit more attractive.

They look sturdy enough...

(And where is this coupon code?)
Cpfoxhunt

EDIT: looking at it, i think i might be hit with VAT - perhaps better to go with the one already in the uk?
 
Take note that a number of folks claim better outdoor visibility with incandescent light. Yes, incandescent has higher bulb cost and higher battery cost but I would not rule it out without having compared the two technologies in your environment. You can find a number of threads on this old subject if you search the forum.
 
The old 2aa cel mini mag (LED) was good enough in this regard for what i was using it for - i'm thinking the p3d, with its better runtime, is the way to go?
 
Buy Fenix not from some crazy priced E-Bay source. Only from www.fenix-store.com or www.lighthound.com.
L2D-CE uses AA batts, might be easier to find in Tansania (no clue on that, but at least AAs are rechargeable and/or more common imho)

When it comes to incans and "bright" and whatever else...
In that light class (SF 6P with the normal LA running for an hour) a good led outshines the incan by far and such a strong led also has not that color "washing out" problem the ppl refer to (maybe they talk about those 5 pc. 5 mm led supercheap E-Bay lights? :thinking:

I have modded my 6P with a Cree/Flupic/18650. On high running at ~900 mA to the led and I do net regret this. Its WAY brighter than the stock bulb (and also offers multilevel thanks to the Flupic).
Just imagine that this is my main nightride light atm, wont be possible with the incan.
PS: running 2.5 hours on high with the Li-Ion
:)
 
Will i notice a huge difference between an l2d-ce and a p3d? (I was planning on buying and taking spares if I got the p3d).

And I don't really want to mod a light, at this stage off the shelf is probably best (unless anyone can recommend a build which has a max 160 output, is variable, runs of aa batteries and comes in at under 50 quid ;p) Otherwise it looks like the p3d still.

Thanks for all the input, any more is of course very much appreciated.
 
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