ACK! Deciding between Lightwave 3000, 4000, Tektite 7, 14, and 19! HELP!

[Forge]

I'm having lota problems deciding between all of these lights. I was kinda leaning towards the Lightwave models until I read that they don't add circuitry to keep the light consistent over the course of the battery life. Surely if my little Arc LE has one, they could have added that to a big Lightwave light.

So, I'm considering the Tektite (or Expedition) line of lights but can't find information about whether they have circuitry to keep the level of light consistent over the course of the batttery life.

I also cannot find information about hard data on exactly how bright these lights are.


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The Limited Edition Tektite 1900 with the aluminum (vice plastic) body once and still does appeal to me as a more-rugged package. Anyone have one of these?

 

[Badbeams3]

The Tecktite line does not have regulation...I am not aware of any that do other than the Arc or HDS. One other light that could be looked at in the group you named might be the Nightbuster...They have one that has 18 leds...under a hundred bucks right now (on sale)...might be pretty bright. WWW.glowbug.com Keep in mind multi lights with big batts run bright for quite sometime without regulation although it would be a nice feature.

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

Hi Forge

Your dilema of trying to decide which of the larger multi-leds lights to buy, which one is best or greatest is not much diffferent than this post "Greatest flashlihgt....

Fortunately, you have narrowed the field to multi leds. To begin this discussion, not one of the lights you mentioned have any kind of a regulator circuit, so in this regard, they are more or less the same.

Before anyone can help you with your decision, you need to identify whats most important to you. If you said a,b,c... and it need to be waterproof to a depth of 100', you have just eliminated the Lightwaves. How important is the ease in which to "activate" (turn the light on/off) to you? The Lightwaves with pushbutton switch are a piece of cake... The tektites can be a bear to rotate the bezel (small hands, arthritis, or maybe you have just been in an automobile accident have a brokenw wrist)

The point I am trying to make is this... buy the light that will best suit your needs, which in many instances is not the "best".

 

[Gandalf]

To add my 2 cents: I think once you get more than 7 to 10 LED's, the lights become so expensive that the advantage of the LED's greater battery efficiency is pretty much negated by the high cost of the light itself. Sixty or 70 dollars buys a *lot* of batteries. The 14 or 18 LED lights are quite expensive; also fairly large. For far less money, you could buy a smaller incandescent flashlight that will produce the same or brighter light, at a fraction of the cost.

And, with the Arc-LS getting close to production, I wouldn't buy any expensive, LED light with more than 7 to 10 LED's The Arc-LS will be smaller, brighter, and possibly more energy efficient than the LED flashlights with many LED's. They won't be cheap to buy, but will run very well on 2 AA cells, and will , I believe put out more light than a 10 LED light. Also, the light will be more white, and less blue than the white Nichia's in use in other white LED flashlights.

A Light such as the Lightwave 4000, with 10 LED's, and 3 D cells, offers very long run time, and are not too expensive. But they are quite large, compared to the Arc-LS. I look at these two lights as filling different needs. The Arc-LS is designed to put out very bright light, in a small package. Or the Arc-LS could provide the same light as a Lightwave 4000, in a smaller package; but getting the long burn time would require carrying extra batteries.

In any event, I would be hesitant to spend a lot of money on a light with 14 or 19 LED's, until the Arc-LS is available, and it's properties are well known.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I just revieved my Lightwave 3000 in the mail today. I am VERY impressed with the build of this light and the eveness of light output. It is actually a flashlight that you can use for almost anything.

Eric

 

[Forge]

Gandalf, really appreciated your post! I am smittenu with the Arc-LS. That is certainly quite impressive. I would basically be able to carry a Lightwave 4000 in my pocket!!!


Does anyone know if you'll be able to order an Arc-LS from a distributor instead of the manufacturer? It is quite expensive (and perhaps deservedly so!) at arcflashlight.com.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gandalf:
To add my 2 cents: I think once you get more than 7 to 10 LED's, the lights become so expensive that the advantage of the LED's greater battery efficiency is pretty much negated by the high cost of the light itself. Sixty or 70 dollars buys a *lot* of batteries. The 14 or 18 LED lights are quite expensive; also fairly large. For far less money, you could buy a smaller incandescent flashlight that will produce the same or brighter light, at a fraction of the cost.

And, with the Arc-LS getting close to production, I wouldn't buy any expensive, LED light with more than 7 to 10 LED's The Arc-LS will be smaller, brighter, and possibly more energy efficient than the LED flashlights with many LED's. They won't be cheap to buy, but will run very well on 2 AA cells, and will , I believe put out more light than a 10 LED light. Also, the light will be more white, and less blue than the white Nichia's in use in other white LED flashlights.

A Light such as the Lightwave 4000, with 10 LED's, and 3 D cells, offers very long run time, and are not too expensive. But they are quite large, compared to the Arc-LS. I look at these two lights as filling different needs. The Arc-LS is designed to put out very bright light, in a small package. Or the Arc-LS could provide the same light as a Lightwave 4000, in a smaller package; but getting the long burn time would require carrying extra batteries.

In any event, I would be hesitant to spend a lot of money on a light with 14 or 19 LED's, until the Arc-LS is available, and it's properties are well known.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

Forge,

I am one of the lucky few to have received the ARC-LS and its one heck the light. Everything that you have read or heard about this light is true.

But this discussion is about the LW 4000. I also own this light, and for longeveity and operational costs, hard to beat. What I have found with mutiple led units is that 10 leds is more than enough for any task I have tackled in the last 7 months, indooors or out (for long range, I can use a Surefires)

With that said, if I had to do it all over again, and could only buy 1 (instead of the 20 lights I bought last year) I would by the Innova 5x. Why you ask? Same amount of light in a smaller package. It puts out enought light for my needs; 20 hours on a set of batteries, the size of the ARC-LS (though less output), and the price is right $35 or less, and is waterproof to 100 feet.
I can tell you this, at 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the ARCLS or 4000, I am not giving up 1/2 or 2/3 of the requirements I have and need for a flashlight; in my book, you get a lot of flashling for the money spent