Advice Kindly Please: NiteCoreD10GDP & HDS Clicky, 3rd light should be?

[DualMonitors]

Hi All:

As a newbie to this, i currently have a NiteCore D10GDP, and a Zebralight H50Q5 headlight.

Being so new at this, i do know that i do not prefer the Olight T15Q5's "twist back and forth to adjust" method. I appreciate Olight's quality, and the thinking that went into it, but find that with 5 levels (i like many levels), it was too difficult/uncomfortable to adjust from level to level.

as a result, i ended up with the NiteCore D10GDP, which i admire for the variable control, the tactile feel of the button - even though it doesn't "click", it has a good "action" solid feel to the push action. the entire NiteCore D10GDP feel well milled, well designed, well thought out.

My next light is the HDS Clicky, due to come out later this month. Many will probably only receive this late October, I am guessing.

Originally, I was trying super hard to stick to strictly AA batteries. My thinking is that the last thing i need is to stock yet another battery size, you know, yet another thing to think about, be concerned about. However, Henry's HDS designs, the ideas, concepts, had compelled me to go to 123 batteries. I find that i was drawn to the "completeness" of his thinking, how every aspect of the Clicky (or his lights in general) is thought out as a whole. So i'm now looking forward to having to keep a stock of 123 cells in hand. :sigh: as well as :twothumbs and and

So...with all that as background, may I ask for the expert opinions here, what should be my next light? Assuming that i will have all three (NiteCore D10GDP, Zebralight H50Q5, HDS Clicky), what is a good complement that will be fun to have along with those?

 

[Marduke]

Keychain light!!

That or a general purpose 2xAA light or something of the like.

 

[DualMonitors]

Keychain light!!

That or a general purpose 2xAA light or something of the like.

Marduke: first of all, thx for your reply. may i ask exactly which you recommend?

btw, i forgot to write that i got the Photon Freedom Micro Covert as well when i ordered my NiteCore D10GDP. so i do have a tiny tiny one.

 

[wingnutLP]

AAA light eg fenix LOD or Liteflux LF2 SSC

see http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=208810

I have an LoD and love it!

 

[dooz]

+1

AAA form would be a good pick. Fenix's L0D is sort of a ''classic'', Liteflux LF2 or LF2x are awesome lights too, if you like customizable multi-levels.

Even if you seem to be sold to Ra clicky, you might want to consider grabbing a Novatac 120P (cr123) which is a bit smaller and lighter, and also cheaper. It is imo a ''must have'' and one of the best bang for the buck out there

 

[DualMonitors]

What about:

(1) a JetBeam Jet-III-M Military/LE Series (225 lumens)

or

(2) a Nitecore D20 (180 lumens)

or

(3) a Olight M20 Warrior Premium (230 or 250 lumens due to conflicting information on Olight's material!!)?

The Jet-III-M Military/LE Series is at 225 Lumens, far greater than the NiteCore D20's 180 Lumens. 40 lumens is at least significant, rather than a virtually not distinguishable 20 lumens difference among other lights. The Olight M20 Warrior Premium is 230 or 250 lumens.

The form factors of those three abovementioned lights are still rather small and very similar, so that's good!

Please keep in mind that my NiteCore D10 is 130 lumens, so those 3 are all a substantial increase.

 

[Marduke]

What about:

(1) a JetBeam Jet-III-M Military/LE Series (225 lumens)

or

(2) a Nitecore D20 (180 lumens)

or

(3) a Olight M20 Warrior Premium (250 lumens)?

The Jet-III-M Military/LE Series is at 225 Lumens, far greater than the NiteCore D20's 180 Lumens. 40 lumens is at least significant, rather than a virtually not distinguishable 20 lumens difference among other lights. The Olight M20 Warrior Premium is 250 lumens.

The form factors of those three abovementioned lights are still rather small and very similar, so that's good!

Please keep in mind that my NiteCore D10 is 130 lumens, so those 3 are all a substantial increase.

Keep in mind Olight and Jetbeam use emitter lumens where NiteCore uses OTF lumens, so to compare multiply JetBeam and Olight by 0.7 first.

 

[bullfrog]

Check out the Surefires :devil:

1) Surefire E2DL
2) Surefire C2 incan and pick up a Malkoff M60 or M60L drop in.
3) Surefire L1 - my favorite user interface and a classic!

The surefires are amazing lights to begin with but the real fun is that you can play lego and swap parts!

 

[Badbeams3]

Looks like you have the lower lumen EDC range covered very well. So I guess your next step should be towards a bright light. Ummm...go with the Wolf Eyes R2 x 3 Storm. Less than $400 and includes batts and charger. It`s less than 1000 lumen, but gives you a nice step up. :thumbsup:

 

[DualMonitors]

Keep in mind Olight and Jetbeam use emitter lumens where NiteCore uses OTF lumens, so to compare multiply JetBeam and Olight by 0.7 first.

may i ask the differences between "emitter lumens" and "OTF lumens"?

i never knew anything about that!

may i ask what other caveats that i must keep in mind?

i was thinking that with my current few lights, that going HIGHER lumens might be the way - though not too huge so that it is like many pounds heavy just bigger than my current, diminutive several flashlights!

thx again!

 

[Marduke]

may i ask the differences between "emitter lumens" and "OTF lumens"?

i never knew anything about that!

may i ask what other caveats that i must keep in mind?

i was thinking that with my current few lights, that going HIGHER lumens might be the way - though not too huge so that it is like many pounds heavy just bigger than my current, diminutive several flashlights!

thx again!

Emitter lumens are the lumens which the LED is specified to produce when fed a given current and voltage. The light manufacturer know the LED and bin used, and at what voltage and current the light is driven at, so they can report "emitter lumens".

However, not all lumens make it out the front of the light, there are losses between the emitter and outside the lens. For incan lights, this can be as much as 30-50%. For modern LED lights, it's around 15-30%

 

[kaichu dento]

If you don't already have an L0D, you'll have to get one eventually.

You also have a couple choices to make, like body color and beam color/pattern.

I just got a Rebel 80 version, and although it's a little dimmer than my Q4 model, I like it better for the smoothness of the beam and also the warmth color-wise.

Available body colors are black, red, natural and olive. Not necessarily easy to find all theses colors but they are out there if you search.

 

[DualMonitors]

Keep in mind Olight and Jetbeam use emitter lumens where NiteCore uses OTF lumens, so to compare multiply JetBeam and Olight by 0.7 first.

Wow, thx Marduke. so, that would mean:

(1) a JetBeam Jet-III-M Military/LE Series (225 lumens = OTF 157 Lumens)

or

(2) a Nitecore D20 (OTF 180 lumens)

or

(3) a Olight M20 Warrior Premium (250 lumens = OTF 175 Lumens)

Conclusion: that the Nitecore D20 and the Olight M20 Warrior Premium are slightly brighter, though insignificantly so, than the JetBeam Jet-III-M Military/LE? Did I get it right this time?

I say insignificant as our sensitivity to light is logarithmic, so 15 or 20 Lumens in the ~160 Lumens range is not noticeable for us (analogous to sound in db's).

Look forward to your confirmation...or further education.

Thanks!

PS: any others that are super bright? i just started to look at the Wolf Eyes, btw, on

http://www.pts-flashlights.com/products/product.aspx?pid=1-139-99-142-143-6510

but they have numerous offerings and are confusing/too technical for me. Might someone be so kind as to clarify what the differences are? MANY options/variations.

thx!

 

[Marduke]

Did I get it right this time?

I say insignificant as our sensitivity to light is logarithmic, so 15 or 20 Lumens in the ~160 Lumens range is not noticeable for us (analogous to sound in db's).

Look forward to your confirmation...or further education.

Thanks!

That's about right. It takes about a 2x increase in brightness to be noticeable. The differences in the beam pattern will have more affect however. Given the same lumens, all flood vs all throw can look very different.

 

[DualMonitors]

Check out the Surefires :devil:

1) Surefire E2DL
2) Surefire C2 incan and pick up a Malkoff M60 or M60L drop in.
3) Surefire L1 - my favorite user interface and a classic!

The surefires are amazing lights to begin with but the real fun is that you can play lego and swap parts!

bullfrog: i looked briefly on surefire's site on the abovementioned 3 models. may i ask what is so special about them please? the E2DL is the most interesting to me...but then again, i'm a total newbie so i might be missing certain salient features/points.

i don't know what you meant by "incan". might you be so kind as to elaborate please?

their lumens output is not that special, even the E2DL is around 120 lumens, not that different from my NiteCore D10. So, why would the NiteCore D20, just as an example, NOT be a better option?

btw, please understand that i'm not at all "stuck" on any particular brand names, in fact, it would be more fun to own different brands just to experience different styles, finishing touches, designs. I should probably say clearly that i'm most likely brand agnostic.

The difference between emitter lumens and OTF lumens is an eye opener for me - in fact, this gives me furthers respect for NiteCore. Is NiteCore's respect well earned? Or am i misguided?

 

[DualMonitors]

That's about right. It takes about a 2x increase in brightness to be noticeable. The differences in the beam pattern will have more affect however. Given the same lumens, all flood vs all throw can look very different.

uh oh! based on the far more experienced Mr. Marduke's words, i probably ought to go "2X increase in brightness" to my current flashlight in order for the increase to be noticeable!! as my current brightest is the Nitecore D10GDP at roughly 130 Lumens, according to what Marduke said, i ought to be looking at around 260 Lumens (!), right?

wow, that changes things. that means that looking at merely the 180 lumens range, or 200 range would be barely noticeable!

shouldn't i start to shift my gears now, even to the point of going away from the upcoming HDS Clicky at around 120 lumens? that is because the HDS Clicky would be rather redundant to my current Nitecore D10GDP!

ugh.

then i'd really have to look at some really really powerful lights like double 123 type lights?

 

[Marduke]

There are more things than just brightness to pick a light based off of. That's like picking a car just on the basis of the top speed. It's only part of the story.

Size, function, brightness, user interface, tint, beam pattern, durability, reliability, etc all play a part.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Surefire Z2, or C3 with drop in of choice.

 

[bullfrog]

bullfrog: i looked briefly on surefire's site on the abovementioned 3 models. may i ask what is so special about them please? the E2DL is the most interesting to me...but then again, i'm a total newbie so i might be missing certain salient features/points.

their lumens output is not that special, even the E2DL is around 120 lumens, not that different from my NiteCore D10. So, why would the NiteCore D20, just as an example, NOT be a better option?

There are multiple threads on here that discuss in detail "what makes surefires so great" - definitely check those out.

BUT, as mentioned before, lumens are not everything in a light. Ergos, ingenuity, build quality, R & D and reliability, in my opinion, trump output in many cases. What good is a light that breaks on you? surefires have been time-tested and proven to be some of the toughest and most reliable production lights around. Further, if anything goes wrong with it, they have a lifetime guarantee that is as "hassle free" as it gets. If you have a broken tailcap, you call them and they will ship out a new one no questions asked. If you are unhappy with the tint of your light, call them and they will replace your head.

Also, as mentioned before, many companies lumen ratings are not completely accurate or, in surefires case, understated. My E2DL at 120 lumens matches if not beats my 235+ lumen Malkoff M60.

If you want a bombproof light to compliment your bombproof HDS, go surefire or go surefire incan and add a Malkoff drop-in!

With that said, SF has just increased thier prices significantly for most lights - you should check out the BST forums here for wonderful deals from standup guys.

 

[brucec]

Yeah, I think he needs a Surefire. A good choice is the 6P. I use mine with a Malkoff M60L. That is one of the most popular configurations here on CPF.