Anything better than Surefire Dominator 10X

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MRBIGGIN

MRBIGGIN

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
16
Location
INDIANA
I have worked on the nightshift (indiana police duty) since 2002 with a Surefire Dominator 10x. Its been a good dependable flashlight overall. It never seemed as powerful as advertised and was even sent in to Paul Kim at surefire, who tweaked it and changed lenes. The Surefire 10x is a very powerful light but have broken many expensive bulbs, and its always been hard to carry on duty....and have found now that I prefer my Tigerlight over it. This last year I havent broken a bulb in my Tigerlight from a drop - and would recommend the light to anyone, but it lacks the assult style power I desire.

Could everyone throw me some ideas of any newer lights that may be out now in 2007 that are easy to carry, and can (blind) I mean safely stop the criminal in his tracks! I prefer an rechargeble assult flashlight, and would like to stay under $300. Any LED lights to consider?
Thanks for your help
 
For starters, the Peak First Responder. Three LEDS, adjustable brightness up to 400 lumens, multiple battery options. Wait a bit and others will come along with more, and perhaps better, suggestions. Also, when you say rechargable, do you mean with a cradle charger?
 
I carry a Wolf Eyes Boxer 24Watt High Intensity Discharge. It is rechargeable, and possibly the brightest light you can find in the 7 inch by 3 inch size format. Rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack must be removed and plugged into a charging adapter.

It takes about 30 seconds to warm up, so I have a Surefire M6 for immediate use.

If either of these lights stops someone in their tracks, that's wonderful. Just be sure to have a Plan P, T, B, and G if it doesn't work.
 
I'm sorry, I don't have too much experience with cradle charged lights. I know the Pelican 7060 was designed with police use in mind, but might not be bright enough coming from a 10X.
 
I am starting to think maybe there is someone who can mod a couple of my lights for more assult POWER....like my Tigerlight or one of my MagChargers, heck I am even up for tricking out something new.
 
MRBIGGIN said:
I am starting to think maybe there is someone who can mod a couple of my lights for more assult POWER....like my Tigerlight or one of my MagChargers, heck I am even up for tricking out something new.
Click to expand...


:welcome:

I have gone threw many lights to find the right one while using it on duty. I only work security right now, graveyard/3rd shift and I have owned a Pelican 7060, that would not be of any help to you, not bright enough when comparing it to the SF10X.

My TL's have always been my go to lights and I see that you already have one :thinking: hhhmmmmmm! A bright as hell light, drop in charger.......let me hunt around and I will see what I can come up with.

***Side note have you seen CPF member js Tigerlight upgrades****? I will throw a link up to his PM box and maybe you can send Jim a message and see if he can put a little more pep in your Tigerlights step.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/member.php?u=2761 that is to js/Jim's sig line where you can see all of his upgrades and also you can send him a PM.
 
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You've given me an idea mentioning you have a Mag Charger.

The stock battery in the Charger is pretty lame at best. However, it is user replaceable, so you could replace it with any custom pack that you like. Ask CPF member LuxLuthor to put you something together.

Then, the world is your oyster. There are so many bi-pin bulb options available e.g. WA1185, 1160 etc... just a question of pack voltage really. magcharger is already fitted with metal reflector and glass window, so heat issues are taken car of.

If you do deviate from the 5-cell (6.0 volt) system, you will need to update the way you charge it. You can use the old charging cradle, but you have to disconnect the electronics from it, and solder a smart charger into place instead. This way, you have one of the best charging cradles, faster charging AND more lumens to boot. A little work required, but it could definately be worth it.
 
Sounds like there are so many options for me - Now trying to line up the right person - who can guide me correctly may be a task.
 
I can't think of any practical Magcharger mod that will outperform your 10X.

The next step up from 10X would be a mag85. You can build one yourself or purchase an existing one at the link below when they come up for sale.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=40

You can get lights that are brighter that the 10X of course, but honestly it's going to be very hard or impossible to beat the Surefire for a duty light. Take into account that the more modded a light is the greater the chance for a failure to occur at the worst possible time. That's not to say that a Mag mod can't be reliable, but you're definitely increasing you chances for something to go wrong.

If you just want a fun light with impressive performance, a mag85 is a great first mod to own.

If you're thinking of building one yourself just search "mag85 recipe." Or maybe another CPFer can post a link for you. I don't have the link available right now.

Good luck :)
 
a mag 85 really isn't much of a step up in brightness from a 10X, it might be a little brighter, but not by a chunk required to be a substantial and noticeable difference... If I were building up something that I wanted to be a nice step up in performance I'd be looking at 75W+ realm magmods.

Honestly, if it were me, the ideal duty light would be a really well built multi-LED job... I know everyone says the incans are better for color rendering and the common outdoor environments, but when a bulb pops it renders nothing. As it stands currently, I have yet to see the animal I'm thinking.... but it would have a rather large head (but not tooo big) with something like 12 rebel 0100 and 12 little miniature reflectors, each driven at ~0.7-1A. make 3C and 3D bodies for it, NIMH only. cradle charge. should be 1500-2000+ honest torch lumens, the D version would have a ~45+ minute runtime, not bad.
 
Well, it kinda sounds like you're hot to trot on something MRBIGGIN. Mdocod was saying that the mag isn't a big step up from the 10X because as a general rule you have to just about double the lumen output in order to easily notice the extra brightness. Still, you could get another 200-400 lumens more out of a mag85, with a low resistance battery pack and mods. Where you'll really see a difference is in the throw of your beam vs. the 10X. With a very low orange peel (VLOP) reflector, the mag85 will throw a beam quite far while still giving good spill light. Besides being a little brighter, there is enough difference in beam characteristic from the 10X that it will most likely impress you. The reason I like the mag85 for a first mod is that is doesn't require any special mag body, like tri-bored, or cut down to accommodate racier formulas of mag mods. The most basic mag85 uses 12AA rechargeable batteries in a 3D tube and everyone can relate to AA cells.

Here are some new mag85 shots from a CPF member:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=176171
 
I can sure relate to the dependablity issues of a flashlight. Nothing I hate worse is to go for a light in a time of need and find your bulb isnt working. That was the typical problem of the maglite charger. I have never had any dependablity issues with the Tigerlight - its always worked perfectly.
It is a concern to sink alot of money into modding a light and drop it - and it be worthless and wish I hadnt wasted the money on the mods. My Dominator 10x has gone through some bulbs because they do break if the light is dropped or someone/something is hit with it. They get expensive!

I appreciate the ideas and still want to explore HI POWER rechargeable Lights that have duability in mind....I would like to find something between 800-1000 lumens. Kinda leaning away from having a tigerlight modded out because I need more throw. Maybe the Mag85 will be tricked out for more lumens...I will have to look at the durabllity and output.\

Thanks again for all the help on CPF - lots of good supportive people :)
 
You're on a quest at this point. Even in the incandescent world, 800-1000 lumen lights aren't exactly a dime a dozen. Would you consider an HID light? They're able to produce very high output and can be more durable than incandescent lamps.
 
Gunner12 said:
You could contact Milkyspit and have your Tigerlight and Maglite modded to your liking while still keeping the cradle charging option. One example of a Milky modded tiger light and one of his threads.

:welcome:
Click to expand...
+1

It seems like your best bet would be to contact Milkyspit if for nothing else than to get his opinion on which route to take in order to obtain your goal of output and runtime. Since you haven't purchased anything that you absolutely have to have modded, you might want to inquire about what he has lying around Milky Labs. Who knows, he might just be willing to sell you something that he already has completed.

Good luck on your search and :welcome:


John
 
The milk man has been contacted....and he has replied. We will soon be working together on a new light!
Hopefully it will put the eyes out of the criminals I run across (Well atleast for 1 minute)..hahahaha!
Thanks all
 
What does assualt style mean? Do you mean tactical, with the switch on the back of the light?
 
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Assult means to me - enough candle power to take out the eyes of your target for atleast 30 seconds!
 
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