BentHeadTX
Flashlight Enthusiast
After 5 months in the land of fun and fascination, I am back! I am fully intact, partially rested and have a few thoughts.
I brought a large amount of flashlights with me for several reasons: I am a flashaholic and require many different lights to do my job. My gig was repairing radiology equipment to include Cat Scanners (CT), digital plate readers, radiology rooms and building digital imaging networks. I thought I brought the correct amount and types of lights with me but, as always...it needed some adjustment as I went along.
This is what I brought with me.
Minimag R2H BB500 SX-17 (two)
2D Mag R2H Madmax+
Arc AA (two)
Arc AAA-P
Arc AAA (red LED)
Peak 5 LED AA HO Brass (red LEDs)
MicroIlluminator (single AAA R3J LS)Dorcy AAA
CountyComm keychain UV light
(I left the Anglelux at home as my family uses it as an emergency light.)
Arriving at my location, there was no need for blackout conditions as we are a massive base, there is light everywere and they know we are there. Time to ax the Arc AAA red and Peak 5 red LED lights first off. The amount of ambient light negated the Arc AAA red but the huge output of the Peak was usable (as I figured)
Since I had to wear dog tags around my neck, my lanyard had my (trailer) room key and the Arc AAA-P along with the tags. I wore it 24/7. The Arc worked for walking to the porta-potty in the middle of the night but the ambient light washed out its output making it there. The other problem was the flood beam would wake my roommate (a bad thing) On occasion, when the battery was about 1.3V or lower, it would sometimes not light up (very, very bad thing)
The BB500 R2H SX-17 Minimag had problems from the start--they were easily fixed with extra parts I brought with me or fabricated. The beam was waaaay to wide and I needed to narrow it down as to not attract attention. Threw the Fraen LP optics back in and it was perfect for my beam demands. The other problem was it could turn on in the lanyard and my teeth did not like to hold it in my mouth. I fabricated a tailswitch guard with a plastic valve insert, electrical tape and double-layer heatshrink. This "uparmored" minimag became the hit of this deployment. The soft outer layer would perfect for biting and it would not turn on. Problems solved! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The 2D Mag R2H Madmax mod was the cannon, that thing would throoooooow waaaaayyy out there and was used by the night shift to see what that noise was. I did not use it but the other people that did thought it was a great light. It ran on 2 Powerex 11,000 mAH D cells so I told the users to have fun with it.
The MicroIlluminator AAA fit in a side pocket of my Leatherman Charge Ti holster. Its specific job was to backup the minimag and doctors liked to borrow it when their batteries died. Everyone that used it loved the little guy, very, very bright for its size and the R3J gave a white beam.
The Dorcy AAA was lent out to a girl that became famous for losing flashlights. It worked well until it met its fate by falling into a porta-potty. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
The Arc AA worked great but was too large for my lanyard and the MicroIlluminator would destroy it in output. I lent it out to a guy that needed a light, he loved the little guy loaded with a lithium AA. Problem is, he did not give it back (yet) but will mail it to me when he gets back in a few weeks.
After a few weeks of stumbling around and waking my roommate with the Arc AAA-P, I told my wife to order me a Peak AAA HO with 3 snow LEDs. The light came in and I tested it against the Arc AAA-P... needless to say, it had a brighter and narrower beam so I would not wake my roommate. I could see roaming around at night looking for the bathroom and it suffered no bad effects from its daily shower and clanging against keys. The snow LEDs give a much whiter beam so the Arc AAA-P went to the girl that loses flashlights (yep, she lost the Arc AAA-P also) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
One day, I was working on a digital imaging plate reader and was getting very odd symptoms... multiple sensor problems. Ran back to my room and grabbed the UV keychain light to have a look... viola! Sensor contamination with blood... cleaned the mess up and it came back online. The little guy did what is was supposed to do but needed to have more power. When I ordered the 3 LED AAA snow...threw a 5 UV LED AA head in with the order. Put the head on an Arc AA body and fit it inside an Inova X-5 holster (perfect fit) It was an EDC light to check all the equipment for blood contimation and saved me hours of time troubleshooting. It is an awesome light for the gruesome task of finding blood... never failed and could handle errrr... uhhhhh.... being dipped in body liquids and soaked in bleach.
Since I was ordering from Peak anyway, a brass AA 5 snow LED head was thrown in for good measure. The brass 5 red LED head was not being used so I wanted something with punch. Its life was lived attached to the loc-line/clamp thing for troubleshooting digital imagers and CT machines. The utter usefullness of the loc-line clamp gave me the award for "pointy-headed geek gadgets"
I was issued an Inova X-5 LED light, did not use it but the holsters were used for my Benchmade switchblade and Peak UV light. Once you go Luxeon, you can't go back.
How did all those lights fare in the land of mortars, blood, patients, broken equipment and darkness? Some lights worked, some did not, some failed and a few surprised me with their usefulness.
My most used light was the BB500 R2H Fraen LP "uparmored" minimag. That was evident as I keep count of how many batteries were consumed by the beast. I went through 48 sets of rechargable 2200 and 2300 mAH AA batteries along with 3 sets of alkalines. Every 2.8 days it was time to change the batteries as it was extensively used. The clickie switch died after 3.5 months but I kept a spare so no worries. Chipped a crystal lens which was replaced and installed the tailswitch guard and mag head guard to keep it intact. The best way to improve it would be to replace it with an Inova T4 and heatshrink the tail. It took a beating but will go back to being my bicycle helmet light.
The Arcs were not used by me, I did use an AA tail for the Peak 5 UV LED light which worked well. The girl that used the AAA-P thought it was "cuter" than the Peak 3 LED AAA if that is any saving grace.
The Peak 3 LED snow AAA was used everyday with great results. It never failed to light, gave a decent narrow beam, ran through 14 batteries in 3 months and looks great after the abuse. It now lives on my keychain. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The Peak AA 5 LED UV and snow lights worked well, always turned on, were bright and could handle dousings of bleach. All the Peaks are keepers in my book.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Is there a perfect light out there for the conditions I was exposed to? No! It can be achieved by bringing multiple lights to EDC, which I EDC'd four lights daily. BB500 R2H Minimag for high output lighting, MicroIlluminator for medium, Peak AAA 3-LED HO snow for low lighting and Peak AA 5 LED UV /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Now, if I was going back, I would bring different lights. Peak's AAA or AA Luxeon would be on the top of the list. The ultimate light would be a single AAA with a low/high brightness control with the build quality of the Peak AAA. Throw in red and UV heads to handle those specific needs. The other light would be an Inova T4 to handle high powered/rechagable needs along with being waterproof unlike the modded minimags.
All in all, my lights worked well and having several specialty lights made critical equipment troubleshooting much faster and easier to maximise uptime. In my business, if equipment fails... people die so having the correct tools at hand with choppers landing makes all the difference in the world.
On a side note, I was going to build my (8AA) 2D Mag/nFlex/WX1S 5 watt cannon on my first day off. Alas, that never happened as equipment fails and patients were never ending so now I have my days off coming and that project will restart. It will be about a week or so for that report, I need to process and deal with the mess that is war-time medicine and its after effects. The UV and red lights are going back into storage and the minimag/2D Mags go back on the recumbent bicycle.
Now to figure out how to go to Turkey in three months, yep... blowing out of TX for two years in early May. That should be interesting and my boys need some AAA powered lights that are indestructable and lanyard mounted. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
I brought a large amount of flashlights with me for several reasons: I am a flashaholic and require many different lights to do my job. My gig was repairing radiology equipment to include Cat Scanners (CT), digital plate readers, radiology rooms and building digital imaging networks. I thought I brought the correct amount and types of lights with me but, as always...it needed some adjustment as I went along.
This is what I brought with me.
Minimag R2H BB500 SX-17 (two)
2D Mag R2H Madmax+
Arc AA (two)
Arc AAA-P
Arc AAA (red LED)
Peak 5 LED AA HO Brass (red LEDs)
MicroIlluminator (single AAA R3J LS)Dorcy AAA
CountyComm keychain UV light
(I left the Anglelux at home as my family uses it as an emergency light.)
Arriving at my location, there was no need for blackout conditions as we are a massive base, there is light everywere and they know we are there. Time to ax the Arc AAA red and Peak 5 red LED lights first off. The amount of ambient light negated the Arc AAA red but the huge output of the Peak was usable (as I figured)
Since I had to wear dog tags around my neck, my lanyard had my (trailer) room key and the Arc AAA-P along with the tags. I wore it 24/7. The Arc worked for walking to the porta-potty in the middle of the night but the ambient light washed out its output making it there. The other problem was the flood beam would wake my roommate (a bad thing) On occasion, when the battery was about 1.3V or lower, it would sometimes not light up (very, very bad thing)
The BB500 R2H SX-17 Minimag had problems from the start--they were easily fixed with extra parts I brought with me or fabricated. The beam was waaaay to wide and I needed to narrow it down as to not attract attention. Threw the Fraen LP optics back in and it was perfect for my beam demands. The other problem was it could turn on in the lanyard and my teeth did not like to hold it in my mouth. I fabricated a tailswitch guard with a plastic valve insert, electrical tape and double-layer heatshrink. This "uparmored" minimag became the hit of this deployment. The soft outer layer would perfect for biting and it would not turn on. Problems solved! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The 2D Mag R2H Madmax mod was the cannon, that thing would throoooooow waaaaayyy out there and was used by the night shift to see what that noise was. I did not use it but the other people that did thought it was a great light. It ran on 2 Powerex 11,000 mAH D cells so I told the users to have fun with it.
The MicroIlluminator AAA fit in a side pocket of my Leatherman Charge Ti holster. Its specific job was to backup the minimag and doctors liked to borrow it when their batteries died. Everyone that used it loved the little guy, very, very bright for its size and the R3J gave a white beam.
The Dorcy AAA was lent out to a girl that became famous for losing flashlights. It worked well until it met its fate by falling into a porta-potty. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
The Arc AA worked great but was too large for my lanyard and the MicroIlluminator would destroy it in output. I lent it out to a guy that needed a light, he loved the little guy loaded with a lithium AA. Problem is, he did not give it back (yet) but will mail it to me when he gets back in a few weeks.
After a few weeks of stumbling around and waking my roommate with the Arc AAA-P, I told my wife to order me a Peak AAA HO with 3 snow LEDs. The light came in and I tested it against the Arc AAA-P... needless to say, it had a brighter and narrower beam so I would not wake my roommate. I could see roaming around at night looking for the bathroom and it suffered no bad effects from its daily shower and clanging against keys. The snow LEDs give a much whiter beam so the Arc AAA-P went to the girl that loses flashlights (yep, she lost the Arc AAA-P also) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
One day, I was working on a digital imaging plate reader and was getting very odd symptoms... multiple sensor problems. Ran back to my room and grabbed the UV keychain light to have a look... viola! Sensor contamination with blood... cleaned the mess up and it came back online. The little guy did what is was supposed to do but needed to have more power. When I ordered the 3 LED AAA snow...threw a 5 UV LED AA head in with the order. Put the head on an Arc AA body and fit it inside an Inova X-5 holster (perfect fit) It was an EDC light to check all the equipment for blood contimation and saved me hours of time troubleshooting. It is an awesome light for the gruesome task of finding blood... never failed and could handle errrr... uhhhhh.... being dipped in body liquids and soaked in bleach.
Since I was ordering from Peak anyway, a brass AA 5 snow LED head was thrown in for good measure. The brass 5 red LED head was not being used so I wanted something with punch. Its life was lived attached to the loc-line/clamp thing for troubleshooting digital imagers and CT machines. The utter usefullness of the loc-line clamp gave me the award for "pointy-headed geek gadgets"
I was issued an Inova X-5 LED light, did not use it but the holsters were used for my Benchmade switchblade and Peak UV light. Once you go Luxeon, you can't go back.
How did all those lights fare in the land of mortars, blood, patients, broken equipment and darkness? Some lights worked, some did not, some failed and a few surprised me with their usefulness.
My most used light was the BB500 R2H Fraen LP "uparmored" minimag. That was evident as I keep count of how many batteries were consumed by the beast. I went through 48 sets of rechargable 2200 and 2300 mAH AA batteries along with 3 sets of alkalines. Every 2.8 days it was time to change the batteries as it was extensively used. The clickie switch died after 3.5 months but I kept a spare so no worries. Chipped a crystal lens which was replaced and installed the tailswitch guard and mag head guard to keep it intact. The best way to improve it would be to replace it with an Inova T4 and heatshrink the tail. It took a beating but will go back to being my bicycle helmet light.
The Arcs were not used by me, I did use an AA tail for the Peak 5 UV LED light which worked well. The girl that used the AAA-P thought it was "cuter" than the Peak 3 LED AAA if that is any saving grace.
The Peak 3 LED snow AAA was used everyday with great results. It never failed to light, gave a decent narrow beam, ran through 14 batteries in 3 months and looks great after the abuse. It now lives on my keychain. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
The Peak AA 5 LED UV and snow lights worked well, always turned on, were bright and could handle dousings of bleach. All the Peaks are keepers in my book.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Is there a perfect light out there for the conditions I was exposed to? No! It can be achieved by bringing multiple lights to EDC, which I EDC'd four lights daily. BB500 R2H Minimag for high output lighting, MicroIlluminator for medium, Peak AAA 3-LED HO snow for low lighting and Peak AA 5 LED UV /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Now, if I was going back, I would bring different lights. Peak's AAA or AA Luxeon would be on the top of the list. The ultimate light would be a single AAA with a low/high brightness control with the build quality of the Peak AAA. Throw in red and UV heads to handle those specific needs. The other light would be an Inova T4 to handle high powered/rechagable needs along with being waterproof unlike the modded minimags.
All in all, my lights worked well and having several specialty lights made critical equipment troubleshooting much faster and easier to maximise uptime. In my business, if equipment fails... people die so having the correct tools at hand with choppers landing makes all the difference in the world.
On a side note, I was going to build my (8AA) 2D Mag/nFlex/WX1S 5 watt cannon on my first day off. Alas, that never happened as equipment fails and patients were never ending so now I have my days off coming and that project will restart. It will be about a week or so for that report, I need to process and deal with the mess that is war-time medicine and its after effects. The UV and red lights are going back into storage and the minimag/2D Mags go back on the recumbent bicycle.
Now to figure out how to go to Turkey in three months, yep... blowing out of TX for two years in early May. That should be interesting and my boys need some AAA powered lights that are indestructable and lanyard mounted. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif