Glad to see there's some life in the old thread yet. I'm waiting right here with IsaacHayes for a 5W McFlood beamshot. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
FlashlightOCD, thanks for the input. I did manage to find some old threads where McGizmo talked about how much he liked the McFlood with a 5W, but they seem to have been written before the L4 came out, and there are no beamshots. See
here and
here, if anyone is interested. (Note than the beamshots at the beginning of the latter thread are with an NX-05 and an acrylic half-ball lens, and are not indicative of the McFlood beam with 5W, a beamshot of which I still can't seem to find anywhere; but the text itself is very reassuring.) Another old thread which I can't seem to find right now mentions that a high-dome luxeon in a McFlood does have something of a spot, and the 5-watters
are high-domes. Which only makes a comparative beamshot more desirable.
AbsoLite, I was pretty much in the same boat, since, like you, I find flood to be more useful than throw. I think your expectations may be a little high, but the compromises between brightness, runtime, and size that are available now are surprisingly good, and with people like Mr. Bulk and McGizmo and his team around, things are only going to get better.
I'm also on the VIP list (I think I replied to one of your posts there once), and I think that's probably your most promising solution, since Mr. Bulk says the optics are going to be quite easy to swap out. Once you have a McFlood installed, it can stay there, and voila!, a three level flood light that's very bright on its highest level.
A close second would be the Arc4+ with the SureFire F04 beamshaper, which is reported to fit the Arc4+ perfectly. I got one of these accessories today from
LPS Tactical (see about a quarter of the way down the page) for $11.00 including shipping -- though I don't suppose that's much help to you in Germany. I understand that these are very efficient at transmitting light, something like 85 to 90%, I think I've read, and it
is impressive in practice to see how much of the original light manages to get through it. When Peter Gransee comes out with the new standing tailcap, which will have a lanyard hole, that might be a good solution to your problem, and with very long runtimes at the levels you'd probably use most.
(What follows is nothing more than my own opinion, but I'd avoid the Arc4+ seconds if brightness is paramount to you, since some of them are seconds because the brightness wasn't there to qualify them as firsts. I had a second, but on level two it was only as bright as my LSH-S. The firsts, on the other hand, are said to produce 787,000 mcd at level one (Mr. Bulk's measurement on the now-archived first VIP thread), while the VIP itself will produce just over 1,000,000 mcd on its highest level -- not all that much higher, and much of the difference could be attributable to the tighter Fraen beam of the VIP. I also found the lack of a lanyard attachment and head knurling on the Arc4+ to be definite drawbacks. The light was so small and slippery, it was like trying to illuminate something with a live fish; I was terrified to use the precious thing outdoors. I used some deerskin lace to rig up a finger loop like the one shown in neogoon's post on
this thread, but that really shouldn't be necessary on an EDC light. Both drawbacks are about to be remedied soon, however. The new tailcap isn't more than a month or two off, and head knurling is supposed to become standard starting in mid-March, according to someone I spoke to at Arc.)
My solution to the inescapable brightness/size/runtime trade-off has been Jets22's 5W mod to the Arc LS. I intend to combine it with one of gadget_lover's Kroll switch mods for a second, lower level of light once I figure out what resistor will give me a useable second level. I'm not as concerned about runtime as you are, so a half hour will be fine with me. (I'll always have room somewhere on my person for a spare battery.) Brightness and size should be great, though.
For your purposes, I think the VIP with a McFlood would be close to perfect, and the Arc4+ with an F04 not too far behind. Of course, there are other considerations: lifetime warranty with the Arc, none with the VIP (though you're highly unlikely ever to need one); the F04 will add some bulk to the Arc while the VIP with McFlood will be integral; the F04 can be pulled off the Arc for a quick spot, while changing the optic in the VIP will take some unscrewing; the Arc4+ with F04 and new tailcap will run you about $225 shipped to Germany, while the VIP will be closer to $170; and only three light levels on the VIP versus 16 on the Arc.
Finally, I wouldn't entirely write off the SF L4. It's supposed to be surprisingly small, and I don't think there's a more impressive floodlight on the market in that size. (I should have one of those coming later this week -- you see you're not the only one who's contacted the flashaholism virus. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif) The brilliant gadget-lover is also working on a high-low mod for the L4, though I haven't been following his progress closely enough to know if he's there yet. But he
will get there. Finally, if you can take a bit more bulk than the L4 and can wait a few months for its debut, the SF U2 will be sized between the L4 and L5 and will have six brightness levels on a 5W luxeon. Judging by the size of the head, though, it should have more throw and less flood than the L4.
I suspect in a year we'll have everything we want now as regards long runtime, incredible brightness, small size, and variable levels, but we'll still be hankering for something brighter, smaller, and longer running. Don't put off getting the VIP, Arc4+, etc., just because they're not yet perfect. As they say, "The perfect is the enemy of the good".
Very good, in the case of these lights.
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