Firefighting? How hot does the flashlight need to be able to survive?
Well, it won't be used for interior structural firefighting (my seoul-modded Streamlight Survivor LED is what I use for that), so it shouldn't be exposed to extreme heat. Hopefully it will survive a good drop
Also how far away are the things you need to light up? Will you use regular alkalines or nimh, or is li-ion OK as well? And on the battery theme, does battery run time matter?
It depends on how far away what I need to see is. My modded SL propoly 4AA Lux does pretty well, but is a bit big for edc, although I do keep ity around the engine (except I seem to have misplaced it). As for batteries, AA alkaline I can get free for work use and I always have a box of them. Plus I may be away form home for over two weeks. I might use nimh and switch to alkalines after I run them down on an assignment.
A little education, as a rule of thumb the bigger the head of the flashlight, the bigger the reflector, the farther it can throw a beam with the same brightness light coming out of it. So 2AA lights tend not to be the best for seeing far away.
Someday I'm going to get an HID spotlight, but those are a bit big for edc carry. This is something I can always have with me for little tasks, but some throw would be nice.
I have the L2D with Rebel 100 and it is a great light. The quality is good, and the brightness on turbo is great. This light will blow away the maglight with incandescent bulb. You will be amazed I am sure.The L2D 100 will throw a decent beam 100 feet, which sounds like what you need. The low mode is still fairly bright. In fact it is a little too bright to use for reading in the dark with dark adjusted eyes. When I need to read with it I put my hand over the head to block part of the light. Another option is to get the diffuser for $5 and use that behind you when reading. But of course this might bother others in the area.
Battery life with the L2D is great. Fenix has one of the most efficient drivers out there. I use LSD nimh batteries in mine. Turbo mode blasts out there. The diffuser is nice and well worth the five bucks, IMHO. So, will the not so low mode be OK for you? And will the throw of say 100 feet be OK. (100 feet is very subjective. Different people would give different ratings with the same light. My rating was based on urban (not so dark) dark adjusted eyes.)
I'm almost never in urban conditions, but that sounds like decent throw, although it may not match my modded survivor. The not so low low is non-ideal, but not a deal breaker. THe black color makes it harder to find if I drop it in the dark, though.
