BOB light recommendations

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Ah, I missed the point about not wanting to put expensive lights in the BOB. I kind of get around this by makeing the mentioned lights my EDC. :-)

I'll second the idea of the UK 2L + eLED. It's a good combo with very solid runtime as suggested. I just wish they would start selling it in that configuration (I recall someone saying they were going to). Once that happens it will be a killer emergency kit deal.

Edit: And the 2L is mega waterproof (two honkin O rings) and completely bombproof. I bet you could drop it off a cliff (eLED version anyway) onto cement and it would be fine. Not to mention super small (for a two cell) and very light.

-john
 
UK 2L eLED - talk about a company sitting on a killer application and not bothering to make/market it.

A big Homer dought to UK.
 
If you have the Splashlite LED in your BOB, maybe you want to toss a couple of #222 incandescent bulbs in there with it. Those bulbs are cheap and you then have a light that practically nothing can go wrong with (except the bulb burning out). I'd put a few Countycomm $1 lights in there too.

I don't know if I'd bother with the "tactical" thing. What's that about, anyway? How about an AA powered 3 light system: Princeton Tec PT40 (maybe with a 5 cell bulb to withstand the higher lithium voltage, plus some spare bulbs), UKE 4AA eLED, and CMG Ultra. Or, the UKE 2AAA eLED will probably run close to 30 hours on two AAA lithiums once those become available.
 
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paulr said:
I think you have to decide whether you're choosing lights that satisfy your flashaholic hobby though, or just trying to equip your BOB with something useful and practical. If you're going for "practical", I'd stay away from anything expensive.

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Yes indeed, that is the question. I'm trying to stay practical here, but let's face it, I'm going to have to struggle not to turn this into an exercise to buy a cool new expensive flashlight. I do think a lot of the suggestions really hit the head on the light requirements -- e.g., the L1 -- but also are so expensive that they're really leaning more towards flashaholic. I mean, does anyone think I'll spend all the money on an L1, and then just leave it in my BOB for months at a time? You guys know what will really happen: I'll buy the L1, play with it, decide it's too cool for the BOB, and then be back here saying, "thanks guys, I'm EDCing the L1 ... now what should I put in the BOB again?" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Really, that's where the L1 and U2 shine -- as awesome, versatile EDCs, not tucked away for years and possibly never used.

Your suggestion of the $1 countycomm lights for the "area light" isn't a bad one. What's the shelf life of those coin cells? As long as I can be assured that after a year or two, I'll get reasonable battery life, it's not a bad suggestion. I could buy 6 of them -- two per night -- and have my area light covered. Then just go with the Inova X5 (<$20 wholesale) for my utility light.
 
That's why I didn't bother to put a dedicated light in the car - also because of budget concerns. I've thought about putting something simple in there, but then again, with my KL1 next to me 24x7 and my Photon Microlight on the same ring as the keys, chances are I won't be without a light, especially when I start carrying my C2 Centurion (arriving next week) with 105 lumens/40 min lithium ions. I figure.. I might actually be able to change the tire even in torrential rain with 3ft visibility before the battery runs out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

What I do put in there is a few spare lithiums so I'll have cells available in the unexpected event that I need them. I'll probably put a P60 there as a 'fallback' lamp if I need to switch to 2x123/P60.

One thing that is important to me though, and that many have restated - for cars/BOBs, lithium matters especially if you want to set it and forget it for a long time. A really good friend of mine leaves G2s and 123s in the car, and one other option I might consider is a Streamlight Jr Lux with 2 Energizer lithiums.
 
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Your suggestion of the $1 countycomm lights for the "area light" isn't a bad one. What's the shelf life of those coin cells? As long as I can be assured that after a year or two, I'll get reasonable battery life, it's not a bad suggestion.

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Those coin cells are lithiums. They'll stay good "on the shelf" for at least five years (probably more like ten+), and perform exceptionally well in cold temperatures. What they don't do as well in this application is power the light for long periods of time. The drain rate on the little coin cells is high, and they are much better at quick bursts of light (up to a few minutes) than at staying bright for an hour or two - or even 20 minutes. I'd still consider an Infinity Ultra or similar for those jobs in the dark that take time to accomplish (reading, hiking, setting up camp, finding lost items, etc.).
 
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Joe Talmadge said:
What's the shelf life of those coin cells?

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As pointed out, the shelf life of the coin cells is long, but you might need to look out for rust. I can't imagine the $1 lights will be water/humidity resistaint. Of course, you could put them in a waterproof container.

The Infinity or Ultra G with a lithium cell would probably hard to improve on (for a 1 LED light). I think the best suggestion of the $1 lights is what has been hit on in other posts.... Lights to give away so you can help others.

-john
 
I've had a Photon II on my keychain (CR2032 with green led) for 5+ years, no sign of rust and it's still on the original battery.

The white-led Countycomms come with two CR2016 coin cells. Those will produce useable amounts of light for several hours, though they'll be rather dim at the end. If you change the two CR2016's to a single CR2032, the light will be dim from the outset, but will run a very long time, like 30+ hours at about 0.1 lumen. The Photon II was originally sold like that and it was a useful light. The notion of cramming in two CR2016's was invented by a modder and was popular enough that Photon started shipping their production lights that way.

Try waiting to get dark adapted in a dark room sometime, then covering the bezel of your Arc AAA (or CMG Ultra or whatever) and turning the light on. Slowly uncover the bezel til you're letting about 5%-10% of the light out, blocking the other 90%. You'll basically be letting out just a corner of the spill beam and none of the hot center. But you'll find that it's plenty for nightlight purposes. Remember that the original CMG Infinity was about 1/3 the brightness of an Ultra and was designed as a perfectly useful light. They made the Ultra (same light as the Infinity but with the power cranked up) in response to the Arc AAA, when they found that people preferred more brightness, but it's just a matter of preference, the actual usability improvement isn't that large.

I have all kinds of computer crap in my bedroom (laptop, DSL modem, power strip, ethernet dongle, etc.) and I've had to cover up their indicator LED's with black tape to stop them from bothering me at night. Dark-adapted vision is amazingly sensitive.
 
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paulr said:
I've had a Photon II on my keychain (CR2032 with green led) for 5+ years, no sign of rust and it's still on the original battery.


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Sure, it may not be a problem, but a lot of that depends on your environment. I was just pointing out something to look out for.

Yah, the original Infinity was useful the way it was. The still had some white ones at Brightguy.com in the closeout section recently, but now all they have is blue/green ones.

-john
 
I have a Streamlight cliplight in one of my bags. Cheap, can be used by hand, clipped to something or with the included headstrap. Only around $14.00, cheaper if you buy the Walmart clone.
 
anybody mention palight?

i have 2 onestars that are great.

you can squeeze a lithium 9v in there (long shelf life, and double the capacity of alkie), and i can tell you, it will run for a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time on the lowest setting.

for a small personal long running light, i think the pal or 24/7 might be ideal.

Bob
 
I think we need an Eternalight that runs on 2 123 cell's.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
The Inova, or maybe one of those Xnova's, do they take 123's or AA batteries?? If it is just going to sit for years, why spend more then $30.00??
Isn't there a Peak Solutions light that has 1 LED, and only uses 1 123 battery??

Let us know what you decide Joe. If you are like me, you probably have a light you could use, but this gives ya an excuse to buy something new. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



Blades
 
Blades:

Yes, of course I have something that fits /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I have an Eternalite, that I could donate. However, I'm also helping my buddy do two of these, so I still need to find a good solution for him. And I"ll probably use whatever I pick out for him.

I've learned about a ton of great lights in this thread. Maybe most importantly, that you can get an Eternalite Ergo for $30!

But, I really have become enamored of the idea of everything running of 123As, and just dropping a small box of extra 123As in the emergency bag. Despite all the problems illustrated in previous threads about the 24/7, I'll probably buy one right now and check it out, being sure to only change the battery when the unit is off. That or an X5.

I'll also dump a few countycomm $1s in the bag, just for grins.
 
Ahhh, I forgot about the buddy. Hmmm... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Well, let's see, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
Well I guess Inova is looking good at the moment. Does UK make a 123 light?? I know they make a good light for the money.



Blades
 
AFAIK, just the UK 2L. Normal bulb 2-3 hrs I think, or you could replace it with the eLED for 7ish.

-john
 
Blades,

UK makes a killer 123 light. UK 2L: 30ish lumens for 2-3 hours, made of plastic, lightweight, dive-quality water resistance. In fact, on page 1 of this thread, beakman suggested getting a UK 4AA eLED and a UK 2L. Put the eLED (1W LS) head into the 2L light, so now we have a UK 2L light that runs a 1W LS for plenty of runtime, in a broad floodlight.

Of course, that requires buying two lights, which kind of messes up my cost model. On the other hand, I end up with a 2L eLED for the BOB, and a standard halogen 4AA (by putting the original 2L head on the 4AA body) for the house. This is a clever, attractive option for anyone who needs two lights anyway. Since I already have a UK 2L at home, I'm thinking about ordering a 4AA eLED and doing this, just to do it.

Joe
 
Blades,

Looks interesting, although the web site looks a little thin on info. Do we have any runtimes on those? Reviews?

Edit:

I see that Craig has runtime graphs for these on his web site.

It looks like the 3LED x 1 123A light gets about 5 hrs of good runtime before it starts falling off.

The 1LED x 1 123A light is a bit weird in that it is only bright for about two hours then falls off to about 50% and then runs pretty flat for about 30+ hours. It isn't clear how bright it is at 50% tho. I'm very curious about this and how it compares to the Infinity.

In regards to the original request, it sounds like the 3LED x 1 123A would fit the bill pretty well.

I started a thread to discuss these lights.

-john
 
John,
I'm not sure, we would have to do a search, I'm sure someone here has one or three they have been playing with. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



Blades
 
Hi guys,

Just thought I'd let you know what I decided.

I went with the 24/7. Not only does it really fit in perfectly with my needs, but pedalinbob was nice enough to alert me to an unbelieveable $10 sale on the yellow 24/7 here: http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3665065

I decided to take one for the team and order it to see if the deal was kosher. Just got it yesterday, and it appears to be a perfectly new 24/7, not refurbed or anything from what I can tell. Shipping is pretty steep, like $7, but even with shipping, this price is under wholesale. Oddly enough, they seem to be selling the exact same light for $35 elsewhere on the site, but under a different search category. I don't understand it, but like I said, the light seems new to me, and came in clamshell pack.

Thanks for all the tips and help. You guys have alerted me to some other awesome lights to check out.
 
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