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Surge.
Brightest possible flashlight?
- Thread starter JustAGuy
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Hey guys:
Thanks for the suggestions, I'm glad you understand the spirit of the thing! I laughed out loud at a couple of the comments, and at one of the suggestions.
As for my buddy, one year he had a 5D Maglite, one year he had some kind of rechargeable lantern, and before that I don't remember. And I'm sure he doesn't know about this forum.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'm glad you understand the spirit of the thing! I laughed out loud at a couple of the comments, and at one of the suggestions.
As for my buddy, one year he had a 5D Maglite, one year he had some kind of rechargeable lantern, and before that I don't remember. And I'm sure he doesn't know about this forum.
StreamChucker:
I really like your suggestion because it's so stealthy and unexpected. I read the suggested post on the mod, and to be honest I understood about 60% of it, kind of understood 30% of it, and the other 10% went completely over my head. So, bottom line: I want to give this a try, and I'm pretty sure I can handle the assembly part, but I'm still confused as to the best bulb/lamp (what are we supposed to call the little things the light comes out of?). And could you please suggest a place to order two or three of the bulbs/lamps from? And finally, there was a discussion in the post about how the bulb/lamp was seated or something (this was part I didn't understand); is this just a simple swap job or is there more involved?
FWIW, I'd rather have a REALLY(!) bright 20-minute light than a really bright 50-minute light, if you know what I mean. But, on the other hand, it would be pretty disappointing if the bulb/lamp blew up as soon as I turned it on.
Thanks a lot!
I really like your suggestion because it's so stealthy and unexpected. I read the suggested post on the mod, and to be honest I understood about 60% of it, kind of understood 30% of it, and the other 10% went completely over my head. So, bottom line: I want to give this a try, and I'm pretty sure I can handle the assembly part, but I'm still confused as to the best bulb/lamp (what are we supposed to call the little things the light comes out of?). And could you please suggest a place to order two or three of the bulbs/lamps from? And finally, there was a discussion in the post about how the bulb/lamp was seated or something (this was part I didn't understand); is this just a simple swap job or is there more involved?
FWIW, I'd rather have a REALLY(!) bright 20-minute light than a really bright 50-minute light, if you know what I mean. But, on the other hand, it would be pretty disappointing if the bulb/lamp blew up as soon as I turned it on.
Thanks a lot!
Illuminated
Enlightened
JustAGuy,
O.K., well, just for fun I'm currently working on a 4D-Mag modification where the only thing that may be a problem is melting of the reflector. Yeah, that's what I said... I'm using 6 of the 1/2D 80 Amp NiCads (discussed elsewhere on this forum) to drive a Carley #1057 lamp at 7.2 volts for 15.9 watts, expecting 451 lumens output. I'm having the lamp ceramic-potted into a standard PR-type base to drop right into the standard Mag lamp holder. Also using a Borofloat glass lens from Flashlightlens (great guy - Chris!).
Everything is ready to go, and I'm still waiting for my lamps to arrive. It takes a few weeks for custom potting from Carley. This setup should run for slightly more than an hour per charge.
My total investment, if I had purchased the 4D light new today, would be about $60 or so, not counting the charger since I already had it.
It'll be fun if it works out, but still not likely to compare favorably to something like a Tigerlight, at least as far as size, beam quality, etc. goes.
As soon as I receive my lamps and do the necessary testing, I'll let everyone know how it all works out.
At any rate, If you don't mind lugging an even bigger light around, I'm sure there are some some excellent spot lights available that are affordable, they're just not my area of expertise (come to think of it - I'm not quite sure exactly what that would be...).
Have fun!
John
O.K., well, just for fun I'm currently working on a 4D-Mag modification where the only thing that may be a problem is melting of the reflector. Yeah, that's what I said... I'm using 6 of the 1/2D 80 Amp NiCads (discussed elsewhere on this forum) to drive a Carley #1057 lamp at 7.2 volts for 15.9 watts, expecting 451 lumens output. I'm having the lamp ceramic-potted into a standard PR-type base to drop right into the standard Mag lamp holder. Also using a Borofloat glass lens from Flashlightlens (great guy - Chris!).
Everything is ready to go, and I'm still waiting for my lamps to arrive. It takes a few weeks for custom potting from Carley. This setup should run for slightly more than an hour per charge.
My total investment, if I had purchased the 4D light new today, would be about $60 or so, not counting the charger since I already had it.
It'll be fun if it works out, but still not likely to compare favorably to something like a Tigerlight, at least as far as size, beam quality, etc. goes.
As soon as I receive my lamps and do the necessary testing, I'll let everyone know how it all works out.
At any rate, If you don't mind lugging an even bigger light around, I'm sure there are some some excellent spot lights available that are affordable, they're just not my area of expertise (come to think of it - I'm not quite sure exactly what that would be...).
Have fun!
John
BuddTX
Flashlight Enthusiast
OK!
It sounds like "no holes barred" type of contest, so here are my recommendations.
It also sounds like you want "Understated finesse", where you don't want to bring out a "bazoka" flashlight, but I included one suggestion anyway!
For "always in your pocket" light, get a Brinkmann Legend LX, and put a SureFire P61 HOLA in there. Only 20 minutes or so of light per battery set, but WHAT LIGHT! For people that have never experienced this light before, it is just awesom for a "Penlight" light!
the Brinkmann Legend LX is not quite small enough for "EDC" carrying in your pocket, but for a fishing trip, it is perfect.
Now the Legend LX is no slouch by itself. Very nice light, but putting the SureFire P61 HOLA in there gives about twice as much light area, and it is perfect light.
20 bucks for the light at Wal-mart, and 20 dollars or so for the P61 Surefire HOLA at Brightguy.
Here is the link to the conversion. Pretty easy, I did it myself:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000233# 000000
For people not used to the "SureFire" style of light, the Brinkmann Legend LX/P61 conversion is very impressive! The "AWE" factor is off the scale for the LX/P61 suggestion! People are just amazed that this tiny light puts out this incredible FLOOD of light.
Why not SureFire? Well, that is just too easy! You could always say causally mention to him "I got this light at Wal-mart - 20 bucks!" (You don't have to tell him about the 20$ HOLA !)
For the most impressive amount of light out of a "Penlight" sized light, this wins the contest!
Make sure you order plenty of extra batteries, and change them when he isn't looking. 123a batteries are expensive, so buy them online. You can get them, I have read here, for as cheap as 1.75 each. Brightguy has them for something like 2.85 each. Still, it beats 6.99 each at Wal-mart.
Now, if he doesn't know about lights, a SureFire M3, M4 or M6 will be very impressive, and if you use the HOLA, you have some serious light. Be prepared to spend some money, however, the M6 is listed at 323$ at www.brightguy.com!
The M3 is 215.00 and comes with the MN10 and MN11, (HOLA and LOLA), and the HOLA puts out 225 Lumens. Now, as the M3 is still "ONLY" a 3, 123a light, it is still very small, and pocketable.
WOOPS - I just re-read your post, and you have a 50-75$ limit. Sorry!
Another good suggestion, that others have already suggested, is to get the Princeton Tec Surge. This is a little smaller than a 2-D light, but holds 8-AA batteries:
At first glance, it just looks like a 2-C flashlight.
The P/T Surge was my first "flashoholic" light purchase, and it has not let me down yet! It is about the same light output as the LX/P61 mod suggestion above.
Now another alternative, and this is in your price range, but a bulkier light, is the KingPelican Lite Pro, Industrial. Takes 8 D batteries, and has a 10-12 hour run time, and is 100,000 CP bright!
I do not have this one, but in researching your question, I found this light, and it is now on my list of lights to own someday!
It sounds like "no holes barred" type of contest, so here are my recommendations.
It also sounds like you want "Understated finesse", where you don't want to bring out a "bazoka" flashlight, but I included one suggestion anyway!
For "always in your pocket" light, get a Brinkmann Legend LX, and put a SureFire P61 HOLA in there. Only 20 minutes or so of light per battery set, but WHAT LIGHT! For people that have never experienced this light before, it is just awesom for a "Penlight" light!
the Brinkmann Legend LX is not quite small enough for "EDC" carrying in your pocket, but for a fishing trip, it is perfect.
Now the Legend LX is no slouch by itself. Very nice light, but putting the SureFire P61 HOLA in there gives about twice as much light area, and it is perfect light.
20 bucks for the light at Wal-mart, and 20 dollars or so for the P61 Surefire HOLA at Brightguy.
Here is the link to the conversion. Pretty easy, I did it myself:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000233# 000000
For people not used to the "SureFire" style of light, the Brinkmann Legend LX/P61 conversion is very impressive! The "AWE" factor is off the scale for the LX/P61 suggestion! People are just amazed that this tiny light puts out this incredible FLOOD of light.
Why not SureFire? Well, that is just too easy! You could always say causally mention to him "I got this light at Wal-mart - 20 bucks!" (You don't have to tell him about the 20$ HOLA !)
For the most impressive amount of light out of a "Penlight" sized light, this wins the contest!
Make sure you order plenty of extra batteries, and change them when he isn't looking. 123a batteries are expensive, so buy them online. You can get them, I have read here, for as cheap as 1.75 each. Brightguy has them for something like 2.85 each. Still, it beats 6.99 each at Wal-mart.
Now, if he doesn't know about lights, a SureFire M3, M4 or M6 will be very impressive, and if you use the HOLA, you have some serious light. Be prepared to spend some money, however, the M6 is listed at 323$ at www.brightguy.com!
The M3 is 215.00 and comes with the MN10 and MN11, (HOLA and LOLA), and the HOLA puts out 225 Lumens. Now, as the M3 is still "ONLY" a 3, 123a light, it is still very small, and pocketable.
WOOPS - I just re-read your post, and you have a 50-75$ limit. Sorry!
Another good suggestion, that others have already suggested, is to get the Princeton Tec Surge. This is a little smaller than a 2-D light, but holds 8-AA batteries:
At first glance, it just looks like a 2-C flashlight.
The P/T Surge was my first "flashoholic" light purchase, and it has not let me down yet! It is about the same light output as the LX/P61 mod suggestion above.
Now another alternative, and this is in your price range, but a bulkier light, is the KingPelican Lite Pro, Industrial. Takes 8 D batteries, and has a 10-12 hour run time, and is 100,000 CP bright!
I do not have this one, but in researching your question, I found this light, and it is now on my list of lights to own someday!
BeamChucker
Newly Enlightened
If you really want to go incognito and blow him away when you turn your light on, build the very easy to do M*g 2C mod. Take out the spring, put in a piece of 3/4" PVC tubing, fill it up with 4 123a lithium batteries, and insert a Carley 808 Xenon lamp. He won't think anything of it. When you turn on the 285 lumen output, he'll be blown away. It will also blow away the Surefire E2, Surges, Streamlight Scorpion, etc. It even outshines the Surefire M3 in a very unassuming package. It's about the equivalent of the $250 Surefire M4. But it only costs $25 to make up the whole thing. The only downside is expensive batteries that only last 50 minutes. Search for this Lemlux mod using "285 lumen 2C" search terms in the Homemade and Modified lights section for details. You won't be sorry. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's smaller than a 2D. You'll laugh your butt off when he sees this one.
StreamChucker
StreamChucker
Anybody know how a Surges compares to a 5D Maglite?
I think even if you do a mod, the Surge is still a good bet...not too expensive, compact and cheap to operate. So even if your buddy feels a little "cheated" by some mod from an internet forum, the Surge will show just how good an "off-the-shelf" light can be with a little product research.
I think even if you do a mod, the Surge is still a good bet...not too expensive, compact and cheap to operate. So even if your buddy feels a little "cheated" by some mod from an internet forum, the Surge will show just how good an "off-the-shelf" light can be with a little product research.
I've compared my Surge to my friends 6D Mag (after he took his 6 volt bulb out and put the stock bulb in). And the 6 is brighter & tighter. The Surge and the 5D MagLite are probably very close in light output but the Maglite will still give a tighter throw beam, But it don't fit in your pocket like the Surge!
JustAGuy,......... I would pick up the Surge for 26.25 shipped to your house from www.shopalert.us , it is the "best bang for the buck".
This flashlight screams to be turned on and wont let you down PERIOD!
Or StreamChucker has an excellent alternative if you want "SUPER POWER". But remember you are going to spend LOTS of money on batteries REALLY quick. So weigh it out before you decide.
This flashlight screams to be turned on and wont let you down PERIOD!
Or StreamChucker has an excellent alternative if you want "SUPER POWER". But remember you are going to spend LOTS of money on batteries REALLY quick. So weigh it out before you decide.
BuddTX
Flashlight Enthusiast
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I talked to Greg at Brightguy, while he says both lights are nice, the UK 8-D seems to be a little better, for the reasons that you mentioned, as well as the UK is more compact and the lamp assembly incorporates two seperate lamps as opposed the the King Pelican that just uses a dual filament lamp.
I will take wider and not as piercing, as opposed to piercing further and not as wide.
It IS nice when you have both, like my Optronics 2 mil CP light !
rlhess
Enlightened
BuddTX,
The UKE D8 is my first choice power-fail-have-with-me light. Lots of broad light, long burn time, redundant lamps...but my D-lights are dwindiling since I joined CPF. When coming home from our drive to Winnipeg (from LA) this summer, we were caught in a huge windstorm in Salt Lake City. After getting the kids into the hotel, I went back to the car for the D8 just in case--and wouldn't you know, the power stayed on at the hotel while it failed in many surrounding areas.
I only have 6 D lights now (not counting the boy's toys and the Leland emergency strobes). Three fluorescents (4D each), a 5-D and a 6-D Mag, and the D8. Except for the holdover Mags, all of the D lights are focused on power failure backup. I like the 5D in my car and the 6D next to my bed for utilitarian reasons. It's more acceptable than a pry bar if the roof caves in during an earthquake and the 5D can take out a windshield in a traffic accident.
In contrast, I now have 7C, 15AA, and 12AAA lights and 9 lithium 123 lights! The Cs are 5 of the Streamlight 3CLED and 2 are UKE SL6s.
Cheers,
Richard
The UKE D8 is my first choice power-fail-have-with-me light. Lots of broad light, long burn time, redundant lamps...but my D-lights are dwindiling since I joined CPF. When coming home from our drive to Winnipeg (from LA) this summer, we were caught in a huge windstorm in Salt Lake City. After getting the kids into the hotel, I went back to the car for the D8 just in case--and wouldn't you know, the power stayed on at the hotel while it failed in many surrounding areas.
I only have 6 D lights now (not counting the boy's toys and the Leland emergency strobes). Three fluorescents (4D each), a 5-D and a 6-D Mag, and the D8. Except for the holdover Mags, all of the D lights are focused on power failure backup. I like the 5D in my car and the 6D next to my bed for utilitarian reasons. It's more acceptable than a pry bar if the roof caves in during an earthquake and the 5D can take out a windshield in a traffic accident.
In contrast, I now have 7C, 15AA, and 12AAA lights and 9 lithium 123 lights! The Cs are 5 of the Streamlight 3CLED and 2 are UKE SL6s.
Cheers,
Richard
BeamChucker
Newly Enlightened
Look for some more details by searching for "1/2" tubing length for mag 2C".
It really is super, super easy.
Materials needed
Mag 2c
Carley 808 lamp potted in a PR base
(Buy from www.carleylamps.com and ask to have it potted in a pr base, they will do the rest. Get the nonlensed version, about $5 ea)
3/4" tubing (not 1/2") (You'll probably end up buying a whole 8 ft length for $2.75)
1/2", 3/4", or 1" Masking tape
Saw
Sandpaper
Aluminum foil
Procedure
Cut the tubing so that it fits about 3.5 x 123 batteries. Sand it down smooth. Wrap the tape around the tube. It will take a number of wraps. You want enough thickness so it fits snug in the Mag 2C. Take out the spring in the Mag 2C endcap. Sand the bottom of the endcap until the finish is down to bear aluminum for good electrical contact. (A stainless steel brush in a dremel tool makes quick work of this exercise.) Insert a thickness or two of crumpled aluminum foil. Replace the Mag 2C bulb with the Carley 808 9.6V bulb. Insert 4x123's in the tube, close her up, close your eyes, and turn her on. She'll light up your dark nights like you've never seen before in a flashlight this small and this cheap.
It will last 50 minutes but it's really, really bright for about 30 minutes.
Dave
It really is super, super easy.
Materials needed
Mag 2c
Carley 808 lamp potted in a PR base
(Buy from www.carleylamps.com and ask to have it potted in a pr base, they will do the rest. Get the nonlensed version, about $5 ea)
3/4" tubing (not 1/2") (You'll probably end up buying a whole 8 ft length for $2.75)
1/2", 3/4", or 1" Masking tape
Saw
Sandpaper
Aluminum foil
Procedure
Cut the tubing so that it fits about 3.5 x 123 batteries. Sand it down smooth. Wrap the tape around the tube. It will take a number of wraps. You want enough thickness so it fits snug in the Mag 2C. Take out the spring in the Mag 2C endcap. Sand the bottom of the endcap until the finish is down to bear aluminum for good electrical contact. (A stainless steel brush in a dremel tool makes quick work of this exercise.) Insert a thickness or two of crumpled aluminum foil. Replace the Mag 2C bulb with the Carley 808 9.6V bulb. Insert 4x123's in the tube, close her up, close your eyes, and turn her on. She'll light up your dark nights like you've never seen before in a flashlight this small and this cheap.
It will last 50 minutes but it's really, really bright for about 30 minutes.
Dave
brightnorm
Flashaholic
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
- Messages
- 7,161
JustAGuy,
A lot of good selections. Based on this thread and my own experience owning many of these lights here's how I would sum up your best choices. I'm keeping in mind your preference for a light 2D sized or smaller, and under $75.00, though two of these choices exceed that.
Note: All of these choices are about the size of a 2D light, or smaller.
Ranked by price, most expensive first
( Price varies among vendors. These prices are fairly representative)
Non rechargeables
1) UK SL6: 6xC $32.00
2) UK SL4: 4XC $27.00
3) StreamChucker's 2C Mag mod: 4x123 $25.00
4) Princeton Tec SURGE: 8xAA $23.00
Rechargeable
Tigerlight 8" NiMh $100+- (Watch for CPF specials at Tactical Warehouse)
Ranked by brightness, brightest first
This is the tricky part. Whether we're speaking of brightness LUMENS or brightness CP/BEAM can determine which light is "brightest" for a particular purpose.
1) Tigerlight & StreamChuckers 2C Mag 4x123 mod might tie for first place but it's impossible to know without a head to head test. 285L is a lot of light. I was an initial Tigerlight skeptic but now I have to say that it is a very impressive piece of work. The fact that it keeps its brilliance for about 45 minutes or more and is rechargeable gives it an advantage over nonrechargeable lights in terms of eventual price and bright runtime. As was pointed out earlier, if you need more burn time and are away from base you'd be better off with nonrechargeable lights and plenty of spare batteries.
2)UK SL6 Another impressive light with a large very bright beam. This light is considered a diver's classic and has often been used as a primary dive light. It cannot compete with the first two lights and is more powerful than the next two, so it will remain in its own category. It's a hefty light, about 2.3oz heavier than the Tigerlight and similar in size if not shape.
3) & 4) UK SL4 and Surge Another difficult choice depending on your need. The Surge is an excellent light and has been well described in this thread. It is about 4oz lighter than the SL4 and similar in size if not shape, and the beam from its textured reflector is smoother than the SL4's. However, the SL4's tightly focused beam will throw further and brighter than the Surge even though the Surge could well be preferable at closer range.
Of course there are many other lights that could be suggested, but they fall far outside your original parameters. One reason I like the UltraStinger, for example, is the fact that you can slap in a fresh battery pack in literally a matter of seconds, something you cannot do with a Tigerlight.
If your primary purpose is to blow away your friend with a flashlight-configured light then beg, borrow or steal a Surefire M6. At near to medium distance it will literally obliterate all the lights mentioned here. Of course after a few minutes it won't be obliterating much of anything and you'll have to pop in six more 123's which even at $1.75 each is still $10.50 for a few minutes of supremely bright light.
If you want steady light your primary choices are a rechargeable or a regulated light. Regulated incandescents are just beginning to creep from the drawing board into the SF catalog and you can forget about them for now. That leaves the Tigerlight and/or the UltraStinger if you are willing to loosen the "two D cell size" requirement.
If you are flexible then some of the larger lights mentioned in this thread become options, but if we stick with your original parameters the choices are limited and the lights presented here remain among your best options.
Brightnorm
A lot of good selections. Based on this thread and my own experience owning many of these lights here's how I would sum up your best choices. I'm keeping in mind your preference for a light 2D sized or smaller, and under $75.00, though two of these choices exceed that.
Note: All of these choices are about the size of a 2D light, or smaller.
Ranked by price, most expensive first
( Price varies among vendors. These prices are fairly representative)
Non rechargeables
1) UK SL6: 6xC $32.00
2) UK SL4: 4XC $27.00
3) StreamChucker's 2C Mag mod: 4x123 $25.00
4) Princeton Tec SURGE: 8xAA $23.00
Rechargeable
Tigerlight 8" NiMh $100+- (Watch for CPF specials at Tactical Warehouse)
Ranked by brightness, brightest first
This is the tricky part. Whether we're speaking of brightness LUMENS or brightness CP/BEAM can determine which light is "brightest" for a particular purpose.
1) Tigerlight & StreamChuckers 2C Mag 4x123 mod might tie for first place but it's impossible to know without a head to head test. 285L is a lot of light. I was an initial Tigerlight skeptic but now I have to say that it is a very impressive piece of work. The fact that it keeps its brilliance for about 45 minutes or more and is rechargeable gives it an advantage over nonrechargeable lights in terms of eventual price and bright runtime. As was pointed out earlier, if you need more burn time and are away from base you'd be better off with nonrechargeable lights and plenty of spare batteries.
2)UK SL6 Another impressive light with a large very bright beam. This light is considered a diver's classic and has often been used as a primary dive light. It cannot compete with the first two lights and is more powerful than the next two, so it will remain in its own category. It's a hefty light, about 2.3oz heavier than the Tigerlight and similar in size if not shape.
3) & 4) UK SL4 and Surge Another difficult choice depending on your need. The Surge is an excellent light and has been well described in this thread. It is about 4oz lighter than the SL4 and similar in size if not shape, and the beam from its textured reflector is smoother than the SL4's. However, the SL4's tightly focused beam will throw further and brighter than the Surge even though the Surge could well be preferable at closer range.
Of course there are many other lights that could be suggested, but they fall far outside your original parameters. One reason I like the UltraStinger, for example, is the fact that you can slap in a fresh battery pack in literally a matter of seconds, something you cannot do with a Tigerlight.
If your primary purpose is to blow away your friend with a flashlight-configured light then beg, borrow or steal a Surefire M6. At near to medium distance it will literally obliterate all the lights mentioned here. Of course after a few minutes it won't be obliterating much of anything and you'll have to pop in six more 123's which even at $1.75 each is still $10.50 for a few minutes of supremely bright light.
If you want steady light your primary choices are a rechargeable or a regulated light. Regulated incandescents are just beginning to creep from the drawing board into the SF catalog and you can forget about them for now. That leaves the Tigerlight and/or the UltraStinger if you are willing to loosen the "two D cell size" requirement.
If you are flexible then some of the larger lights mentioned in this thread become options, but if we stick with your original parameters the choices are limited and the lights presented here remain among your best options.
Brightnorm
BeamChucker
Newly Enlightened
By the way you can do this in a M*g 2D but it's really meant to be a much smaller M*g 2C mod. And the Carley 808 bulb is so good in this mod, it looks like it was designed for it. The M*g reflector focuses this to a very bright, tight spot. I don't know where the $60 estimate came from but the M*g 2C mod costs about $25 or less without batteries. A downside to this mod is the cost of the batteries. But don't buy them locally. 123's are readily available for $2 ea or less off ebay. Botach will sell you 20 for $30. That's $1.50 ea plus shipping.
To give you an idea of how economically these mods can be built,I just made four of these mods for Christmas presents. I paid $1.50 ea for some 2C Nordic lights on ebay. That was $8.50 with shipping. Bought a piece of PVC for $2.75. Bought a roll of masking tape for $.50. That comes to what, $11.75. 4 Carley lamps were about $22 with shipping for a total of $33.75. (The Nordic lights don't focus to as tight a spot as the M*g 2C but aren't bad.) I ordered some 223 batteries, split them in half and put tape around them. They came to about $0.70 each with shipping. I put 4 batteries in each light and gave each person 4 spare batteries. 32 x $0.70 = $22.40. This totalled $56.15 for 4x Mega2C flashlights. Wrapping paper and a few bits of aluminum foil, and gas to take them to my friends house probably came to $3.85. That would bring the total to $60. Oh wait, there were four of them so that gets me back to only $15.00 a piece including the batteries.
Kidding aside, there is no doubt that rechargeables are the long run choice for economy. But if you want the equivalent of a very high end flashlight in a very nice package for about $25, this mod is the best easy mod going that even I can put together.
Lemlux is a genious.
StreamChucker
To give you an idea of how economically these mods can be built,I just made four of these mods for Christmas presents. I paid $1.50 ea for some 2C Nordic lights on ebay. That was $8.50 with shipping. Bought a piece of PVC for $2.75. Bought a roll of masking tape for $.50. That comes to what, $11.75. 4 Carley lamps were about $22 with shipping for a total of $33.75. (The Nordic lights don't focus to as tight a spot as the M*g 2C but aren't bad.) I ordered some 223 batteries, split them in half and put tape around them. They came to about $0.70 each with shipping. I put 4 batteries in each light and gave each person 4 spare batteries. 32 x $0.70 = $22.40. This totalled $56.15 for 4x Mega2C flashlights. Wrapping paper and a few bits of aluminum foil, and gas to take them to my friends house probably came to $3.85. That would bring the total to $60. Oh wait, there were four of them so that gets me back to only $15.00 a piece including the batteries.
Kidding aside, there is no doubt that rechargeables are the long run choice for economy. But if you want the equivalent of a very high end flashlight in a very nice package for about $25, this mod is the best easy mod going that even I can put together.
Lemlux is a genious.
StreamChucker
Can someone please post how well this mod measures up against an Ultra Stinger or a Surge so that I could have a better basis of comparison. You guys have really got me seriously considering building one of these beast.
I was just thinking. Wouldn't this be a much more economical light to run if it was built inside of a 2D Mag and using 8 NiMh AAs and this same bulb? It seems that you would get the same light output in a package that was only a little bit larger but massively cheaper to operate in the long run than using lithium 123s. What do you guys think about this?
Illuminated
Enlightened
Brightnorm,
Yeah, that's probably right. Didn't mean to add confusion with my lengthy posts...Sorry.
Just wanted to note, though, that my $60 mod also includes the heafty $10 shipping on the Powerstream cells, and also includes the Borofloat lens.
I'm really not trying to "sell" my mod idea against others, as this one all started with the question of just what could possibly be done with the 4D I've had sitting around for 15 years or so. If 451 lumens is really possible, then I think that might justify the larger 4D size more easily.
The Carley 808/2C with 123's sounds like a killer mod to me; I'm just working with what I currently have - and wanted it to be rechargeable. I can't, unfortunately, build all of the cool mods I've seen here, as much as I'd like to...
Happy Holidays!
John
Yeah, that's probably right. Didn't mean to add confusion with my lengthy posts...Sorry.
Just wanted to note, though, that my $60 mod also includes the heafty $10 shipping on the Powerstream cells, and also includes the Borofloat lens.
I'm really not trying to "sell" my mod idea against others, as this one all started with the question of just what could possibly be done with the 4D I've had sitting around for 15 years or so. If 451 lumens is really possible, then I think that might justify the larger 4D size more easily.
The Carley 808/2C with 123's sounds like a killer mod to me; I'm just working with what I currently have - and wanted it to be rechargeable. I can't, unfortunately, build all of the cool mods I've seen here, as much as I'd like to...
Happy Holidays!
John
brightnorm
Flashaholic
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
- Messages
- 7,161
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">John,
Your post was completely clear, the confusion was all mine!
Your mod sounds like a very good use of the big Mag.
Happy Holidays,
Brightnorm
