Challenge Week #6: "There can be only ONE!!" (mode, that is)

[Stress_Test]

Keeping it simple this time: For this challenge, you only get ONE. One flashlight, with one mode, for the week. Make your choice at the start of the week, then live with it till the end.

Choose wisely: if you pick a mega-lumen light, that won't be much fun when you have to use it to poke around in a cabinet. Pick a LOW lumen light, and the after-dark dog walking could get tough.

The trick will be selecting a good compromise level of output that can be used in all situations.

One single light only; most of us carry multiple lights normally, so carrying single-mode high/medium/low lights would be too easy.

Programmable lights can be used if you set it to only activate in one mode only. Ditto if the light has a twist head that allows it to operate as just a one mode on/off. Basically anything that makes the light behave as an old-school, single mode on/off and nothing more.

Diffuser add-ons, red lenses, tape, etc, to dim the output are not allowed. With ONE exception: middle-of-the-night bathroom trips! We'll make a "gentleman's agreement" for that case. I plan to try putting the light in a thin black dress-sock to see if that creates a sort of moon mode for a higher output light. You can try something like that, or if you must, fall back on the low-low light that's normally used for those 2am trips.

All other cases the light output must remain unmodified and unfiltered. Though you can try putting your hand over the light the way Will Smith does on his weaponlight in the movie "I am Legend"

General rules can be found at the bottom of the first post here:

Link to the Rules list from Challenge#1

That's it!! Have fun!

 

[Olumin]

What about the Intellibeam setting on the Surefire Fury?

 

[Katherine Alicia]

I`ll be using my Seraph with a 6v P60 module and 18650 batt, midnight trips to the bathroom aren`t an issue, once I`m asleep that`s it, nothing wakes me until the morning

 

[LeanBurn]

To make this even more interesting I think I am going to go with my Archer 1A V2 set to 70L mode using the end cap switch/twist to turn it off/on.


In addition, thanks for coming up with this challenge. It adds some badly needed flashlight interest now that day light is gaining in these messed up times. :thumbsup:

 

[bykfixer]

Now this is a challenge.
One light, one mode, one week.

Hmmmm, decisions decisions…

 

[CanAm]

Easy. I love a good single-mode.
Only one question - Incan or LED?
(Probably LED, just to save on batteries )

 

[bykfixer]

Decided……

My favorite flashlight ever, the 2C generic made in the 1980's at the Pennsylvania Bright Star factory.

It only puts out about 8 lumens, but when I say puts out I mean way out……
Using a Maglite Whitestar krypton it's good for 2am nature calls and for checking things around 25 yards (or meters) away.

Dark next door

Oh hey there's a boat.

So starting at sundown tomorrow the light that showed up in my mailbox one day from a prominent member here (coughscout24cough) will be the one mode, one light for one week.

 

[bignc]

Easy peasy. I'll use a 1 CR123 MDC body with a m31L 219b.

 

[bignc]

Or maybe a mdc16650/vme with m61nll.

 

[bignc]

Or maybe the mdc123 body with 16340 and m61wll! lol

 

[Dark Attic Works]

I'll be attempting this with my E1E with a 40 lumen incan module from Lumens Factory. Might not be the most battery friendly challenge week for me!

 

[Vemice]

Don't usually need much output anyway, so this one.

 

[bykfixer]

Used my 2C incan light to turn off a solar lamp in Mrs Fixers garden.

Nice warm tint from about 15 yards

Light now lit since it no longer thinks the sun is shining.
Pretty useful this all stock platform 2c incan. Not too bright at 2am but still handy for when I need a light out doors.

Applogies for the blurry photos. My old iPhone don't seem to focus well these days. Especially at night.

 

[CanAm]

I'll be attempting this with my E1E with a 40 lumen incan module from Lumens Factory. Might not be the most battery friendly challenge week for me!

At least you'll have a nice beam though.

I decided on an LF 18650 body with a Malkoff NLL, since I thought my Peli M6 would suck down too many batteries. So far so good...

 

[scout24]

Well, I need tailstanding and a pocket clip, or the light just doesn't get carried. Incan E head on a McClicky pack or a 14500 Malkoff body? Program an HDS or H17f light for single mode? Decisions need to be made...

Mr. Fixer- You're too kind. Glad it's still serving you well.

 

[bykfixer]

That's "E" z……… hint hint.
I considered an E1 but it's so dang bright at 2am. I also considered reversing the 6.4 volt mod (2xLifePo 18500 and 4 cell bulb) to my 2c Kel-Lite and go back stock but that little generic is just so useful for so many tasks. That was also available as a Tru Value and Ranger brand light as well as BrightStar (for those interested in one) but I like it in generic form just dandy.

 

[bignc]

I changed my mind sunday afternoon and decided on an 16650mdc body with vme head hosting an m61 219 original. . I love it for my edc/ self defense with CWP and as a general purpose since it's using lithium ion.... And not crushing batteries.

 

[bignc]

Used the MDC/ VME M61219 tonight- super glad for the neutral tint assembling a new Hyrid e-drum kit for the youth group at church. The labels on the wiring harness were super tiny lol! Also has enough juice to light up the room if needed. Good choice so far!

 

[Stress_Test]

Well I'm a bit late but I thought I'd show what my choice was. A bit unconventional maybe. I really wanted to use the Lumens Factory warm/Hi-CRI module in my SureFire C2, but it's just a bit too bright for indoor use.

I bought a Fenix TK10 back in 2010 from FourSevens when he had a big "scratch and dent" and returned-items sale. It was some absurdly low price, like 25 dollars. I figured for that price I was going to get one that had fallen off the truck while in transit. Big gouges, etc.

But the thing was pristine. Can't imagine why someone had returned it.

I had put a couple of CR123a cells in it and stuck it in my flashlight "grab and go" bag. It sat there for many years....

I brought it out again in Dec last year to check the batteries. For grins, I decided I'd put an old 17650 cell in it and mess around with it for a while. You don't get high mode with a single Li-Ion, but the low mode works fine.

Every time I would pick it up and use it I would think "gosh this thing has a really nice beam". Not too much bias towards flood, not too much throw. Just right. It's a Cree XR-E, Q5 bin (remember those?!) with a medium orange peel reflector. The tint is great, no weird colors or anything.

So for this Challenge Week I decided I'd put this light to use (on low mode only of course!) with my new 16650 batteries. They fit perfectly, and with nearly 2200 mAh the light will run a LONG time.

 

[bykfixer]

To me the biggest challenge was picking a light that was good for general use back when I was a lot younger and the typical flashlight was not very bright but not something was not overly bright. It was more about the beam than the output. I thought back to a time when as a lad friends and I would camp out in the back yard. Back then there wasn't all that light pollution around so it didn't take a lot of lumens to see that the noise scurrying in the bushes 100 feet away was a cat yet at 2am when all that soda we'd drink had run its course and it was time to water a tree the same light that raised awareness that it was only a cat and not Freddie Kruger had a beam that was soft enough not to be blinding. I thought of those wack-a-palm numbers the grown ups had magnetized to the refrigerator in our homes.

Now I thought of the Seraph with an M61N4L but decided it doesn't throw like the 2c I chose. I thought of an incan minimag or a Tom Thumb number. But I have always preferred the slider type switch so the minimag was out and the Tom Thumb doesn't throw very well at all. My 2aa Rayovac Industrial was another option but the run time of a 2c is so much better. So far the choice was spot on. And as strange as it sounds using only that light in 2021 has caused lots of Caspers to be stirred up so there's all these friendly ghosts of days gone by running through my brain each time I use it.

Thanks for the challenge ST.