Difficult question

[Illum]

Lewis, a friend of mine found a job working as a night security guard
he has to provide his own flashlight

He likes the mag3D form factor, but wants something brighter...but its going to be kept on for 8 hours minimum and must have enough throw to rival the existing maglite

The position is held at a construction site that's off a dirt road into the woods, there is NO light there with NO electricity. What I saw going there was a building foundation and half a wall sticking out of a cleared out patch in the woods. I have no idea how did he end up finding a position like this. :sick2:

So here's the requirements
Mag3D form factor or something he can use as a club
LED/xenon alike, it doesn't matter
Has to be rechargeable
Has to be on all the time during an eight hour shift
I haven't been able to convince him to carry a second light
I'd loan him an A2 aviator but its "too small" for him
Has to have the throw of a stock maglite

At some point he'll give me a straight answer on his budget:thinking:

I'm thinking of fixing up a 6D ROP low...but I'm open to anything else you could think of

 

[StarHalo]

Malkoff 4D and NiMH cells?

 

[qip]

home depot/lowes new rebel mag in 3-4D or malkoff mag in 4D

+ the extras, bezel , bustacap tip tail

 

[Vinniec5]

I'm thinking an Over-under flashlight setup.
That's a surefire with a Remington 870 over it.
Only people looking for trouble take late night strolls in construction sites And I've met alot of them in Jersey. Tell your buddy to be careful and stay in contact with you. Let the local LEO's know he's going to be there on guard duty so he's not left alone on Ice Station Zebra and they atleast know He's there. Maybe get him a rechargable camping style lantern and a good light as backup

 

[Illum]

Supposedly there were vandalism and concerns of spray painting. He won't be the only one there but fails to tell me precisely how many others have the same shift.

Malkoff 4D and NiMH cells?

I'm looking at it...
I'm guessing the 2-3D malkoff P4 has been discontinued...
he has already bought a 3D, so that's part of the problem, but I think this might be a good candidate
4D on NIMH, :thanks: to Bigwaffles
10 hours on one charge, too bad its sold out at the moment

I'm thinking an Over-under flashlight setup.
That's a surefire with a Remington 870 over it.

lol, he can't bring a knife in without getting permission by his employer or else yeah...why not, patrol with a 870

 

[Juggernaut]

LF 180 lumen throw master D36 drop-in, using 3x 18650s 2,900 mah Panasonic cells will give him a theoretical 8.7 hour regulated run time. You could use the M90 + 168A extender for this setup. I know it's not a Maglite, but it's about as long and very heavy and solid feeling like one.
As far as using a Maglite as a host well you can pretty much come up with your own set up, LED or medium powered Incan. Even running 6x 10,000 mah NiMH D cells in a 6D Maglite is will only run for about 5.5 hours with the low ROP bulb.

If I was him and I didn't mind getting away from the Maglite form factor I would opt for a Bigbeam Model 266, it's been a long time since I suggested a Bigbeam, but when it comes to medium output for long lengths of time it's hard to beat them. Setup = Fill the battery compartment with 12x 10,000 mah NiMH D cells and run a H7555 bulb. He'll get 15 hours of 170 lumens and way more throw then any stock Maglite.

When I said if It was me in the above paragraph I mean If I had tones of money since that setup would cost something like $180! I know you wanted a rechargeable but you could also just go for the Bigbeam 1766C. You could buy 7x of the batteries this light needs for the cost of 12x NiMH D cells. Each one would give him 84 hours of run time on low! While putting out about 90 lumens "imagine a SF 6P with 84 hours of runtime:thumbsup:!" high is about 15 hours, so you would get about two nights on one battery, but you wouldn't need high all the time. "high is 226 lumens with an extremely far throwing beam"

 

[ElectronGuru]

+1

Get em an unboosted single emitter Malkoff:

http://www.malkoffdevices.com/shop/dropin-module-for-456-dcell-to-fit-maglite-p-1.html

operates on 4, 5, or 6 easily available D size alkaline batteries depending on the flashlight body. The runtime is 8+ hours on 4 D Cells at the rated output. It will continue to operate at reduced output for several more hours. The light is great for distance and spotting.

NiMH would do even better, just make sure they're LSD

 

[Illum]

forgot to add...I couldn't get him to use CR123As...Lewis: "I want nothing to do with lithiums"
I think he single-handed eliminated so much possibilities with that:candle:

yeah ElectronGuru I'm looking at it still, definitely a keeper but as mentioned before, its sold out :mecry:

 

[ElectronGuru]

its sold out :mecry:

I would write or call Malkoff directly, but there's always CPFM:

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=198534


I have 2-3 C model I'm not using and a bunch of NiMH C's, but its, not D.

 

[qip]

the 2-3 drop in i think will do 4 , i remember when he first made them and when he dropped the 4 in advertising was some had flickering issues in 4 cell as it may be a bit to much voltage on fresh alks ...ask him if his 2-3 still uses the old circuit or if its a new only 2-3

 

[Juggernaut]

How about the TK40? 20 hours at 91 lumens, and for most of the time he could use "high" at 277 lumens for 6.8 hours. As long as he doesn't use high all the time and he uses medium for at least 20% of the time he should be fine:thumbsup:.

 

[Illum]

hmmm... TK40:thumbsup:

 

[Linger]

Counterpoint -
Let him wear down his pre-conceptions. The requirements rule out the most practical options (lithium cells, back-up light, changing batteries, headlamp -- seriously, who wants to hold a torch for 8h when they could turn on a Zebralight every once and a while???)
Sure he wants to carry a big stick, fine. He'll have enough time thinking to realise that hitting something with the only light he has is a bit of an interesting proposition.
Budding flashaholics there, getting paid 8h to test out different light configurations. Think about it: he could load up the car with 20 lights, set up a camera on a tri-pod, and do a killer set of reviews and beam-shots. One light for every round. While getting paid!

Let him go with whatever it is he's got. And every so often insist he take one of yours with him, just to try out. He should come around.

 

[lolzertank]

Either the 3D Rebel Mag or a 3-6D modded Mag with a P4 or K2 in it.

 

[Justin Case]

If he is wedded to the 3D Mag he recently bought, then you might be able to hit the 8hr run time goal if you use a Seoul P7 and underdrive it at 250mA per core. This would require that you build the Mag mod. Thus, you need the usual P7 D Mag heat sink, driver, camless OP reflector (the stock smooth Mag reflector can work, but the beam quality IMO is barely satisfactory), thermal epoxy, and wire. I would probably use a GD1000 driver from The Sandwich Shoppe. At 250mA per core, a P7's Vf is probably ~3V, compared to 3.4V or so for a P4@1000mA. Thus, you will gain about 10% efficiency just by going to the P7. I've measured the GD1000 at about 86% efficiency. So you might get an initial current draw from the batteries of about 1A. Looking at Silverfox's test data for AccuPower D NiMH cells, those cells can hold above 1.2V at 1A draw for about 10 hrs.

Even though the P7 is very underdriven, a D flux bin P7 at 250mA per core can still deliver probably about 280-300 lumens out the front, vs 180-200 for a P4.

 

[lolzertank]

If he is wedded to the 3D Mag he recently bought, then you might be able to hit the 8hr run time goal if you use a Seoul P7 and underdrive it at 250mA per core. This would require that you build the Mag mod. Thus, you need the usual P7 D Mag heat sink, driver, camless OP reflector (the stock smooth Mag reflector can work, but the beam quality IMO is barely satisfactory), thermal epoxy, and wire. I would probably use a GD1000 driver from The Sandwich Shoppe. At 250mA per core, a P7's Vf is probably ~3V, compared to 3.4V or so for a P4@1000mA. Thus, you will gain about 10% efficiency just by going to the P7. I've measured the GD1000 at about 86% efficiency. So you might get an initial current draw from the batteries of about 1A. Looking at Silverfox's test data for AccuPower D NiMH cells, those cells can hold above 1.2V at 1A draw for about 10 hrs.

Even though the P7 is very underdriven, a D flux bin P7 at 250mA per core can still deliver probably about 280-300 lumens out the front, vs 180-200 for a P4.

He might not match the throw of the Mag. While Mags are dim if you look at lumens, they easily exceed 10,000 lux at 1m.

 

[Yucca Patrol]

I don't think your friend has any intention to listen to the voice of reason or experience offered here considering how he has ruled out all of the sensible options and won't even consider carrying a second flashlight.

Let him use the light he has already bought. Either he will be happy with it or he'll consider more sensible options.

 

[hyperloop]

I don't think your friend has any intention to listen to the voice of reason or experience offered here considering how he has ruled out all of the sensible options and won't even consider carrying a second flashlight.

Let him use the light he has already bought. Either he will be happy with it or he'll consider more sensible options.

+1 on that, perhaps (depending on how good a friend he is) you lend him one of your lights or even BUY him one to just try out.

Romisen RCN3 II Q5 has 2 modes, runs on 2xAAs or 1xCR/RCR123 and isnt that expensive, i got mine for a hair under $30 to send to Singapore.

If its pitch black the output would be more than enough. I just got shiningbeam's new Romisen RC N3 warm white led (one mode) and its great! you can see my amateur beamshots here

 

[gsxrac]

I think the TK-40 sounds like a good bet. And Why no lithiums? Price perhaps? You should enlighten him with some rechargeables and let him borrow a few of your lights. One of my friends works night shift occasionally for CSX but he gawks at the amount of money I will spend on one flashlight (Not really very much by CPF standards) but last night I let him borrow my Olight M20 Premium and he's Jonesing for his first high powered LED now

It amazes me how people that literally rely on a flashlight to make their living arent more interested in something better than a m@g and when they learn that such a beast exist many will shoot down the notion when you inform them they will have to spend $50+ for a good quality light (relatively speaking, Yes I know a $10 mini m@g from Wal-Mart is also "good") Im a mechanic and my job revolves around the tools of my trade, while I may own a few cheap tools all of my tools that get used constantly (wrench's, impact, socket sets, etc) Are of the Snap-On, Mac, or Craftsman variety because I know you get what you pay for.

Loan your friend a different light every week for a month or so and see how that works out for ya. Or maybe he just needs some NVG's and once he spots the intruders blast em with the hand cannon! Like a big kids game of flashlight tag :devil:

 

[Justin Case]

He might not match the throw of the Mag. While Mags are dim if you look at lumens, they easily exceed 10,000 lux at 1m.

That is a good point. However, I measured 1 meter hot spot lux in one of my P7, 250mA per core Mag builds at 7300 lux using a KD OP reflector, basically the same as I measured for an Malkoff M30 drop-in. So, the P7 mod should throw fine and I doubt that the end user will ever notice a difference. I'd also question what output you'd get after several hours of constant on usage with an unregulated incandescent. And beam quality does matter and the poor incandescent hot spot shape and the surrounding dark rings won't help in actual, practical application for seeing and identifying.