Dorcy Spyder

[carmel]

I am new to the forums, and only recently became a flashlight enthusiast (although I've used maglites all my life, thinking them to be great). I now own several Arcs, and an SF L4, as well as 2 Spyders I picked up at Costco. Although the overall quality of the Spyders is obviously not up to the others, I can't believe the amount of light it throws. It seems to me that it emits considerably more overall light (although more focused) than the Surefire, which means it may actually meet its advertised specs of 120 lumens. Has anyone done a "lumen test" on it? I also ran one of them for 60 minutes, then compared its beam to the other (with new batteries). Very little drop-off, it seemed to me. Has anyone done a "waterproof test" on it? At least at Costco, if you subtract the value of the Duracells and holsters, they're basically free. Seems too good to be true (probably is!). Anyway, if I'm outdoors at night and want to see a long way, nothing I've seen comes close (short of several hundred dollars).

Thanks!

elk

 

[Hoghead]

carmel
Welcome to CPF
If you have a 2C or 2D Mag you might want to try it with three 123 cells and a KPR112 bulb from Radio Shack.
Here is a link about this mod.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB14&Number=348854&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

 

[Quickbeam]

A true Lumen test requires the use of a $20,000 integrating sphere or hiring a lab that owns one to run the tests. I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

My Lightbox does a fair job of testing overall brightness, but I don't have a Spyder to test... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

However, I just got a Costco membership, and they do have them. If there's real interest, I'll pick up a package, sell one, and keep the other for testing.

 

[carmel]

Thanks, Quickbeam, I've heard good things about the Lightbox!

elk

 

[Quickbeam]

I found someone to buy the second in the package, so I'm going to get the Spyders at Costco soon. Testing will follow.