Flashlight suggestion- good balance of throw and flood
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http://goinggear.com/nitecore-srt7-...-960-lumen-cree-xm-l2-t6-cool-white-7247.html awesome light with all around capability
Knight_Light
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These are some of the lights I would recommend but I would also highly recommend you look into headlamp's if you are going to be engaging in outdoor activities or keeping it in the glove box.
I would stay away from lights that have infinite variable brightness when it comes to outdoor uses such as camping and hiking because it would be very difficult to judge runtimes.
And yes there is a huge difference between the cheap lights that you will find on eBay versus more high-end. Although the LED might be the same the tint can be totally different but most importantly the electronics inside will give you greatly improved runtimes as they are more efficient as well as having a much more robust feature set.
- Fenix PD32 UE
- Armytek Viking Pro
- ThruNite TN12
- Zebra Light SC600 Mk II
I would stay away from lights that have infinite variable brightness when it comes to outdoor uses such as camping and hiking because it would be very difficult to judge runtimes.
And yes there is a huge difference between the cheap lights that you will find on eBay versus more high-end. Although the LED might be the same the tint can be totally different but most importantly the electronics inside will give you greatly improved runtimes as they are more efficient as well as having a much more robust feature set.
You are looking for a good balance between flood and throw, but, that requires as a starting point to know what the MINIMUM throw needs to be. There are lights that throw a MILE, and ones that are good to 50 meters, and so forth...how many meters did you want to see what at? IE: You typically need ~ 1-5 lux on target to aim at it with a weapon, but less than that to not trip on stuff right in front of you, etc....So how will you use the light, and, what range in meters is your MINIMUM throw range?
Knight_Light
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"All kinds of distances, ranging from approximately 1m to about 100m." is what he mentioned.You are looking for a good balance between flood and throw, but, that requires as a starting point to know what the MINIMUM throw needs to be. There are lights that throw a MILE, and ones that are good to 50 meters, and so forth...how many meters did you want to see what at? IE: You typically need ~ 1-5 lux on target to aim at it with a weapon, but less than that to not trip on stuff right in front of you, etc....So how will you use the light, and, what range in meters is your MINIMUM throw range?
In my estimation, the small reflector type lights like the PD35, the thrunite Neutron 2C, the Niteye MSC20, are great out to 100-125 feet. Yes, they'll add light out to 150-175, but not enough for me.
If you want to get out to 300 feet, then they are too small. A P60 dropin should work.
I don't have any Surefires, so I can't compare them to Solarforce, but I do have a Solarforce L2M, and a L2N. They feel sturdy, and the threads are cleanly machined. I also have two of those cheap ebay xxxxxfire knockoffs that are the epitome of cheap- NO-Quality-control what-so-ever! Although they take P60 drop-ins, the first had a wire so poorly soldered to the emitter, that it fell off within a week. The second was a replacement by the seller. The treads on the body for the tail-cap were so poorly done, that they stripped while putting the cap on. I took the drop in from the replacement and put it into the body of the first and had a working light. I soldered the emitter of the first, and bought the Solarforce L2N, and now have two working lights.
It seems to me, and others have stated that getting one of those cheapo's are a crap shoot. Many feel, not worth it.
I don't know, but let's say that the manufacturer is going to do a 1,000,000 piece run for two different companies.
The quality company may want them to change the cutting tools and adjust the equipment every 50,000 pieces.
The cheapo company may just want a million pieces for as little money as possible. The cutting tools and machinery are dull and sloppy at the end of a million piece run. So if you get one of the first machined lights it may be ok, but if you get the one millionth light it'll be total crap.
Within the last year, I bought a $150 three emitter highly recommended search light and one of the three emitters was bad. Another $100 light with pretty crappy tail cap threads (they were functional, but there were small pieces of metal missing, little chips in the threads), and a $120 light with a bad switch. I bought a home depot - Defiant super thrower for $25, that when the body was threaded for the head or tail-cap, the coil of metal that was cut away was inside the head in a jumbled mess. None of these lights were made in the USA.
I am surprised that we don't see more reviews of the Solarforce lights. I only have two of them, but I don't have any complaints with them.
If you want to get out to 300 feet, then they are too small. A P60 dropin should work.
I don't have any Surefires, so I can't compare them to Solarforce, but I do have a Solarforce L2M, and a L2N. They feel sturdy, and the threads are cleanly machined. I also have two of those cheap ebay xxxxxfire knockoffs that are the epitome of cheap- NO-Quality-control what-so-ever! Although they take P60 drop-ins, the first had a wire so poorly soldered to the emitter, that it fell off within a week. The second was a replacement by the seller. The treads on the body for the tail-cap were so poorly done, that they stripped while putting the cap on. I took the drop in from the replacement and put it into the body of the first and had a working light. I soldered the emitter of the first, and bought the Solarforce L2N, and now have two working lights.
It seems to me, and others have stated that getting one of those cheapo's are a crap shoot. Many feel, not worth it.
I don't know, but let's say that the manufacturer is going to do a 1,000,000 piece run for two different companies.
The quality company may want them to change the cutting tools and adjust the equipment every 50,000 pieces.
The cheapo company may just want a million pieces for as little money as possible. The cutting tools and machinery are dull and sloppy at the end of a million piece run. So if you get one of the first machined lights it may be ok, but if you get the one millionth light it'll be total crap.
Within the last year, I bought a $150 three emitter highly recommended search light and one of the three emitters was bad. Another $100 light with pretty crappy tail cap threads (they were functional, but there were small pieces of metal missing, little chips in the threads), and a $120 light with a bad switch. I bought a home depot - Defiant super thrower for $25, that when the body was threaded for the head or tail-cap, the coil of metal that was cut away was inside the head in a jumbled mess. None of these lights were made in the USA.
I am surprised that we don't see more reviews of the Solarforce lights. I only have two of them, but I don't have any complaints with them.
Cereal_Killer
Enlightened
Solarforce is the best quality knock off out there, so good in fact all the other surefire clones/knock offs strive to be as good as solarforce (who is after a Chinese company who makes lights that look very similar to surefire, and take all surefire parts, does that not make them a knock off?) I'm not arguing with you, I own several surefires and a pair of solarforce's and they are great lights even when compared to the surefires, for the price I don't know of any better quality P60. (I have no exp. with any of their other lights, only the P60 stuff)
I agree you don't see much talk of solarforce here but I bet a lot of us own atleast one. I've got my review finished up of the L2T (I really think its a great P60 host) but I'm saving it to post at the same time as several others I'm still writing. I know there is a review of a L2N over at budgetlights if you want to read a well written positive review (the author seems to be a huge solarforce fan)
I actually use my L2T all the time, it is my primary pistol light, I have a surefire twist style tail on it (I use the surefire method, where you hold the light between middle and ring fingers of your support hand and momentarily activate it by pulling in into your palm). The tail cap is natural HA so I have the matching head and it looks awesome against the solarforce's HA-II black finish. I keep it in my pistol case so I'm always getting compliments about its "steampunk" look at the practices/matches I go to. I keep the round head from the L2M on my EDC 6P and the color difference isn't noticeable unless you know to look, even with the difference between HA-II & HA-III. My only complaint is the lack of a good AR coating on the solar force lens, and the lens/o-ring/bezel rings are the only non-interchangeable parts between the Surefires and Solarforces
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