BigBluefish
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2008
- Messages
- 1,461
Well, not exactly a newbie to flashlights. I bought a Maglite 3 C light about 20 years ago, and its still doing fine as the general purpose houselight. Got a Minimag about 15 years ago, feed it a couple of AAs as needed and it more or less (a little less, actually) has served as the second houselight, hiking light, camping light, don't fall-off-the-dock-before dawn light, and get-to-your stand before shooting light light, etc.
I've known about Surefire 6ps and Streamlight Scorpions, but have managed to avoid just about everything even remotely 'tactical,' despite my fondness for things Smith & Wesson and Beretta. So, I never picked up one of the retina frying lights.
I guess I just never got 'into' flashlights.
Then a couple of weeks ago, the Mini bit the dust (I guess the bulb finally died), and I thought, well, might as well see what I can find at the new Cabela's the next town over, since a new little 2AA light would probably be as cheap as a new bulb, or not much more. And the Mini never did impress me.
Cabela's turned out be quite the eye-opener. I found a $10 LED Mini-mag clone, and the little Streamlight TT 1L for about $24. Hmmm. What the heck, get 'em both, for those prices. It wouldn't hurt to have another light around the house, and the Streamlight might be good for toting around the woods.
In retrospect, perhaps I should have stayed out of Cabela's. That little $10 LED jobby blows my old MiniMag out of the water. Much brighter, much nicer beam, and I'm sure much longer run time. 10 bucks! I see one or two more coming home with me.
The Twin Task is well, I'm not sure. It's great to drop in a pocket. The low LED setting is great for just lighting the way if you're walking in the dark, and while the XENON beam, at least when 'focused' as you can sort-of do with this light, works OK and is adequately bright for around-the-house and probably walking through the woods, I'm not sure it's actually brighter than the $10 LED light, though it says it's about 30 lumens and the $10 LED said it was 12 lumens, and isn't even close to my old 3 C Cell Maglight. Then again, it's tiny. And apparently well made.
I've dropped it in my coat pocket every day for the last week when I go out the door in the morning. I've played with it, adjusting the beam, trying to see just how bright it is, how it illuminates rooms, stairwells, tight spaces, the outdoors at night. It's really a quite interesting little light.
So I was basically happy. But a little puzzled. What, I thought, was the point of putting a power-hungry incandescent bulb in a little light that takes only one battery? I guess I could understand it if the XENON bulb was a real blaster, but it isn't. It's just normal flashlight bright. Like those old silver pot-metal 2 D cell lights we had when I was a kid. Why not just use a bright LED for the main light, and then the three little LEDs for the dim mode. That way, you'd have good runtime in both modes, right? And the LED's are more rugged, and won't bust like an incandescent bulb, right?
I started feeling that my little TT 1L while cute, was, somehow, inefficient. Not necessarily ineffective. But I was sure there must be something just a bit...better. Not that I would ever get rid of my TT 1L. I was already 'attached' to it. But maybe something with a little more punch....
Of course, I could probably find something about flashlights on the internet, so I wouldn't spend money on something without knowing what I was doing. A manufacturer's sight. Maybe even some reviews or something....
Geeze Louise, just look at all this stuff! And it's all about Flashlights! How cool is that?
"What are you looking at?" That was my wife.
"Flashlights."
"Flashlights?"
"Yeah, flashlights. It's a forum, you know, about flashlights. Reviews, comparisons, just talking about flashlights. Some people even collect them, I guess. It's pretty cool, actually."
"Flashlights?"
"Yeah."
"Is this like a fetish or something?"
Huh? "No, it's just a...gadget. You know, that LED light I got. Well, there's like a whole bunch of different LEDs, different technological generations, and they keep getting brighter, and more efficient...."
She'd wandered off.
Now I've spent at least 12 hours buried in the CPF, and half-a-dozen 'light-sites' of one sort or another. Thinking about 1 Watts, 3 Watts, Crees, and Luxeons. I've just ordered a dozen lithium 123s, a TerraLux drop in for my old Maglite, a couple extra lamps for my TT 1L (you know those XENONS do burn out...) and this really cool (I hope) Huntlight FT-02X Special SSC LED, which you can convert from the CR123 cells to plain old vanilla AA cells.
Now how cool is that????
And I just know my wife would really like one of those Fenix P1s. Even if she doesn't realize it. Yet.
I've known about Surefire 6ps and Streamlight Scorpions, but have managed to avoid just about everything even remotely 'tactical,' despite my fondness for things Smith & Wesson and Beretta. So, I never picked up one of the retina frying lights.
I guess I just never got 'into' flashlights.
Then a couple of weeks ago, the Mini bit the dust (I guess the bulb finally died), and I thought, well, might as well see what I can find at the new Cabela's the next town over, since a new little 2AA light would probably be as cheap as a new bulb, or not much more. And the Mini never did impress me.
Cabela's turned out be quite the eye-opener. I found a $10 LED Mini-mag clone, and the little Streamlight TT 1L for about $24. Hmmm. What the heck, get 'em both, for those prices. It wouldn't hurt to have another light around the house, and the Streamlight might be good for toting around the woods.
In retrospect, perhaps I should have stayed out of Cabela's. That little $10 LED jobby blows my old MiniMag out of the water. Much brighter, much nicer beam, and I'm sure much longer run time. 10 bucks! I see one or two more coming home with me.
The Twin Task is well, I'm not sure. It's great to drop in a pocket. The low LED setting is great for just lighting the way if you're walking in the dark, and while the XENON beam, at least when 'focused' as you can sort-of do with this light, works OK and is adequately bright for around-the-house and probably walking through the woods, I'm not sure it's actually brighter than the $10 LED light, though it says it's about 30 lumens and the $10 LED said it was 12 lumens, and isn't even close to my old 3 C Cell Maglight. Then again, it's tiny. And apparently well made.
I've dropped it in my coat pocket every day for the last week when I go out the door in the morning. I've played with it, adjusting the beam, trying to see just how bright it is, how it illuminates rooms, stairwells, tight spaces, the outdoors at night. It's really a quite interesting little light.
So I was basically happy. But a little puzzled. What, I thought, was the point of putting a power-hungry incandescent bulb in a little light that takes only one battery? I guess I could understand it if the XENON bulb was a real blaster, but it isn't. It's just normal flashlight bright. Like those old silver pot-metal 2 D cell lights we had when I was a kid. Why not just use a bright LED for the main light, and then the three little LEDs for the dim mode. That way, you'd have good runtime in both modes, right? And the LED's are more rugged, and won't bust like an incandescent bulb, right?
I started feeling that my little TT 1L while cute, was, somehow, inefficient. Not necessarily ineffective. But I was sure there must be something just a bit...better. Not that I would ever get rid of my TT 1L. I was already 'attached' to it. But maybe something with a little more punch....
Of course, I could probably find something about flashlights on the internet, so I wouldn't spend money on something without knowing what I was doing. A manufacturer's sight. Maybe even some reviews or something....
Geeze Louise, just look at all this stuff! And it's all about Flashlights! How cool is that?
"What are you looking at?" That was my wife.
"Flashlights."
"Flashlights?"
"Yeah, flashlights. It's a forum, you know, about flashlights. Reviews, comparisons, just talking about flashlights. Some people even collect them, I guess. It's pretty cool, actually."
"Flashlights?"
"Yeah."
"Is this like a fetish or something?"
Huh? "No, it's just a...gadget. You know, that LED light I got. Well, there's like a whole bunch of different LEDs, different technological generations, and they keep getting brighter, and more efficient...."
She'd wandered off.
Now I've spent at least 12 hours buried in the CPF, and half-a-dozen 'light-sites' of one sort or another. Thinking about 1 Watts, 3 Watts, Crees, and Luxeons. I've just ordered a dozen lithium 123s, a TerraLux drop in for my old Maglite, a couple extra lamps for my TT 1L (you know those XENONS do burn out...) and this really cool (I hope) Huntlight FT-02X Special SSC LED, which you can convert from the CR123 cells to plain old vanilla AA cells.
Now how cool is that????
And I just know my wife would really like one of those Fenix P1s. Even if she doesn't realize it. Yet.
syndrome...it leads to 
syndrome! (I know from experience :naughty
