Hello, and looking for a spotlight.

[dem beats]

:wave:

First I want to say I'm really glad I found this forum. I'll do what I can to give back with pics, but with any luck I won't become a flashoholic and have another money sink that my wife will hate me for. I have too many in home theater, rifles, pistols, fast bikes, and anything else grown men who are still boys love.



I tried to post this topic last night but I cannot find it. If it's floating out there somewhere let me know please and I'm sorry.

I'm looking for a search/spotlight with some spill. I have focused on the Olight sr90 or possibly the SR91, recently because on the surface they have a lot to offer, and the brand seems to be getting good rep here.

What I need the light for is looking out into the yard at night, and them as a light that I can travel with when I go out of town. I will also use it for some of the more normal around the yard tasks. It will also be a life saver when going up to northern MN and having to look down the cliff like hill from the family lake home where the boat shack and doc is. I take enough trips at night to make something like this valuable in case something happened.

What I want is the sheer awesomeness of holding superpower type brightness. That will definitely give me giggles when spotting across a field. I also want it to be usable though, and the fact I can scale down to *only* ~700 lumens. I would be interested in a helios honestly, but the cost is prohibitive and I'm not sure but it looks like it doesn't have a lower power mode.

Why the Olight mega lights appeal to me is that in the LED and battery pack form factor you have something that can be on for a significant amount of time even on high power. I like the fact I can just plug in the battery pack and not hassle with anything else. If it's not a common batter type it's nice to know I can just plug it in. I always have several more standard lights around me. A mag light, an emergency hand crank LED unit, and tons of the cheapest aluminum triple A offerings from home depot when they go on sale. I could just diffuse or filter the Olight if that's all I brought with me.

More lumen POWA would appeal to me, but it would have to be in an equally rugged design(not that I personally know the SR9X series to be rugged myself) or better and would need to have a longer battery life. I don't really care about the strobe function at all. I like the KISS method of thinking.

What I'm here to ask you folks is if there is anything else made that will give me the throw and general quality of light from anyone else for around that price. I wouldn't be against HID, I've heard it doesn't perform as great when tipped up or down, but if it's within 95% of it's quality I would be fine with it. I don't think anything other than HID or the top LED's will compete. I know the one thing I won't deal with is something in the form of a top grip search light. It would limit my usage if I wanted to hold it around something or over my head, etc. Things like the L 50 wouldn't work for what I want.

Let me know if I'm barking up the right tree guys. I appreciate your time everyone.

 

[dem beats]

I wanted to thank whom ever approved my thread here. I'm also sorry for trying to post it so many times. I was confused about how that process works.


Also I wanted to mention that in reading the SR 91 not having much if any more batt life is saddening. Even if it is nearly the same in brightness.

I also wanted to mention that when I say I wouldn't mind an HID light, the most appealing feature of that would be the better color. I don't really need or want the sharp bright blue kind of HID.

 

[joe1512]

Wait... you want it to look at your BACK YARD?!? I am assuming your boat and dock aren't THAT far away, as otherwise you couldn't see em even with a light.

A normal 700 lumen light will easily light up any urban back-yard and doesn't require a 'throw' configuration to do so.

Have you ever actually SEEN a 'good' flashlight before? Like friends that showed you a Fenix or Surefire? In other words, do you have a good frame of reference? Other than taking some 15 lumen walmart light that claims 220 of course.

If not, then you might be very surprised what a reasonably priced 700 lumen light can accomplish. A Fenix TK40 has a nice mix of throw and flood and uses 8xAA batteries instead of fancy specialty ones. It ought to light up your area very nicely.


Failing that, a Stanley HID 35W can be had for pretty cheap. 80 bucks to be exact. It is not instant-on but it does produce a lot of light in a narrow beam.
Watch this video or search yourself to see what to expect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErbMU2wKEqg


Most HIDs from there, (and 1000+ lumen LEDs) are going to cost a ton of cash and just not be necessary.

 

[jellydonut]

Both my Malkoff Wildcats (old 550+ lumen version and new 750 lumen version) light up half an association football (soccer) field comfortably. They weren't bright enough that it wowed me though, just enough to barely see the other side. Don't know how big your property is, but it sounds like you want a little overkill, and these lights aren't overkill. They're just enough.:naughty:

Honestly, for your purposes, if you can deal with the single mode, I think the Polarion would be the best. If you keep an eye out you can grab a used PH-40 or PH-50 at CPFMP for a lower price every now and then.:devil: It probably wouldn't be very good for 'normal around the yard stuff' though.:laughing:

 

[dem beats]

Thanks Joe, I'll try to respond in order. J I appreciate the video link the Stanley is a sweet machine.


It has a lower setting for my backyard. I am even aware that it's probably overkill for that. Only 150' maybe to the back fence past the trees. I have had some nice lights back there. A couple mercury vapor style but *we* then opted to put some more wife (and neighbor) friendly lights. My pup gets nervous when he can't see the raccoons back there. I'm not sure about the picture posting size limits, but I'll throw up some images of him when I figure that out.

The boat and dock are ~75 yards away. Maybe a bit more, but right around there. It's down a really steep drop so it's hard to tell but the lift that was made for it is well over 250' of travel from the deck down to the shore/dock.

Yes, I have used a few surefire lights myself. Some attached to the AR-10, some not. Lots of friends like the lego blocks for their m-4 styles rifles. I've had a couple myself but they were just low price used ones that were small and for carrying. I'm just not looking for that. I haven't purchased a walmart light or costco or sams light yet. They looked to be pretty crappy. I don't want some plastic cased unit.

They Stanley is of course an option, but I won't deal with anything that cannot be held in a typical flashlight fashion. With the SR90 I would probably use the straps sure, make sure I don't drop that sucker, but to me it's got to be usable, and something angled like that won't work.


You're right though, the SR 90 might be overkill. However I won't be left wanting really. I can also easily make the purchase reasonable with the fact I spend enough time on dirt roads in MN to make it dangerous, and not enough where someone might think to come looking for me really. It would be a nice little piece of mind knowing that if I can't find my way home someone would find that beacon. If a deer hits my truck and puts it out somehow it may come in handy for those long trips. And on a big lake, if you've even been on bigger waters, no light is too bright.

I agree though spending foolishly makes no sense. I wanted peoples opinions and I'm definitely going to look into the fenix. Regular batteries would be a nice feature.

 

[dem beats]

Both my Malkoff Wildcats (old 550+ lumen version and new 750 lumen version) light up half an association football (soccer) field comfortably. They weren't bright enough that it wowed me though, just enough to barely see the other side. Don't know how big your property is, but it sounds like you want a little overkill, and these lights aren't overkill. They're just enough.:naughty:

Honestly, for your purposes, if you can deal with the single mode, I think the Polarion would be the best. If you keep an eye out you can grab a used PH-40 or PH-50 at CPFMP for a lower price every now and then.:devil: It probably wouldn't be very good for 'normal around the yard stuff' though.:laughing:

I might check the market place out, not a bad idea. It doesn't have a "low" setting though does it?



I think you have me pegged though. I want a sunbeam in my hand for fun. I do have a reason to have them, just maybe not a reason that would make me need it every day. If I needed an S and R light daily I would pony up and buy a PH - 50 and not worry, but since I don't it makes it hard to justify such an absolute unitasker.

 

[dem beats]

That definately doesn't fit in any of the things that I am looking for.


And the cost. Oh my oh my.




However... if it is what it says it is, then it's neato.

 

[alpg88]

sr90.

 

[jellydonut]

I might check the market place out, not a bad idea. It doesn't have a "low" setting though does it?



I think you have me pegged though. I want a sunbeam in my hand for fun. I do have a reason to have them, just maybe not a reason that would make me need it every day. If I needed an S and R light daily I would pony up and buy a PH - 50 and not worry, but since I don't it makes it hard to justify such an absolute unitasker.

Nah, the Polarion only has one setting, and that's the face melting goodness you get when you flick the switch.:devil:

If I was in the market for a relatively large single-emitter LED monster light, I wouldn't shop around.. I'd head right to the VaraPower 2000; http://www.lambdalights.com/varapower.html

Of course, that's no catalogue flashlight, but it has the (to me) ideal brightness adjustment user interface - a simple adjuster knob, like a stereo volume control. One would expect a dial to be the most obvious and logical solution, but almost no manufacturers use them. With most lights, you'll be stuck clicking the tail switch back and forth like a moron to switch levels and modes. :thumbsdow

 

[Watts Up!]

For your needs my choice would be an Olight SR91 then second choice would be a Fenix TK45.

 

[Walterk]

Start with a Tk40. I've never, not even accidentally, started a strobe-mode.