Help me find the right light

[websurfer]

I've spent some time searching and haven't been able to find a good light that fits my needs.

I'm looking for a 2-AA light with incandescent lamp and a forward/tactical clicky (momentary on) tailcap.

Run time can easily be sacrificed for brightness, but at the same time, a brightness adjustment would be a plus since I don't want to lose my night vision in certain situations.

This light will be used for house clearing (momentary on flashes using dim light to preserve night vision), property clearing (bright with a decent throw would be ideal), and general use.

What comes the closest to this setup? Any recommendations?

 

[fivemega]

I've spent some time searching and haven't been able to find a good light that fits my needs.

I'm looking for a 2-AA light with incandescent lamp and a forward/tactical clicky (momentary on) tailcap.

Run time can easily be sacrificed for brightness, but at the same time, a brightness adjustment would be a plus since I don't want to lose my night vision in certain situations.

This light will be used for house clearing (momentary on flashes using dim light to preserve night vision), property clearing (bright with a decent throw would be ideal), and general use.

What comes the closest to this setup? Any recommendations?

Welcome to CPF,
1- 2AA
2- Incandescent
3- Forward clickie + momentary
4- Brightness adjustment

Assuming #1, #2 and #3 are must and you are going to use Li-ion 14500 batteries, these bodies with TL-3 bulb in D26 socket/reflector will be a choice.
Not many choices with 2 alkaline or NiMH batteries unless you go with 3 NiMH AA and Strion bulb.

 

[325addict]

Indeed.. still puzzling how I can help you. I've seen some flashlights, but this combination of wishes is hard to find. Especially the low and high with an INCAN, and this all driven by 2X AA cells. With LEDs this would be no problem at all, here Fenix has the right one for you.

The only incan I know of, with two stages, not of a monstrous size, is the SureFire 9AN Commander:

http://www.surefire.com/9AN-Commander

This one has really TWO bulbs! A floody, dim one, and a throwing bright one.

It works on a rechargeable battery pack! The better set comes with two of these batteries and a charger. Maybe this is something for you?


Timmo.

 

[mdocod]

Hi Websurfer,

First off, WELCOME TO CPF!!!

Glad you stopped, in. Stick around awhile and enjoy, your wallet will be empty in no time as you realize how many flashlights there are out there that you can not live without.

----------------

Moving on to your question/request here. now...


I'm going to assume that by "AA" batteries, you mean ordinary consumer cells like alkaline or possibly NIMH rechargeable. FiveMega mentioned 14500 size li-ion cells. While those are "AA" in size, they are nothing like the AA cells you are familiar with, and if you are going to make the leap to li-ion tech, then there are far more potent options that are compact that use alternative size li-ion cells (still pretty compact though). It's basically a can of worms to be opened when you really want to gear up and get serious about maximizing energy density in a rechargeable platform.

Bottom line is this: About the brightest light you will find that is incan, and runs on a pair of consumer AA cells, will be somewhere around 15-25 lumens at best but most are less. I don't think anyone makes a 2xAA incan light that has any intention of being used as a tactical light. You will find numerous LED lights that deliver tactical levels of output from a pair of ordinary AA cells. LEDs in this class are literally 10X brighter due to their higher efficiency in conjunction with the natural tendency for low-voltage bulbs to suffer very low efficiency compared with more "normal" voltage incans. . I hate to be in the incan section of the forum recommending an LED, but this is the most logical answer to the problem and there are numerous manufactures making very decent quality products that are geared towards more "critical" applications with output in the 100-200 lumen range running on AA cells... Best performance comes with NIMH or lithium but alkalines work in them in a pinch with less runtime and diminishing output. Some LED flashlights are becoming available now with warm tinted emitters that look very incan like in use but give many of the LED benefits like robustness and efficiency.

-Eric

-Eric

 

[websurfer]

Thanks for the suggestions.

It looks like an off-the-shelf light with my specs (and in my price range) probably doesn't exist.

When I mentioned AA, I had in mind alkaline and didn't realize there were other kinds of batteries in the AA size. I want to stay away from other kinds of batteries (e.g. li-ion, cr123a, etc) due to fire risk.

I didn't want LEDs because of the the flicker problems associated with them. Since Eric pointed out that they are brighter on alkaline AAs and have many of the features I want in a light, I guess I might try a LED light.


However, a though just occurred. What if I remove the AA-size battery requirement? I still want something hand-held/tactical (e.g. tailcap momentary switch, etc) and using alkaline batteries. Being as off-the-shelf as possible is a plus.

Is there anything in a larger-size-cell out that that comes close to meeting my specs?

 

[325addict]

Well, I personally don't know of any light that uses larger than standard AAs and still is considered "tactical". Remember, one size bigger means C-cells and they are really fat! A light the size of a 2C Mag is, in my point of view, too bulky to regard it as a tactical light. This, apart from the fact it isn't bright enough to be "tactical".

I think the ONE-cell CR123 lights might suit your needs. When using batteries from decent manufacturers (like SureFire, Sanyo, Panasonic, Energizer, Duracell) you are very safe.
Exploding of CR123s is mostly caused by cell imbalance. And since there's only ONE cell in a single cell light, there's no imbalance too

I have a Surefire L1 Lumamax. This is a two-stage light, with a twisty tailcap and a very easy user-interface. Press the button lightly, and the first stage of 10 Lumens is engaged. Press it down further, and the full 65 Lumens are coming out. As anything above 50 Lumens is considered "tactical" this one suits your needs I think.
The light output is a narrow beam with little spill. This is very useful for inspection purposes, but is useless when you want to light up a broad area (such as in the woods, here you need more of a floody beam pattern). This is something to pay great attention to, otherwise you may end up with an unusable light for the task given.
Here you find more info on this light:

http://www.surefire.com/L1-LumaMax

It has absolutely NO flicker. I am quite sensitive to this, my Wolf Eyes MC-E light has quite a lot of flicker in any mode except for the brightest one.

Do you need a single cell light with more of a floody beam? Then the Fenix P2D might suit your needs. Take a look at it here:

https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=361

And as this is the incan-forum, I want to end with a very good, very small one from Surefire: the E1E! This single-cell light is not very bright by modern standards (15 Lumens) but can be upgraded using an RCR123 and a Lumens Factory lamp.

http://www.surefire.com/E1E-Executive-Elite (the light itself)
http://www.lumensfactory.com/e_series_specification.htm (the EO-E1R)

The EO-E1R will give you about half an hour of runtime when used with an AW RCR123 cell.
Remember that the 90 Lumens it gives according to Lumens Factory is measured in a different way than Surefire does.

Lumens Factory measures maximum bulb lumens in a photometric sphere, SureFire states "out-of-the-front" Lumens. This can make up a difference of nearly a factor 2.
A way to compare brightness is to compare current draw of the lamps. A P90 Surefire lamp assembly draws 1.15A and gives 105 Lumens according to Surefire. An SR-9 from Lumens Factory draws a comparable 1.22 amps, but is- according to Lumens Factory - 220 Lumens. This difference is due to the different measuring methods.

I hope you have a little bit more useful info now. I hope to help you, not to confuse you, although I may have given quite some new info here....


Timmo.