help me select a led flashlight

[Spork]

I have been looking at flashlights under 30 bucks. I put together a little led project by buying stuff from radio shack only to find out you can buy a good led flashlight for not much more. I can't really decide which one I want. I would mainly use it to just see where I'm going or a small backup light in case the power is to go out. I was checking out the infinity and the pilot lights. heck maybe I will just get both. with the infinity i could carry it with my keys and always have it. but the pilot looks nice because they have lifetime warranty. Which pilot is the best? going from 3 leds to the 1 led gives you an extra 70 hours of battery life according to the specs. would the 3led pilot be a signifigant enough increase in light to be worth it? or maybe lightwave 2000? how well do these things run on nimh batteries?

thanks

 

[Steelwolf]

Hi mrchri5, Welcome to the forums!

I recommend the CMG Infinity as a backup light. 1 LED will never replace a powerful light like the UKE miniQ40 or the Surefire range of lights. But none of these will give you light for over 40hours on one battery. I have found that I can get along with the Infinity even though many people have said that it is dim. You'll want to look in to either getting the smoked silver model or else polish the reflector when you get the light. (You can do a search for past topics covering modifications to the Infinity.)

Some people might recommend you the new Arc Flashlight. They are currently sold out straight after their release earlier this month but should be available by mid-June. They have some problems but these are being addressed before they release their next production batch. I have only one problem with having it as a backup for power outage. It only runs brightly for about 5 hours. Then it becomes much dimmer than the Infinity.

No. For something to be used as a backup during a power outage, get the Infinity, pop in an Energizer AA 1.5V Lithium and you are good to go for 10 years shelf life or almost 100 hours of use.

As to the Pilot light, I can't comment much on the newer model that runs the narrower LEDs. I have the old 3LED version and mine is more diffused and is great as a work area light. It doesn't throw the light very far but I'm working on an idea to put in a lens and will post the results when that happens.

Check out Telephony's website. In "The Punishment Zone", he describes this light and many others. He also identifies a little problem in the design which makes that "lifetime warranty" a little less useful. But I like it and it is watertight and I bring it fishing, boating and camping. Have not tried using rechargeable batteries in it though. I believe that it should not have too much effect. Maybe a little dimmer and slightly less run time but it should still work because the minimum required voltage of 3.6V is still being met.

 

[Cyclops942]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mrchri5:
what is the CMG infinity? is it the same as the little flashlight on glowbugs site just shown as "Infinity"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That would be it, yup-yup-yup! I ordered one for a friend last Wednesday night from The LED Light, asked them to make sure it got to me by Friday at 17:00 local time, set a maximum price I was willing to pay for the shipping deadline to be met, and they made it happen. I'm very impressed with that. They kept in frequent e-mail contact with me, and even sent e-mail to my cell phone when I couldn't be near a PC.

Sometimes I just love technology!

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steelwolf:

Check out Telephony's website. In "The Punishment Zone", he describes this light and many others. He also identifies a little problem in the design which makes that "lifetime warranty" a little less useful<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LESS useful? I'd think the long warranty would be a good thing for a flashlight that eats itself.

Anyway, I haven't been seeing this degree of self-mutilation occurring in the newer models, although I did manage to break one by dropping it (it was very quickly and politely replaced!).

 

[RonM]

I think the PAL is one of the best all around LED flashlights. Especially the PAL Gold model which is brighter. Four modes: always on, low, high, blink. Low will go for about 200 hours on a single 9V battery and is fine for most purposes. High lasts about 20hrs. Blink, who knows, who cares. The beam is fairly narrow, but can be widened quite a bit by reversing the lens (easy to do). Makes good use of the 9V batts I change out yearly from my smoke detectors. They still have enough juice to run the PAL for quite a long time!

For a carry all the time light, the Photon II can't be beat. It's the size and weight of a US quarter coin, so you'll hardly know it's there. Plenty of light, but expensive button batteries.

I have the PLW3, but it fails to excite me. Case is too long. Nice broad beam. Maybe too broad. Have found an interesting use for it, but I'll save that for another post.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RonM:
I have the PLW3, but it fails to excite me. Case is too long. Nice broad beam. Maybe too broad. Have found an interesting use for it, but I'll save that for another post.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


If you disliked the PLW-3 because it was too long, then you'll really hate the Double Barrel 18.

Actually, I found the *original* wide-beam PLW-3 to be my favorite light, but it was a loaner... and the new version no longer uses those wide angle white LEDs.

I've got so many flashlights around here now it's hard to pick a favorite among those I've finished testing. You can't go wrong with a Turtlelite II. Mine got broken in an earthquake but a replacement is on the way.

I've just gotten my hands on a Photon 3 and I'm already finding it cumbersome to use because the $&^*@% thing takes forever to mode change and you have to sit there and keep squeezing it...
A quick test showed it took more than 22 seconds of constant hard squeezing to get it to cycle through all modes and start over.
If you weaken and let it up even for an instant, you have to start again from the last mode that was on when you screwed it up.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

30 bucks should be enough to get the best keychain light available, arc-light #5 looks impressive! if size isn't an issue, the turtlelight II falls into that price range and works well as far as size/brightness/runtime etc. for 10 bucks more the eternalights are my favorites. have fun shopping as there aren't many "bad" choices in the led light marketplace

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

wow! does that mean the turtlightII comes with an "earthquake- proof" warranty? a great light even better

 

[Spork]

ahhhhh I can't decide which one to get. I will probably get the infinity since people say it will go for 40 hours with usable light. what about the ledda? I may consider spending over 30. I was reading the ledda has about half the runtime of the lightwave 2k but is much brigter. a website says lightwave will run for 40 hours, so i guess that puts the ledda at 20? the long run time of led flashlights is what got me interested. I was reading about the nightbuster 8x and i heard that really chews up batteries quick which i think defeats the whole purpose of a flashlight. are there any lights as good as the mini mag that last for at least 10 hours?

 

[Spork]

what is the CMG infinity? is it the same as the little flashlight on glowbugs site just shown as "Infinity"

 

[Steelwolf]

Craig: The trouble with "Lifetime Warranty" is that it only means the lifetime of the flashlight. So they can turn around and say "That groove being cut in to the circuit board is normal wear and tear. Sorry, but that is the lifetime your light has. Now if the seal were to leak, or the Lexan lens cap were to crack for no obvious reason (like running your wheelchair over it), or the line where the two halves of the body are bonded were to split, then you have a case. But for this... too bad."

That's why I cautioned against the reliance on "life time warranty" as a mark of how good or reliable a device might be.

As I see it, the Infinity is a good buy, and after using it for a while, you tend to be adapted to it, unless you have severe night blindness. Just the other night, I used it while locking up the church after the youth group meeting. Lots of dark hallways and stairs and I had to go from room to room, level to level, closing doors and switching off lights. The Infinity performed well. I could see everything quite clearly, did not have to stoop closer or strain my eyes to make out anything. So I figure it would be alright in a power outage situation.

 

[Brock]

I am using the Ledda more and more. It is very similar to a long 2 AA mag and about as bright. It uses 3 AA and is as bright as my Trek 7. I like the infinity also. The infinity seems to be the light I have "given" away the most. I carry a Photon on my keys and a Arc in my pocket. I used to carry the infinity, but the Arc is brighter and smaller, and easier to hold in your teeth.

Brock

 

[RonM]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> I will probably get the infinity since people say it will go for 40 hours with usable light. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The Infinity is a neat little light, but is very likely to disappoint you as your first LED flashlight. It is very dim. In many cases you're eyes need to be dark adjusted before you can even make use of its beam.

The PAL will put out more light on low than the Inifinity will and will last 100hrs at this level which is longer than the infinity. Plus you still can switch to high and get lots of light and 20+hrs of use.

The Turtle Lite II is also a great light. One of my favs. Just thought a smaller package would be more desirable for your first LED.

Have fun.

 

[Spork]

ok I just got my flashlights today. plw-3 and the infinity. I put some batteries in the plw-3 and tightened it down. everything was good, but when i took the batteries out i noticed the top battery that makes contact with the led's was crushed. maybe i just over tightened. I was surprised it was made so you can tighten it back as far as you want. the infintity seems to be built similar since the battery presses right against the circuit board. does that cause a durability problem? anyway i was expecting to be disapointed when i got my infinity since everyone said it was so dim but its bright enough to see whats going on at the other end of a dark room and its looks like I could run it over and have no effect on it. also what kind of oil is used on the threads of the infinity and the plw-3?

 

[Steelwolf]

In older models of the Infinity, there was a metal tab and the battery went in positive end first. This modification is supposed to eliminate some problem they had with the previous configuration. Not sure if it works as planned. As for the PLW3, don't worry about crushing the nipple of the battery a little. No adverse effects noted in mine. One of the advantages with being able to screw the cap in a little further, is that in case your light gets subjected to some violence, and the battery nipples get compacted (there as a nice story about this happening somewhere on the web, probably telephony's "Punishment Zone"), you can screw in the cap so that good contact can still be achieved.

I'm not sure what is the original oil they put on the threads, but because there are rubber o-rings, I would suggest using a silicone based lubricant. Petroleum based lubes can do weird stuff to rubber. You will definitely find silicone grease at a dive shop, may be able to find silicone lubes at hardware stores. I was told (but have not tested) that KY Jelly will work too. And that you can probably find at any pharmacy.