HO rechargables

[andyr354]

Talk me into or out of the following.. or suggest something else.

This is for a somebody who will need an easy to use and charge light so I don't want any complicated modded rigs. Want to be in the 200-300 lumen (or higher range)

Any way, have been looking at the Ultrastinger, magcharger, and Wolf Eyes M90-13V Rattlesnake (from PTS).

The streamlight looks to have the nicer beam pattern than the mag does. The WE I don't know much about except a few mentions I have found here.


This will be used checking up on farm animals at night during the winter months and then sit unused alot of the summer. I didn't know how well the batteries would hold up to the sitting idle. Maybe something like a TL-3 would be enough and just put $3 a week of batts in it for the few months it is in use?

Andy

 

[CLHC]

The only rechargeable flashlights that I own—besides the SureFires—is the Maglite Rechargeable. What CPF members call the MC60 (MagCharger w/Welch~Allyn 01160 bulb) is a simple upgrade that I did. To have that smoother beam characteristic, I "misted" or as CPF says, "frosted" the bulb using Armour Etch Glass Etching Cream to get that nice beam pattern.

You can't really go wrong with the choices you've stated for outdoor use. Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

 

[bridgman]

+1 for the MC60.

For your application I think the Magcharger would be better than the Ultrastinger -- the Ultrastinger is smaller, lighter and has a tighter beam but the Magcharger is brighter and VERY easy to upgrade.

You can get upgrade 1160 bulbs here :

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=148443

I don't know much about the Wolf-Eyes, but it does seem to put out a lot of light, roughly the same as an MC60. It uses lithium batteries which should be equally reliable but you'll want to make sure you charge the light somewhere non-flammable in the unlikely case that something goes wrong during charging.

How far away will you be from the farm animals ? I find the MagCharger (stock) is all I need for 50-100 feet but when I'm looking for coyotes at 200+ feet I find the extra power of the upgraded bulb makes a big difference.

If you're going to be well under 200 feet - Magcharger, and you can always upgrade later. If you know you're going to be at 200+ feet then the WolfEyes is probably the best "stock" solution as long as you take a few precautions when charging or storing the light.

If you don't mind a slightly bigger light you might want to look at the Streamlight LiteBox with 20W spot. That puts out about the same as an MC60 with nice runtime (about 3 hours, I think) in case you ever need to search for a lost animal and uses a totally boring and safe Sealed Lead Acid battery. Pricewise I think it's about midway between the MagCharger/Ultrastinger and the WolfEyes.

Streamlight also makes a "Power Failure" version of the Litebox which can act as your emergency power failure light in the house all year and your "go check the animals" light in the winter. Not sure if you can get it in the 20W spot version or just the 8W (like a stock Magcharger or Ultrastinger).

Good luck with your search.

 

[Glen C]

Lithium ion batteries will have no problem sitting idle over summer, such as the batteries which are in the WE. I would familiarise myself with their characteristics in the batteries section. Good luck on your choice.