In need of a BRIGHT Boat Spot Light.

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jtice

jtice

Flashaholic
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
6,331
Location
West Virginia
A buddy and I recently purchased a canoe and are starting to do "float trips" in large stream, rivers and lakes.
IMG_5342.sized.jpg


While I have a plethora of lights that I could use on the boat,
none of them really suit the need perfectly, and maybe none will.

I am not even sure what I am after,
I want something I can keep in the boat, handheld, that is totally water tight,
Something that would float would be a huge bonus, but that may require at least modding it, or attaching something to it.

I have seen some ok looking floating spotlights, etc, but they are all incan.
I would rather stick to LEDs due to runtime and durability concerns.
But I am not sure I can get the throw I am after.
There are plenty of multiple LED mods, like my Milky M375 that are probably bright enough for the task, but I need more throw.

I first thought about my 2C ROP mag mod, but again, its incan, and the runtime isnt all that great.
Although, I may want something Real bright, for quick far off spotting down river, etc.
Plus it would need a fairly large "floater" attached to it.
I was thinking of finding some foam tubing to slip over it, but I am not sure that would be enough to make it float.

I just dont know what route to go with this.
For now, I will be using a Streamlight Survivor LED.
but I dont think it will give me near the throw I am after.
and I still need to attach a floater to it.

As usual, I am probably wanting something that doesnt exist. :ironic:
Not sure if I want to go incan, but I think I may have to.
HID has way too slow of a startup time, so thats out.

~John
 
If you have a 12V marine battery with 80 AH capacity, do you really need to worry about runtime :) ? One of the "one million candlepower!!!!" spotlights at $19.95 would be a starting point. Find one with a cigarette lighter adapter, and build a water resistant socket to suit.
 
Right now, we have a gas powered outboard on it,
so there is no battery onboard the boat at all.
I was wanting to keep this handheld.

~John
 
Another great solution scuttled by the facts.

I've been playing with 6V lanterns. Some of them now take 4D, rather than that expensive 6V lantern battery. Unfortunately, I've also found that when you use a LED PR-type bulb, having that large reflector doesn't help much, since the LED puts most of its light straight ahead.

How about a 4D lantern with a Magnum Star 4D bulb? If you wanted to hop it up, replace the 4D cell holder with a Radio shack 8AA holder, NIMH AA, and a brighter bulb. Alternately, you can usually fit 6-8C in the space of a 6V lantern battery, but the carrier is a pain.
 
I have only toyed around with a couple "hotwire" mods,
such as swapping out 4 cell bulbs with 5 cell ones, etc.

While this does increase brightness, it also increases failure rates, and kills your runtime.

Though, this is a cheap alternative, and besides the nimh cells, wouldnt be a huge loss if its lost or ruined in the water.

I have always wanted to mod a Pelican 4D or 8D Aqua King,
but I am not sure what I could do with it, and if it would be bright enough for what I want.
Shame, its a wonderful host, too bad its only 100,000 CP stock.

~John
 
May I suggest the Utrafire 500? FOr around $35 you'll have a very powerful fairly small light. Use rechargeables or 123's. If you lose it-it's not $100 over the side. Put it in a baggie. It's float if you drop it overboard if it's still in the baggie.
 
may i suggest, whatEVER light you choose . . . .

tie a lanyard/cord to the light, and attach it to yer' canoe.


If/when it decides to go for a "swim", you can easily haul it in.


Good luck in your quest. And enjoy your canoe.


(and always wear a PFD. OK, i'm finished preaching now) :)
 
What about a PT Shockwave LED?
1. It's a spotlight
2. It's an LED
3. It's a scuba light (water a non issue)

http://www.princetontec.com/products/index.php?id=29&type=0&use=2

http://www.brightguy.com/products/Princeton_Tec_Shockwave_LED.php

The only dowside is its kinda pricey

Or the UK c4 Led Spot...little less money...little less brightness

http://www.brightguy.com/products/Sunlight_C4_eLED_(LED_Dive_Light).php

Or its big brother the c8

http://www.brightguy.com/products/Sunlight_C8_eLED_PLUS.php

OR

If you need SUPER bright...

http://www.brightguy.com/products/Light_Cannon_HID_Dive_Light.php

Just some ideas...
 
Last edited:
Whoa !
Those Princeton Tec Shockwaves, and Miniwave LEDs are BEGGing for some Seoul mods :eek:oo:

Has anyone reviewed them?

~John
 
Yea, found that one last night,
seems the specs on the two, as far as output is about the same.
I was excited about the light, until I saw that runtime graph.
No regulation at all. :( Thats really a shame, especially coming from a reputable company.
Looks like it would be a fantastic host, but after replacing the leds, and adding a good converter, it would get rather pricey.

~John
 
The Princeton Tec Surge is pretty bright for it's size. I think it floats if you only load 4 batteries.

Have you looked at UK D4 and D8 dive lights? If you put NiMH D cells in the D4 you can use the 18 watt bulb. Then you can select the 5.8 watt or the 18 watt with the flip of a switch. I do this with the UK Vectra which I got a while back, and I like it. Not sure if you can still find the Vectra, but it was a great deal.
 
In order to even come close to the throw of a big hotwire, IMHO you will be best off finding a Cree LED flashlight that can host an Aspheric lens. In the case of a normal LED flashlight, more than half of the light usually exits as spill (unlike an incandescent where light is emitted in all directions, LEDs emit into either a half-sphere, or narrow cone, so less light hits the reflector) The combination of the narrow beam-angle, and the short focal length of those lenses means that almost 100% of the lumens from the LED get collimated into a sharp beam.

this is an example of the difference between reflector-based, and lens-based LED lights:


The light above uses this lens. While the Lumapower is a great light, it's not buoyant, and probably more expensive than what you need. I'm looking for a cheaper host for the same lens as I've been impressed by the performance.
 
Nice beams there Trinity,

While I admire the throw those types of mods can have, I find lights with no side spill much less useful for the most part.
They create tunnel vision too much.

I have not really found a solution I like yet.
That Tri-Lux PT Shockwave and Miniwave looked awesome,
but they arent all that bright for a TriLux, and I would want to mod them to Seoul.
Then I saw that they are basically direct drive and have no regulation, which bugs me to death.

I may end up just using my 2C ROP mag.
I am running a couple 18650s in it, so it has a fairly flat output over time.

I thought about swapping bulbs out of an incan one, such as Austin suggested,
but then I would be using alks or nimh, and the runtime wouldnt be as flat.

As always, I am wanting the impossible or insanely expensive :p

~John
 
You might check into this. With a Phillips 5761 bulb, and two AW C's, you'd have a nice pocket spot, with Multi-Levels. Water would be the only issue though.
 
Last edited:
jtice said:
Nice beams there Trinity,

While I admire the throw those types of mods can have, I find lights with no side spill much less useful for the most part.
They create tunnel vision too much.
Click to expand...
If you line the insides of the light with reflective tape (some guys actually paint the inside of their light black to eliminiate spill completely), then there is still some side spill (as you can see on the indoor pic) more than enough to see where you are going while using the light to spot something out in the distance. It behaves more like an Incan lamp with a deep reflector in terms of the ratio of spill to throw. Also, the head can be partially unscrewed to defocus the hotspot, as well.

Of course, the M1 with smooth reflector is, itself, a pretty good throwing light. My philosophy though is that I'd rather have all throw with just enough spill to get by, or all flood (in many cases, accomplished by slapping a diffuser over a throw light)

That Tri-Lux PT Shockwave and Miniwave looked awesome,
but they arent all that bright for a TriLux, and I would want to mod them to Seoul.
Then I saw that they are basically direct drive and have no regulation, which bugs me to death.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure how the light is wired etc. but the cheapest way to drive 3 Seouls off of 8Cs, regulated, would be to arrange the batteries into a 4-series, 2-parallel configuration (6V initially) then use a separate buck regulator on each Seoul. The Seoul Emitters, and the regulators can be purchased from DX (I have used the 3.6-9V chips, have yet to try out the 3-6V) for a total of $27.50.
 
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