Inspection Flashlight

[Aruss87]

First of all, thanks for reading! I am an exterminator, and I use my flashlight on every job I go to. I NEED a bright flood beam, preferably with Hi/Low settings. I just bought a Lumintop Prince - Stainless Steel and LOVE the holster, design, and feel of it. But, the functionality is not my style . I have used cheap Chinese flashlights in the past but the quality is unsatisfactory. The do put out some light with some good 18650s, but I want something more like the Lumintop Prince or EDC25 that I saw on this forum - which I'm loving so far!
My requirements for a light are:
- 18650 battery
- No strobe - OR - a separate tactical mode that would enable the strobe for when I would want to use it outside of work. (I don't want to have to cycle through a violent S T R O B E mode when I'm looking at a light-colored surface up close.)
- Tail cap switch preferred.
- Zoomable preferred.
- and most importantly... the F L O O D beam spread. Niiiice even light.

If nothing OTS is ringing any bells for my choice work flashlight, please let me know of any cheap flashlights with a good body that I could modify. The thought of that is pretty cool to me also... most of the lights I see online are hard for me to judge the quality of the body's design... although I know a lot of the "slide-zoom" flashlights wear out and slide too easy after a short while.

Any info appreciated. THANK YOU!!

 

[Connor]

Zebralight SC600Fd III Plus. Super floody, excellent light quality (92+ CRI), very nice even light. 1500 lumens (for a minute). Very well regarded manufacturer here on CPF.

Has a side clicky, though. I would suggest to forget about zoomable lights (usually bad quality and low quality beams, too). Has a strobe mode but it's not "in the way". Many different and well spaced out brightness levels.

 

[jonnyfgroove]

Maybe a Solarforce P60 host with a mule drop in?

EDIT: I would go with the Zebra as Connor recommended if you can deal with the side e switch.

 

[colight]

Being the owner of a Fenix FD41, and having had a FD30 before, I can definitely recommend any of these two if you're looking for zoomable. Both of them strike a good balance between flood and spot beams, and you won't be surprised by flashing strobe, although they both have that in case it is needed. I posted some pictures before of beamshots of both of these if you're interested. Definitely worth looking at these flashlights!

 

[noboneshotdog]

Zebralight SC600Fd III Plus. Super floody, excellent light quality (92+ CRI), very nice even light. 1500 lumens (for a minute). Very well regarded manufacturer here on CPF.

Has a side clicky, though. I would suggest to forget about zoomable lights (usually bad quality and low quality beams, too). Has a strobe mode but it's not "in the way". Many different and well spaced out brightness levels.

+1 this is an excellent choice and I am a plumbing /hvac tech that does many inspections as well. It's just about as good of a light as you can find for this type of light in the 18650 category.

My personal favorite is the Olight R50 Pro LE as it has a fast in car charger, larger capacity 26650 battery, compact size and great beam profile.

I bought my R50 pro from SkyLumen.com as you can also choose the 5000K neutral tinted led there if you like a more neutral color tint. If not it comes in cool white as standard. It also has a great UI as well with hidden blinky modes.

Good luck with your search. :wave:

 

[Timothybil]

It's probably a little more than you want to pay, but the Olight SR Mini Intimidator is a great flood light. It has the lumens to reach out if needed, but by design it is a floody light with a nice even beam. The only drawback is that it isn't a high CRI light, and for the kind of work you are doing, I would think very good color definition would be definite advantage, if not a requirement.

 

[Aruss87]

It's probably a little more than you want to pay, but the Olight SR Mini Intimidator is a great flood light. It has the lumens to reach out if needed, but by design it is a floody light with a nice even beam. The only drawback is that it isn't a high CRI light, and for the kind of work you are doing, I would think very good color definition would be definite advantage, if not a requirement.

CRI isn't too awful important to me, I just hate a high Kelvin output. I like white, probably 52-5400 would be the highest I could put up with.

And thanks so much for the replies guys!! I'm so happy to have stumbled across this forum!

 

[Aruss87]

I might add......

price point is around $50. I like something smooth and cylindrical (please hold the jokes) because I keep the flashlight in a pocket on my thigh and the fewer corners on the light the better- for the longevity of the fabric of my pants. I looked at the solar force lights and they looked like a decent body. As for the "p60 host" and "mule drop in", could you please elaborate??

also, anyone want to buy a Lumintop Prince with holster??? It's in great condition! 😎

 

[AVService]

I would suggest going the other way maybe?
I also work in many places and construction a lot and woudn't want to be carrying any expensive or quirky lights that I might misplace or get too nasty and I would look at the Convoy S2+ for these kinds of use.

I love that they are so inexpensive and available in so many different configurations and tints but then they are also just so nice too somehow!

I have been working on the road recently and also in a huge NFL practice facility and the S2+ has quickly become my go to light for these uses for the reach and run time as well as I just don't worry as much about hurting them though I have been unable to hurt them so far either.

I would also think that a Neutral tint light will make it easier to identify vermin and vermin poop in your application and the Convoy is the same low price either way.

These also fit well in the side ruler pocket on my work jeans and I don't need a holster usually but I do carry them anyway just in case.

I do love each of my Zebra for sure but the Convoy is just a nice tool for the price and I can carry 4 of them to 1 ZL for the money!

 

[Timothybil]

OK, 'P60' is a shorthand a lot of us use to describe a D26 (26mm diameter) drop in. P60 was the D26 drop in incandescent lamp fixture from the original Surefire 6P, C2, G2 family of lights. It is referencing the whole industry of providing incandescent and LED drop ins for similar sized lights. A 'drop in' is a complete assembly of lamp/LED, reflector, and driver as a single unit that can be just 'dropped in' to the head of any one of those lights.
A 'host' is basically any light comprised of bezel (drop in holder & lens), body, tail cap, and cell(s). It can come with its own drop in, or be bought as an empty 'host' that any drop in one has purchased can be placed into. An example from my experience is I purchased an original Surefire G2 with incandescent drop in, and a D26/P60 drop in from Lumens Factory that provides me with 90+ CRI, three modes of low/medium/high, and a max output of around 700 lumens. Another example can be found on the Mountain Electronics web site. Richard sell several 'blank' hosts that one can pair up with any drop on one wants. I particularly like his CUXM/CUXP drop in using a Nichia high CRI emitter. Other major providers of drop ins would be Malkoff Devices and Solarforce. Malkoff's devices are like the Abrams M1A1 of drop ins. and one can find the spectrum from there to cheap Chinese ones selling for less than $5 and worth about that.

 

[Sledgestone]

I would go for a Solarforce L2T or L2 with a Hi/Low Sportac triple Nichia.