LED Lenser P7?

[testctv]

Hi

Let me start of by stating that I am new to this forum as well as the world of flashlights. I am by no means knowledgeable in this field whatsoever.

We went camping a few weeks back and while having a barbeque (or "braai" as we call it in South Africa) at night, my friend whipped out his LED Lenser P7 flashlight to provide illumination. I was totally blown away that a single LED bulb could emit such potent light intensity. Just as I thought things could not get any better, he showed me the zoom (Advanced Focus System) feature. Not to mention the distance that this little gadget was capable of covering. That was it, I was sold, I wanted one!

Doing some research trying to source one in South Africa, I noticed they are retailing for roughly $65 (US) if I were to use to current exchange rate of $1 = R8.52 (ZAR). Please keep in mind that in countries like my own, we always pay more for ANYTHING when compared to the US. It’s not just a case of the item being me expensive, but also that we are usually ripped off in my county as people put ridiculous markup on everything. In any case...

I stumbled upon this forum and noticed there was a big dislike (in some cases hate) for LED Lenser. I was shocked. Most complaints were about it being overpriced and old-tech. Look, in my uneducated opinion, my friend's P7 was far from old-tech. Maybe it’s a case of not knowing what you don't know.

I want a flashlight for general purpose, nothing specific. Just want good quality, non-cheapy plastic rubbish flashlight with excellent light intensity such as the P7. It does not have to be rechargeable. I liked how compact the P7 is. I read that LED Lenser has the pending patent for the zooming / focus feature. Does this mean that other brands do not have a similar feature at all? I really like the feature a lot.
Hi

Let me start of by stating that I am new to this forum as well as the world of flashlights. I am by no means knowledgeable in this field whatsoever.

We went camping a few weeks back and while having a barbeque (or "braai" as we call it in South Africa) at night, my friend whipped out his LED Lenser P7 flashlight to provide illumination. I was totally blown away that a single LED bulb could emit such potent light intensity. Just as I thought things could not get any better, he showed me the zoom (Advanced Focus System) feature. Not to mention the distance that this little gadget was capable of covering. That was it, I was sold, I wanted one!

Doing some research trying to source one in South Africa, I noticed they are retailing for roughly $65 (US) if I were to use to current exchange rate of $1 = R8.52 (ZAR). Please keep in mind that in countries like my own, we always pay more for ANYTHING when compared to the US. It’s not just a case of the item being me expensive, but also that we are usually ripped off in my county as people put ridiculous markup on everything. In any case...

I stumbled upon this forum and noticed there was a big dislike (in some cases hate) for LED Lenser. I was shocked. Most complaints were about it being overpriced and old-tech. Look, in my uneducated opinion, my friend's P7 was far from old-tech. Maybe it’s a case of not knowing what you don't know.

I want a flashlight for general purpose, nothing specific. Just want good quality, non-cheapy plastic rubbish flashlight with excellent light intensity such as the P7. It does not have to be rechargeable. I liked how compact the P7 is. I read that LED Lenser has the pending patent for the zooming / focus feature. Does this mean that other brands do not have a similar feature at all? I really like the feature a lot.

Many thanks

 

[mcnair55]

Re: LED Lenser P8?

First of all get yourself something better,loads out there far better.I have Led Lenser and they are ok but that is it just ok.

Led Lenser are one of the best in marketing there range.In the UK you can pick them up near on anywhere for example : Outdoor pursuit stores-farm stores-trade stores-safety equipment stores-gadget stores and and and.

My advice have a look at a Fenix rather than mess with an LL.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Re: LED Lenser P8?

The flood-zoom system used on Coast/LEDLenser products is a bit more involved than most other zoomy flashlights. It does one thing well, radically changing the beam shape as needed. However, I haven't used a zoomy flashlight since I began getting neat lights for one simple reason:

The zoomed or un-zoomed beam is a specialist thing. Zoomed out, it is acceptable to walk around with (And perfect for up-close work on a flat panel). Zoomed in, it is acceptable to see farther with (And perfect for spotlighting a tiny object far away). But for general use, it's tough to get a good beam out of a moveable lens or reflector.

People here rag on Coast/LEDLenser for misleading product claims. One such is "100 lumens for 10 hours," when the manufacturer means, "100 lumen for 3 minutes, quickly dropping to 30 lumen for five hours, then ten for many hours." Most people buying a 100 lumen light don't want a 30 lumen light! Other flashlight manufacturers use money saved in the complex zoom attachments to upgrade the electronics.

The construction of most zoomy lights leaves waterproofing to be desired. I hear of more problems in heavy rain with LEDLenser lights than most other brands... but I have not experienced this. I would not use the zoom feature underwater or move the head in heavy rain. The newer Coast/LEDLenser offerings are getting to be pretty good.

The big-box-store sellers have finally had to step up, with Coast's new critters finally reaching better output and regulation; Mag Lite's PRO+ series, and so on. Competition has finally reached them, and this can only improve things. Coast haters, prepare to slightly modify your opinions. We hope!

 

[testctv]

Re: LED Lenser P8?

Bah

I noticed I made a mistake in the thread title. Meant P7, not P8.

And what about he LL M7 or MT7 then? Most people complain that LL's don't have any regulation circuitry, though the M series now does.

Is regulation circuitry really a good thing to have? I noticed the estimated burn time difference between a P7 and M7 is huge (64 VS 11).

 

[AnAppleSnail]

I think you can edit title by editing the first post. Also, your english is excellent!

Regulation does just what I said. More consistent brightness for longer. The P7 will be much dimmer than it started out, soon after turn-on. Is that what you want? For some people that is great. But having to replace batteries after an hour of use just because the light dims down instead of finishing batteries off gets old very quickly. Most of my lights will use most of their power near full brightness, only decreasing brightness when the batteries are very low. If you were ten kilometers inside a cave, you might appreciate a longer run-out of an unregulated light. Or the gradual dimming might bother you as it hides details.

Just know what you're getting. Coast/LEDLenser has no magic electronics. Longer runtime with given batteries will usually be dimmer on average.

 

[bietjiedof]

Hi Testctv

I'm also in South Africa (Gordon's Bay) and I've been through the same learning curve.

There are quite a few places where one can buy good quality flashlights now - Due South is carrying Klarus, Dad's Toys sell Fenix, you can get Fenix and Olight online from iWarehouse (or from their showroom in Somerset West) and Nitecore have their own online store. There are also a couple of online stores selling cheaper generic flashlights, for example Extremelights (not allowed to use the URL here...)

I think the Led Lensers are very useful around the house - I still have and use a P7 and a P14 - but for more (and more consistent) power, these other brands are better. iWarehouse recently had the little Olight T10 on sale for R230, and they currently have the Olight i6 Paladin for R500 - this will blow away the LL P14, which is around the same price, and be very useful for outdoors stuff and also self-protection (blinding someone!)

The only thing is that the best lights use Li-ion batteries which are very pricey here. The rechargeable RCR123s in the T10 go for about R100, and a charger is R220. The (non-rechargeable) CR123s are R45 at Dischem - and double that in other places. More powerful lights like the i6 use an 18650 battery which is R190 for a Cytac from iWarehouse. I've managed to harvest some 18650s from a bike-light (and you can also get them out of unused laptop batteries). You can get cheaper (in both price and quality) 18650s from Extremelights.

Good luck!

 

[yellow]

I dont need to go over the non-pros of LL again, there are enough threads on that ...


just think over:
4 * AAA cells house about the same energy as
1 * AA (while a "typical light" uses 2 cells of these), or
0,3*18650 Li-Ion ...
(rechargeable cells used for calculation)

so when using the "better" version
2 * AA: one gets double the energy but reduces number loose cells extremely. While the even better version:
1*18650: kills everything else in all respects
... while the size of the light stays almost the same.


PS:
1.: do not purchase lights/batteries/electronics in local stores and then complain about prices ;)
2.: when really using lights --> rechargeable only

 

[Verndog]

I've had the Lenser MT7 a little over a year. It's a good quality light with 220 lumens on 4 AAA's with 235 meters throw and a wall of flood for close up (also infinite variable brightness). I still like it, but honestly it doesn't get used that much and here is why. At full throw it is good ONLY for long distances, at full flood it's great for close work, but in between it lacks, and that is where you spend a good deal of time with a light. There are better general purpose lights out there for less, I'd recommend a Fenix E25 to start and go from there.