Light recommendation for Home Inspector

[dano101]

Hey all, a buddy of mine is going to be completing his 'home inspectors' course soon and will be needing a light. Just curious what youd recommend. Price isnt overly important as long as its justifiable.

Dano

 

[Sgt. LED]

Won't need much throw. :thinking: Give me a minute...............

 

[StarHalo]

Something that's quite floody with just some throw; any of the Quarks would work nicely.

 

[dano101]

Yah throw will be limited to probably 10-15 feet just for attic and crawlspace work.

 

[SFG2Lman]

quark123, small, one handed operation, powerful, convenient to clip to wherever for quick easy access,

quark AA if battery scarcity is an issue...but lower output and runtime...and increased size (slightly) are the cons

 

[dano101]

i cant remember but does the quark have a foreward clicky? as well i was thinking of a light with simple on-off or very simple UI.

 

[njet212]

Hey all, a buddy of mine is going to be completing his 'home inspectors' course soon and will be needing a light. Just curious what youd recommend. Price isnt overly important as long as its justifiable.

Dano

This thread might help you

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=96884

Copy and paste the result here

 

[hyperloop]

if there're going to be crawlspaces involved and a range of 10 - 15 ft, i was wondering if a headlamp might not be a better idea.

Zebralight H501W (warm tint), runs on 1xAA and is small and light, hardly even know its there, it can also be detached from the headband and comes with accessories so can be clipped to a pocket etc. You can see the beamshots for the H501 here.

Then, if you really want to, get him another small 1xAA handheld, if its being used mostly indoors, any decent 1xAA would work fine, Nitecore D10 is on stock clearance at 4sevens now (but hurry, it ends on the 15th of October). Any of the 1xAAs from shiningbeam would work well too, or consider a 2xAA for longer runtimes if required.

 

[Anto]

I would say a Streamlight Strion just for the rechargable factor. Multiple modes are a plus too.

 

[CaNo]

I would say that his ability to differentiate color is quite important in his line of work... Put in consideration when he is inspecting for mold or water damage... he doesn't want a light that will be blinding. Cool white lights are very bright, but also very distracting, not to mention, he will have one hell of a time trying to figure out colors, unlike a warm or neutral tint light.

My recommendation is a LiteFlux LF2XT Q4. I have used this light while house hunting, and have gotten great results. It is portable, could be worn around the neck, and great for telling colors apart. It may not be as strong as a Quark per say, but it gets the job done, especially if you are using a 10440 cell. Keep in mind, while the Quark is a phenomenal light... it does have a strong beam, with little spill. I don't know how well that will work if his job requires flood...

 

[CaseyS]

A Malkoff MD2 w/M60WLF + 18650 battery. Good runtime, great color, pure flood.

 

[RobertM]

I would say that his ability to differentiate color is quite important in his line of work... Put in consideration when he is inspecting for mold or water damage... he doesn't want a light that will be blinding. Cool white lights are very bright, but also very distracting, not to mention, he will have one hell of a time trying to figure out colors, unlike a warm or neutral tint light.

I agree, he really needs to get something with good color rendition for his line of work. I'd say some sort of high CRI LED (not just warm, but actually high CRI) or an incand. While not an LED, I'd go with a SF G3 with the P90 on 2x AW 17500 cells. Nice bright semi-floody beam from the P90, great CRI (obviously) and rechargeable. If rechargeable isn't needed, I'd go with an SF A2-WH. Even better yet, a new SF A2L-WH and see if Milky can mod the primary LED to a high-CRI Seoul (S42180) :devil:

-Robert

 

[travelinman]

I don't know if you should be dismissing "throw" so soon. I just had to get up and look down into my chimney and you need lots of throw to penetrate the blackness right to the bottom. :candle: Btw...I found 3 distinctly different sizes of ceramic liners because my M20 has great "throw". :sigh:

Even when I'm in a big room like an unfinished basement and need to see something like a concrete crack or bracing or whatever, I want to focus on the detail, not the whole room. Disclaimer.....I'm not a building inspector, but since I've built a few houses, it seems like my friends want me to constantly come and "look over" houses of their parents/relatives etc. (I always recommend they hire a professional as well)

Since the Olight M20 is not normally considered an EDC light, I simply sewed about 6" of seam into the side of my jeans pocket liner about 1.5" from the outside. This creates a "mini pocket" in which the M20 fits perfectly. It keeps vertical and out of the way of keys and other assorted junk that seems to accumulate down there :thinking:. I never notice it's there anymore. Oh, yah, I also replaced the M20 "thumb grip" with the smooth threaded ring, much more pocket friendly.

 

[benhar]

I'd vote the Neutral Quark 2AA Tactical. It has forward clicky, and for moving around and inspecting in my own attic, I find the longer, slimmer form to be very convenient and ergonomic. I would think for heavy use and crawling around, a 1 battery light would be a little small and easy to drop; maybe I just have big hands. Since he will use it every day, the AAs allow for more readily available batteries, and he could get some Eneloops for nightly charging.

Edit: Added "Neutral" for better color rendering :)

 

[McJagger]

Perhaps you could think about a Fenix LD01. It's a very powerful keychain light, you can use standard AAA or AAA sized Li-ion batteries if you need more power. Should be enough for indoor use...

 

[Painful Chafe]

Quark with neutral tint and a Zebralight headlamp wih neutral tint. I'm assuming he wants AA battery powered lights?

Here is the Quark 2xAA Neutral:
http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=297_310&products_id=1671

If he wants to get into RCR123 batteries(he will need rechargeable batteries and a charger). This Quark will give slightly better run time and output and it is smaller:
http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=297_310&products_id=1669

And here is a link to Zebralights website:
http://www.zebralight.com/index.php?main_page=index

 

[qwertyydude]

I'd say get him a P60 based light, that way he can have the option of getting different drop ins to suit his needs. I know I've got a small collection of them, I've got an 10w incan, R2, MC-E, and UV. This will make the most versatile light and it has decent throw with plenty of flood.

 

[Bort]

I work as a commercial building inspector, and have found that small, pocketable, single cell lights work for me just fine 98% of the time.
I carry either a Novatac, SF L1, or a Fenix LD10. I also keep a cheapie Dorcy spotlight charged up in my vehicle if I need a bunch of light. A small keychain AAA cell light is a must for backup.
I use rechargeable cells almost exclusively. Get a good digital voltmeter so you know when the cells need a charge, and keep some spare primaries, and some topped off rechargeables in your vehicle, and you are good to go.

 

[HKJ]

I use rechargeable cells almost exclusively. Get a good digital voltmeter so you know when the cells need a charge

When taking the cells out, there are no reason to measure them, just put them in the charger, this procedure works very well for LiIon.
NiMH can not be measured reliable with a voltmeter, you need a battery tester for that.

 

[jumpin jack flash]

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