looking for a floody light

[snapper]

I would like to stay with surefire or streamlight. I know nothing about streamlight leds. In surefire i have a luxeon e2l and a e1b. Both have the tir optic, which means a big hot spot and not much flood. So that means just about all the e series have a spot type beam. I think the l4 might have the beam i am looking for, not sure. And then streamlight i am not sure of their characteristics. So i want a floody light, dont need much throw. Mainly for lighting up a big area when i am working on some thing or in a dark room. How is the beam on a 6pl? IS it floody or more spot? Any suggestions?? floody cr123 bats, surefire or streamlight. f04 beam diffuser might work but i dont like them, to easy to lose.

Later!! chris

 

[GreySave]

The L4 is floody, but expect only an hour on the batteries. The U2 has a smaller flood area then the L4, but you have 6 power levels to choose from to extend battery life.

This is outside of your criteria, but Coleman offers an Exponent 2 cell 123A powered light with a single white emitter and 5 red emitters that has a wider flood than the L4. Battery life is 1.5 hours on high and I believe 5 hours on the second level, which is slightly lower. The red LEDs will run forever.

 

[sol-leks]

Sorry, this is also outside if your brand criteria, but maybe u should look at the fenix e20, that should have all the flood you could want, plus, the hot spot if you need it.

 

[PhantomPhoton]

If you can wait and have a lot of $ to burn the SF U2B will be out sometime withing the next year (we hope). That one should have a nice floody beam.

Another great floody, actually available, is a Wolf Eyes P7 Sniper.

Or you can do a Malkoff M60 F dropin for a P60 type body.

I'm not aware of any good Streamlight floody options at this time.

 

[manoloco]

i can think of a couple of lights that you could like but are not Surefire or Streamlight:

HDS EDC
Novatac

Use this as a perfect excuse to try more versatile lights, for that i recommend the programmable versions, plus they are very rugged and strong, specially HDSs

The beam is a nice flood, but from the beamshots i have seen, the zebralight h50 takes the cake in that department, its pure flood.


I would love to try a Surefire (specially an L1 cree) i really itch to try them, and i havent even seen one in person, but using only cr123 primaries is something i doubt i could be conviced of, too expensive to run, specially in my country. The only exception i make for that is an Inova XO1 we use as a family emergency light that is handy, it definitely must have a good shelf life for that use, and the size and UI is perfect for the task.

If you are willing to pay more for a lot more quality you could look at Mcgizmos mule... (I would DEFINITELY love to try a Mcgizmo too, specially after experiencing a PD in my nitecore EX10, but to my economy thats definitely a dream :thinking: :sigh

In the end the only floody lights i can recommend because i have tried them are the HDS EDC and the Novatac (mine are a U60 and 120P respectively)

Sorry i didnt recommend a Surefire or a Streamlight like you requested, but i think the ones i listed are good options.

 

[Gunner12]

The 6P, C2 or any P60 accepting light(like the 6P or C2) with the Malkoff M60F or M60LF drop-in should work well. Should run longer and have more output then the L4.

 

[zven]

Since you already have the E2L and E1B, the first and cheapest solution that comes to mind is the SureFire F04 beam filter. It's a handy little diffuser that fits over the head of any SF E-series light, and spreads that tight TIR beam out into a very usable flood. I've got one for my L1, and it works wonders, both on the L1's low setting for close-up tasks, and on high, when I need to light up a room. And at $12, I doubt you'll find anything better or more convenient.

If you're looking to get a new light, though, you've got a number of options. As has been stated, the L4 and U2 are among the options available to you. The L2 would be another; as far as I know, it's beam is pretty close to that of the L4, but it gives you 2 levels of light. Personally, I'd say that the G2L (or 6PL) would be more economical, though. With that, you get a relatively tight hotspot (good for some mid-range throw, as well as focusing your vision at a single point when searching or investigating something), and a spill beam that is plenty bright and usable. Not having the L4 et al, I can't make that comparison, but my G2L has great spill; much more usable indoors than my L1 without the diffuser (outdoors I prefer the L1's beam, though).

As has also been mentioned, you could get a G2/6P and put a Malkoff M60LF (or M60F, as long as it's in a metal body) in it. This gives you a great beam, perfectly smooth with no rings whatsoever, and no harsh transition from spill to no light, as you get with reflector lights like the stock G2L. The M60LF also gives you a pretty good amount of throw, for a flood light.

The best flood light I've used, though, is a SF C2 with Malkoff M60 with a SF FM34 diffuser. Like the F04 for the E-series, the FM34 fits on the C2/6P/G2/etc., except it diffuses the beam even more. The beam you get is much more floody than the M60LF would give you alone. You don't get a lot of throw with this filter on, but the nice thing about it is you can flip it to an "off" position whenever you want, effectively giving you a light that lets you choose between spot and flood. Here's a beamshot comparison to demonstrate:

Mind you the FM34 can be used on any 6P-sized light, and you could keep the SF P60L if you wanted. I do recommend a Malkoff M60 or M60L, or some other bright drop-in, as the SF module doesn't have the greatest efficiency.