Looking for a thrower on budget

[rizky_p]

Hi all, firstly MRV or D-mini would be my choice if i had the greens but
good news for me is there are alternative like these:

Ultrafire C2
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1446
U2-Clone:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1285
3W Cree projection:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4081

at www.lightreview.info 3W Cree is best of three but that is the only source i can get about this light.
http://www.lightreviews.info/cree_led_digital/review.html

there are couple of threads that talks about Ultrafire C2 and U2-clone and seems U2 wins for best throw, but then number at www.lightreview.info gave a conflicting result regarding the two.

I am in really-really confusing state, could anyone please helps?

not to mention this one.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3356

Look to be the winner but reviews are rare.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[gerry45]

Hi,

Looking for the same thing here.

1. The 3W reviewed is not the one 3W you linked in your post. It's this one at 25.72$:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2681

2. The very last in your list should be OK working with 2x18500 but don't expect a death ray with 1x18500 or 1x16340. To me this light is too expensive and asks too much battery to working properly.

3. Another interresting light is the new Eastyard alu reflector 2 modes
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4424
Kyle said it's the U2, but also working with Cr123 + better board + cosmetic change. Look at his reply down page.

The 2 modes of this light eliminates the C2 and the rest of improvements eliminates the U2.

Hope this helps.

 

[rizky_p]

Hi,

Looking for the same thing here.

1. The 3W reviewed is not the one 3W you linked in your post. It's this one at 25.72$:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2681

2. The very last in your list should be OK working with 2x18500 but don't expect a death ray with 1x18500 or 1x16340. To me this light is too expensive and asks too much battery to working properly.

3. Another interresting light is the new Eastyard alu reflector 2 modes
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4424
Kyle said it's the U2, but also working with Cr123 + better board + cosmetic change. Look at his reply down page.

The 2 modes of this light eliminates the C2 and the rest of improvements eliminates the U2.

Hope this helps.

Yes thanks for correcting me

#3(EYJ Cree) is interesting nice that you mention it, i might ruled-out U2-clone and C2 altogether, but the last light in my lists still bugging me. I dont mind having multiple battery to carry as long as it is a throw monster. Do you think it will outhrows the EYJ cree that you mention?

 

[JuanMijangos]

Hi, I have 3 cree lights, the spartian, the c2 and the Super Thrower. Comparing the 3, the super thrower easily throws much more (maybe triple the distance or more) than the other two. I just receive the Super Thrower yesterday and I love it.

If your batteries are too long for the flashlight to work properly, just add a spacer beteewn the extension tube and the main flashlight. That way it lets you tight the extension and use the momentary switch. Im using two rechargeable protected 18650 (that came with my xtar), and with the spacer, it works very well. I made the spacer with a pvc tube.

I'm going to test it this weekend in a forest and will tell you monday how far it can shine things.

The runtime is short for two 18650 (1.5 hours), as some people tell, but maybe its possible to install a better circuit from the sandwich shope.

The fit and finish are great, like the other budget cree lights from dealextreme. The reflector if big, deep and plastic, well polished. The lens is glass. The cree is a star well centered.

Here are some extra pictures of my flashlight.

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=166420

Hope this helps

Juan.

 

[robm]

I have the U2-Clone:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1285

And the Super Thrower 2x18650
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3356

The Super Thrower is by far the best throw LED light I have, measuring over 15000 lux at 1m, U2 clone on high is 4500. This gives the Super Thrower about 2 x the throw distance.

 

[LukeA]

You could build yourself an aspheric mag for $65. Some of those have been measured at up to 75,000 lux.

 

[2xTrinity]

"Throw" comparison beamshots, including ultrafire C2 -- the bottom line is that the C2 is more of a flood light due to the shallow reflector -- most of the light ends up as spill. A light with aspheric lens is your best bet for maximum throw from an LED.



This is a closeup of the tree, taken with optical zoom and a fixed 1/2 second exposure. Auto white balance was used on all (pretty close to what you actually see out there). Tree is about 70-75 feet from the flashlights in these shots.


I have a U2 Clone that should be arriving in a few days, that might be able to host a 30x20mm aspheric lens (if that works, it should outperform the Lumapower in the shots above). Also, the DX super-thrower might be able to fit a 52x35mm aspheric lens used on some custom maglite mods. Hotspot intensities upwards of 75,000 lux are possible with a Cree LED and that lens.

The runtime is short for two 18650 (1.5 hours), as some people tell, but maybe its possible to install a better circuit from the sandwich shope.

Kyle said that light was getting about 900mA-1A to the emitter. If that is true, and they are only getting 1.5hrs on 2x18650 they are almost certainly using a linear regulator, and simply throwing away half of the energy with resistance. Installing one of the 800mA 3.6-9V drivers from DX should more than double the runtime (that's a very cheap buck converter), while at the same time being much cheaper than a sandwich shoppe driver (though those will undeniably offer better performance, just not sure if you want to invest that kind of money).

 

[fletch31]

Hey 2xtrinity, I was going for the same thing with a U2 clone and the 30mm aspheric lens but my package showed up today with just the charger that I ordered with no flashlight or lithium ions that I ordered. I've got a lens and no light. I heard that these lights were on back order. Let me know if you get yours because it may mean that someone opened my package in transit. I think its going to be a great thrower on the cheap.

 

[x2x3x2]

Hi there,

The discrepencies between output numbers from tests by other may be the result of many things.

1. Even tho the hotspots generally have the same intensity around most of it's area, there are slight variations within it. In my tests, I always position/rotate the lights to find the optimum point in the hotspot which gives the highest reading which takes quite a bit of fiddling.

2. The hotspot of the EYJ U2 clone is much larger than the UltraFire C2, so it might perceptively appear brighter too.

I have not personally handled the 3W Cree Projection light, but from the impressions by other CPFers, it's definitely the way to go if you are going for throw only.

 

[rizky_p]

Can anyone do a beamshot between Super Thrower 2x18650 and the rest(U2 Clone, etc)

cant wait to get Super Thrower 2x18650

thanks