My way to the Light 
Some Time ago I was on vacation at Madeira hiking around this beautiful Island.
It also happens that you have to pass trough a lot of tunnels following the way the levadas goes, so a flashlight was obligatory. I packed what I got – a 2D cell Plastic incan Flashlight. So to make the story short after leaving the first Tunnel I knew I need a serious light.
The other people in the group had various lights from incan to led. The led ones were mostly multi LED (5mm) types. But none of those could impress me. I remembered that I once used a SureFire 6P some Years ago doing some Security tasks. I loved that Light because it was small had a great output and I was greatly amazed by the flawless prefocused Beam created by the OP Reflector. The only drawback – it was WAY too expensive for me at that time and it also sucked the extreme expensive CR123 Batteries empty in no time.
But being pi… off by my crappy Light I was ready to put down some money!
So searching the internet about what's hot and new at SureFire and in the Flashlight Area in general I came across this Forum (how could it be otherwise? ) and learned a great deal about Flashlights. I learned that LED's had come a long way since the crappy 5mm LED's I've seen and so runtimes had improved greatly compared to incan.
So I put my thoughts together about what I do expect from my new Light:
- Small (it should fit my hand nicely) and Lightweight (The 2D crappolight got HEAVY after holding it on the stretched Arm for a while)
- Solid enough so it wont break apart when dropped
- At least Weatherproof
- MUST use a LED (because it never burns out, shockproof, runs longer etc)
- Adjustable output (to balance Runtime and Light output as needed)
Unfortunately Surefire got only one Light that meets most of my requirements - The U2 - but after seeing its price I knew I had to look elsewhere.
I discovered that what Fenix offers seems to fit nicely so again I read everything I could only to be more confused afterwards because of the complains regarding Chinese build quality, reliability, etc
Then I found the Gladius – It had everything I wanted in an appealing package but unfortunately a (as everyone says) outdated emitter and also a high price.
So after some months of reading thinking etc I ended the confusion and ordered a Insight H2X Typhoon and a Fenix P3D Premium 100.
Spending more money in the end as planned and ordered more lights than planned (justified it to myself that my wife would need also a light when hiking again ) raised the feeling that reading this Forum get you dragged to the dark… ehmm bright Side (and burns a hole in your wallet)
Some Time ago I was on vacation at Madeira hiking around this beautiful Island.
It also happens that you have to pass trough a lot of tunnels following the way the levadas goes, so a flashlight was obligatory. I packed what I got – a 2D cell Plastic incan Flashlight. So to make the story short after leaving the first Tunnel I knew I need a serious light.
The other people in the group had various lights from incan to led. The led ones were mostly multi LED (5mm) types. But none of those could impress me. I remembered that I once used a SureFire 6P some Years ago doing some Security tasks. I loved that Light because it was small had a great output and I was greatly amazed by the flawless prefocused Beam created by the OP Reflector. The only drawback – it was WAY too expensive for me at that time and it also sucked the extreme expensive CR123 Batteries empty in no time.
But being pi… off by my crappy Light I was ready to put down some money!
So searching the internet about what's hot and new at SureFire and in the Flashlight Area in general I came across this Forum (how could it be otherwise?
) and learned a great deal about Flashlights. I learned that LED's had come a long way since the crappy 5mm LED's I've seen and so runtimes had improved greatly compared to incan.So I put my thoughts together about what I do expect from my new Light:
- Small (it should fit my hand nicely) and Lightweight (The 2D crappolight got HEAVY after holding it on the stretched Arm for a while)
- Solid enough so it wont break apart when dropped
- At least Weatherproof
- MUST use a LED (because it never burns out, shockproof, runs longer etc)
- Adjustable output (to balance Runtime and Light output as needed)
Unfortunately Surefire got only one Light that meets most of my requirements - The U2 - but after seeing its price I knew I had to look elsewhere.
I discovered that what Fenix offers seems to fit nicely so again I read everything I could only to be more confused afterwards because of the complains regarding Chinese build quality, reliability, etc
Then I found the Gladius – It had everything I wanted in an appealing package but unfortunately a (as everyone says) outdated emitter and also a high price.
So after some months of reading thinking etc I ended the confusion and ordered a Insight H2X Typhoon and a Fenix P3D Premium 100.
Spending more money in the end as planned and ordered more lights than planned (justified it to myself that my wife would need also a light when hiking again
) raised the feeling that reading this Forum get you dragged to the dark… ehmm bright Side (and burns a hole in your wallet)
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