Need a new light,.. Don't even know where to start :(

[WERNER1]

WOW - Is all I have to say at this point....

I started out looking for a new bulb for my 20 something year old 5 D cell maglite and ended up here after getting sucked in to this ever so rapidly growing Rabbit Hole... I never knew there were a bunch of guys who ate, slept, and drank flashlights ....

Well this being my first post and all (But by no means any stranger to Forums.. - Gutiar/ Amps/ Hockey... :twothumbs ) ... I spent the past several days reading threads and post,.. and even searching this site and several others... At the end of the day I was still confused and had no idea which direction to even start heading on my quest for a new torch ..

So at the risk of being flamed into oblivion for posting such a remidial "First Post" ... I'll give it a shot..

Like I mentioned above I was looking to upgrade my MagLite 5 D cell,.. and I stumbled upon the TLE-300M LED Upgrade kit for it... that kit boast 500-600 lumens which I thought was quite impressive ... Then after looking around on ebay I started seeing these relatively small LED torches boasting 600 - 900 lumens for around the same price - That started me off on my little quest ...

Getting to the point - I'm looking for an LED based lite that would be in the 600-900 lumens range. Price point would be up to 100.00, (Not opposed to building one either as I work on Amps and other PCB based component ) .. The use would be a general purpose - Size doesn't matter (Yeah,,.yeah..) -

So if anyone would be so kind to point me in the right direction,...or even take me under there wing if you will, and "school" me a bit on this stuff ... well that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Rick

PS - Again sorry for the long and relatively "Newbi'ish" post

 

[baterija]

Maybe a good place to start is take a step back and describe what you want to use your light for.

 

[WERNER1]

Just General Purpose I guess... the Beam doesn't need to be too focused,.. and not a total flood either,.. something inbetween ??

I will probably go ahead and pick up like a small Fenix TK10 as well(I really like the beam shots/fill of the TK10..) ,.. but for this purchase I want to get something that's a bit bigger and more powerfull ...

Rick

 

[Zeruel]

First of all, :welcome:

I'm not a modder, so can't advice you on the modding of your Maglite.
However, if you're looking for a light that outputs 600 - 900 lumens, and it should be within $100, there's a new one right now. Tactical P7

There are also other pretty new bright lights out like Legion II and EagleTac M2/M2X or even Tiablo ACE. However, these 3 lights are slightly above your given budget. If budget is your priority, you may want to check out decent economical alternatives from Deal Extreme and Kai Domain. One such popular choice would be MTE SSC P7.

Happy hunting and guard your wallet.

 

[wadus]

I'm not sure you realize just how bright 900 lumens is... I would not call it "general purpose" by any means, and a 5D mag is a bit large to carry around with you, I think. A light won't do you any good if it's too large to keep with you.

I believe the Fenix TK10 is a thrower and any of those MC-E or P7 mega-lumen lights will be all flood. I would say wait til you get the Fenix to decide what you want in a light. An old mag just isn't a very good benchmark for comparison to newer lights.

 

[HKJ]

$100 is a bit low for a good P7 or MC-E light, one option is to buy a scratched ED-P72 or you could check DX (They have lots of cheap light, but quality is not always good enough).

If you really want a high light output, you need a 35 watt HID light, their output is in the same range as the high lights on a car. Check this forum for information http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=7
I have a Titanium Innovations L35 and a Microfire K3500.

 

[WERNER1]

Man that tactical P7 looks great!!..

I had originally been looking at the MTE SSC P7 or the Romisen RC-T6 .. .. (If that gives you any indication of the "Size" I'm probably looking at.. (??)

Wadus - I would whole heartedly agree that 900 lumens doesn't fall under the "General Purpose" catagory,... but still,.. 900 lumens!!! - How cool is that!?!?

And agreed that the 5 D Mag is way to big, bulky, and heavy to be carrying around for any length of time,.. it's a great one for under the car seat or under the kitchen sink though ... I used to work in a rail yard and would have to right down all the car numbers as they would come in... I used that thing FOREVER back then,.. and it's still in great shape ... But it IS destin to get the 500 Lumens Upgrade...

"An old mag just isn't a very good benchmark for comparison to newer lights "- Amen!!

 

[Dole]

I agree with wadus' idea.... I think it would be a great idea to buy the TK11 first to open your eyes to the modern flashlight world. I say this because you won't be disappointed in the TK11 (I want one so badly!) And you can get a feel for what 225 lumens looks like to weigh your options with another superlight with 500+ lumens. Be careful too with all the ones that boast 900 lumens, this is usually a measure of what the led is capable of putting out in the best possible conditions... most I would say are in the 500-700 range like the Tiablo ACE and Dereelight DBS MC-E.

 

[WERNER1]

HKJ - It looks like that Scratched ED-P72 is still available, and that looks like a great place for me to get my feet wet (??) ..

HID - WOW -.. Don't even know if I want to go down that road,... at least not today .... but there's always tomorrow

I'm checking into that ED-P72 now... that's probably a done deal for me at this point ... are there any options or upgrades for that unit that I should know about or consider? (Batteries - I know NOTHING about these )

Thanks again for all of the replys on this!!!

Rick

 

[WERNER1]

Ok.. I bit the bullet and just ordered a TK-10 from DX,... 58 bucks shipped .. not too bad,.. I still want to get a higher powered one as well . :devil: ---> Waiting on a response back from Rita Lo on that one

Thanks!!.. and I've got TONS to learn on this stuff ...

 

[HKJ]

HKJ - It looks like that Scratched ED-P72 is still available, and that looks like a great place for me to get my feet wet (??) ..

HID - WOW -.. Don't even know if I want to go down that road,... at least not today .... but there's always tomorrow

I'm checking into that ED-P72 now... that's probably a done deal for me at this point ... are there any options or upgrades for that unit that I should know about or consider? (Batteries - I know NOTHING about these )

I uses AW18650 batteries, they are not the cheapest, but they are some of the best.


You can compare some of the lights here:
Jetbeam M1X a high power P7 light
Microfire K3500 a 35 watt HID
ED-P72 High power P7 light
ED-P71 High power P7 light, nearly as bright as P72, but not regulated and shorter runtime, because it only uses one 18650 battery
A old Mag 2D

 

[WERNER1]

I don't really even want to ask this question,.... but after doing a very small amount of research on the Microfire K3500,... ... what is the cost of this unit??? ... (Yes,. I'm sitting down )

 

[HKJ]

I don't really even want to ask this question,.... but after doing a very small amount of research on the Microfire K3500,... ... what is the cost of this unit??? ... (Yes,. I'm sitting down )

Only €538

But you can get HID lights a lot cheaper than that, here is on from our marketplace and the N30 is even cheaper, but I do not like SLA batteries.

 

[Benson]

I don't really even want to ask this question,.... but after doing a very small amount of research on the Microfire K3500,... ... what is the cost of this unit??? ... (Yes,. I'm sitting down )

47s has it for $538.

There are cheaper options if you want to get into HID on a budget, starting with the Stanley ($70 pistol-grip 35W, at Walmart), the Vector POB (35W over-grip, no longer available, but used/hoarded ones go $70 to $100 or so), and then the Titanium Mega Illuminator, N30, L35 (more over-grips, $150+), and the Oracle/Tactical/etc. (same lights wearing several badges, differences in bulbs, etc.) 24W and 35W being the cheapest flashlight-style HIDs.

 

[WERNER1]

.... :mecry:... I guess it'll be a while before I can work my way up to that(those) ones.. .. That's crazy power though! haha!!..

 

[HKJ]

Here you can see a beam shoot from some of the lights:

The pictures only show the hot spot, not the spill.

And note that the Mag was a 6D not the 2D from my picture.

 

[WERNER1]

Thanks for the beam shots!!... It's funny how the 6D mag falls short ... is that with the standard K2(?) bulb,..or the Xenon? ..

Looks like that Epsilon ED-P72 is what I'm going to get right now,... that along with the TK-10, and the The TerraLUX MiniStar30M LED upgrade kit for my 5D cell Mag. .. That ought to be a good route to go to have some serious candlepower on hand (Sorry if that's a totally archaic rating method...)

So in regards to the ED-P72, is there any options, accessories, batteries that you'd recommend for that torch?

Thanks
Rick

 

[HKJ]

The 6D is with standard bulb.

I have only bought the P72 and then some AW18650 batteries and a WF-139 charger. You can get the batteries and charger from the thread I linked to before, our you can buy them in US. I also has a box for my batteries, to keep some spares in.

 

[WERNER1]

Cool!.. thanks again!...

Uhm.. Battery 101 time:

Button top or not?

mAh's? - 18650 = 2200mAh (More or less?)
CR123A (For the TK-10) 900 mAh (or more/less?) -

Volts - ?? (Can you go up past the recommened voltage on these lights?)

Protected / Unprotected ??

Again, sorry for all of the remedial questions

 

[Gunner12]

I'd suggest checking here for Maglite drop-ins and mods. If you want to use normal batteries, you can get one of Malkoff's Seoul P7 drop-ins, or make something similar yourself.

Go for the button top. Go for AWs.

18650 batteries can vary a lot in capacity depending on chemistry, age, and where it came from.

Most LED lights have a circuit which controls how much current gets to the LED. Too much voltage can kill that circuit.

Go for protected. It prevents over charging, over discharging, and over current. All will damage the battery.

Also check out the Welcome Mat if you haven't already.

:welcome: