Need recommendation on a auto inspection light for a older friend.

[entoptics]

entoptics - I can see why the A6 was recommended for sure. A coworker asked me to help him find a coolent leak on his 97 Corsica v6. My boss (a technician) and him try to located the leak the day before but was unable pinpoint the leak.(they didn't clean it up or try very hard) When the tk45 came out the leak was pinpoint instantly. It was only due to the raw power but it was also due to the wall of light it cast. Again the A6 is not huge by the mag light standard but again i think i spoiled him with my smaller powerful lights.

"Spoiled" is relative. :thinking:

Unless you get into some really complicated high dollar stuff, as far as I know, there isn't anything smaller than the A6 for anywhere near the cash that will give him the raw power he seems to want.

LED tech is amazing, but it's not magic. Pick 3...

Small, bright, cheap, reliable.

Greater than 300 lumens in a small light is non-trivial in terms of heat and runtimes. If it was doable in a very reliable package, I'm sure Quark, EagleTac, Fenix, SureFire, O-light, etc, etc, etc would have done it by now.

Perhaps a "custom" or "mod" will do it, but I'm skeptical.

 

[Vortus]

Just about the Lion batteries. My wife is not that gifted mechanically. However, once she saw how to take care of her 18650's, it was no problem. And as a mechanic, he should already have a meter, so a light, a couple batteries and a charger and he is set for a long time. No different than a car, take care of it and no problems. Don't maintain it, pay the price. If he is wanting light due to working in sunlight/brightly lit shop, I think more is gonna be needed. A normal light will not touch that level. IE recently I had to find an oil leak, no way a normal light would have found it as simply couldn't compete with the sunlight. The blaster NG however had no problem locating the leak. The thing with a light that bright, they can be to strong to use in other situations.

 

[Mikeg23]

As a mechanic I prefer a rechargeable 6P/G2 but most of my peers opt for the streamlight stinger or poly stinger. I think for most people the streamlight is the best option plus he can get bulbs/parts from his Snap On or Matco dealer.