Thanks again everyone for your input. I really appreciate all of your helpful replies :twothumbs. I'm down to deciding between 4 lights (Surefire 6p LED, Wolf Eyes 6AX HO Q5, Lumapower M1-T and the Dereelight CL1H v3.0 2SM). This is gonna be tough.
By the way, does anyone know the lumens rating for the Dereelight CL1H v3.0 2SM as well as the runtimes on CR123s and 18650s?
I don't think lumen ratings are out, but you can probably find runtime by googling it.
That being said, I'll go ahead and throw in my $0.02.
Get the Surefire Optimus coming out any day now. (Or the 6P LED.) I'd go for it, atleast,( I find myself recommending this flashlight alot lately,
), but there's another model I have my eye on, too. More on that later. I don't even know where to begin.
It's a SUREFIRE, man. That means waterproof to one atmosphere, bulletproof ruggedness, reliability(Their main customer is the military, after all.), performance... Everything. Ask any given member here what the best brand of flashlight is and nine out of ten will tell you "Surefire".
Oh, yes. The Optimus. Almost forgot. It has a maximum of a scorching 200 LUMENS, more than any of the mentioned lights. Surefire is pretty much the only company that uses an integrating sphere to measure lumen output. Other manufacturers measure torch lumens, while Surefire measures out-the-front lumens. A 100 lumen Surefire is usually brighter than a 150 lumen other-brand. The leds are sorted, making sure you won't get a fluke. It has one LED of unknown make, but whatever it is, it must be pretty efficient. The Optimus has 11 settings..
1: Off.
2: SOS
3: 2 Lumens.
4: 4 Lumens.
5: 8 Lumens.
6: 15 Lumens.
7: 30 Lumens.
8: 60 Lumens.
9: 120 Lumens.
10: 200 Lumens.
11: Strobe.
The lowest, 2 lumens, runs for 100 hours. Judging from the runtime of Surefire's combatlights, which also run on two 123s, the Optimus' highest setting will be available for a long time.
It also has a Military-Spec Type 3 Hard-Anodize coating. It's a beautiful black coating of aluminum oxide, a substance up there with diamond and other precious gems. It's chemically grown onto the surface, so don't worry about paint chipping! Very few manufacturers provide mil-spec anodize.
It also has a stepped-down body and rubber grip. It's called combatgrip, and provides an amazingly secure grip.
That may be a little hard to picture, or maybe I'm just relieving your eyes with some eyecandy of this beautiful flashlight. Either way, have a picture.
The Optimus also has a fuel guage led. It glows green when the battery is full, orange when medium, red when low. I haven't thought of this, but that could also serve as a locater if you dropped the flashlight.
Oh, that's not all. It has a magnetic selector ring for cycling through the modes, and if you don't feel like doing that and need maximum power RIGHT THEN, press the MaxBlast tailcap.
OH, and some more features.
The Optimus also has an adjustable focus beam and a total internal reflector, meaning it gathers almost ALL of the light from the LED, while reflectors gather less. But, anyways, variable focus. It focuses the beam into either a pleasing wall of light(Indoor use, maybe.), or a sharp, piercing beam for throwing lots of lumen very far. And ask any member of the forums if the Surefire L4 is an amazing wall-of-light illumination tool, or if the L1 is an amazing thrower, and most, or all, will say yes. The beams on Surefires are some of my favorite. (The L4 in particular.)
It works by having a rippled "plate" over the total internal reflector, which moves further or closer to the TIR, redistributing the energy of the light. It, theoretically, would work great, with minimal light loss. Other focusable flashlights, like maglites, move the reflector further away from the beam, or closer to it, and reflectors have only one focal point. This means the beam becomes ridden with rings, holes, and imperfections, meaning less light if transmitted, meaning less visibility.
The body is made of aircraft-grade aluminum, an alloy extremely tough and resilient, and it transfers heat very well, not that LEDS produce alot of heat (not NEARLY as much as incandescents.). Oh, it uses a Lexan window, which is scratch, and shock resistant, with anti-reflective coatings on each side, meaning almost all of the light is transmitter to the target. It costs 289 USD and comes with 20 lithium primary Surefire batteries, my favorite brand. That's enough to last a VERY long time, as the Optimus takes 2 batteries.
I'm sure I missed a bunch of features, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. You can guess that I spend alot of my time salivating at it. The only possible downside to this light I can ever think of: It doesn't use rechargeables, but they're extremely volatile and, unless you get protected ones, can die very, very soon if you overuse them. Protected rechargeables are expensive, and plus you need an expensive charger.. This stuff's enough to buy alot of Surefire Lithium 123s, which are 1.75 USD.
Woah, I just now realized I just created a wall of text describing a 6.5 inch, 6.5 gram flashlight. Oh well, it benefits the person asking the question, and it makes me tingly recounting the features of this amazing tool in detail.
You can also gather how reliable Surefire is when I'm recommending a light not even out yet.
There's another model called the Invictus coming out later, which is the same light, except very slightly longer, and it has no variable-focus ability.
The upside?
It has..
400 LUMENS.
That seems merely like a number..
Go ask about the Surefire M6, a 500 lumen incandescent, and you'll know why it's so amazing. I would gladly shell out 400+ dollars for a 400 lumen Every Day Carry light. I'll probably get both. If I could pick one? Optimus. 200 Lumens is blindingly bright, which is why it has multiple modes. When I got my first multi-level I thought "I'll be using this on high all the time.", untill I actually SAW it.
