NovaTac 120P or...Suggestions???

[Nebula]

Robo - Nice ride. I agree with your assessment 100%. BTW -My brother's favorite quote is - "you can go broke saving money."

jcompton - I own the NovaTac 120 and highly recommend it. I don't own the Amilite T5 (yet), but from what I understand there is no reason not to recommend it. I doubt that you will be unhappy with your decision - whatever it might be. Good luck.

BTW - John at Lighthound is a class act. Highly recommended.

KK

 

[jcompton]

jcompton - I own the NovaTac 120 and highly recommend it. I don't own the Amilite T5 (yet), but from what I understand there is no reason not to recommend it. I doubt that you will be unhappy with your decision - whatever it might be. Good luck.

BTW - John at Lighthound is a class act. Highly recommended.

KK

Glad to hear good things about Lighthound. I finally decided to go with the 120P and Lighthound has hopefully received my order. Now it's the dreaded wait that lay ahead (I chose the free shipping option for orders >$75). I have already decided to swap the bezel for one with the 3 tritium inserts. Will there be anything else that I will need to keep from jeopardizing the integrity of this light and keeping it waterproof? I heard that the SS bezel w/trit slots from Fenix-Store leaves a small gap that needs to be filled with an O-ring. Which one would I need?
I have also heard of a few individuals changing out the lens for one constructed from glass... What would the benefit to this be and if significant/recommended, where would one be purchased?


This is horrible... I don't even have the light in my posession yet and I have already made plans to modify it.:shakehead

 

[Derek Dean]

I love the car analogy - coincidently I used that logic to buy my last ride and now every time I drive it my wife tells me I wear a big grin!

It works for flashlights too!

Man, I'll bet you DO grin when driving that puppy. Heck, it makes me grin just looking at it!

And back on topic..... I really do appreciate that there are a variety of ways to approach this hobby, and I don't think any single approach is any more valid than any other. After all, what brings us to this site is our common fascination with flashlights.

So, if folks ask for suggestions, I'll try to get a feeling for which direction they are trying to take, and if they are new..... I might even suggest that they at least investigate an alternate approach, and then I'll make what I consider to be appropriate suggestions, but after all is said and done, I'll try hard not to criticize their final choice, because after all... it is their choice.

Personally, I can see the appeal of the 'flavor of the month' approach. With LED technology advancing so rapidly, it would be easy to feel like your new high dollar light is suddenly outdated. Of course, that would probably only be true if you bought your new high dollar light for it's extreme brightness.

If, on the other hand, you bought your new high dollar light because it was not only bright, but because it also offered features not found on ANY other light at that point in time (which means you are on the cutting edge, something worth paying a bit extra for IMHO), and for the fact that it makes you smile each time you pull it out of your pocket (even if you don't turn it on), and you find that it full fills it's duties exactly as you hoped it would........ then there is little chance that next months newest, bestest offering is going to make you feel bad about having purchased such a sublime technological marvel. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Derek Dean]

Glad to hear good things about Lighthound. I finally decided to go with the 120P and Lighthound has hopefully received my order. Now it's the dreaded wait that lay ahead (I chose the free shipping option for orders >$75). I have already decided to swap the bezel for one with the 3 tritium inserts. Will there be anything else that I will need to keep from jeopardizing the integrity of this light and keeping it waterproof? I heard that the SS bezel w/trit slots from Fenix-Store leaves a small gap that needs to be filled with an O-ring. Which one would I need?
I have also heard of a few individuals changing out the lens for one constructed from glass... What would the benefit to this be and if significant/recommended, where would one be purchased?


This is horrible... I don't even have the light in my posession yet and I have already made plans to modify it.:shakehead

My understanding is that NovaTac chose the polycarbonate lens to help it stand up to tough conditions, being dropped, etc. Here is a link to a site that sells replacement UCL glass lenses (you would want the 22.8mm x 1.90mm UCL lens):

http://www.flashlightlens.com/item--UCL%AE-Lens--UCL_Lens.html

I've read different estimations, but I think it is generally agreed that there is 'some' loss using the polycarbonate lens, but how much (2%-5% seems about right)? The other alternative would be to find a Sapphire lens, which is both hard and very clear, but those cost around $20 (same as used in many watches).

Personally, I'm going to wait and see how mine holds up to daily pocket abuse first, but for the minimal cost ($5.25 plus inexpensive postage) you might want to just go ahead and change it out.

Maybe somebody else can help with the O-ring. I hope you enjoy your new light as much as I've been enjoying mine. It really is an amazing little light. Be sure and download the manual from the NovaTac site to give you something to read while you are waiting for it to be delivered.

 

[LA OZ]

I replaced my lens with the UCL glass one. It is thinner than the polycarbonate lens. The slight gain in brightness is not observable. The benefit I have found is that I can wind the retention ring up further because of the thinner lens and that way I got more room in the body for my rechargeable battery.

I don't think you should go with the Amelite. I don't like how the two stages are implemented. You have to cycle them through as in Click high click low click off in that exact order. You can't go from high to off or low to high directly.

 

[BBL]

I replaced my lens with the UCL glass one. It is thinner than the polycarbonate lens. The slight gain in brightness is not observable. The benefit I have found is that I can wind the retention ring up further because of the thinner lens and that way I got more room in the body for my rechargeable battery.

I hope this is not true. The led-module is supposed to be seated against the housing for heat dissipation - the position should never change.