Opinions on the best LED light for Boating, Marine use & Remote Island Living

[TillooPond]

We operate a small resort on a fairly remote island in the Bahamas. We have to use flashlights out here almost nightly because this time of year it gets dark so early and our kids go to school in Hope Town which is about 10 miles away (by boat) and by the time they are done with their after school activities, it is already getting dark and we are forced to drive one of our boats back to our island after dark. It also seems every adult activity or party we attend is going on after dark so it is not uncommon for us to put on 100 miles a week of after dark driving. Out here there are no navigational beacons, lights from nearby towns, and many hazards on the water like other boats anchored out with no lights and running with no lights (yes, everyone does that here). If there is no moon out to light our way, it is super, super dark many nights.

Our needs are pretty much throwers with extended beam distance and high peak beam intensity. We are using the lights from several different center console boats and usually run a 2 person light system, me usually driving and utilizing them to follow the coast line, and a crew member up at the bow spotting for other hazards like anchored vessels, power boat running on the water, and the occasional dock pole or other large debris that floats in from the recent hurricanes we have had in the Bahamas.

I was just wondering about anyone else's experience with this or about flashlights they recommend for throwing a beam across the wide expanse of the ocean at night. Everyone that knows me, knows I utilize flashlights and always asks me for advice on what they should get for their night boating needs. However I am not an expert and pretty much have been using just a few brands of lights over the last few years (Fenix & Nitecore).

I recently started a 3 part series on YouTube about what I feel have been the best LED flashlights for night boating, marine use and remote island living in general from our experiences to help answer the questions I always get from friends or guests to the resort. In this video I cover some of my top picks for maritime use like the Nitecore TM36, Fenix RC40, Fenix TK61, Nitcore Tiny Monster TM16, The versatile Fenix TK75, the "mighty mouse" 400m thrower, Fenix TK32, and several other of my front line LED flashlights used to battle the night here in our remote part of the Bahamas. I guess out here my buying options are limited so I thought I would request some other opinions from the experts here at CandlePower. If you want to check out part 1 of my video, you can see it here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyBu-l37re0

 

[CelticCross74]

hmmm....quite a situation you have and one serious need for a long range light that also has very good battery life. The lights you mentioned are these lights you have or lights you are just suggesting? The TM36 has nearly unbeatable range outside of HID and custom made LED lights, RC40 has tremendous output but doesnt throw well, the TK61 has long been considered on this forum as the benchmark large LED thrower. There is a guy on this forum whose business is upgrading LED lights for various needs. The TK61 he can modify to out throw the TM36. The TM16 while very high output doesnt have much throw despite its power due to the individual reflector wells being not very wide and shallow.

The TK75 gets modified by this certain light customizer in several different ways. Modified for higher output, modified for 6 times the stock throw etc. The TK32 is my go to 400 meter light. The beam out of it is very well done but it has timed step down regulation and steps down in power every few minutes.

It sounds like you not only need a long range light it sounds like you need 2 or 3 long range lights one for out to 350+meters, a second for the 400-700 meter range and a 3rd for 700-1000meters. You also sound like you need at least one HID light for longest range with very high output. HID lights usually are hundreds of dollars though. There are some cheap ones though. Is there a Home Depot in the Bahamas? I have one HID light it is a Ryobi large light that takes an 18 volt rechargeable battery pack. The light itself was only 40 dollars. The battery though was nearly 60. Of course you need the proper charger for the battery which is another 40. But....altogether and fully charged the light is 2800 lumens and throws as far as the eye can see.

If you have the money there is a company called Polarion that makes HID lights of different sizes and outputs but they are hundreds of dollars. They have incredible output and throw a mile.

The longest range light I own is the Olight M3X-UT Javelot. It throws a kilometer. The beam is so concentrated it is almost laser like. Its output is only 1200 lumens for about ten minutes before it drops into regulation though. I have taken this light out along the Potomac River where I live and the Olight lit up everything as far as I could see especially water hazards, buoys large logs floating in the water etc.

Tough spot you are in trying to cover a large expanse of ocean at night. For that sole purpose try to attain an HID light and its power source(big HID lights almost always have a separate 12 volt battery they need to be plugged into in order to work.) For the expanses of ocean purpose Im afraid HID would be the only way to get that job done. For lesser ranges there are plenty of LED lights that work fine.

The county police where I live also patrol the Potomac and have good sized HID lights on their patrol boats that easily light up just about anything at any distance. I am also sure just one of these large HID lights they use likely cost 1200 dollars.

 

[FRITZHID]

Have you considered picking up a used maxabeam?
HID are great at throwing tons of lumens down range but they have lots of spill and the warm-up/cool-down times are often a PITA. Maxabeam doesn't suffer from this being a short arc.
Variable focus, laser like spot beam.
Use LED for the closer up work.

 

[Tac Gunner]

The only light I could think to add for smaller portability would be an Olight M3xs-ut. A buddy of mine just bought one and you can clearly see tree branches at 430 yards. It isn't a big light and is light weight but it doesn't have enough runtime for what you need.

Also what type of electrical system does your boat have? Are you using just a regular outboard with no electrical system or do you already have lights and a good system? The reason I ask is there are some 12v led spot lights that will throw quite a good distance. Once get your three posts and your pm is unlocked I can pm you links. Also you may consider an led light bar to go on the front. They are not good for long range and will cause to much glare to see much past 50 or 60 feet on the water but for up close along the coastline or docking they would be great.

 

[scout24]

What type of boat? If you're doing 100 miles a week after dark, I would think you would want a system that ran off of the boat's electronics. Or else you'll spend all day recharging cells or packs, no?

 

[seery]

On the open water, I feel the HID lights are better at cutting through the atmosphere for longer range spotting and higher resolution.

Should you consider an HID, my recommendation would be a Surefire Beast II with the included CR123 handle, the included rechargeable handle, and a spare rechargeable handle.

I owned a Beast II for a couple years and can personally assure you there is no light available that is built tougher. It will easily handle the tough environmental conditions you described in your video.

It throws light so far that I often used it in conjunction with binoculars. If I remember correctly, the center hotspot was approximately 150' wide at a 1/4 mile.

It puts out a lot of light, throws a long way, provides a lot of very useful spill, and is bombproof.

The Beast II comes in a custom fitted waterproof case with integral AC/DC charger.

 

[NoNotAgain]

What type of boat? If you're doing 100 miles a week after dark, I would think you would want a system that ran off of the boat's electronics. Or else you'll spend all day recharging cells or packs, no?

I'd look for a Maxa Beam or a Hellfighter and run it off of the supplied boat battery power. The hellfighter has the advantage of producing more lumens, but the Maxa Beam throws much further.

The Perko lights that have the equivalent light of the Maxa Beam or the Hellfighter run over $1500 and aren't hand held.

That doesn't mean that I wouldn't have a hand held light also, just that you're not going to be able to run any hand held on maximum power for more than a few minutes before it gets rather toasty to handle.

I stock format, the Fenix TK75 three LED version with the extended run time extended battery kit would be one of the three options I look at. The second would be the Nitecore TM36 with the NBP52 battery, and the last one would be the Fenix TK61, again with the extended run time battery kit.

Any hand held light would have a float attached to prevent loss from being dropper overboard.

 

[tedjanxt]

Re: Opinions on the best LED light for Boating, Marine use & Remote Island Living

As was mentioned, you should have a dedicated, engine electric driven spotlight, or youll be charging batteries the rest of your life. The ones I have been looking at lately (for the roof of my Frontier) are made by a company called GoLight. They have many different halogen, HID, and LED models available, with price ranging from a couple bills to thousands of dollars. Almost all can be permanently or mag-mounted, and most can be controlled by wireless remote.

They will throw much further and be more reliable (IMO) than any handheld torch.

 

[FRITZHID]

None of golights products will out throw a maxabeam.

 

[Tac Gunner]

None of golights products will out throw a maxabeam.

I don't think much will lol

 

[FRITZHID]

I don't think much will lol

Was my thinking, hence it's suggestion. Even older used ones rock distance.

 

[MX421]

I think some sort of maxibeam/spotlight running off your boat power is a good idea, but i would also recommend a backup liight as well. Not too familiar with the above recommended Olight M3XS-UT, but i got the Armytek Barracuda with this in mind (among some other reasons). Its waterproof resistance is better than most lights. If it weren't for the waterproof issue, I also have a fenix TK75 that would work.

When i am in my kayaks, i like to have some of the tektite marker lights that can show my location for the defensive position ;-)

 

[tedjanxt]

None of golights products will out throw a maxabeam.

Until it falls in the water...

 

[NoNotAgain]

Until it falls in the water...

It's never a good thing when a manufacturer doesn't disclose either the lumens or wattage of their HID lights.

The GoLight Stryker HID claims 550,000cd and a distance of 1483 yards. http://golight.com/pdf/Stryker HID Instructions.pdf

The OMG Rev Victor Enthusiast claims 1,300,000cd. I need to get down to my measuring spot to verify the throw at 1200 meters.

The Maxa Beam has 12,000,000cd but I've never seen a yardage listed. My MB throws a spot around 3 feet in diameter at 500 yards, At 1000 yards the hot spot is still clearly defined, the same for 1500 yards. I'd like to try 2000 yards, but I don't have anyplace close that I've found unlimited access to.

 

[Vortus]

If going to the HID lights, along with Maxabeam and Surefire Hellfighter, look at XeVision/Lemax LX70 or LX50. You seem to have the led part covered.

Good video. Looking forward to the next parts.

 

[scout24]

It would be great to get a bit more info from the OP! It may help refine suggestions...

 

[Tac Gunner]

It would be great to get a bit more info from the OP! It may help refine suggestions...

I agree. It seems to happen in a lot of "recommend me" threads that the OP will set up an account, make one post to ask their question and you never hear from them again.

 

[scout24]

I'm going to move this to the "Recommend me a Light " section...

EDIT- With a redirect so the OP can find it...

 

[Parrot Quack]

The Nitecore TM16 for flooding and for throwing, the TM36LITE. Include two full sets of 3400mAh 18650 batteries for both lights. I would also recommend an EDC light such as the Nitecore MH20 and a Nitecore HC90 headlamp. Again with a double set of batteries for each unit.

 

[TillooPond]

Wow, thanks for all the great replies. It sounds like the concensus is look into HID lights, modify some of my existing lights like my TK75 (Got 3 of those) TM35 and my TK 61. I definitely like that idea for sure, I would have to wait until I make a trip to the US to ship it out to be modified most likely, but that I would like to do. And then look into options into mounted lights in the boats.


We currently have 4 boats out here in total. A 20' Prokat, 23 Albury CC, 1986 Ocean Master 31 (Beast), and a 40' C40. Only the C40 really has a light mounted on it already, one of those ITT Jabsco remote control spotlights. However my TK75 kills the beam on that spotlight, but it is hard to beat having it mounted right at the bow and being able to operate it from the bridge. The other boats are older and do not have functioning DC outlets (the salt kills that stuff so fast here), but that is fixable.


I guess I always used flashlights because I never know which boat we will take, but It would be more effective to buy and wire in 3 more lights. I already own a hefty collection of flashlights, and I guess I really enjoy using them, but having something mounted does sound like a much better option. My flashlight will still get a great workout just getting around our little island at night. I do currently own a Nitecore TM36, Fenix RC40, Fenix TK61, Nitcore TM16, The (3) Fenix TK75, (4) Fenix TK32 and those have all pretty much been my goto lights.