Recommendation for wide beam

[tkew]

Got myself a P3D Q5 recently, and I simply love the brilliance it provides.

For my next acquisition, I am looking for a light which gives a wider beam, i.e. I would like it brighten up a wider area in short distance.

Anyone care to recommend something in the price range of Fenix or lower?

Cheers!

 

[m1ruf]

Zebralight H50 Q5 is very floody, it's a headlamp though...

 

[Sgt. LED]

So you're looking for flood eh?
Take the reflector or optic out of any Cree and look at the beam profile.
If you like what you see then you do have a few options.

 

[revance]

I wish someone sold a 1xcr123 light with no reflector or optics. It would make a great EDC flood. Only thing I have ever seen like this was custom made :sigh:

 

[BigD64]

Lumapower 303 is a pretty floody beam. Gives you 2 light levels too.

 

[dca2]

I wish someone sold a 1xcr123 light with no reflector or optics. It would make a great EDC flood. Only thing I have ever seen like this was custom made :sigh:

http://www.peakledsolutions.net/Products/McKinley.html

 

[LED_Thrift]

The Peak multi-LED lights are floody and come in a variety of sizes/battery types.
The Inova X-5 is a 2xcr123 light that is floody.
Both these lights have great ruggedness/build quality.

The Zebralight H50 is a headlamp, but many people remove the the light from the headband [very, very easy] and EDC it. It comes with a clip for this purpose. It is very small for a single AA light and very efficient. It has an absolute flood beam since it has no reflector or optic. It has good build quality, but hasn't been around long enough for me to say it is the equal of Peak or Inova.

 

[SafetyBob]

Much of this site is dedicated to modifying flashlights. It can be fun and with the right selection of parts, simple too.

Consider this for your wide beam:

1 - 2 C M@glite (you chose the color)
1 - aluminum heatsink for said flashlight (look for H22A in the B/S/T forum)
1 - Seoul P4 LED (think Fred)
1 - MicroPuck SHO (theledlight.com), you could parallel two for 800mA but
cost goes up and runtime down.
1 - can Krylon clear gloss paint
1 hour assembly time

Look for the excellent tutorials for modding the switch, soldering the right components and spraying your reflector so that it goes from smooth to and orange peel. This setup will give you a wonderful light, extreamely good spill (with the right amount of orange peel that you can change by yourself).

Done this mod twice now on 2 and 3 C M@glites with each one being more approved by wife than one before. Yes, she actually stole one of my 2 C M@gs after I modded it. For 50 to 75 dollars (depending on how much you already have or can borrow) it is a nice, confidence building mod for the new flashaholic.

Bob E.

 

[Zenster]

I wish someone sold a 1xcr123 light with no reflector or optics. It would make a great EDC flood. Only thing I have ever seen like this was custom made :sigh:

If "custom" is putting two parts together...

The Surefire E1L with the F04 diffusion filter is exactly what you're looking for.
ALL flood, and while it's "only" 30 lumens, it lights up a room quite well.
I put the F04 on my E1L the day I got it and haven't taken the filter off since.

 

[swxb12]

The Zebralight H30 is almost out. Clicky, 1xCR123, 90* flood.

 

[Ty_Bower]

Surefire L4. The original "Wall of Light".

 

[shroomy]

Surefire L4. The original "Wall of Light".

The L4 is a great light, i've actually been carrying it more than my P3D. It is however, a little more expensive than the P3D It's a great deal if you can snag one on B/S/T, or ebay. Personally I'd recommend giving optiqs hq a call.
However, the L4 is not as bright as your P3D (noticeable, but not obvious. The L4 is also quite likely to have a much warmer tint than your P3D, IMHO a plus.). Lastly, the L4 doesn't have as good a runtime as the P3D (as the L4 is using the older Lux V, the P3D has a cree Q5), about an hour to an hour and a half on high for the L4.

If I may suggest, one of these https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?products_id=339 might do the trick. Though perhaps it is too much like a candle.

 

[Crenshaw]

If waterproofness isnt important, go to dealextreme, buy a Q5 emitter

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394


, and a driver.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4382

Get some sort of battery pack and solder the whole thing together for an extremely cheap, and floody light.

For stock, the Jetbeam-u if a great flood light for its AAA size if you can get your hands on one.

Crenshaw

 

[BigD64]

Guys your missing the price point on his request. He's looking for something in the Fenix price point range or cheaper. I still recommend the Lumapower 303 (about 32 bucks) for a cr123 light. If you want a rechargeable small light the Photon Rex (22 bucks) nice wide beam for 4 leds in a keychain type light.

 

[tkew]

Thanks for all your recommendations. They are great.

I am tempted by the Inova X5 after checking out the reviews on this forum. It seems like something that fit the bill, with nice flooding effect. :thumbsup:

I scoured the web stores and come across this:
http://www.cfrlights.com/servlet/the-8/inova-x5,-inova-5/Detail?sfs=ddbf8269

It is selling at $28.50. Is this a good deal? :huh:

 

[Chawarito]

Thanks for all your recommendations. They are great.

I am tempted by the Inova X5 after checking out the reviews on this forum. It seems like something that fit the bill, with nice flooding effect. :thumbsup:

I scoured the web stores and come across this:
http://www.cfrlights.com/servlet/the-8/inova-x5,-inova-5/Detail?sfs=ddbf8269

It is selling at $28.50. Is this a good deal? :huh:

I dont want to discourage anything. I have a Inova X5, just bought a couple weeks ago and its a beautiful light for indoors, but when you take it outdoors, the X5 is nowhere near bright enough for me. it will light up something maybe 20 - 40 feet away deciently well (this is a little of a streach) but not nearly as well as advertised. I have nothing to recommend you in the same price range though Cree XR-E based LEDs tend to have a much more narrow beam. If you are looking for wide beam a Luxon V or SSC P4 emitters tend be better suited. As for lights i have, the surefire L4 and L2 have by far the widest beam i have seen with high brightness at the same time. The L2 is significantly brighter than the L4 according to my light readings. I have no clue why this is the case since surefire advertises both lights as being 100 Lumens.

 

[Luminescent]

I have an X5. It's not particularly floody, or particularly bright.

A mini-maglight 2AA with a nice TeraLux drop-in would be a lot brighter.

A standard Mini-Mag with an LED drop-in will give some spot/flood adjustment, but there is a hole in the middle if you try to go too wide.

To get around this you can easily make your own diffuser -

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2296028&postcount=19

This homemade diffuser gives a wide uniform beam without overdoing the beam spreading, so you can still light up things nicely all the way across a room. This is important, because there is a 'square law' involved, such that if you spread the beam out by a factor of 4 the brightness drops by 16.

So you want something that is reasonably floody, but not so wide that it becomes too dim to be useful. You can either permanantly install the diffuser in place of the maglight's original lens, or if you can find the optional Maglight accessory boot, you can cut the plastic diffuser disk to fit inside the boot. This lets you use it when you want a floody beam and remove it when you want to restore the lights throw.

 

[schiesz]

I haven't had a Fenix since they started using Cree emitters, but if you can get to the reflector in any Fenix with a cree, just take it out. The cree by itself will make a great flood light.

If you don't want to remove the reflector, just put some type of diffusing film on the glass, or use a beamshaper like Zenster recommended with the E1L. I don't know if fenix has a light with the same size bezel as a surefire, but if they do its an easy solution.

schiesz

 

[L.E.D.]

I made an extremely great closeup light recently. I was able to unscrew the head of a Streamlight 2AA Task light, the one with a one-shot sidemounted electronic pushbutton. I noticed a red goo on the threads which must be some weak red loctite. I decided I wanted to make it into a flood, since I already have many lights which far outthrow this one with its optic. I noticed the walls inside the head were black, and wasting a majority of the light which should be bouncing off the sides. I took the reflector of an old minimag and cut off the bottom part of it, then sanded it down till it look about the right size to fit into the SL, eye-estimating. I put this in, and got a great flood but of course with the expected nasty dark center spot and flood ring. I took the thumb off of a nearly transparent glove and wrapped it around the reflector, then screwed it back in. Now, perfect 180 flood, extremely utilitarian and great for any closeup tasks within 30 feet. Also, something interesting I noticed in this thread was how SGT. LED made a comment regarding the Cree's non-reflected / non-collimated flood. I have always noticed that the pattern appears to have a checkered appearance, something which looked kind of weird but never interfered with it's usefulness...

 

[tkew]

Sounds like it is a more viable solution to just do something with my current P3D Q5. I have tried using the diffuser, it seems like it is acceptable.

So I might just explore other options rather buying another light.

Thanks mate.