A series of questions Mike:
1) Which battery do you want (AAA, AA, CR123)
2) How many batteries do you want? (1, 2)
3) Do you want simple operation or max modes?
4) How important is 80 series vs 100 series Rebel?
5) What are you doing with it/them?
My favorite is a pair, the L2T 2.0 (utility) + P2D100 (pocket). My favorite single would be an L1T 2.0 with an extra AA tube.
Electronguru,
Thanks for taking an interest in this. It's kind of a "pet" project and I like doing things right.
I changed the order of the questions a little bit and put your last question first because I guess the intended purpose for the light will color the rest of the answers in one way or another.
5) What are you doing with it/them?
I plan to mount it on an air rifle in the fashion pictured below. The light in the pics is an Ultrafire C2 which does a fine job of lighting up rats at night so I in turn can "light them up" too.
The only problem is the clearance between the Ultrafires C2's bezel and where the air rifle pellet exits the barrel is really tight. Everything else about the set-up is perfect.
But one unnoticed, inadvertent bump on the light and I'm going to clip the bezel.
I refuse to pay BIG $, like $200 - $800 for a "tac" light when I can make my own which does the job just as well. It ain't real pretty but it does the job very nicely!
Code:
1) Which battery do you want (AAA, AA, CR123)
Can be either AA or AAA.
2) How many batteries do you want? (1, 2)
One or two doesn't matter to me. Brightness, up to a max 50 of yds, a bit of spill and runtime are the most important factors.
3) Do you want simple operation or max modes?
The simpler the better. First, it has to be a tail clicky. High/low would be ideal if it can be set to start on high with the first click. It will be perfect if I can find a momentary cable switch, like the one pictured above, which will start the light off in high mode.
Until I found the cable switch for the C2 I was reaching pretty far forward to activate the light. It was inconvenient, but "doable." The cable switch is perfect for the job at hand,
4) How important is 80 series vs 100 series Rebel?
Once again, the main criteria are: Good brightness up to 50 yds, a bit of spill and runtime.
The runtime is only important because it's a pain in the butt changing batteries with the way I will be mounting the light. As you can see in the picture, there are 2 hose clamps, Velcro and a lot electricians tape involved and it's a very snug fit. Battery changing will be tedious.
Thanks again,
MIke