stumped and depressed- update

[woppini]

Finally i bought a light i could use every day at work (in the automotive repair field) I got a stream light stinger with the nice charger and piggy back set up. I posted my reviews that i was in love with the thing. A few weeks ago, some #$$^&%@! form of human life stole it out of my truck. GRRRRR. Now, i have to decide to invest another 80$ for a light and extra battery. The thing is, now i feel I MAY lose the light or something, and be out even more. So the decision i am wondering about is to fore go the stress on owning such a nice set up, and get a streamlight 3C-cell twin task light, or maybe the task light with the luxeon star LED (3AA battery type)I do realize these wont be nearly as blinding, but would these light work for my day of work? I do like the fact that the luxeon wont burn out if dropped. But would it be much brighter than the Inova i used to have? I do have a PALight which is great around the house. I dont feel bad about losing a 35$ flash light. I could buy 2 for less than the stinger. Sigh.. decisions. Happy New year everyone.. best of health and future
Stephen

 

[JohnK]

Re: stumped and depressed

The Luxeon Task Light would work well for you. Coming off the rechargeable Stinger, you don't need a short run time light.

The SL Lux is not regulated, which means it gives out gradually reduced light for HOURS, instead of cutting off at inconvenient times.

Uses cheap AAs.

 

[charliek]

Re: stumped and depressed

Sorry about your loss- I agree with JohnK- but use rechargeable NimH AAs... they work fine in my Luxeon task light.
You can also go the cheap route and get a Princeton Tec Tec40- it's give you near blinding light... but only costs $14.

 

[pedalinbob]

Re: stumped and depressed

task light sounds great: inexpensive, powerful and cheap to run.

another possibility for a bit more cash: a badboy 400 (not sure if it would be bright enough for your application).

get nimh rechargeables, a mineral glass lens and a mcflood.

cheap to run, and your choice of beam: flood or more concentrated.

Bob

 

[jayflash]

Re: stumped and depressed

What a rotten, thieving, jerk. Maybe he'll f*@#up the light and start a fire in his own vehicle when recharging.

I'll concur with the advice, above, regarding LED flashlights. I prefer the even light available from LEDs, they make small parts and details nicely visible. A mean hotspot and contrasting dark area is less comfortable to the eye and illuminates less effectively.

Rechargeable batteries and regulated LEDs will give you a smaller, very reliable light source. Good luck woppini.

 

[charliek]

Re: stumped and depressed

PM sent

 

[Hoghead]

Re: stumped and depressed

There are some really good recommendations here. I like the Tec 40 & the Sandwiches too. I thought I should add the Streamlight 4AA 7LED. Here's Quickbeams review of it.
http://flashlightreviews2.home.att.net/reviews/streamlight_4aaled.htm

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Re: stumped and depressed

[ QUOTE ]
woppini said:
A few weeks ago, some #$$^&%@! form of human life stole it out of my truck. GRRRRR. Now, i have to decide to invest another 80$ for a light and extra battery. The thing is, now i feel I MAY lose the light or something, and be out even more.

[/ QUOTE ]
If you're worried about having a light getting stolen by a co-worker, send me a PM. I might have a solution...

 

[woppini]

Re: stumped and depressed

Thanks for all the info guys and suggestions. I forgot to mention that i do have a PT40. The thought of burning tons of light and swapping rechargeables with the stinger was great. I felt invinsible! No more batteries! But these are some good suggestions i will look into. Yes, hopefully that battery will short out and fuse his fingers together. I still have the charger though- AC/DC 2 hour quick charge with the side sattle for the extra battery. If I decided to buy something else, Ill put the charger on here for anyone that may need one.
Stephen

 

[StuU]

Re: stumped and depressed

I have found that the Streamlight Sl7 4AA and the 3C/10 led are both fantastic for automotive work. Nice working flood and long,long battery life.

 

[springnr]

Re: stumped and depressed

I don't own a SL7 4AA and it may work on a clean engine but I have used Lightwave 3000 & 4000 to look at some nasty old engines and the black oil/grease gobbled up the light making it hard to see details.

 

[Hoghead]

Re: stumped and depressed

The Streamlight 4AA 7LED and the X5T seem to be about equal as far as brightness goes. They are not as bright as a 1 watt Luxeon, by that I mean the KL1/KL3, ARC LS, BB/MM are brighter.
.
woppini
Since you have the chargers, why not just get another Stinger? LAPoliceGear has them for $55.99 without the charger
http://www.lapolicegear.com/ststnoch.html

 

[Blackbeagle]

Re: stumped and depressed

Depends upon whether the lowlife you suspect was just some random lowlife on the street or (horrors) someone you may be working with. If it is someone you work with... well what can I say? If someone on the street, you have to consider the break-in as just one of those things. Never mind what you lost before, the key is to prevent future losses. One way is certainly to leave nothing in the vehicle, the other is to rig an alarm or at least a blinking LED in a very visible place in the car as a method of deterrence. This may or may not help and you'll have to take risks as they come.

Here we are getting cars broken into right on the streets in front of the house (not to mention my neighbor got his entire truck with all his carpentry tools stolen right out of his garage!) I could strip everything out of my car, but I choose to leave stuff in, make everything relatively invisible by mounting out of sight, covering, masking, rigged a very visible set of alarm LED's and also put in a motion sensor light in the front of the garage.

Sorry, but you assess your risks and take your chances.

 

[paulr]

Re: stumped and depressed

You can get a Polystinger without charger, and a third party spare battery for somewhat less than $80. Not a whole lot less, but you can save a few bucks. See www.brightguy.com.

 

[SilverFox]

Re: stumped and depressed

Hello Stephen,

There are a lot of good suggestions here.

I would suggest that since you really liked the Stinger, you go one more round. Get yourself a replacement Stinger.

I would then suggest that you take an engraving tool and put your name in several places on the tail cap, body, head, and bezel. I would also suggest that you mark up the battery pack.

This "personalization" of the light will not effect its operation but will eliminate its resale or trade value.

You know that you really like the Stinger and it was working well for you. Give it one more try...

Tom

 

[woppini]

Well I must say the year is starting off very well. Thanks to everyone here for the advice. I want to personally thank Charliek for sending me a stinger he had lying around not in use. Police have not gotten back to me about the theft of everything (inclucing my stinger) in my truck. Gonna write it off as a loss.
I do have one question. To replace the lens, do i need to purchace the entire reflector and top part of head? Or can I some how dissamble the reflector housing, and just replace the clear lens part. Thanks again, Stephen

 

[Bravo25]

I haven't been able to get mine off yet. I think somehow it is heat swelled in place. I was lead to understand that the complete bezel assembly would need to be replaced.