Suggestions for a newb.

[Surfer Jesus]

Hello everyone,

I was sent here from some friends on survivalistboards.com, and this place is just fascinating. Two weeks ago, I didn't know anything was brighter than my 3 x AA (3 Watt) maglight. Then my brother gave me a StreamLight MicroStream, that he got from Sportsman's Warehouse for $15. I was amazed by how a 1 x AAA light could perform almost as well as my maglight.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I started reading up on flashlights and you guys really know your stuff. What I am now looking for is to get started into this hobby but I really don't want to waste my money since I am still a new graduate from college. After reading what you guys have to say, I think that a good beginner light for me would be the Fenix L2D (Q5 premium), because it uses the common 2 x AA (and I have a bunch of the NiMH). It seems to have a descent brightness to runtime ratio.

*************************

My questions:
1. I have not read anywhere about it's approximate throw distance (usable at how far).
2. Is the quality good on these, and whats up with some people saying it is not centered?
3. Is this the best bang for my buck as a poor college grad?

Thank you all in advance for taking the time to help a beginner in the field.

Take care.

 

[HoopleHead]

:welcome:


do you have a specific purpose that you want a specific flashlight for? eg throw, flood, long runtime, sounds like you have battery requirements. is it for everyday carry on your person, in a bag, leave at home etc. so many choices, best to match the right light to the specific needs...

 

[Gunner12]

1. That would depend a lot on where you use it. It the city you won't get much throw but out in the darkness you might get 100 meter usable beam, presuming turbo mode. I've heard people say they can see the beam hit something 200 meter away but I'm guessing that thing isn't getting lit up much.

2. Quality is pretty good for the Fenix lights. They will take a good bit of abuse and work just fine. The LED on some of the earlier ones aren't centered. They say that some Cree XR-E domes aren't center from the production line and the dies under the dome is centered but the dome itself isn't. Fenix gets the LED from another company, in this case Cree, so they can't control how the LEDs are made.

3. This depends, what do you want the light to do? A $100 light might not suit your needs as well as a $20 light.

:welcome:

 

[greenLED]

:welcome: SJ!

My questions:
1. I have not read anywhere about it's approximate throw distance (usable at how far).
2. Is the quality good on these, and whats up with some people saying it is not centered?
3. Is this the best bang for my buck as a poor college grad?

1. That depends a lot of indirect lighting. If you're outdoors and it's completely dark, it'll seem like (any) light throws better. OTOH, LED's are known to get "washed out" under city lights (that said the L2D is bright enough that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference in real life).

2. Yes, quality is good. Usually "not centered" refers to the LED emitter not being perfectly centered inside the reflector. For all practical purposes, it's negligible but some people can be overly picky (not me anymore).

3. I'd say yes.

 

[Surfer Jesus]

:welcome:


do you have a specific purpose that you want a specific flashlight for? eg throw, flood, long runtime, sounds like you have battery requirements. is it for everyday carry on your person, in a bag, leave at home etc. so many choices, best to match the right light to the specific needs...

Thanks to all who replied, well honestly, I am going to be using it for my bike riding home at night in the city/suburbs. I work near downtown, which is very well lit, but in the alleys around downtown, its very dark and kinda creepy. In the suburb streets, it isn't as well lit and many cars don't see me, so I purchased a nice Energizer Head Lamp, in addition to my blinking rear light.

You are right, the LED's do get really washed out under street lights, but mostly I wanted something more powerful and that would help me to see farther along my path. The L2D seemed to have a nice bike mount, and the cool thing is I would also have a light on me the second I got off the bike. Honestly, the head lamp just annoise me while it is there. Batteries are definitely my biggest concern, I hate not having batteries with a passion, so anything AA is what I am looking for. I have a bunch of rechargables, (Camera crazy) and if I run out I want to be able to stop infront of a 7-11 and pick some up.

So my main thing is throw distance, portability, battery run-time (optional because of NiMh but nice to have), and quality. Sixty dollars seems steep but I guess from looking at other companies, its not that bad for a quality product.

Again, thank you all for the replies, you guys rock.

 

[Gunner12]

From what I've seen here, the Fenix lights seem to work pretty well as bike lights. Most people seem to prefer the Two Fish bike mounts. I've heard the Fenix one could be a bit loose or something.

If you buy from Fenix Store, don't forget the 8% off coupon "CPF8".

 

[LED-holic]

Welcome to CPF!

The L2D Q5 is a fine first light. It was my first "real" light and still one of the best.

Get it and enjoy it!!

 

[adamlau]

M2 Centurion + Dereelight 1S Q5 + FM64 + AW 2x17670 + Pila IBC. Consider that a graduation present to yourself.