What fits these specs?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Looking for a LED flashlight with the following specs:

Light output roughly equal to my 3C Cell Mag-Light.

Size: small enough to carry regularly. Pretty much looking at around a 2 AA light size.

Battery: Must be relatively cheap to feed. (ie. nothing more expensive than lithium AA's. CR123's are out.

Burn Time: 5-8 hours until reduced lightoutput = 1/2 intial light output.

Price Range: Less than $35 (Anything more and it just makes more sense to buy Mag-lights and keep them wherever they might be needed)

Beam purity: Here is where I'm willing to be most flexible. I'd prefer as white a light as possible, but am more than willing to accept some lower purity of light if I can meet the above criteria.

Speed Racer

 

[Darell]

Yeeow!

First off, welcome, Speed Racer. Second, I'm afriad you're after a hunk of unobtanium here. As far as LEDs have come, there is simply no free lunch. Getting "Output roughly equal to a 3C Mag-Light" can mean many things to many people. It is very difficult and costly to get anything near that throw from any LED (though we've managed to do it with about $250 in surefire parts and a few custom parts along with a 5W cyan LED).

With 3V, in a 2AA form-factor with a $35 price cap - I think you're gonna come up dry. LOTS of great lights out that meet most of your specs, but none than I can think of that even come close to meeting them all.

 

[Bushman]

Well put darell. I think Speed racer, if you were willing to compromise on some of your requirements, we would be much better able to help you with sorting out your lighting needs... What do you plan on using the lights for. Indoor around the house use, or out door "what is that at the back of the fence" use? etc...

 

[RonM]

What about the Reactor III? Thats the 3AA version of the CMG Reactor. A little larger than requested, but the price is about right and output should be decent with the three cells.

 

[Roy]

Probably one of the BadBoy sandwitch drop-ins will come come the closest to meeting your needs.

 

[Ratso]

Originally posted by Speed Racer:
Guess maybe I'm reaching a little too far with the light power requirement. I basically want a light that is more powerful than a maglight 2AA light. But it should be powerful enough to navigate a path at night, change a tire, shine out the window at night and have a decent hope of recognizing what is causing the ruckus on the fence. (about 15-20ft away). In fact I guess I really don't need anything that I couldn't get from a 3 dollar Eveready Flashlight with fresh batteries. I really just want it to do it better for longer.

Probably something brighter than a Mag 2AA and dimmer than a Mag C-Cell would be good.

The Reactor seemed like it might fit the bill perfectly, but it seems like they take a lot of heat on the forum. Possibly this is just a case of the "It's not a Surefire, so it sucks.." line of thought.

Hopefully this helps clarify a bit what I'm looking for.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">You may want to try a Streamlight 4AA 7 LED. It won't give you a "beam" but is rather a wide flood of very bright light. It also has a flat shape that fits nicely in your pocket. There is also the LGI, made by Mr Bulk. It uses 3AA and is brighter than the Mini Mag, but longer.

The Streamlight 2AA Pro Poly is quite bright for a 2AA incandescant. The UKE 4AA is another popular choice. It will give a tight bright beam. It is wider than a Mini-Mag but fits well in your pocket.

 

[Rothrandir]

if you want the small form factor, while still being bright...get the madmax or badboy sandwhich available from dat2zip, who is a member here.

intretech also makes a luxeon based drop in for the minimag, it is less bright than dat2zips, but it is nice also.

if you are willing to up the price a little bit, go with something from some of the modders on this forum...amazingly bright stuff.

what you ask for is what we all want...

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Guess maybe I'm reaching a little too far with the light power requirement. I basically want a light that is more powerful than a maglight 2AA light. But it should be powerful enough to navigate a path at night, change a tire, shine out the window at night and have a decent hope of recognizing what is causing the ruckus on the fence. (about 15-20ft away). In fact I guess I really don't need anything that I couldn't get from a 3 dollar Eveready Flashlight with fresh batteries. I really just want it to do it better for longer.

Probably something brighter than a Mag 2AA and dimmer than a Mag C-Cell would be good.

The Reactor seemed like it might fit the bill perfectly, but it seems like they take a lot of heat on the forum. Possibly this is just a case of the "It's not a Surefire, so it sucks.." line of thought.

Hopefully this helps clarify a bit what I'm looking for.