Wife is afraid of the Oklahoma bears...need more light for camping.

[meganame]

Funny thing is, there are no bears in Oklahoma. When we camp, though, she fears them. I compare her absence of logic to when someone scares you with a monster mask. Just for that instant, that split second, monsters exists and one is there to get you. Otherwise, why would the mask be such a terrifying sight? So I guess the absence of logic in the presence of fear isn't unique to my wife. So, I need to prepare for the possibility that we will be ambushed by a sloth of those elusive Oklahoma bears.

Unquestionably, my incandescent Maglite is dated. In my search for the perfect camping flashlight, I have found that there are dozens of brighter lights than even the LED Maglite's. The Surefire's are some good looking lights! They have a couple models, in the 100-150 lumen range that I like. However, I'm the type of man that likes to find the perfect solution. So, let's go brighter. Way brighter! I have been researching for a couple weeks now and I become aware of a lot of things I need to consider before I drop $$ on a new stick. Heat, efficiency of light and power, weight, availability of their battery type, torch lumen's, emitter lumen's, etc. What I lack is the experience to consider all of that and come to a balanced decision.

So that is what brought me here. Let's start with the stick I'm currently interested in:
Neofab Legion II
http://neo-fab.com/legionII/legionII.htm

What I like most about it:
- 742 torch lumen's!
- Under 1.5 lbs.
- Runs at full blast for over 3 hours.
- Runs brighter than my incandescent Maglite for over 20 hours.
- Good size. Seems like I could hike with it and have no comfort problems.

What I don't like:
- 3000 mah rechargables for it are pricey and HARD TO FIND! (3.7V size 18650 lithium ion rechargeables. About $12 each. Uses 3.)
- The control ring. You know, the way you turn it on. Seems like it would be easy to fumble that in an emergency.

So, in short: Lumen's, power efficiency, weight, and size are most important to me.

Do you guys have any advice or does it sound like I have settled on a good fit?

 

[glockboy]

Take a look at the Fenix TK40.

 

[bladerunner]

Wow, what an enviable situation you have. Buying lights usually gets "us" in trouble! You should buy several lights to assure complete safety out there. Be sure to get your wife a nice light because you love her! Get a good back up for yourself... Whatever you do, have fun and stay safe...

 

[BIGIRON]

Actually, there are probably a few black bears in SE and E Oklahoma. Just don't tell anyone.

 

[hyperloop]

+1 on the TK40 runs on 8xAAs and a blazing wall of light.

 

[Lightcrazycanuck]

You need pepper spray not flashlights.IMO

Or a big gun.

 

[Mjolnir]

You do not need to spend 12 dollars on 18650's if you do not want to. Me (and many others here) use these cells:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20392
They have an actual 2400 Mah capacity; the only other cells that really have more are AW's 2600 mah cells, which are significantly more money. These are $10 for a pair, with free shipping. Of course, they ship from china, so they do take a while to arrive. You might be tempted to consider some of the "ultrafire" (or spiderfire, or sacredfire, or whatever word they feel like adding fire to) lights because of their low prices and advertised brightness, but in most cases their quality is lacking.

 

[cernobila]

Since this is in the "General" section I presume that you are not quite sure if it should be LED or Incan.

As someone who has seen two thirds of Australia as a camper I have some thoughts about this......for my wife and me, we have settled on small LED lights around the camp site for close up work; fire, car, tent etc.....but for looking around and investigating unexplained noises that come from our own "outback" wildlife, or walking in caves, collecting wood at night etc. we always have Incans with us, the flora and fauna is much easier to see and identify with Incans.

I have found that if I use a LED light to walk on a very potted rough road, I walk like a drunk......but if I use an Incan light on the same road, I walk normally.

If you walk to your spot then size weight and run time are the most important factors......if you arrive with a car then it does not matter, you also have a car charger to keep your lights working.

I am partial to the Wolf-Eyes Incan lights, the M300 being on top of the list right now......

 

[meganame]

Since this is in the "General" section I presume that you are not quite sure if it should be LED or Incan.

As someone who has seen two thirds of Australia as a camper I have some thoughts about this......for my wife and me, we have settled on small LED lights around the camp site for close up work; fire, car, tent etc.....but for looking around and investigating unexplained noises that come from our own "outback" wildlife, or walking in caves, collecting wood at night etc. we always have Incans with us, the flora and fauna is much easier to see and identify with Incans.

I have found that if I use a LED light to walk on a very potted rough road, I walk like a drunk......but if I use an Incan light on the same road, I walk normally.

If you walk to your spot then size weight and run time are the most important factors......if you arrive with a car then it does not matter, you also have a car charger to keep your lights working.

I am partial to the Wolf-Eyes Incan lights, the M300 being on top of the list right now......

No kidding? I had not considered that Incan light may be desirable in some cases. Hmm.
Why is the Fenix TK40 being mentioned? Is it a better stick or are you guys just more familiar wit that model?

 

[Lighthouse one]

For bears...give your wife a good loud whistle on a cord to wear around her neck.

Also remind her that almost all wild animals do not like barking dogs....practice your barking!

 

[Lynx_Arc]

look for the.... bear necessities.... the simple bear necessities
simple thing to do is to check out the places you would camp at and see if they have anything to bear about them
prevention can go farther than preparedness sometimes if you go where there is literally a bear minimum of chances... you won't have to bear an accident

 

[Mjolnir]

Since this is in the "General" section I presume that you are not quite sure if it should be LED or Incan.

As someone who has seen two thirds of Australia as a camper I have some thoughts about this......for my wife and me, we have settled on small LED lights around the camp site for close up work; fire, car, tent etc.....but for looking around and investigating unexplained noises that come from our own "outback" wildlife, or walking in caves, collecting wood at night etc. we always have Incans with us, the flora and fauna is much easier to see and identify with Incans.

I have found that if I use a LED light to walk on a very potted rough road, I walk like a drunk......but if I use an Incan light on the same road, I walk normally.

If you walk to your spot then size weight and run time are the most important factors......if you arrive with a car then it does not matter, you also have a car charger to keep your lights working.

I am partial to the Wolf-Eyes Incan lights, the M300 being on top of the list right now......

I definitely agree with this. LEDs are efficient, but incans are much more eye friendly. If you are feeling ambitious, you might want to consider an ROP or Mag85 maglite modification, which will give you 700+ incan lumens, and depending on how you do it, about an hour of runtime between charges. Depending on how many cells your maglite can take, you may be able to use it for a mod.

LED's just don't give that "daylight" feeling that high output incans do. However, they offer much higher efficiency.

Additionally, you might want to consider an HID. TacticalHID store offers some generic asian made HID lights that can also be found on ebay, but they have 4300K bulbs (and some other features, I believe), which have a warmer tint, which gives more natural colors. The runtime is apparently only 45 minutes for the 24watt, but it will give you a lot more output than the Legion will; it should be about 1600 lumens.

 

[Linger]

I've come across black-bears while on a 5k portage, luckily the 16foot canoe made me look pretty big and it took off. My friend had the bear-spray unholstered and out pretty quick.
-Take bear spray and make sure it is ALWAYS on her person.
-Tie up all consumables, scented items, and garbage (toothpaste to deodorant) 50ft downwind of you camp
Its sad when people practice poor field craft and then blame the bear for entirely predictable bear behavior.

I had to cover that, but in deference to your title it was as brief as I could make it. On to your post:
Some cheap 'common battery' options for you. Get Nihm; using alkaline means you don't want your lights to perform well.

-4sevens Quark Turbo, Cree xpg R5 emitter, the 2 AA version. Bright, compact, excellent.
-iTP PoleStar, Cree mc-e emiter (same as the legion), 6 AA batteries, not as flashy as Surefire and the black anodising is only type 2 not type 3, which means that there will be completly superficial blemishes in the finish after a few years. Otherwise iTP is great, better threads then SF, solid flashlights.
-Battery Station Mentor series, 2 C batteries ( or D cells, sorry I forgot)
-DealExtreme Flood to Zoom x2000 (there are a few zoom to flood lights at DX), one version uses 3aaa batteries. I have the x2000 18650 version.
Seriously consider getting a Flood to Zoom light. Another dealer is ShiningBeam, they have a Rominson with an adjustable beam (and a warm tint version too) These lights are like nothing else - perfect flood light for up close, and you can tighten it up with the aspheric lens for a long range beam that will out-throw $200 dollar lights.

A second point for you to consider - search 'warm tint' led's. Led's have different 'bins' which they are sorted into depending on the predominant wavelength they emit. Many people, myself included, strongly advocate neutral or warm tints for outdoors - cool tints look monochromatic and flat. Warm tints with the reds and yellows reveal more earth, bark, branch. It's the only way to go IMHO.Consider bins 4B, 5A, 5B.

Go to CPF marketplace, look for neo manufacture forum. There have been hundreds of posts begging for help / after care because of problems with the neosekian flashlights. I have no experience with the lights, if the one you pick is a more recent model maybe it is great, but before huge probelms with the selector ring not working, the controls getting dirt and water inside, etc. Again, maybe some of these are fixed, but I know people waited months and months and months before even getting a response about their malfunctioning lights.

 

[DM51]

... a blazing wall of light.

I agree. This is what you need:

 

[Linger]

reminds me of a survivor man episode: he is in a balloon that sets down in the savahna. Obviously big predators like tigers are a threat - the first night he 'camps' in the balloon basket and has the burners rigged up just like that pic, a great big 'don't come near me'

/////
OP, consider this for your Mag (beware, for incans
brighness < or > runtime
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=179891
they'll knock your socks off though

 

[Gunner12]

The TK40 is being mentioned because it is another good light, and also because it runs on AA batteries. If you buy from 4sevens, 8% off coupon is "CPF8".

The TK40 might be best for you because it uses AA batteries, instead of "special" Li-ion batteries (similar/same batteries exist in a laptop battery pack).

:welcome:

 

[BlueBeam22]

Cyclops Thor X Sirius 9 watt rechargeable LED spotlight or Fenix TK40.

Also take a look at some of the compact HID flashlights.

 

[leukos]

For bears...give your wife a good loud whistle on a cord to wear around her neck.

Also remind her that almost all wild animals do not like barking dogs....practice your barking!

Yes, noise is more effective than light in repelling bears and other unwanted guests in your campsite. Metallic noises (such as tongs or pans clanging together) frighten most animals away.

 

[Mjolnir]

I agree. This is what you need:

LOL, I suppose that gives a new meaning to the term Firesword! (another possibility for maximum output if you have no budget)

I also saw that survivorman episode... That was quite an effective animal repellent measure.

 

[Sgt. LED]

To the OP: Lucky you!

Anyways a simple ROP would give great utility and nice brightness. You already have the Mag.

I mean, you won't have to compete with any ambient light so why go to "TURBO" and shorten your runtime? Don't tell your wife but all the light will do is blind you a few seconds before the bear attacks, it probably won't bother him much if he's decided your fate before you switch it on. There may actually be bears in OK in some areas so don't totally discount the possibility.