What type of light is best?

I am interested in buying a light, but I'd like it to be very bright, possibly at 200 lumens or greater. I don't know where else to put this question. Thanks for your help... Hopefully I won't get flamed.
-alex

Hello pilonull

Welcome here.

Please give us more informations. LED? Incand? Price? Runtime? Size? and so on.


Best regards

_____
Tom

Greetings and Welcome to CPF!

Well, there's quite a number of lights out there that'll generate at or near what you're asking for. Depends on your budget, uses, whether you prefer incandescent or LED.

For starters, you may wish to check out SureFire 9P with the P91 Lamp Assembly. Or you can try the Streamlight TL-3. These two are incandescent flashlights.

Try checking out Lighthound.com or OpticsHQ.com for your purchases.

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

Hey thanks for the reply, I was thinking either luxeon or xenon, which one is the brighter of the two? I don't care about run time, as long as it's not ridiculously short. Size, don't want it to be too clunky, should be able to fit in the pocket, you know? Thanks!
-alex

For the 200+ and above Lumens you're looking for, it'll be more likely in the incandescent/HID arena. Both of the SF.9P and SL.TL-3 can easily fit in the pocket. I've done so without any problems. Then again, Your Methods May Vary accordingly so.

ok, thanks, and umm whats the difference between surefire, superfire, or ultrafire?

Alex, at the LED-sector is only a multiple light be able to produce 200 or more Lumen. Try a search by Trilux or Quadlux and take a look here:

Flashlight Reviews and LED Modifications

Best regards

____
Tom

That's asking quite a bit for any light that you could stick into your pocket. Since you're not familiar with the difference between a Luxeon and a Xenon bulb, I'm not really sure where the 200 lumen figure came from. Perhaps, rather than focusing on the technical aspects, you could elaborate a little on your planned usage for this light and the price range that you want to stay within. I'm sure that will yield some more practical suggestions, though the TL-3 that CHC suggested is spec'd at 200 Lumens.

pilonull said:

I am interested in buying a light, but I'd like it to be very bright, possibly at 200 lumens or greater. -alex

Click to expand...

Surefire is an American company that produces high-end flashlights targeted at the military, police, and enthusiast markets. As far as I know, "superfire" and "ultrafire" are overseas knockoffs of Surefire.

200 lumens in a pocket-sized light will not be easy. You cannot get 200 lumens from a single LED easily (such LEDs simply are not made in quantity), and the smallest HID systems (10W) aren't quite pocket-sized. You're going to be looking at an incandescent lamp with runtimes in the area of 20 minutes. You're also fiarly limited on your power options - CR123A (also referred to as 123) cells are about the only choice.

As others have suggested, perhaps you should tell us your requirements for this light - what will you be using it for, under what conditions, etc? I can tell you that lumen ratings only mean so much, and the human eye is a much better imaging device than light meter. You might think that jumping from 60 lumens to 120 would be tremendous, but unless you do side-by-side comparisons, it's not always so apparent.

Anyway, sticking to your originally-posted requirements...

From Surefire, you could go with the C3 or 9P - both use a 9V bulb and 3 CR123A lithium cells. You might also find that the high-output P61 bulb in a G2 is bright enough in a more-compact 2-cell flashlight.

The Streamlight TL3 would also be a good choice.

I hear good things about the Pila GL3.

i think we all tend to overestimate our lighting needs in the begining. i was in the woods of ohio on an overcast night and found my L1P to be nearly overkill in that situation. in the city, it can be found lacking so... what will you be using your 200 lumens for?

Wow, thank you all so much for your help! I decided im going with the G2 with the p61 bulb. I just want to have a bright light that can illuminate further than a standard flashlight. Thanks again!
-alex