LED BEAM questions.

Ok, this goes along with my previous question about the maglite.

I've currently got an LED Beam 3watt that I love. However, I'm always afraid to use it for very long for fear of burning up those three C-cells.

Has anyone actually run time tested this thing? I may just start carrying it with me in the police car rather than worrying about the maglite.

Any good mods for the light?

I have a LedBeam 3C for about 8 month. What do you mean by "burning up those three C cells". I use this light a lot and any day soon I must change the battery cuz it's getting dimmer. So far the performanva is great. Cheers.

Frids

Not entirely sure what you mean by "burning up those three C-cells", but if you're using alkaline batteries, they're meant to be disposable after you've used them up . You should probably carry spare batteries with you. The LEDBeam should have a burn time of about 5+ hours, more than enough for any shift unless you've got the light on continuously. Think about it, the Streamlight SL-20 or Mag Charger that are in many police cars can generally survive an entire shift even if it isn't in the cradle and that only has a optimistic burn time of about 90 minutes (usually less to much less depending upon the state of the battery and lamp assembly). I'd be more concerned about the fragile nature of the LEDBeam's construction in it's use in public safety work. If you want to carry a LEDBeam as a backup light, you might also want to consider dropping one of the LED Upgrade modules into a Mag; it's probably a bit sturdier and will withstand the abuses that are encountered in day to day police work. If you like the C sized barrel of the LEDBeam, consider a 3C Mag (it's actually a little smaller than tthe LED Beam.) One other thing that you can do is to use rechargeable C size NiMH batteries in either light and just charge them up before or after each shift (about the same run time, about 5 hours.)

BusaRider said:

Ok, this goes along with my previous question about the maglite.

I've currently got an LED Beam 3watt that I love. However, I'm always afraid to use it for very long for fear of burning up those three C-cells.

Has anyone actually run time tested this thing? I may just start carrying it with me in the police car rather than worrying about the maglite.

Any good mods for the light?

Click to expand...

I agree with Brighteyez: The LEDBEAM is a great flashlight with long runtime, works even better IMO from NIMH rechargable cells- but I would not put it into service as a primary lighting tool on the belt of an LEO... For the price- it's a wonderfull flshlight, but it's not built well enough to be trusted in that senario....

I would suggest incandecents with over 200 lumens and a rechargable battery for that type of work.

Until a recent burst of spending I was planning on obtaining a HA 3C maglite and swapping the LEDBeam's internals to it...

I've dropped my LEDBeam quite a few times on concrete, rocks, down a rock face... It has a few bumps and warts but still works like a champ. The light's shell is definitely sub-par when compared to a maglite, but I have to believe that the heat sinking in the LEDBeam is far beyond that of an LED Mag (or Mag drop-in LED conversion).

mdocod said:

I agree with Brighteyez: The LEDBEAM is a great flashlight with long runtime, works even better IMO from NIMH rechargable cells- but I would not put it into service as a primary lighting tool on the belt of an LEO... For the price- it's a wonderfull flshlight, but it's not built well enough to be trusted in that senario....

I would suggest incandecents with over 200 lumens and a rechargable battery for that type of work.

Click to expand...

The LEDBEAM will be a secondary light for use in traffic stops and such where the reading of paperwork is needed. My T4 stays on my belt.

If there isn't a department supplied flashlight that is integral to the radio car, what are you going to use for a primary light? Neither the LEDBeam nor a T4 is adequate as a primary light. You'll probably also find that the LEDBeam is going to be a bit too bright for just reading paperwork (as may well be the T4.) If anything, the SL20X LED is ideal for this purpose as the halogen is adequate to light up a car even through 5% window film, and the LEDs work well for paperwork.

As suggested in another thread, you'll probably want to familiarize yourself with what equipment is already in the police cars first before adding redundant equipment.

BusaRider said:

The LEDBEAM will be a secondary light for use in traffic stops and such where the reading of paperwork is needed. My T4 stays on my belt.

Click to expand...

EDIT Just saw your other post. Sounds strange that a small department would have separate cars for reserves, but if that's the case, you might want to consider a Mag Charger for the car if that is the department's preference. That way there is interchageability with the departments' real police cars and everything is familiar to others if you have to share or exchange lights.

If you don't have Unitys or other spotlights on the car, and you're just using the LED flashlight, you'll probably be a bit underequipped.

here is a runtime graph
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/ledbeam_3c.htm

The LEDBeam 3-C is on sale for $23.95 shipped.

http://www.ledbeam.com/