Which would you buy A2 OR L4?

I new your wisdom in which of these to buy, My brother-in-law,my sister, and I have taken up a some what weird hobby. We goto & on Ghost Walks, Ghost tours & Investigations and the places so far we have visited are mainly old prison's so far:huh: , and rarely are there any lights to explore by, sometimes were in groups other times were on our own to explore. Were indoors mostly, but almost as much were outdoors.
I'm going to my nearest Cabela's this saturday (then after to investigate a old prison nearby:candle: ) to buy one or the other, or a better suggestion anybody suggest or a better light they carry? What I like is the brightness of incan, but hate the batteries life of incans. I like the long life and no spare bulbs of LED'S but hate the bluish tint found in most Led's. Any help is appreciated on choosing one of these or something cabela's carrys. Thank you in advance.

I Just Ordered a L4. The A2 Is a GREAT Light But since I had 2 Already And Really Missed My L4 I ordered it.

The L4 Is Brighter But doesnt throw as close as the A2. If Throw is what you want The L4 Is not the way to go. The L4 Has a Nice Broad Beam That can illuminate a Whole campsite with its super Floody Beam. It also has a bit longer runtime than the A2.

The A2 Is a Regulated Incan!, The A2 Incandescent beam Brings out the Colors In Bushes,trees,etc. The A2's throw is exceptional considering the size and can throw about as far as a Inova T3. The A2 has a Incan Bulb so it can blow out and you will be left with the Low Level LED's which are Really usefull for upclose Tasks.

I Think Thats It? You cant go Wrong. I Think The L4 Will serve you better since you are going On Walks and will illuminate the Whole Pathway and more.
But bring Extra Batteries.

If you're concerned about run time, consider the L2. On high, it should be similar to the L4. On low, it should run for about ten hours, but still be brighter than, e.g., an Inova X1.

Tint is more likely to be a concern with the white LEDs of an A2 than with the Luxeon V of an L2 or L4, although the latter may have a bit of a "donut."

Another excellent light in this range is the HDS EDC. I'm not sure if anyone still has it in stock, but the U60GT was selling for $135. You won't find it at Cabela's, though.

Your hobby sounds like fun.
If you use an L4 you might think you see more ghosts than you otherwise would due to a potential flat shadowy image rendering from the beam (especially in a dark prison-like environment). That could be good or bad I suppose.
The A2 might work better in terms of runtime due to the beam option.

As for the bulb thing, my L2 stopped working before a bulb ever burned out in my A2. At least w/an incandescent its a little easier to debug and fix should something go awray in the field.

I got both, sold my A2, mod my L4 to two stage tailcap, change the Lux V to WXOS. Now It's a white and bright L4.

As others have said, it sounds like your main application is for illuminating where you are walking, so your choice should be between the A2 and the L2. If you do decide on the A2, definitely get it with white LEDs. This would be my preference for anything outdoors. Indoors the L2 is going to be the winner. Especially if the three of you are using just one light, the low on the L2 will be plenty of light for you to navigate through buildings. And as astrogrub said, an LED light is going to make things look more ghostly and pale anyways, so if that is the effect you want, go LED (L2). If you want to identify something for what it is rather than a ghost, get the A2.

ANW said:

... Were indoors mostly, but almost as much were outdoors.

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I would suggest the A2.
Incan. for outdoors- more throw.
LED for indoors- for less back-lash from walls. (Although you still may need the Incan. to see at the end of a dark hall.)

IMO the real question should be, as others have stated, between the L2 and A2. Now that I have both, I can say they are both fantastic lights, and you can't really go wrong with either. The L2 really puts out a lot of light. The A2 puts out less, but in a tighter beam, so it has better throw (but consider that the A2 is not the throw monster of 2x123 incans).

I'd get the A2. You are getting 2 lights in one package.

I too have both and agree with what Carrot just said.

I have neither but I'd go with the A2 if you dont have anything with low output. I have a U2 and always switch around the levels, going from 6 to 3 to 1 to 4 to 6 etc when i am using it, but indoors its mostly the lowest level. Long batterylife is very nice.

EV_007 said:

I'd get the A2. You are getting 2 lights in one package.

I too have both and agree with what Carrot just said.

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I agree. The A2 really does give you 2 lights in one, easy EDC package. And the runtime on the LEDs is reeeeealy long.

Law

As soon as I save up some more cashola, I'm getting an L4.

:goodjob: Thank you all for your help, i'll check them out in the store. There is a difference of $20 between the price of the two, wish I could get both, but I can't . I was considering the the L2 but from the different runs i've read I kinda was iffy about that one, other wise i'd go for the L2 with duel output. Again thank you for your help.

L4 for me since it's shorter, and thus easily pocketable. Plus, the flat wall of light might be what you need to get the big picture. Finally, many L4s have a creamier tint, rather than a blue-purple tint.
Good choices both, tho!
daloosh

If you are still in doubt. For ghost hunting you need good dark adapted eyes. So for general navigation in unfamiliar suroundings a dim LED style light is mostly all you'd need. BUT...if you get very scared (we all do in that situation!) then a quick press up to full power is very reassuring and nuts to the night vision!! Therefore I would suggest the A2 - possibly with red leds if you can get it.
Good luck and remember they belong here as much as we do.:candle:





Be lucky...

Between the two, an A2, but I would have it modded by Milkyspit with THC3 white LED's which are very close to the incandescent in color and give MUCH better rendition of true color than the stock white (actually quite blue) LED's.

I would also choose an Optimator from Milkyspit over the L2 or L4.

BUT...all things considered, for me it would be the A2!!

Bill

As others have said it's really an A2 vs L2 question.

For outdoor walking where you want to see a lot of detail up to maybe 50 feet, get the L2 for its 10 hours of low.

For outdoor or indoor walking where recognizing the object is enough and you don't care about detail but DO care about night vision, get the the A2 for its 20 hours of low.

On high the L2 is a huge wall of light out to 50 feet for an hour.
On high the A2 is a medium spot out to 150 feet for an hour.

If I wanted to retain the "spooky" nature of the exploration, the A2 would be my choice. Its low is plenty bright for any indoor and most outdoor work.

If this will be your EDC and you like a 2-cell size, the A2 is probably more practical since the low is low wnough to be used for map reading, etc. as well as high enough for navigation. And it is critically shorter than the L2.

My 2 cents.

W.

Remember though that both lights get quite hot after a few minutes of continuous running on high so you'll need to revert back to low for a while to let them cool down.

Neither A2 or L2 can run on protected Li-Ions in their stock form (and newest L4 apparently have this problem also). E2L with a F04 diffuser is IMO also an option you should consider. Very nice flood with the diffuser and good throw without it. And if you are able to get a McE2S two stage switch (22 or 30 ohm) for it then you have a light almost identical to L1 in apparence, functionality and output, but that can run on protected 17670 Li-Ions!

A2 would be my choice over L4. The two stage capability combining a low output flood and a good incand beam will be much more versatile in actual use than the L4's always high output.