Sometimes you just need the REALLY BIG Spotlights!

BuddTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Messages
2,521
Location
Houston, TX
I was driving home this evening after putting in a long day at the office, and it was about 10:45, and I was driving home, on a lane feeder just off the beltway. It was a fairly rural area, with no stores or homes or structres around, and the traffic was fairly light, and the average speed was 50 - 65 MPH.

I passed by an accident that just happened, there were no police or rescue there yet, and it looked liked the two drivers had not even talked yet.

I parked my truck to help them, anxious to use my two Surge's with new batteries in them, and, I hate to say it, but was a little excited to use my lights, even though it was a serious, somber situation.

As I searched for my Surge's, I almost tossed aside my 2,000,000 CP Optronics flood light. Well, I grabed my Spotlight and one Surge and my phone, and I was really glad that I had the Spotlight.

Vehicles SAW ME. I did not shine the lights at the vehicles, rather shot the beam to the side or in front of the vehicles. I knew that if a vehicle did not slow down, I would be able to get the driver attention very easily with the Optronics. I felt much safer than having the two Surge's.

BTY, the two people in the accident were either in shock or just plain dumb! One car severely rear ended another car, but how this happened I do not know! There were no stop signs or even any place to turn, and there was no lights or any reason to slow down (no rain, no fog very light traffic.)

The lady in the front car, stopped her car in the center lane, and turned off her lights (yes her lights did work). She just sat in her car and talked on the phone. I told her to turn her lights on and get out of her car because she had the potential to get rear ended again!

The guy that hit her, appeared to me like he was faking being injured. If I remember correctly, your body does not ache right after an accident, it is a day or two later that you ache.

After about 10 minutes, I realized that this guy started to have smoke coming out of his hood (it was not smoking when I got there). I asked him if he had his engine running, and HE DID! There was the smell of gas all over the place, and a couple of minutes later a constable showed up, and he called in the fire dept.

Anyway, I really felt more secure with that Optronics 2,000,000 CP light as opposed to two Surges or two of almost anything else. And the Lights are not all that expensive.

I really like the Optronics. It has a nice, even, wide, solid white beam.

I had a Vector 1 mil CP light that did not have as even and wide a light as my 2 mil CP light.

Anyway, I just wanted to post this for all the people (like me) that want MORE POWER, MORE LIGHT, BRIGHTER LIGHT, etc.

While not something that you would want to carry all day, it is not too heavy. And the charge of the light is 30-40 minutes.

I don't see a lot of posts here about these huge relatively inexpensive lights, so I thought I would post this here.

(And if you want to have real "light beam envy" you have to get one of these lights!)
 

Size15's

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 29, 2000
Messages
18,415
Location
Kettering, England
Good points.

Some of these spotlights offer great bang for buck.

"And if you want to have real "light beam envy" you have to get one of these lights!"
-Respectfully, I suggest an M6 will also cause that sort of envy...

It's always good to read of when the lights we carry actually come in useful for something. For helping others in the dark so-to-speak!

Al
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hairydogs

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 27, 2001
Messages
151
Even the SF M6 can only be classified as tactical light and is no match for the rechargeable 1M candlelights.

The problem is one cannot carry these heavy spot lights all day long.

As far as light and money is concerned, it really offer really good value for money.
 

BuddTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Messages
2,521
Location
Houston, TX
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Size15s:
-Respectfully, I suggest an M6 will also cause that sort of envy...
Al
grin.gif
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

While I have not actually seen the M6,it is listed at Brightguy as "SureFire M6 is the brightest hand held light you can find". I am sure that "beam envy" would happen here also, but the M6 lists at Brightguy for 350.00, whereas I paid around 50 $ for my Optronics at Cabalas.

It would be much more awkard to carry the Optronics around every day, as opposed to the slim light weight of the M6 (7.75 inches, 15 ounces, 1 hour runtime @ 250 Lumens or 20 min at 500 lumens), but for keeping a light handy in your truck or car, the Optronics is a pretty good value and a pretty good light.
 

DavidW

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
1,793
Location
Central Florida
I'm getting ready to open some more forums.

Spotlights is one of them.

Plus lanterns. Gas and electric. Flashlight collecting...
 

BuddTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Messages
2,521
Location
Houston, TX
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DavidW:
I'm getting ready to open some more forums.

Spotlights is one of them.

Plus lanterns. Gas and electric. Flashlight collecting...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Very Cool!
 
D

**DONOTDELETE**

Guest
I have this posted on the "FA&MI" string, (be sure to check it out, especially the "2004" if you're interested in spotlights..) ... this string looks like a good, if not better, place for it too:
A relatively small, but intense light is just what I need out here in the 'boonies' - this canyon can get dark on starless nights and there's a dirt fire road through it, about 500 feet from my 'house' to the property behind me, that connects with my driveway...so a bright spotlight is 'good thing' for indentifying the occasional 'lost' off roader..the emitted light makes a good, legal, defensive weapon, too.. I am hoping the light from the 2001 with the100watt xenon will be brighter than my LSI 1 1/2 million cp light (a 12 volt searchlight with 'only' a 55 watt bulb) -- think so?
 

LEDagent

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 3, 2001
Messages
1,487
Location
San Diego, California
I have a great story with my trusty LSI spotlight.

Me and my family went to Yellowstone National Forrest for 3 days. Our first stop was the Old Faithful geyzer where we spent the night at the Old Faithful Inn. Our long drive from California with a 2000 VW Jetta with 4 people was cramped to say the least. So to break out in the wilderness after such a drive was paradise.
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BOY you should really see this place; crisp, clean air tall trees EVERYWHERE and beautiful tall geyzers all of over the place. Anyway, we were able to catch a glimpse of Old Faithful erupt during the afternoon while there was still sunlight - mind you this was about 6:00pm Mountain time. It wasn't hard to see at all, it was just about sunset at the time. There were HUNDREDS around us and you can tell they were all going to wait for the next eruption. Unfortunately though, the next eruption would happen a few hours later at around 10:30 - 11:30pm that night. So in the mean time we checked into the hotel - which is VERY OLD - and rested from our long drive and hikes that day.

WHO KNEW that the darkness in the mountains was even darker than in the city. HOLY CRAP i said as night fell! No moon - it was a new moon - was out to light any paths and there were minimal path lights to light our way in the darkness around the hotel. But the hotel did not give off enoegh ambient light to light up the geyzer which was about 500 - 600 yards away from the hotel.

10:30 rolled around and i went to my room to unplug my newly charged spotlight, i went downstairs and out to the seats that surrounded the geyzer. These seats were about 100 -150 yards from the geyzer itself and there were about 50 - 100 people sitting around it at the time. I sat next to this family who all had cheapy plastic flashlights that were unusually brighter that what i expected - maybe because i adjusted to how dark it is in the mountains. Anyway i flashed my light to the dormant geyzer and in the air a couple of times and i caught the eye of some starry eyed kids and their parents. "WOW" they said, "that is some flaghtlight."

Here is where it gets good. I'll skip to the point. 11:00pm came around and the gezer started to bubble and spout. I looked around and more people have gathered around the seats, i looked back at the hotel and noticed that the patio (500-600yards away) facing the geyzer was full of onlookers. In the next 5 minutes the gezyer started to spit out water randomly, but it was so dark that we couldn't even see it, only hear it. So i KNEW that the people back at the hotel surely could not see it. So guess what? WHAM! I turned on my spotlight and you could hear the OOoos and AAaas from the crowd around me and even back at the hotel. I kept the light on the geyzer for the 15 minutes that it erupted. Being that it spouts water some couple hundred feet in the air, the tight beam of the spotlight was only able to illuminated a section of the spouting water at a time. My dad who was at the balcony told me over the walkie-takie to move the spot in various places - "left","right","up","down" he said - just to prove that it was his son with the spotlight. He was so proud
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So when the whole thing was done, i had people comming up to me thanking me, and asking "what the hell kinda light is that?" By then i was almost in tears and shaking from adrenaline. Can you imagine yourself supplying light to HUNDREDS of people and making them happy? That was the best experience in my life with a flashlight. This is what fuels my passion for light till this day. You just never know when they will come in handy.
 

PhotonRanger

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
72
Location
NC
OK, so I'm convinced that I need a good searchlight for car carry. So – LSI, Optronics – ??? - NiCAD or Sealed Lead Acid, which are the best models? I'm thinking of something reasonably priced, so as to not cut too deeply into the HID savings fund…
 

brightnorm

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 13, 2001
Messages
7,160
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LEDagent:
I have a great story with my trusty LSI spotlight.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LEDagent,

A truly wonderful story; a beautiful experience!!

Best regards,
Brightnorm
 
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