Best light for dog park ?

dax702

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Oct 3, 2006
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I like to take my dog to the dog park at night when it's less crowded. Problem is that they shut off the lights at 11 and it gets pretty dark out there. I don't really know much about flashlights. So I bought one last night for $10 from walgreens that sas 1,000,000 candle power rechargeable.. I get it home and find out it takes 15 hours to charge and only yields like 30 minutes of use. Needless to say I'm taking it back today..

So I'd like to get one that creates a large amount of light over a wide area, as opposed to a light that shoots a small beam.

I would go by the reviews but I don't exactly know what I'm reading when I look at all the specs... If someone could either recommend a light, or tell me what I need to look for in the review specs, maybe I could figure it out better..

Thanks!
 

Mr_Light

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I would suggest a flourecent lantern powered by D cell batteries. I have a GE Steel Beam Flourecent that I got at COSTCO for about $15 that I like.
 

Manzerick

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Maybe a MagLED would work for you. Not a "Spot" light but offers enough to walk the dog in any lagoon :)


if you want a serious light for dog walking check out the Surefire U2
 

Brighteyez

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Welcome to CPF!

Now if you really have a need for a light that puts out enough light to illuminate much of the dog part and you don't want to use a portable one, you might want to consider one of the 55W lights that will operate off of the 12 V outlet from a car. It should be noted though, that a light of that nature may drain the car battery if allowed to run for a long period with the engine off, so you may need to keep the engine running, or start it up after a period of time to insure that there is adequate power to start the car.

Unfortunately, as in life, there's no free lunch when it comes to lights. If you need a portable light that puts out a flood of light that will light up a big area, you're going to need a big light and the battery to run it. While it's not quite as impressive nor will it flood an area as well, one other option might be for something like a Mag light in either incandescent or LED where you can focus it from spot to flood as needed. While the LED is nice and will put out more overall light than the incandescent, do be aware that the tint may make it a little more difficult to discern what may appear to be a rock from a present that the dog may have left behind, so you'll want to be aware of that.
 

Muddy3

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I often go for night time walks and use a rechargeable maglite. It provides a fantastic field of light which can be focused from spot to flood. The standard mag charger provides more then ample light for most situations and on a good charge will last for about 2hrs on the standard nicad batts.



As and when you're ready, you can upgrade the bulb to a WA01160 bulb. Search the threads and you'll see what I mean. I've yet to get one but I've heard they provide about 500 lumens of light, which is more then enough for most people!



The mag charger is light and easy to carry especially if you get the grip for it. see here: http://www.niteize.com/productdetail.php?category_id=28&product_id=71&PHPSESSID=0a2a5205f64332b75e60066472a8202f



Hope this helps.
 

LED BriCK

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Not sure how much you're looking to spend, but these guys will have you broke if you let them (like me ;))! You said you looked at reviews- if it was http://www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html that's a great place to start. He'll give you the beam profiles (e.g. spot vs. flood, sounds like you're looking for flood), price, water resistance, runtime, etc. The brightness is described in terms of "throw" and "output." Output refers to the total amount of light put out by the flashlight. Throw refers to how far the beam can illuminate, for example you could have a light with relatively little total output, but if the beam is focused to a narrow spot, it can have alot of throw. These numbers are pretty esoteric to most people, I think, but they allow for comparisons between lights. Just find one you're familiar with, like a 2D or 3D Mag, and compare the others to these numbers. It sounds like you're looking for a floody beam with alot of output, but throw isn't as important to you. If you might drop it in a steaming pile of doo, you'll probably want it to be water resistant so you can clean it off. Peruse the site and you should be able to come up with a short list of contenders. Alot of them may only be readily available online, but you should also be able to come up with some that you can easily find in a store at a reasonable price.


And welcome!
 

GreySave

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As a dog owner....if you do not mind using lithium batteries....the Inova X5 might be my light of choice. It is small, lightwieght, just about bulletproof, provides a nice flood type beam to spot things you do not want to step in and gives you throw up to perhaps 50 to 75 feet. Runs for about 5-6 hours on a set of batteries that can be purchased fairly cheaply on line (About $2.50 per battery change) and you can purchase the light at Target at a fair price.
 

joema

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dax702 said:
...So I'd like to get one that creates a large amount of light over a wide area, as opposed to a light that shoots a small beam...
I know you specifically asked for a wide area beam, but in general I'd recommend a balanced beam -- not too wide nor too narrow. It will be useful over more situations.

There are many other decision criteria: price range, physical size of light, switch type (tail click, twist switch, side pushbutton, etc), LED vs incandescent, whether rechargeable or not, whether lithium batteries or not, etc.

As a general "blind" recommendation, I'd suggest the Surefire G2. It's very small, very powerful, has a nice general-purpose beam (not too broad nor too narrow), is very tough, and relatively inexpensive ($34) for a high quality light from a premier mfg. However it does use two lithium batteries in an hour, which are about $1.00 each from www.batterystation.com.

In general I try to recommend LED or hybrid variable-output lights for dog walking and night walking. Most of the time you don't need full output, so the batteries last longer, plus the reflection doesn't blind your dark adapted eyes. Good examples (expensive, but high quality): Surefire A2: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/surefire_a2.htm
Surefire U2: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/surefire_u2.htm

Less expensive example:

Streamlight Twin Tasks: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/streamlight_twintasks.htm
 

Delvance

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Welcome to CPF!

I think one of the best lights you can use for walking at night would be a trilux setup running on big cells. The setup, will throw fairly well and the beam characteristics will be a massive flood of white light.

Check out the the "tri-blasters" on http://www.elektrolumens.com/. Wayne runs that site and is also a member here on CPF and has his own section on the forums here.
I'm pretty sure you'd be able to email or call Wayne and have your choice of reflectors/optics put in the light so it gives the exact beam you are looking for.
 

dax702

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Well first I have to say, holy crap haha.. I never knew flashlights had such a big following! I should clarify more. The light I want to get isn't exactly for "walking" the dog. It's going to be for use in a large fence enclosed dog run area. When they turn the big lights off that illuminate the park, it gets dark enough that you can't see the mutts..

So what I'm basically wanting is a light that is portable and hopefully not too huge (this walgreens light I bought is rather large) and when I turn it on and point it at an area, I'd like it to light up a larger area rather than a small dot of a beam so that it's easier to spot the dogs if that makes sense..

I don't mind rechargeable so much, but 15 hours for 30 mins is pretty awful I think..

I do have this red flashlight, that takes one of those big 6 volt batteries, I don't know how good the bulb is or anything.. It has a few settings I think. You turn it one way and some internal bulb flashes for emergencies I guess.. Maybe I should just buy a battery for it, it's pretty beat up though lol...
 

Brighteyez

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Holy crap yourself! :lolsign: Oh! ... I think that's why you're here :D Well ... maybe not for the holy version, but ...

The light that you bought is only intended for short periods of usage and it does take a while to charge. (Actually probably around 12-14 hours, but even numbers can get jumbled up in the translation.)

Now, do you actually need the level of light that you get from the spotlight? If you can do with less to much less, then a flashlight or lantern might be adequate. But don't expect a replacement for the big lights unless you're ready to two a diesel powered generator/light behind your car (and before anyone asks, the bulbs for those things go for $400+ apiece, government pricing.) I don't think you're going to get a light that will easily light up the entire dog park area (depending upon the size of the dog park.) The thought that did occur to me as a reasonably bright area light that covered a pretty good sized area though, isn't a flashlight but rather, one of the dual mantal gas/propane powered camping lanterns (Coleman, Aladdin, Primus, etc.), but that's a lot of trouble to set up just to exercise the dog.

dax702 said:
Well first I have to say, holy crap haha.. I never knew flashlights had such a big following! I should clarify more. The light I want to get isn't exactly for "walking" the dog. It's going to be for use in a large fence enclosed dog run area. When they turn the big lights off that illuminate the park, it gets dark enough that you can't see the mutts..

So what I'm basically wanting is a light that is portable and hopefully not too huge (this walgreens light I bought is rather large) and when I turn it on and point it at an area, I'd like it to light up a larger area rather than a small dot of a beam so that it's easier to spot the dogs if that makes sense..

I don't mind rechargeable so much, but 15 hours for 30 mins is pretty awful I think..

I do have this red flashlight, that takes one of those big 6 volt batteries, I don't know how good the bulb is or anything.. It has a few settings I think. You turn it one way and some internal bulb flashes for emergencies I guess.. Maybe I should just buy a battery for it, it's pretty beat up though lol...
 

dax702

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Oct 3, 2006
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I dont' know how big the dog run is really, not THAT big...well I'm not looking to spend a ton of money on this light.. Maybe $30 at the most....? I looked at some of the suggestions above so maybe one of those will work..
 

Brighteyez

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Okay, I think I kind of get the idea. The suggestion of the GE Steelcase flourescent lantern above isn't all that bad an idea, though the area that it will cover is pretty limited. If you don't mind a heavier light, one of the Mag 3D lights (also available with AA MiniMag in combo at Costco, Sam's, Home Depot, for $19.99) If you want to spend more than $30 ($30-40) you could either get one with or add one of the MagLED upgrade modules for brighter, whiter light, that lasts longer, and the LED is not subject to breakage like the incandescent (nor will it burn out in any normal usage.) Another option with the Mag is to use one of their Mag-Num Star bulbs for more output. Other lower cost options include 6V lanterns (suggest using a 4D battery adapter) that are usually available for less than $10. Realistically, I think you'll only be lighting up a small portion of the area, and with a light being used as a flood, it won't travel very far. If you use it to go a good distance you'll be limited to using it as a spot. Think of the light as a limited asset and you only have so much of it to go around.

Don't know if the parking lot is in the correct proximity, but if so and you need a lot of light, there's always the high beams on the car :)

dax702 said:
I dont' know how big the dog run is really, not THAT big...well I'm not looking to spend a ton of money on this light.. Maybe $30 at the most....? I looked at some of the suggestions above so maybe one of those will work..
 

Brighteyez

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That's what I had in mind for a 6V lantern. The D battery version will work fine. Don't let the reflector size fool you, it might not put out as much light as you think it might. But give it a try and see if it's adequate for your needs. You can always take it back to Target if you don't like it.

dax702 said:
what about something like this
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.htm...440659-2474539?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B000DLB99M
it's cheap and looks like it would make a lot of light
 
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