Time for an incan

It's now time for the next stage of my flashaholism. I need a light to illuminate an acre at night to make sure there's no coyotes in the yard, yeah that's it, it's for safety! I don't have a problem

I'm looking for a bright incandescant. That can run off primary 123s as well as rechargables. As bright as possible without getting so hot that I have to use it intermittently. The more runtime the better. Bonus for focusable beam. LED tailcap would be nice. The 300 Lumen Wolf Eyes look nice, but is there better? I'd like to stay under $100, but if it's worth going over I'll justify it somehow

I've mainly focused on LEDs, so my knowledge of incans is small. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks for any info

With the criteria you mentioned, you'll be happy with the WE products. They are solid, good value, and perform well.

Go with the Wolf-Eyes M90 Rattlesnake. You'll have many bulbs and battery options.

I can tell you right now, that any significantly powerful Li-Ion option, is going break the $100 figure... The initial cost of these configurations seems really high because you are paying up front for a charger, and expensive cells.... the charger and cells pay for themselves in use, but it doesn't feel like they do until awhile down the road.

I think you might be happy stepping down a notch from the M90... in order to get the ability to run either CR123As OR rechargables, I recommend a "3 cell" configuration.


A Wolf-Eyes 9AX is about $45 bare. You can run either 3 CR123A cells or 2 18500(150A) rechargable cells without having to change the lamp or any other part of the configuration. You have a lot of D26 lamps to choose from. The WE lamp that comes with it will probably do pretty well, but you can upgrade to a Lumensfactory EO-9, or if you really wanna go nuts, a Surefire P91 lamp.

you can buy the whole kit from PTS for about $100, or you might be able to save a few dollars buying an ultrafire charger somewhere online, and protected cells from AW.


If you are willing to spend the extra, the M90 is the better solution if you really want some incredible output available. From what I have heard(I think it was from Paul_In_Maryland), The D36 12V lamp from the standard non-rechargable configuration, with the 1/2 cell extender, and 3 150A size cells (18500s), runs stable and retarded bright/white. You could upgrade to a EO-13 from LF for an even more insane amount of light.

to get this setup:
M90:$65
charger:$15 (ultrafire)
batteries:$34.50 (AW)
1/2 cell extender:$13

looking at least $135 with some shipping costs to get the ball rolling on that... but it might be worth it in the long run.. You'd have to remove the extender to run 4xCR123s. If you don't mind a longer stick, you can get the 168 extender and run 3x 18650s(168A) cells for about 50% more runtime and about 10% more brightness, but it might be more likely to blow the 12V lamp (in which case you just buy a 13V lamps and be done with it for awhile) Would cost about $10 more overall I think.

I already have an Ultrafire charger and some protected 18650s (and some 14500s, and some NiMH AAs and AAAs and charger for those) I'm building a stash of primary 123s, and will get some rechargables soon. I'd like to be able to use primary 123s so if the power goes out for an extended period of time I can use the ones in my stash.

+1 for the Wolf-Eyes products. The 9 series lights give you terrific flexibility on the fly, but the M90 13 volt provides more punch.

I just got an M-90 and have been playing around with it. The 168 extender gives the equivalent length of 6 primaries, and you can stash 3 168's with the LF 13v 700 lumens bulb. I also tried 2 168's on the standard length body and it will power up the 12v bulb AND the 12v LED tail cap, although with diminished brightness - about the equivalent of a P.90 -. Talk about versatility!! And the 700 lumens really punch through the night!!
But I still love the portability of the 3 primary setups.

How long can you run the 700 lumen bulb before it gets too hot?

I think I'm going to get a WE 13v setup w/ charger. Lots of versatility!

Vermonter73 said:

How long can you run the 700 lumen bulb before it gets too hot?

I think I'm going to get a WE 13v setup w/ charger. Lots of versatility!

Click to expand...

LF has a heat warning - 5 minute max intervals.:thumbsdow
But hey, if you want a search light you have to go HID, right?