Newbie - What flashlight to buy?

Hi All

I'm switching from my first LED powered flashlight into something more powerful and would like your help.

At the moment I own one of these
http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/super-bright-2mode-2xlir-rechargeable-p-519.html

and have ordered one of these from DX
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6177

I wanted to know
1) if I made a good buy on the new one.
2) if there's anything out there LED based with more power
3) if there is, are they any that have more than 1 mode of operation?

Thanks to all

You need to tell us what you are using the light for (EDC, Work related, outdoor activites) as well as your preferences. Things like type of switch (twisty vs clickie), type of beam (throw vs flood), size (pocketable, holster carry), battery type (single or double AAA's, AA's, CR123's), budget ($20.00 to ?). All of these come into play. Now I know you may not have developed any preferences on any of these yet because sometime it takes using different kinds of lights to determine what you like. At the very least tell us what you are using the light for and your budget. Like many here, I would recommend checking out www.fenix-store.com and www.lighthound.com. Check out the reviews forum and here are some review sites as well. http://www.cpfreviews.com/, http://www.flashlightreviews.com/, http://www.lightreviews.info/

aussiebuddha welcome to CPF.
If your username is any indication of where you live, check out TorchWorld.

Howdy aussiebuddha, and welcome to CPF,
Just start reading, and pretty soon you will begin to see what's available in new lights that might fit your needs.

Be sure and check out these sites:

http://www.lightreviews.info/

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/buyers_guide.htm

http://flashlightnews.org/

Have fun!

Just because you are new doesn't mean that you have to ask bad questions which have been asked 1000's of times before. Believe me our situation is not that unique.
There is that old saing that there is no such thing as a bad or wrong question....The problem is that saying dosn't cover the situation if the question has been asked before countless times.
"Newbie - What flashlight to buy?"
Come on man get a grip.
Every one of your questions could have been answered had you done a little reading searching and research. You are looking for the easy way out.
You can't assume that the people are going to do the work you need to do for yourself for you. Can you?
In fact you ma have had so much information that you might have been able to ask a good question.
Why do you think there have only been 4 or 5 responses to your query?
Figure it out.
As A new guy I will give you a little break. Come on man do some reading. Ask the question BEFORE you make a choice not after.
I looks like your (a) decision has been made.
A little research would have yielded a great deal about the average Cpf's
experience with your chosen vendor.

I recommend that you do some important things if you intend to stick around.
First read. then read some more.
Then choose a couple of forums which interest you the most and focus our attention there. This is a big place and it is easy to get lost in a way.
once you have picked a couple areas of interest and done some reading you will most likely be in a position to Sask some intelligent questions which the membership will be interested in answering. It is a two way street and if you haven't done your part the rest of us are unlikely to do ours.
If you stay you will learn that the people here are very generous...in many ways a great deal of that generosity you will find is unexpected and wonderful in nature.
A little respect needs to be earned first.
Your opening question is not an impressive start.
Go back to the forum read and read and read.
Study the BST forums you will find many a great value there...especially for the first time buyer. Why? because you will most likely be able to buy a first time buyers first time buy. If that makes any sense.
Oh and start saving or get a second job or discuss with the accountants an increase in allowance. regardless of our source of income If you plan on staying any length of time here one thing is for sure you will need more...Cash that is....
Enjoy. Oh and read will ya. and dont be a ...
BTW I am not sorry if you think I am being hard on you.
It is up to you to figure out how (if) you want to fit in.
Yaesumofo

adibuddha said:

Hi All

I'm switching from my first LED powered flashlight into something more powerful and would like your help.

At the moment I own one of these
http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/super-bright-2mode-2xlir-rechargeable-p-519.html

and have ordered one of these from DX
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6177

I wanted to know
1) if I made a good buy on the new one.
2) if there's anything out there LED based with more power
3) if there is, are they any that have more than 1 mode of operation?

Thanks to all

Click to expand...

And that's exactly why I don't post my questions any more. I'd rather not know than get flamed for asking.

Give the guy a chance, it's his first post.

Bozzlite said:

And that's exactly why I don't post my questions any more. I'd rather not know than get flamed for asking.

Give the guy a chance, it's his first post.

Click to expand...

thanks man, the previous poster was unnecessarily rude. Sometimes it is quite sad to see people venting out their personal problems against people they don't know, but oh well.

Now going back to the flashlight subject, which is why we are all here for.

Yes i have bought a replacement flashlight at the moment, but I'd like to buy something better as well, and would like you guys to help me. hopefully this will develop in a hobby for me since i find them so interesting.


The flashlight I'd like to buy would need to have the following.

1) as bright as possible while being LED driven
2) no limit in amount of batteries or LEDS
3) preferable that took AA but i wouldnt sacrifice brightness for this, second option would be 123 as i have a charger already, but i wouldnt sacrifice brightness for that either
4) multi mode clicky

I'm not sure what i will use it for yet, as i have no real need, but i was looking for a concentrated extremely bright beam..

thanks to all

Based on your criteria i would recommend The Fenix L2D-CE.
http://www.qualityflashlights.at/termekekmain.php?csoportid=45#66

yaesumofo said:

Just because you are new doesn't mean that you have to ask bad questions which have been asked 1000's of times before. Believe me our situation is not that unique.
There is that old saing that there is no such thing as a bad or wrong question....The problem is that saying dosn't cover the situation if the question has been asked before countless times.
"Newbie - What flashlight to buy?"
Come on man get a grip.
Every one of your questions could have been answered had you done a little reading searching and research. You are looking for the easy way out.
You can't assume that the people are going to do the work you need to do for yourself for you. Can you?
In fact you ma have had so much information that you might have been able to ask a good question.
Why do you think there have only been 4 or 5 responses to your query?
Figure it out.
As A new guy I will give you a little break. Come on man do some reading. Ask the question BEFORE you make a choice not after.
I looks like your (a) decision has been made.
A little research would have yielded a great deal about the average Cpf's
experience with your chosen vendor.

I recommend that you do some important things if you intend to stick around.
First read. then read some more.
Then choose a couple of forums which interest you the most and focus our attention there. This is a big place and it is easy to get lost in a way.
once you have picked a couple areas of interest and done some reading you will most likely be in a position to Sask some intelligent questions which the membership will be interested in answering. It is a two way street and if you haven't done your part the rest of us are unlikely to do ours.
If you stay you will learn that the people here are very generous...in many ways a great deal of that generosity you will find is unexpected and wonderful in nature.
A little respect needs to be earned first.
Your opening question is not an impressive start.
Go back to the forum read and read and read.
Study the BST forums you will find many a great value there...especially for the first time buyer. Why? because you will most likely be able to buy a first time buyers first time buy. If that makes any sense.
Oh and start saving or get a second job or discuss with the accountants an increase in allowance. regardless of our source of income If you plan on staying any length of time here one thing is for sure you will need more...Cash that is....
Enjoy. Oh and read will ya. and dont be a ...
BTW I am not sorry if you think I am being hard on you.
It is up to you to figure out how (if) you want to fit in.
Yaesumofo

Click to expand...

Dude, chill...

Ok guys. I found out the flashlight i bought is not bad at all

there's a few things i dont understand abt this flashlight and would like someone to help me.

It says it takes both 123s a 18650. what would be better to run it with?
As far as i know from my experience in electronics (specially electric motors) higher voltage produces higher output and better efficiency, so 2 123s would be better than 1 18650. am i right?

what batteries should i buy for this?

First off, a short thing about LEDs. Currently, the brightest LEDs are the CreeP4-Q5 Bin, Seoul P4-V Bin, Luxeon Rebel 80-100 bin and the Edison Opto. They are all about twice(or more) efficient then the older Luxeon I, III V and K2.

The "18W"(Inflated Claim) Super Bright light in your first post uses a older Luxeon LED. The Ultrafire C2 HA III Uses the Cree P3-P4(depends on the luck of the draw). If I had to pick one over the other, my choice will be the C2. Reasons, It has HA III which is much tougher then the Type II anodizing on the "18W" light, and the C2 will probably throw further. If you just want a good thrower at a lower price(Sub $35), then the 3W Cree Projection, Or the WF 400 Q2(the Cree projection should have more throw) might be the ticket. And if you are willing to mod, buy the Cree projection and swap out the Cree (probably P4) to a Cree Q5 emitter, you'll get even more light. All you'll need is a soldering iron, solder and some heat paste/epoxy.

A question:
What's you price range?

Welcome to CPF!

I can second Tempora's suggestion for the Fenix L2D-CE. I just acquired one as a very generous gift from fellow flashaholic bondr006 (this can be a wonderous place). It's a great light. If you are used to using a 2AA size light it's tough to beat. In fact, any of the Fenix lights are excellent value. Just pick the size you like.

Welcome to CPF. And, feel free to ask anything you want. We've all been there.

Geoff

Hi Gunner.
Many thanks for your post.
the light you mention first in your comment looks very similar to the one i have bought (but havent received yet)

why is there so much difference in output? from 6### to 11### ? is it the reflector? they seem to have the same LED.

thanks

Gunner12 said:

First off, a short thing about LEDs. Currently, the brightest LEDs are the CreeP4-Q5 Bin, Seoul P4-V Bin, Luxeon Rebel 80-100 bin and the Edison Opto. They are all about twice(or more) efficient then the older Luxeon I, III V and K2.

The "18W"(Inflated Claim) Super Bright light in your first post uses a older Luxeon LED. The Ultrafire C2 HA III Uses the Cree P3-P4(depends on the luck of the draw). If I had to pick one over the other, my choice will be the C2. Reasons, It has HA III which is much tougher then the Type II anodizing on the "18W" light, and the C2 will probably throw further. If you just want a good thrower at a lower price(Sub $35), then the 3W Cree Projection, Or the WF 400 Q2(the Cree projection should have more throw) might be the ticket. And if you are willing to mod, buy the Cree projection and swap out the Cree (probably P4) to a Cree Q5 emitter, you'll get even more light. All you'll need is a soldering iron, solder and some heat paste/epoxy.

A question:
What's you price range?

Welcome to CPF!

Click to expand...

The Lux measurement is a measure of throw or projecting ability. Overall output is measured with lumens. Both lights should have about the same lumens but since the 3W projection has a bigger reflector, more light is captured and projected forward(more Lux). The 3W Cree projection has a narrower beam then the Ultrafire C2 and it also projects it's light a bit further then the C2(but the 3W Cree projection also has a uglier beam compared to the Ultrafire C2).

The "18W" is said to have 2000Lux throw and the Ultrafire C2 has between 4000-6000 Lux throw(luck of the draw).

A 18650 battery is 2mm thicker(and would not fit some lights) then the RCR123 batteries and has more capacity. Maybe you should two protected 18650 batteries, or 17670 batteries and a charger (Some say the Gray Ultrafire 18650 batteries don't fit the Ultrafire C2, the 17670 batteries will definitely fit). The 18650s will give you more runtime and the 17670 will only give you a slight improvement in runtime. The flashlight is less efficient on 2 RCR123 batteries(stepping down 7.2v to about 3.7v for the RCR123 batteries vs 4.2v to about 3.7v for the 18650 or 17670 batteries).

2 RCR123 batteries, 7.2v (off the charger) * .8 amp = 5.76 watt of power.

1 18650 battery= 4.2 (off the charger) * about 1.8 amp = 7.56 watt of power.

1 17670 battery- 4.2 (Off the charger) * about 1.4 amp = 5.88 watt of power.

It might also be able to cancel your orders and buy other lights(if they haven't shipped yet).

Out of you two lights, the Ultrafire C2(review) might be the brighter one.

I'd also suggest the Fenix L2D-CE or Rebel 100 version(the brighter one) if you want to use rechargeable AA batteries. Fenix store has a 8% off discount for CPFers, use the "CPF8" coupon.

Your questions:

1) The HAIII Ultrafire C2 is a pretty good buy.

2) There are more efficient LED out there(Cree Q2-Q5, Rebel 100). For LEDs, more power doesn't always equal more light, efficiency also plays a big role.

3) There are many lights with more then one mode. 2-16+ modes. 2 mode tailcaps are pretty common on cheaper(less then $40) and the Dexlight X.I has 16 modes of lighting. From what I've heard, the Fenix L1/2D-CE, P2D-CE and P3D-CE have a pretty easy to use interface. You can even buy programmable lights(Example: Novatac 85P or 120P).

Welcome aboard aussiebudda !

- regards

Welcome to the Light, Aussiebuddha!

As always, I recommend a Fenix L1D/L2D CE/Rebel.
I personally have Fenix L1T, L1D CE, and L2D CE Q2 and love them all.
I've also owned in the past a Fenix L1P, Nuwai Q3 and X-3 ( all lost )

Main advantages of the L1D/L2D (same head, different battery tubes) are long battery life, cheap batteries, and semi-affordable prices

Fenix-store (www.fenix-store.com) is a well-regarded place to buy Fenixes.

Enjoy the lights and when in doubt, buy both.

yaesumofo said:

Just because you are new doesn't mean that you have to ask bad questions which have been asked 1000's of times before.

Click to expand...

Can you take your negativity somewhere else?

Just because you don't have anything helpful to say to the guy doesn't mean his comments or questions have no merit. Gunner12 and others are doing a great job of helping the OP out.

Hi aussiebuddha,welcome to CPF my advice look at the Novatacs,fenix. one may fit the bill.Oh and I hope your stay here gets better than it started.good luck

aussiebuddha said:

Ok guys. I found out the flashlight i bought is not bad at all

there's a few things i dont understand abt this flashlight and would like someone to help me.

It says it takes both 123s a 18650. what would be better to run it with?
As far as i know from my experience in electronics (specially electric motors) higher voltage produces higher output and better efficiency, so 2 123s would be better than 1 18650. am i right?

what batteries should i buy for this?

Click to expand...

I've got the same C2 from Dealextreme, which I just use as a emergency light around the house. I have 4 18650's for the light, always kept charged. I found that a single 18650 will easily last a week of use, (7-10 hours).

For a EDC, have you thought of the Fenix P3D? In it's Reb100 form it must be one of the brightest of the small lights.

Dave

Bozzlite said:

And that's exactly why I don't post my questions any more. I'd rather not know than get flamed for asking.

Give the guy a chance, it's his first post.

Click to expand...

+1 :thumbsup: