18650 LED CREE or SSC light $40 or less Protected 18650

Does any one have suggestions for a decent, and fairly reliable LED light that takes an AW Protected 18650 (x1) battery, using Cree or SSC, fits nicely with that battery.

Something $40 or less ($USD or $CAD), that can take a beating, weatherproof, and around 100 lumens or more. $40 Max, including shipping.

How are the ones on dealextreme? Has anyone found a decent one in which you can screw in the tail cap all the way?

Note: I already have a Fenix. Am looking for a cheaper backup, still fairly reliable.

I am a little leery of the dealextreme lights since one flaked out on me after a 3 foot drop to the ground, and another won't take the 18650 battery properly (protected battery too tall). If there are some more durable ones on dealextreme, let us know.

www.dealextreme.com

I've really enjoyed my VB-16 SSC from Kai: http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=167835

I run it on 2xRCR123As, but an AW protected 18650 seems to fit OK.

I have the U2 clone from DX and it seems very well made.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1285
The only problem was that it didn't actually run the LED at 1200mA as described...only 442ma. So I modded the driver which bumped it up to ~900mA and it was a lot brighter. Then I received some Q5s and put one in but the current fell to ~650mA (result of higher Vf) so I modded the driver again to direct drive and I'm very pleased with the result.

The finish is HAII but definitely better that my other HAII finishes. There's plenty of room for my protected Ultrafire 18650s.

AFAustin said:

I've really enjoyed my VB-16 SSC from Kai: http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=167835

I run it on 2xRCR123As, but an AW protected 18650 seems to fit OK.

Click to expand...

I'll second that. GREAT light for the money. I was going to recommend the same light, and saw that AFAustin already did. :twothumbs

VB-16 SSC from Kai or DX, both work with AW protected 18650 or UF 18650.

+1 for the VB-16!
I can recommend this charger for 18650
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6105

Member Hiltihome did a long and good test on many chargers and this on is very well built, has 2 seperate charging-channels, each with 1 Amp.
It is cheap and reliable and it's inner components are without any solder-blodges and it will not overcharge any cell!

This cells are decent but not superb, then again very cheap and i use them in my VB-16 too.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3287


AW has better protected cells i can recommend without hesitation but they cost twice as the Ultrafires. I got some of them on the way. There is a salesthread on CPFMarketplace.


MfG Mr.Urahara

Mr.Urahara reloaded said:

+1 for the VB-16!
I can recommend this charger for 18650
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6105

Member Hiltihome did a long and good test on many chargers and this on is very well built, has 2 seperate charging-channels, each with 1 Amp.
It is cheap and reliable and it's inner components are without any solder-blodges and it will not overcharge any cell!

Click to expand...

Mr. U., could you pls. post a link to Hiltihome's thread?

Thanks

AFAustin said:

Mr. U., could you pls. post a link to Hiltihome's thread?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Uhm, actually i can, the only thing is i don't know if you understand german:nana:
http://messerforum.net/showthread.php?t=47638

in short: his recommendation is the charger i put in my last post, wheter the one- or twocell charger from DX und Kai.

Thats for a cheap and relieable charger.
in this price category you mostly get junk and those two are positive exceptions!

MfG Mr.Urahara

+1 for VB-16. It is a great value for the price. However, its quality is inconsistent. The first one I received has a beutiful white tint but the level switches were defective and I could not change the level of brightness. The replacement torch has a slight greenish tint on low but unnoticeable on high. The other negative is that the head was glued together and I was not able to open the head to clean the lens. It has some annoying dust inside.

How do you turn off the VB-16? Can it cycle off after the highest level, e.g. at level 16, keep raising the light (hitting +) and it will turn off, or must it be done only with the (-)?

VB-16 has a nice forward clicky on the tail. It will turn on to whatever level you turned it off at. The lowest level is VERY low, only about 5 mA draw, then it goes to around 30 mA, a big jump in brightness actually, and about 30 mA increments on up, which get hard to notice the difference at the higher levels.

Hondo

Mr.Urahara reloaded said:

+1 for the VB-16!
I can recommend this charger for 18650
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6105

Member Hiltihome did a long and good test on many chargers and this on is very well built, has 2 seperate charging-channels, each with 1 Amp.
It is cheap and reliable and it's inner components are without any solder-blodges and it will not overcharge any cell!

This cells are decent but not superb, then again very cheap and i use them in my VB-16 too.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3287


AW has better protected cells i can recommend without hesitation but they cost twice as the Ultrafires. I got some of them on the way. There is a salesthread on CPFMarketplace.


MfG Mr.Urahara

Click to expand...

If you don't want to wait for international shipping you could try these AW protected 18650's from Lighthound

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1305

And they also have an UltraFire charger
http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2566

One other question about the VB-16, do you know how durable the flashlight is? Ipact? Drops? Striking people? How reliable the buttons are?

Is that this one here that everyone is referring to?

SSC 42180
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2392

or this one:

Cree:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4292

Is this an P4 XR-E Cree?

I got the SSC version from Kai. I'd provide the link, but Kai's website is having problems at the moment.

Mr.Urahara reloaded said:

Uhm, actually i can, the only thing is i don't know if you understand german:nana:
http://messerforum.net/showthread.php?t=47638

in short: his recommendation is the charger i put in my last post, wheter the one- or twocell charger from DX und Kai.

Thats for a cheap and relieable charger.
in this price category you mostly get junk and those two are positive exceptions!

MfG Mr.Urahara

Click to expand...

Thanks for the translation, Mr. U.---my German, I'm afraid, is nonexistent.

I think most people are referring to the SSC version of the light.