"Pocket" Woods light?

Well I dunno all in all I've been very happy with my Ultrafire 1-AA 1 mode enhanced light (DX Sku 1892 i think) so far. But the other night walking back from a bon fire I did notice that it does tend to make everything look the same in the woods. I can't really quantify it any better than that, but here's the example;
I know these woods very good, and even though I was a little toasty (beers + fire = good night) I've never had problems before. But I also usually don't use a light when walking out. This night I did, which is fine. Anyhow, I ended up over-shooting the trail and getting all the way to this little creek, which I only noticed because of a lack of vegetation for maybe 10 yards in front of me. When I shined down in the gully I couldn't see ANYTHING. In other words the Cree LED (3W running at 1.4v/.6A) had enough throw (even with OP reflector) to light up the other side and all but the water was just black, like nothing was there.

So anyhow, I'm thinking about eventually trying to find an incan or other cheap led light with better color rendition and such since I'm starting to really notice the limits of LED's after using a few different ones all summer (eg: LED + pea soup fog = not good). But can anybody recommend a good, low-cost incan in a pocketable size (I really like the size of the UF, fits the pocket as good as the hand!)?

SL TL-3

L1 Cree!

oh, NOW i read the post. ha.

Surefire E2e with a MN02 LA.

KE7AYF is selling one cheap in BST.

Hmm, tbhat TL-3 isn't exactly in the price range I had in mind (I don't mind cheaper lights, worst case is they die on me and I'm in the dark... I'll live). Not to mention at almost 7" its considerably longer than I'm willing to carry! 2AA minimag would be my absolutely upper limit; I've actually been considering the rechargable xenon light from battery space, just can't justify the money on it right now.

how about a maxfire lx?

Reading your post I know how you feel which is why when the next brightness Bins of LEDs come out I'm going with the slightly lower output Warm whites. Things look flatter with these powerful "cool white" LEDs.

tebore said:

Reading your post I know how you feel which is why when the next brightness Bins of LEDs come out I'm going with the slightly lower output Warm whites. Things look flatter with these powerful "cool white" LEDs.

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Flatter. Perfect word. Described both the color and 3D aspects of LED lights as opposed to incans. I have noticed that my SMJLED has respectable outputs with red and yellow filters, though (but its also my warmest led). What is considered the "next generation" of leds, though? SSC/Cree was all the rage not very long ago, now rebel has stolen the spotlight for brightness, though I'm not sure where it stands with color and effiency. It would be a great day for leds when they can compare to halogen for color rendition and haze penetration.

Buck, I bought that kit from BS a while back, I like the batteries, not the light.
It is functional, and not a bad price, I found the quality a bit too low. I may just be used to better. If you do go that route though, get a few extra bulbs when you order, at the higher startup voltage of the rechargeables the bulbs don't last as long as they probably should.
It certainly is good and bright, and of course esier to replace if lost, broken, or whatever.

How would you compare it with maglite quality? I've owned many minimags and a couple 3D mags and, for me, their level of quality is quite fine.

I just came back from a 1 hour run and it was pitch black in the woods here.
Had an Inova T1 with me that is modded with a single Cree and powered with an 18650 Li-Ion cell --> puts 1 A to the led at full power.

While a tad smaller than my SF 6P, Streamlight scorpion, Scorpion w. 18650, cheap 18650 "xenon" hotwire, ..., the output is way brighter and, thanks to the less current consumption, that one runs for 2.5 hours on full.
It is so powerful I even use it for biking.
In that flashlight size class, I will not switch back to hotwire

the point is:

In other words the Cree LED (3W running at 1.4v/.6A) had
notice the limits of LED's after

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1. that poor led is just run at 1/5 of the possible current
2. get an incan running at that power and You wont even notice it is on, when that underpowered led light is also switched on

The Brinkmann Maxfire is a good and cheap incan light that you can find at Target but it runs on 2 CR123 batteries.

DX also has a few cheap incan lights.

A Cree can be driven to at least 1 amp, that would probably make thing much easier to see. A warmer LED would also help.

yellow said:

1. that poor led is just run at 1/5 of the possible current
2. get an incan running at that power and You wont even notice it is on, when that underpowered led light is also switched on

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Well, how would I go about ramping up the amperage? I gotta see what throwing a e2 lithium will do, but otherwise I'm not aware of any other ways.

It's not the battery that is not providing enough current, it's the driver. The Driver supplies a certain about of power out the LED and the only way to get more power is to get a more powerful driver. Changing the battery won't do much.

Or remove the driver and use a 3.7v 14500 battery (beware of the short runtime and high heat, but you do get LOTS of light in a small size)

Buck91 said:

Hmm, tbhat TL-3 isn't exactly in the price range I had in mind (I don't mind cheaper lights, worst case is they die on me and I'm in the dark... I'll live). Not to mention at almost 7" its considerably longer than I'm willing to carry! 2AA minimag would be my absolutely upper limit; I've actually been considering the rechargable xenon light from battery space, just can't justify the money on it right now.

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Too bad! It's a perfect light to go hiking with. No other Stock Incan light will give you more Output/Throw in this size. You'll get ~60min runtime on 3xCR123A's, or you can upgrade to rechargables in the future. And don't be scared off by the 6.25". It fits perfect inside your front pocket clipped, so no need for a holster. I love mine!

If SureFire is out of your budget, check out Wolf Eyes. They have some very nice midrange incandescents in their line.

the incan guys wont like that idea again,
but considering Your size preference (minimag max) and that it can use cheap AA Ni-Mhs and costs just half and offers several levels of output, a
Fenix L2D will make the perfect light four You
(at least better than any CR123 incan)

PS: sure on the current draw of the Ultrafire?
Somehow I remember all these lights to run on as-much-as-possible (making much more than 1 A at the batt)

Surefire may be expensive, but my next pocketable incandescent will definately be a Surefire A2 Aviator. Take a deep breath, consult your inner soul, and try to justify this high-quality illumination tool to yourself.

For what it's worth, my P3D Rebel seems to have a much warmer tint and better color rendition compared to any other LED I've seen. I haven't really had much of a chance to use it outside at night but what little I have seems to provide better vision than my older bluish luxeon did. Might be worth considering anyways.