18650 lite

I am looking for a good 18650 light. One from DX. Any favorites?

me too.
a q5 and one that's not a thrower, more for flood with a little hotspot

How about this one?
I'm not really sure about its beam, but it is a 18650 Q5...

Ultrafire C2 Q5, WF-400 i dont consider this light to be a thrower. Wf-800 and WF-600 is a thrower.

The C2 has a pretty small, but bright, hot spot, but it has lots of bright spill as well. Not sure if the new C2 Q5 is HA.

Fallingwater said:

How about this one?

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I have this one on order and can give some insight when I get it, if needed.

(if it does not perform well, there is enough space for modding it with a Sandwich Shoppe reflector and a good driver)

I too am waiting for it to get here.

The only thing that I'm not sure about is the plastic reflector. They hadn't put that in the description yet when I ordered it.
Is there any significant difference between plastic and metal reflectors regarding the beam?

Thanks.

Along with the Ultrafire C2, I would also highly recommend this light:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5925

It's quite well made, good beam profile, bright, and the modes work well.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4540 This is an awesome light for the money...and get this... a true forward clicky! I love mine...really bright. Bad thing is it's sold out, but it would be a good one to keep your eye on to see if they get it back in stock. I'm surprised there's not more talk about it.

For poster #2 who wants more spill, I agree that the Ultrafire C2 is really nice... really wide spill. What I like about both lights is that they're single mode. Especially the first one, for "tactical" use.

I'd recommend this one:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1285
The body really is beefy, it's not very lightweight, but it sure can take a beating or two, output is quite nice, two stages, can probably be modded with one of DXs switches. (Emitter can be easily swapped, too) Can be used with flat-top 18650s as well.

Switch is alittle stiff, I got used to it YMMV. Has survived the occassional fall from more than a meter of height to solid concrete.

EDIT: Almost forgot, the VB-16 DX sells is very nice too. Very usual and flawless beam pattern, very useful really low level and high output on max, equalling the beforementioned sku 1285

saeckereier said:

EDIT: Almost forgot, the VB-16 DX sells is very nice too. Very usual and flawless beam pattern, very useful really low level and high output on max, equalling the beforementioned sku 1285

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How could I forget too? YES, the VB-16 SSC version!! http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2392 Hands down, my top pick! It's a little bit longer than other 18650 lights, but what a light! I've often said "If I could only keep 3 lights, I keep...." BUT... if I could only keep ONE light, the VB-16 would be it. It's that useful.

Ultrafire Alpha C-1. I just ordered one. Still in China waiting for its plane ticket to my house.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2672 single mode

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2508 5 modes

If Q4 is ok...check out supertactical.com (no affiliation). I like the C-1 that they have...

i like the looks of the vb-16
when you turn it on, does it come on full brightness, or last level?
16 levels sounds pretty cool.

now, if only there was another light i wanted to take full advantage of the ems shipping upgrade!

jasonsmaglites said:

i like the looks of the vb-16
when you turn it on, does it come on full brightness, or last level?
16 levels sounds pretty cool.

now, if only there was another light i wanted to take full advantage of the ems shipping upgrade!

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The VB-16 will turn on with the last level you selected.

The VB-16 comes on on the last level selected. Big plus: It has a forward clicky which is seldomly found at DX. I like it a lot. Also in case I forgot it has a lockout tailcap. 16 levels is not really true. It depends on input voltage, I have 16 levels, but the last 8 or so are all the same. It's a linear scale, so difference between 1 and 2 is great, between 2 and 3 smaller, between 3 and 4 even smaller and so on. Neverthelesse, it's a great light which draws about 5mA in the lowest mode and up to 700-800 mA on one 18650. (these are readings from my example)

If you really want an additional light, why not take the 3371 (Ultrafire WF-502B 3W Cree) along with an incandescent bulb. It is the next thing I will probably order, as I want to try out an incandescent, and with the two aforementioned items, you get a good Cree Drop In as well in a decent host. But I don'T know that combination from personal experience, I just guess it should be nice..

EDIT: Oh, nevermind, I should have just searched for "3AAA 18650" before posting the following...

What do folks think of adapting a 3AAA light that uses a battery carrier into one that takes an 18650?

In toying around with the $30 pair of unregulated K2 lights I got from BJs recently, I took a protected 18650 and figured that with minor surgery to the very long tail cap spring it would fit inside, and presumably an 18500 would fit without modification (though obviously with less runtime improvement). Maybe roll up some old bicycle innertube inside as a spacer to fill up the gap to keep it from rattling.

Is this a common conversion for folks who have a 3AAA they like (or is that an oxymoron? ?

vkan said:

What do folks think of adapting a 3AAA light that uses a battery carrier into one that takes an 18650?

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I think they'd say that it's clearly not in any way related to this thread Apart from mentioning 18650 in both the OP and yours..

As you said, searching for it may prove worthwhile. While it can be done, I'd refrain from it, as there are so many good cheap lights out there that are already willing to accept 18650. As a temporary solution, roll the battery in about 4 sheets of adequately cut paper and use scotch tape to fix it, that's an easy made spacer.

18650ing a 3AAA-carrier light is doable, but you have to see if the light is direct-driven or resistored first.
The cheapest lights are direct driven, with nothing to limit current to the LEDs other than their own ferocious (by AAA standards) draw.
A fully charged 18650 LiIon will deliver 4.2 volts and won't sag significantly under load, so the LEDs will be very overdriven and might well die in a few minutes.
If there's some resistance inline, then it's usually ok to use LiIon cells in place of a carrier.

Regulated lights don't have this problem, but I've yet to see a regulated 3AAA-carrier flashlight.

So tell us, what did you order?