Torn on Which Work Flashlight?

We need a new lighting tool for work. Do you have a suggestion for the following criteria?

1. tough construction, able to take years daily abuse;

2. long service battery life, on the order of 50 plus hours runtime;

3. 20-30 or more lumen, using today's better LED emitters;

4. balanced beam and spill design, enabling us to see the ground as we walk without having to point the light down, and enough beam to see dark objects at a distance of at least 15-25 yards;

5. lightweight materials;

6. waterproof design;

7. handheld design i.e.. normal flashlight;

8. the option of using c-cell batteries, or rechargeable lithium batteries if cost-effective;

minimum safety for flammable materials as we are around diesel fuel and every chemical known to man all day long.

What do you think?

Humm, sounds like you need a polymer light. I don't think I've seen any with the current gen LEDs.

Would a modded Maglite work? Because if it will work, then that also means many other metal bodied lights will also work.

The safety ratings you want for your new work light seems to be a little bit of a limiting factor. You have basically two brands to choose from for quality lights with safety ratings: Streamlight & Underwater Kinetics (UK).
(If I missed a company, someone please correct me.)

I can't speak for UK lights, but I know that the Streamlight Propolymer series lights are great. A friend of mine works for a gas/electric company and I gave him a bunch of SL ProPolymer lights as gifts. He can't thank me enough, mostly cause the SL ProPolymer lights are much better than the plastic 2D dim incan. lights supplied by the company.

The Propolymer lights come in Div. 1 and Div. 2 safety ratings. Since you said you and your co-workers are around diesel fuel and lots of dangerous chemicals all day, its probably better for you to go for the higher rated Div. 1 lights. The brightest of the ProPolymers are the Div. 1, 3C & 4AA Luxeon models. But the best runtime goes to the Div. 1 rated 3C & 4AA LED models. Here are some links -

3C Luxeon model: http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=105

4AA Luxeon model: http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=104

3C LED model: http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=27

4AA LED model: http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=24

and just in case you wanted some safety rating info:
http://www.streamlight.com/education/safety-ratings.aspx

in case you might ever need a headlamp:
http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=126

The only downside to these lights is that none of them use the latest cutting edge LEDs.
A good place to buy any/all of these lights is www.brightguy.com .
Hope this post was helpful.

I think a 2D Ray-O-Vac Industrial with an LED drop-in would serve you very well. Almost indestructible and long running and cheap. Go for it!

Gunner12 said:

Humm, sounds like you need a polymer light. I don't think I've seen any with the current gen LEDs.

Would a modded Maglite work? Because if it will work, then that also means many other metal bodied lights will also work.

Click to expand...

I thought of the mod but no one else will consider doing them. I may need hundreds in the end. I like your polymer idea.

I wonder if an older g2 with a deal extreme drop-in would work for you. It will also run off of 1 17670 for decent runtime.

I can't speak for UK lights, but I know that the Streamlight Propolymer series lights are great. A friend of mine works for a gas/electric company and I gave him a bunch of SL ProPolymer lights as gifts. He can't thank me enough, mostly cause the SL ProPolymer lights are much better than the plastic 2D dim incan. lights supplied by the company.

The Propolymer lights come in Div. 1 and Div. 2 safety ratings. Since you said you and your co-workers are around diesel fuel and lots of dangerous chemicals all day, its probably better for you to go for the higher rated Div. 1 lights. The brightest of the ProPolymers are the Div. 1, 3C & 4AA Luxeon models. But the best runtime goes to the Div. 1 rated 3C & 4AA LED models. Here are some links -

The only downside to these lights is that none of them use the latest cutting edge LEDs.
A good place to buy any/all of these lights is www.brightguy.com .
Hope this post was helpful.[/quote]


I have seen these at Acklands Grainger. I must look again, especially at the Div. 1 issue. Look at the runtime on the 10 led model- 360 hours!!! whoa.. that is definetly worth looking at.
Is the 10 led model a generally bright beam, a wide spill of light? It sounds like the Div. 1 model has a focused beam and no mention of the spill. Spill is very important.

Nitroz said:

I wonder if an older g2 with a deal extreme drop-in would work for you. It will also run off of 1 17670 for decent runtime.

Click to expand...

The guys i would not be interested. I may look into it though... lol.

Hint:


Just don't believe that bit about 360 Hours of Runtime !




Oh, and welcome to CandlePowerForums !

:welcome:



Good luck in your Quest !
_

Burgess is right about not believeing the 360 hour runtime. 360 hours probably means that's when the last bunch of photons visible to the human eye come out the front window of the light. Don't let that discoruage you though, the LED models still generate useful light longer than the Luxeon models do.
As for the differences in beam quality:

- The LED models give a wide, even, blue tinted spill of light, which lights up a larger area than the Luxeon models. The blue tint is a consequence of the earlier model LEDs used in these lights, 5mm LEDs if I'm not mistaken.

- The Luxeon LED models give a brighter beam, a tighter beam (which projects or "throws" for a longer distance), give a whiter light (than the LED models), and still have a useful sidespill of light. The Luxeon models use probably the first "power" LED used in flashlights, the 1 watt Luxeon LED, from Philips/Lumileds.

I don't explicitly remember the difference in sidespill between the LED & Luxeon models, but its not a huge difference.
The main reasons to pick the LED models are longer runtime and better sidespill for area lighting.
The main reasons to pick the Luxeon models are a brighter, whiter beam, which can project its light farther than the LED models.

You said that in the end you may need hundreds of these lights. In that case it might be a good idea to first buy all four models, both LED & both Div. 1 Luxeon models, and see which one, or maybe two lights, you & your co-workers like best. Both LED models have Div. 1 ratings, but Streamlight also offers Luxeon models with lower Div. 2 ratings. Unless your company can give you specifc safety ratings your lights should meet, its probably better to err on the side of caution and get the Div. 1 Luxeon models.

But if the safety ratings of the Div. 2 lights are adequate for your work, that gives more Propolymer models to choose from, and may even save you money since the Div. 2 Luxeons are cheaper than the Div. 1 Luxeons.

Don't overlook the Streamlight headlamp I mentioned previously, having both hands free is very helpful.

In addition to Underwater Kinetics, I believe that Pelican also makes safety rated lights that could suit your needs. It might benefit you to do some research on the lights offered by both of these companies.

I don't know what other chemicals you're around, but it will take alot more than a flashlight to ignite diesel.