CMG Infinity

Today I bought a CMG Infinity. I had this light on my wannahave list for a long time and now I finally got one. What's so special about that? Well, other than the fact that it is the original CMG version that is built like a tank and has a killer runtime, the most special thing about it is that I bought it retail, here in the netherlands, and payed a fairly reasonable price for it (about the same as ordering from the US + shipping). Now why is that so special? Well, good lights are rare in dutch shops, usually the best you will find here is a ridiculously overpriced maglite. So a good quality light, and one that is getting rare too and at a decent price is something that could be considered pretty close to an act from god

And to make it even more special, the shop also had a Lumaray and a Pentagonlight on display. Unfortunately, the budget only allowed for the Infinity at this time.

Now about that Infinity, I bought the Black body / Yellow LED version (it was either that or the red LED) and I noticed that the body has a sort of matte black finish, unlike most pics of the Infinity lights I've seen online, which all seem to have a shiny coated body. And the contact in the head looks different too, more like a little strip of metal instead of the solderblob shown in the pics on flashlightreviews.com. Also, the packaging was different from what I've seen online. It came in a cardboard package with a plastic insert, most I've seen online had a blister style pack. Maybe someone here could tell me more about the different versions of Infinity available?

Sounds like you have the original version, where the positve end of the battery goes down into the battery tube and the negative end is in contact with the head. There were a couple of later versions which switched the direction of the battery and went to a shinier finish, and also the internal circuit changed. All these lights are nice and solid, though not exactly performance champions by today's standards.

i too have a matt black Infinity! :thumbsup:

if i remembered correctly later versions do come in others colours too. besides that cosmetic difference, adding reflective tape on the side where the bulb is increases output, not much but alittle more.

paulr said:

Sounds like you have the original version, where the positve end of the battery goes down into the battery tube and the negative end is in contact with the head. There were a couple of later versions which switched the direction of the battery and went to a shinier finish, and also the internal circuit changed. All these lights are nice and solid, though not exactly performance champions by today's standards.

Click to expand...

It does indeed take the battery positive end into the battery tube. Nice to know I have a original version... But I don't really believe in shelf kings or queens, so the light is now fulfilling it's intended duty. It hangs from a small carabiner at the top of the main compartment inside my backpack, so I'll always have a low level light available to find stuff in my EDC pack.

I guess that brings the total of EDC lights to 6...
- Peak Matterhorn on my keys
- Novatac EDC 120P in my pants pocket
- Nitecore Defender Infinity in my jacket pocket
- Surefire L4 in my backpacks dedicated flashlight pocket
- Petzl E+Lite in my EDC First Aid kit
- CMG Infinity suspended from the top of my backpacks main compartment
Maybe I'm overdoing this flashlight thing a bit

paulr said:

Sounds like you have the original version, where the positve end of the battery goes down into the battery tube and the negative end is in contact with the head. There were a couple of later versions which switched the direction of the battery and went to a shinier finish, and also the internal circuit changed. All these lights are nice and solid, though not exactly performance champions by today's standards.

Click to expand...

I never knew that paulr, and I have three of them. They must all be the "newer" version. Thanks for the good info.

Craig has some pretty good information on these models at his LED Museum site.

If the red Infinity is still available, it's masterpiece. It would be well worth getting if you still can. Searches aren't running right now, so I can't really look for it, but Craig had made some comments in the distant past about his red Infinity being one of his favorite red LED "middle of the night" lights. I have one myself, and it does have one of the smoothest most pleasing beams of any of my red LED lights.

My Infinity (circa. early-April 2000) came in a cardboard package (I believe with a plastic insert); and I second Empath's opinion about the red Infinity having an exceptionally smooth beam pattern for a nonphosphor (red) LED.