Better light than Golston 7w on limited budget

I want a light to be able to shine on anything and see everything!

I tried searching, but I can't tell what it is that I want, and I can't tell how specs translate to what I know about the Golston (as far as lumens, etc)...

I don't have too much money for the fancy $100+ ones, but using a budget from around $20-30, I am looking for a light that has even more "wow" factor than the Golston 7w (which is what I currently have). I don't really care what kind of batteries it uses (or how many), but I need a light that has more power than the Golston, but also more flood power as well. It doesn't have to be a particular size, LED or not, I just want the thing to be mistaken for a headlight on a car! :laughing:

I know there's like a million of them at kaidomain, dealextreme, qualitychinagoods, I just don't know which one would have more "wow" power than the Golston (which I've been pretty satisfied with). I also don't rule out modifying existing (or already-owned) lights, but I don't know much about that and may not have the equipment.

I got another light that used only 1 cr123 that was almost as powerful as the Golston. But I guess I just want to feel that I am going to the next level with these lights. I believe I haven't bought a new light in like 2+ years! I'm guessing stuff has gotten a lot better since then right?

InitechWorker said:

but using a budget from around $20-30

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I don't think you'll do better than your Goldston on your current budget, perhaps you need to spend a bit more and get one of the P7 lights from one of the places you mentioned. I remember having a Goldston and it was a good light.
Norm

Well, you might be able to swap in a Seoul P4 U-bin LED to the Golston for double the output for the same runtime(it has a Luxeon K2 right? This one?).

Since your last few post(back in 2006), newer LEDs have came out which have at least double the efficiency of the last gen LEDs, so for the same power, the current gen LEDs will have twice or more output.

For your price range, I'd recommend getting a current gen LED light from Dealextreme. Look in the Cree/Seoul/Rebel section for well reviewed lights.

InitechWorker said:

...using a budget from around $20-30, I am looking for a light that has even more "wow" factor than the Golston 7w (which is what I currently have). I don't really care what kind of batteries it uses (or how many), but I need a light that has more power than the Golston, but also more flood power as well...

...But I guess I just want to feel that I am going to the next level with these lights. I believe I haven't bought a new light in like 2+ years! I'm guessing stuff has gotten a lot better since then right?

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Let's stick to torches with the convenient Golston size & form factor.

Your Golston uses a Luxeon III LED, which is heavily overdriven. It's a pretty good start.

The first step up from that is to use a brighter emitter, such as a Cree, Rebel, or SSC.

One rather nice example of this is sku 4142 at DX, which has a Cree P4 in exactly the same case as your Golston.

The second step up is a higher bin. A cheap Q5 in your price range is the TrustFire TR801 (sku 13095 at DX). 230 lumens should impress you! Or for the latest & greatest Cree, the R2, look at sku 13093, which is just over your price limit, and only slighty brighter.

The third step up is a bit dearer. Since the R2 is the current limit of LED brightness, the only way we can go from here today is either multiple LEDs, or multi-die LEDs. Both of these are huge steps up. For an example of each, have a look at sku's 12491 and 12271 respectively.

Of course, there are better quality examples of each of the above, and in physically larger and smaller sizes, too. And you can roll-your-own.

Or you could put a Cree Q5 in your Golston, like I did in mine. But then again, that was because I burned mine out!

1) Any Cree P4, Q2, Q5, R2 or Seoul SSC P4 or P7 light on the market now will give you much more "WOW" than the Golston 7W. Read the user reviews on each website, and you'll get a fair idea. Ultimately, YOU still have to make the choice of what to buy because its YOUR money.

2) At your budget of $20-$30(US dollars I assume), you will not get anything with an output near that of a car headlight which is in the vincinity of 700lumens each.

3) Many CPFers have the belief: "The bitter taste of poor quality remains long after the sweet taste of a cheap price disappears."

I'd put aside some $ every month and buy something nicer. it isn't that hard to turn a $30 budget into a sweet $80 light.

Wow factor comes in many forms. I prefer the "Wow" of a little light that cranks the lumens like a big light.

As far as cost is concerned, if it is just a "play" light, then you oughta be fine with the less expensive lights, I have a pile of them myself because I like to tinker, if ti is a light you need to depend n you might think of bumping the budget up a notch, there are some real nice lights out there for just a little more.

+1
A WOW light today is the SSC-P7 lights. They require 18650 or high capacity D NiMH so by the time you get the batteries & charger you are in the $70+ range.
I estimate current SSC-P7 lights to be 500-600 lumens compared to ~90 lumens of a Golston.

PhantomPhoton said:

I'd put aside some $ every month and buy something nicer. it isn't that hard to turn a $30 budget into a sweet $80 light.

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I do not have a Golston. The closest in output is probably my Fenix L1T v2.0.
Fenix L1T v2.0 left, MTE 5 mode SSC-P7 right.


For more info on the SSC-P7 lights see:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2449743&postcount=4

Sorry that it took me so long to reply, I've been busy with school.
I really appreciate all your feedback on this! I am willing to go a little over-budget for a quality light. I like SKU 12271 on DX the most... seems to fit into my budget, and the light seems quite impressive. I just have to purchase the batteries for it, but I have the DSD charger that can charge them. Any recommendations on protected 18650 batteries? I would hate to get the ones that are too thick! :sick2:

I think on DX the Trustfire ones are the better ones. They seem to be very close/matching to their rated capacity.

The thing about the sku 12271 is that either it will have a shorter runtime, or won't be close to 600 lumen out the front.

If you can open your Golston and can solder decently, you can swap the LED for the Seoul P4 U-bin or the Cree XR-E Q5(If the LED isn't on a star, you can get the bare ones too).