Best for £100/$100?

What's the best spot/searchlight for £100/$100 or less?

Criteria:

Doesn't have to be particularly portable.
Can be left permanently on charge until needed.
Pack a punch in terms of output in both throw and spill.
Fairly robust and weather resistant.
About 2 hr battery life.

Thanks

That would be the Power on Board (POB) Sam's club HID. They normally sell for about $50-60 which would leave you some money left over for shipping. You could also consider the option of having the light shipped without the battery if the seller is willing and purchase it locally to save in shipping costs. I'm assuming that you're overseas but if you're not then the shipping shouldn't be an issue. Anything in the "Spotlights and HID Flashlights" section that's titled POB or Sam's HID is the light I'm referring to.

The N30 from Battery Junction is over your spending limit but it's also a much smaller light. I know that you said portability wasn't an issue but once again shipping costs could put these two lights pretty close in delivered price if you're overseas. The N30 has a much better battery and beam color, plus the addition of long running LEDs, making it a handy task light also.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/n30-3161.html

CPF members get 5% off. Use coupon code cpf2006 at check out.

Most of the HID's in this range will have a 1 hour battery life unless you make a custom battery pack.

If you put say 10 D cells in the POB light it could meet all of your requirments depending on the cost of the batteries and what you paid for the light to begin with.

For any real advice we need to know where you are located.

Patriot36 said:

That would be the Power on Board (POB) Sam's club HID. They normally sell for about $50-60 which would leave you some money left over for shipping. You could also consider the option of having the light shipped without the battery if the seller is willing and purchase it locally to save in shipping costs.

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So tell me about the battery for the Sam's HID. Is it an easy to find/replace battery, or a proprietary or hard to find one? Is getting an extra SLA battery for this light realistic? Is it something that would drop right in, or would it require tweaking or otherwise arranging to be made to operate in it's host?

I'm really wanting one and I'm about to start begging a CPF member with a Sam's account to get me one for OTD price + 10% or something.

It's a very common size and not proprietary.


EDIT:
I believe it's a 7.2ah.....sorry I left that out before...



As FredM mentioned though, the POB only runs from 60-70 minutes, not two hours.

So something like this or this would work out, as a replacement/spare battery?

And are these the kind of batteries that can be dropped into a POB light like the one mentioned here?

rmorgan84 said:

What's the best spot/searchlight for £100/$100 or less?

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Not to be a wiseguy, but isn't £100 about $200? So, is it $100 or $200?

Stereodude said:

Not to be a wiseguy, but isn't £100 about $200? So, is it $100 or $200?

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That's correct but in their own market place the dollar and the pound have the same relative value. i.e. a bottle of whisky is £15 in the UK and $15 in the US.

But yes you are correct so i could stretch to $200 from a US supplier.

lronchef said:

So something like this or this would work out, as a replacement/spare battery?

And are these the kind of batteries that can be dropped into a POB light like the one mentioned here?

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That's correct Ironchef.

rmorgan84
But yes you are correct so i could stretch to $200 from a US supplier.

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In that case the N30 would be my hands down favorite pick.

I would recommend the Brinkmann Max Million II rechargeable spotlight, I have one.

I got mine for $40 dollars from Walmart, but you might have to buy it online.

It comes with two batteries that are rechargeable and can be taken out by just pressing two tabs on the side. The batteries can be charged in or out of the spotlight, so you can have a fresh battery ready to pop in when the first one dies, giving it a very long runtime.

It comes with an adaptor to run it directly from the car's 12 volt DC socket (with or without the battery in), but not to charge it.
The Power On Board HID comes with a car charger, but it can't be run directly from the 12 volt DC source.

When the Brinkmann's batteries are fully charged the charger will shut off so you can leave it plugged in all the time or when ever it's not in use, and then if it loses charge over time the charger will turn back on for a few minutes.

It has a 75 watt halogen bulb, and the beam can be adjusted from spot to flood mode. On spot mode it can illuminate a treeline 1/3 of a mile away, and on flood it can light up a large field or the front of a building.

It seems to have a very good runtime, I have used it a lot and it stays at full brightness for a pretty long time. I think it runs for about 20-30 minutes. The Power On Board HID can stay on at full brightness for an hour.

I have the Sam's Club Power On Board HID and it is a very nice light too, and I also recommend it, but there are several things I like better about the Brinkmann.

I could be mistaken but I think the Brinkmann is pretty weather-resistant

It is also very durable, more so than the Power On Board HID and much lighter weight.

IMO the Brinkmann and Power On Board HID are comparable in performance, the HID throws farther and the Brinkmann has a wider beam for better illumination.

The Power On Board HID does put out more lumens than the Brinkmann, so it would be better to light up a large room. The Power On Board HID also has a more intense beam with a much brighter hotspot.

I highly recommend either the Power On Board HID or the Brinkmann Max Million II Qbeam 2 million candlepower rechargeable spotlight.

Patriot36 said:

In that case the N30 would be my hands down favorite pick.

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Get the N30 and do the R2 mod in this thread. :twothumbs

What Stereodude said! +1