Recommend a small SSC P7 light?

Celeritas

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Hi,

I'm looking to buy a small but very bright LED flashlight for walking/fishing and had no idea the options were so huge.

Also, what is the difference between 18650 and 123 batteries?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
 
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allburger

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Re: SSC P7 ??

cr123's are primary batteries which means they are not rechargeable. rcr123's are the rechargeable version but they are 4.2 v max instead of 3v.

18650's are basically the size of 2 cr123's but a tad bigger in diameter. You get really good runtime out of 18650's as opposed to cr123s

I recently jumped on the 18650 bandwagon and they are great batteries. Long life and theres lots of light choices for them.
 

yellow

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P7 will be much too bright and too short runtime.
When in the dark and fishing --> checking equipment with dark adapted eyes,
ANY hight power led light will be so bright to hurt in the eyes.

anyhow,
if You want a P7 light, look at Dealextreme,
but I would recommend the usual:
Fenix L2D-CE when You like Ni-Mh rechargeable cells, or
Fenix P3D-CE when CR123s or CR123a Li-Ions
both are more or less identical (P3D a bit brighter but shorter runtime) and of a perfect production quality.
... give You the opportunity of brutally bright light and lower levels also.
.. smaller and way better pocketable.
The producer makes the "Volkswagen Golf" of flashlights (the lights any other light is compared against)

an P7 18650 light, while in no way even in "intelligence", finish, meachnical quality, beam quality, ..., will be brighter (for that short time it runs).
 

Celeritas

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Re: SSC P7 ??

Thanks for the headsup.

I wanted a really bright flashlight to compliment the 'regular' Maglites I have, but I hadn't considered runtime.

Sometimes I walk through dense woods at night and wanted something to produce a lot of light.
 

marschw

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Re: SSC P7 ??

It sounds like you have 2 separate needs: a light for close-up work with dark-adjusted eyes, and a light for navigating dense woods at night. You could go with an adjustable light (e.g. the new NiteCore D10 or EX10) and try to meet both needs in one light, or you could get a tiny light for the first need (I'd strongly recommend the Fenix E01 -- 10 hours runtime + 11 more hours "night mode" in a hard-anodized package barely larger than the AAA it houses, for quite cheap), and a larger light for the second. There are many options for that second need.

I wouldn't suggest any *small* P7 light for that, since if the P7 is driven hard enough to justify using a P7, any light small enough to be considered "small" could not house enough batteries to have significant runtime. It's also new enough that the manufacturers haven't really finessed the design for the P7 yet, and it does require significant design changes to its host (e.g. many of them have a reflector that was meant for smaller, single-die LEDs, and the only change they made was to bore the hole in the bottom larger to fit the P7). The only P7 lights I like yet are the converted mags, which are huge by comparison to the "small" lights.

There are lots of Q5 lights that are small, have good runtime, and are bright enough to navigate dark woods. I like the L-Mini, since it's quite small, can get quite bright, can use 17670 and 18650 cells, can tailstand, and has good choices for high, mid, and low modes, without being too expensive. I have, however, had to fiddle with how tightly it's screwed down to avoid dimming. I also like this Sacredfire Q5 light, since it's bright and very durable, though the use of a 14500 battery might limit its usefulness (they're nowhere near as common as 18650 or CR123).

The above are just my opinions on those lights; I don't profess to be an expert. I do have all of them, but I haven't personally tested their runtimes. You can find much more scientifically-examined comments on lights like them in Bessiebenny's review thread.

BTW, an additional note regarding batteries: "18650" means 18mm tall, 65mm long, and the 0 means it's cylyndrical. Li-ion batteries are often referred to by their measurements, like that. The Li-ion replacement for CR123 cells is 16340, for example, and I mentioned a 14500 above (which is the same size, though not same voltage, as a AA).

Edit: One word of caution -- lots of P7 light manufacturers like to claim 700-900 lumen output, because that's what the datasheet says the P7 is capable of. The thing is, lots of these lights don't drive it that hard, or don't have C-bin P7s, or otherwise don't actually get close to 700-900 lumens. This problem isn't limited to P7 lights, but it seems much more common.
 
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Celeritas

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Re: SSC P7 ??

^^^^

Thanks, I have lots to take in there. I see things have moved on a bit since I bought my Maglite kryptons.:eek:
 

kramer5150

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Re: SSC P7 ??

You should be aware that most of the high lumen (200+L) lights adored on this forum get HOT to the touch. The P7/18650 lights being the epitome of that. I would think a low running multi-mode of some sort would be best, unless you dont mind physically holding onto a hot light too help keep it cool.

You should also be aware that depending on the application & preference high lumen lights can do more HARM than good. The user can become blinded in darkness when your eyes dilate to compensate. But that largely depends on the individual and how sensitive they are to extreme light changes.

welcome to the forum... take your time researching, ask questions and definitely surf the sponsor forums and review sub-forums.

:welcome:
 

Jarl

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Re: SSC P7 ??

TBH dense woods at night with no light pollution means ~200 lumens would be more than enough. When you get light pollution, etc, is when you need more light.
 

David Gretzmier

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Re: SSC P7 ??

I've had a few fenix's, some aaa and aa lights and a couple of multi cree's, one 3 and one 5, and I have a DX p7. I am going to Honduras next week where we will be in the jungle, and the power there is spotty so I will be bringing...my p7. why? it is an 18650, so I can recharge it nightly at the hotel. It has a low if I need more runtime, and quite honestly, the Low on a p7 is pretty close to high on a fenix. also, when walking, or using a flashlight to read with or to light a room by tailstand, the floodiest beam is the way to go. and p7's are floody. and plus, the high is there if you need it short term. it is small enough to carry in your pocket, not so small you can lose it in your pocket.
 

LEDninja

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Re: SSC P7 ??

:welcome:
If you buy a SSC-P7 light, go for the multimode.
High runs too hot and battery runtime too short which nixes the 1 or 2 modes.
Medium doubles runtime, body is only warm, light output not significantly less than on high with my MTE 5 mode.
Low seems very low when switching from high though it is actually about the same brightness as a 1AA Cree XRE, SSC-P4, or rebel torch.

As most of the SSC-P7 lights use 18650 batteries, I suggest you choose them carefully.
The actual capacity is 1400-2200 mAh despite ratings of 2400/2500 mAh.
1400 mAh give you 40 minutes on high, 80 minutes on medium.
2200 mAh give you 60 minutes on high, 120 minutes on medium.
Also protected batteries is recommended. Li-ons can be damaged and go :poof: if they are overcharged or overdischarged.
AW is considered the best within CPF
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=180449

The UI of the multimode is a PITA at first. They all seem to have last mode memory. So you won't know if the torch comes on in next mode or last mode until you get the hang of the timing.
 

phantom23

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Re: SSC P7 ??

Runtime on AWs 18650 will be slightly shorter because they have less capacity (2000mAh vs. 2300mAh in Trustfires - tested on CPF).
 

TONY M

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Re: SSC P7 ??

As LEDninja says a P7 will eat the bateries at an alarmingly fast rate therefore a multimode with a decent low setting is essential if you need good runtime.
 

guiri

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I'm not sure I can link to it but I got a good light from DX (Dealextreme.com)

The sku is 12060
It's not 900 lumens but it's damn bright and for the price, a nice light :)

Shipping is super slow though
 

freedom2000

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Re: SSC P7 ??

:welcome:
If you buy a SSC-P7 light, go for the multimode.
High runs too hot and battery runtime too short which nixes the 1 or 2 modes.
Medium doubles runtime, body is only warm, light output not significantly less than on high with my MTE 5 mode.
Low seems very low when switching from high though it is actually about the same brightness as a 1AA Cree XRE, SSC-P4, or rebel torch.

+1

Go to the multi mode. I had the same needs :
- a very bright light (P7 at full power driven at 2.9A)
- a very long time (2 * 18650 Liion cells)
- the possibility to switch to med or even low mode to increase the duration of the cells, not to become blind, not to overheat the pill (a PWM µcontroller to dim the output)
- the possibility to have memory on the µcontroller to go back to the last choice after switching off the light

All these requirements didn't exist in a single affordable light...this forced me to modify a P7 cheap light to add modes and increase a bit the max brightness :candle:
see here for the result on TrustFire SSC P7-C 900-Lumen LED Flashlight (2*18650/17670)

JP
 
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Fallingwater

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Re: SSC P7 ??

You get nearly twice the runtime from 1x 18650 as from 2x RCR123A.
If you have a smart driver you get rather more than twice the runtime from 1x18650. A 18650 can hold four times the energy of a RCR123 and suffers less voltage depression for a given load.

But if the driver gets less efficient and/or drives the LED harder from the higher voltage of two RCR123s, then all bets are off.
 

Celeritas

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Well I'm back at square one now- lots of useful information and things I hadn't initially considered. In the meantime I asked girfriend in the States to look out for the RGB Coleman on sale at Walmart but she couldn't find it at the three stores closest to her :-(

(Well, she found it, but not at the $9 discussed)

Oh and another question: What is the min number of Lumens needed to disorientate an attacker at night?
 
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mdocod

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A LumaPower MRV with a M-65 extension running on 2x18650s would be a more practical outdoors LED light for walking through the woods, it has much longer runtime (4 hours on high) and a nice tight beam for punching off into the woods with.

Eric
 

Jarl

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Oh and another question: What is the min number of Lumens needed to disorientate an attacker at night?

:faint: :sssh: :nana: :ohgeez:


I realise that was unhelpful. Depends whether the attacker is night vision adapted, whether the light is flood or throw biased, how brightly lit the surroundings are, any other light sources nearby, whether they're expecting it, how long you want the effect to last, etc. Generally speaking, don't rely on your light to get you out of any sticky situations, but if someone is walking along, night vision adapted, unaware of threats and you hit them with five thousand lux or more (I prefer to use lux rather than lumens for this specific purpose) they're probably going to be out of it completely for 5+seconds, and suffering for another 20 seconds at least.

If your assailant wants to harm you and you're in brightly lit surroundings (gas station) then don't expect any lights that are EDC'able to be able to disorientate them sufficiently to give you more than a second of advantage.

Everything else falls in between. As the phrase goes, don't bring a flashlight to a knife fight.
 
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