Floody beam, AA ...efficiency & runtime

Not only am I a geek and a flashlight geek, I am also an efficiency geek.

I think about buying a flashlight for a floody beam. I recently bought a $3, 21 LED flashlight on sale at Christmas buying that uses 3 AAAs. The beam is wonderfully smooth and floody.

Now here is my question.

What LEDs use electricity most efficiently for a floody beam?

Banks of 5 mm (like my cheap 21 LED) or a Cree properly driven?

I want to get a floody beam flashlight that uses AAs (easily rechargeable, flexible, cheap alkalines if necessary, lithium if necessary, etc.).

I'm considering a Romisen RC-I3.

If I want really good runtime and floody beam, would I be better off with an array of 5 mm LEDs?

I think the light you're looking for is the Zebralight H50. Its full of flood and is as effecient as any of the best AA lights in the market. There's also a review of it here.

I think the Cree Q5 is the most efficient LED on the market. I believe the Nichia GS might be the most efficient 5m LED, but you aren't going to find good quality 5mm in a shower head type light.

Multi level lights allow you to really stretch out the batteries by only using the amount of light you need. Most lights are much more efficient at the lower levels (Jetbeam being the exception)

Efficiency also depends a lot on the drive level and the type of circuit used. A direct drive is more efficient than a regulated light for instance. Fenix seems to have some of the best efficiencies on the market for regulated 2AA lights.

If you want Max efficiency I don't think you'll find it in the cheap lights. If you want some suggestions you are going to need to set a price cap, brightness range and some other constraints.

If you get a 1" diameter light you can use the Surefire F04 beamshaper. The most under rated product on CPF. Mine lives on my HDS about 95% of the time. It is like having two flashlights in one.

I see the H50 Zebra light runtime:

Low 2.6 lm for 3.5 days

Previously, we felt the 25 hr runtime from our Gerber Infinity was pretty darn good.

I'll have to look up the "lm" for that light.

Edit: Looks like the Infinity Ultra is 3 lumens?

So... runtime/efficiency-wise, the H50 delivers something like twice the runtime with the same output?

Define what you mean by floody. The Zebralights have bare emitters, so they're very floody. I'd suspect you're not looking for something that floody.

Stereodude said:

Define what you mean by floody. The Zebralights have bare emitters, so they're very floody. I'd suspect you're not looking for something that floody.

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Well... good question.

I have a several needs (of course).

1. Task light, fix a tire, look at engine, search closets (under beds, cabinets, etc.), walk around house at night, camping, etc.

2. Reading ...I do own a nice headlamp (PT Fusion), but prefer to position a floody light on the headboard of my bed to read by, needs to be pretty floody to work well here.

3. Power outages ...we've had several the last couple of years that lasted 1/2 day to 3 days

During this time, it's nice to have a floody light to play cards or a game or to just light up the room at night.

One of the lights during the last power outage that was nice was the MightyBrite 2 LED book light. You can either clip it on things or let it stand on its own like a mini desk lamp. Since my last outage, I sent it to my mother during a 1 week outage where she lives. She loves to read and her flashlight didn't work well for that.

I guess as I started this thread, I was thinking more about a hand held, floody, task light.

The Zebralight is perfect for the 3 uses above.

It does't have throw so it sucks at trying to hike a trail in the woods or spot game.

ikendu said:

So... runtime/efficiency-wise, the H50 delivers something like twice the runtime with the same output?

Click to expand...

More than that. The regulation is perfectly flat on the H50. The Infinity drops down 50% of the brightness after 11hrs.
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/gerber_infinityultra.htm

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/191362

alternatively the fenix e20 could be a good choice.

cave dave said:

The Zebralight is perfect for the 3 uses above.

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I only see it working for #2 and maybe some use during a power failure scenario (#3). I see it as completely impractical for the tasks listed in #1.

I like my Fenix L2D's for #1. For #3 I have a few LED lanterns a few florescent lanters, and *gasp* a Coleman propane lantern. If you want to see how a wide variety of lights work for area lighting, I'd suggest looking at this thread.

Splunk_Au said:

I think the light you're looking for is the Zebralight H50. Its full of flood and is as effecient as any of the best AA lights in the market. There's also a review of it here.

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I agree, this is one of my favorite task lights. All flood no hotspot.

Stereodude, I have to disagree with you on task #1. The high mode it bright enough for campsite duty and any task where you don't need throw.

curlyfry562 said:

Stereodude, I have to disagree with you on task #1. The high mode it bright enough for campsite duty and any task where you don't need throw.

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Ok, so it might work acceptably for getting around the house at night if you don't care about putting the light everywhere, and for camping if you don't need to see very far away, but I still contend that for the majority of the tasks in #1 it's not the right light for the job.

Personally I don't think there's a single light that will work well for all 3 tasks.

cave dave said:

I think the Cree Q5 is the most efficient LED on the market.

Click to expand...

The Cree R2 is more efficient, as you go up the list of emitters they become more efficient, example the R3 will be better then the R2 when it come out.

Pick a good AA light and forget about the flood. Be calm.

Once you get it make it floody with a bit of LDF under the lens or use the F04 beamshaper (just make sure you get a light that it fits on!).

You can flood a thrower but you can't make a flooder throw. Sounds too simple but think about it will you.

Juggernaut said:

The Cree R2 is more efficient, as you go up the list of emitters they become more efficient, example the R3 will be better then the R2 when it come out.

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I was actuallly refering to available lights.

But, I was waiting for somebody to say that anyway. The R2 has a higher flux at 350mA, however the Vf on the available samples appear to be higher so overall efficiency is actually less.

Efficiency is Lumens per watt, not lumens per Amp.

Flashlightlens.com has LDF lenses avialble for some lights. Most Fenix lights are sealed tight though

Stereodude said:

I only see it working for #2 and maybe some use during a power failure scenario (#3). I see it as completely impractical for the tasks listed in #1.

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Well duh! He's a CPFer! I assumed he would have another light for throw on him.

Hence the Zebralight is perfect for the above tasks in conjunction with a more typical beam flashlight.

cave dave said:

Well duh! He's a CPFer! I assumed he would have another light for throw on him.

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That is correct sir!

Too many to list.

For throw I have my trusty ProPoly 4AA Luxeon (still crazy after all these years) and my new Romisen RC-N3.

I have 4 or 5 of the 2 AA Fluorescent, square little lights that Radio Shack used to sell and a couple of the 4 AA folding, 2-LED lights from Eveready (too dim to read by though).

The only "modern" light that I have is the Romisen. As I said at the top of the thread, I'm thinking about the Romisen RC-I3. Before I bought, I thought I'd explore the topic a bit.

The Zebra seems highly interesting, I've always tried to stay on the inexpensive side of my lights and the $50 for the Zebra has me holding back a bit. I hope to retire someday... got to watch the pennies these days while I'm making the bucks.

For an area light (power outages and camping), I've considered a Coleman lantern with Cree LEDs.

Sgt. LED said:

Pick a good AA light and forget about the flood. Be calm.

Once you get it make it floody with a bit of LDF under the lens or use the F04 beamshaper (just make sure you get a light that it fits on!).

You can flood a thrower but you can't make a flooder throw. Sounds too simple but think about it will you.

Click to expand...

I can understand your desire for good value and efficiency. I'm the same way, and very satisfied with the Zebralight. It gets used almost daily, usually just sitting on a table, and is one of those lights that I would replace if lost.

Geoff