Advice for a Newbie

Hi,

With all the fantastic choices out there today, I'm having difficulty narrowing down to one LED light that will best meet my needs.

I'm looking for a light for two reasons: everyday use on nightly walks with my German Shepherds. We walk on a street that has no sidewalks or streetlights and often has traffic exceeding the speed limit. I use my Fenix L2D on strobe often to make sure that drivers see us. However, I'd like a brighter light and one that will make darn sure that those speeders see us.

Second, for wilderness camping, to get a thorough view of pitch black mountain/forest terrain. And maybe frighten away any unwanted large predators (don't know if the strobe effect would work on things like javelina, or large mammals like bears). I often camp alone with one of the dogs, and sometimes hike in 'lite' bear country (Arizona/New Mexico mountains), and I wonder if anyone has had experiences with scaring away unwanted wild animals with a bright strobe (it isn't the first line of defense, but would be a last ditch effort; I'm not concerned enough to carry a pistol, but like to be prepared).

I'm thinking of a 2x (or1x) 18650 semi-thrower in the mid-$100s. The Eagletec M2XC4 looks very tempting, however, the Jetbeam Raptor or M1X looks interesting, or the Lumapower offering. I don't think I want the TK40 for a number of reasons (probably the biggest is that it's 8 batteries and problems with over-heating (not good in a pack)).

Thanks for your advice,

-- Bill

Hello Bill --


Welcome to CandlePowerForums !


:welcome:




To answer one of yer' questions . . . .



I have encountered many wild animal life, at night, over the years.

(although not javelina or bears)



Seldom do they ever show much concern or interest in my flashlights.



Even blinking or strobe mode.



They may look in my direction,

but they usually determine that i'm not a threat,

and continue doing whatever it was that they were doing.




_

Thanks Burgess,

I've had the same experience. I always hang my food in a tree away from the campsite, etc... Just thought that the strobe effect might help in those unusual cases. It's really more useful for the drivers.

-- Bill

I think you'd be very happy with a neutral white M2XC4 :thumbsup:

That's the M2X that I was leaning toward. The Fenix did a great job last weekend, but I would really like to have more output when I need it. Plus the Fenix uses AAs and I'm thinking the Li Ions will do better when things get cold.

Does the lumens difference between the neutral and cool M2X make much difference in overall throw and total output? It doesn't look that different in the photos in Selfbuilt's review.

-- Bill

brighter than 2*AA / 1*18650 = P7/MC-E light = MUCH larger and MUCH less runtime = MUCH more batteries.
Driver that does not notice L2 in flash wont notice any light at all.

correct me if I am wrong, we have no dangerous animals here: noise?
put a small bell on the dogs and that should have much more effect than any light might have on big game
(even more effect than throwing the light at them)
that will also work when You have not yet spottet them to aim a beam on

yellow said:

put a small bell on the dogs and that should have much more effect than any light might have on big game
(even more effect than throwing the light at them)
that will also work when You have not yet spottet them to aim a beam on

Click to expand...

A large cat might be tricked into leaving you alone with a light and a barking dog. A bear will be more than happy to consume your crunchy light along with you and your dog. Everything's on the menu in their world.

Have you considered getting some pepperspray or bearspray? As for getting a light with brighter strobe, I think a brighter strobe may actually blind drivers.

I have tested the Raptor 1 against M2XC4. For personal preference, I would go for the Raptor any day. Nicely marked indentations (not tight, but any day better than M2XC4 which has none at all), lighter and throws just a bit better (with the 2 samples I tried) and I prefer single cell.

Thanks for the comparison Zeruel. I'm looking for better throw than my L2D, but also value the flood a good bit, really looking for a nice balance. Is the Raptor 1 descent at spill/flood as well?

Prevention is always the best defense against dangerous encounters with wild animals, and in many trips I have never had any problems (my dog is very savvy about being in the wilderness as well and doesn't give chase, etc..). I just like to be prepared. Last weekend I was out on a trip in the Gila Wilderness and it was the first time I had a good light (the L2D) with me. I got to thinking about the potential that the strobe could scare off the random javelina that might be snooping around the area near my tent.

We don't have any grizzlys in the areas that I hike, so I'm not worried about anything that's really aggressive (that's why I don't carry any pepper spray), usually the small bears around here would just be curious.

As to blinding drivers, that's not necessarily the goal, however, somtimes it appears that some don't even see the L2D.

O.K., I'll admit it, the bottom line is that I need a good excuse to justify buying the next level of flashlight. When i bought the L2D, I thought it was expensive, but I guess that I'm hooked

-- Bill

elliowb said:

Thanks for the comparison Zeruel. I'm looking for better throw than my L2D, but also value the flood a good bit, really looking for a nice balance. Is the Raptor 1 descent at spill/flood as well?

Click to expand...

RRT-1 Raptor is a dedicated thrower and it has spill. Useful depends how bright and wide you want the spill to be. If you want a bright spill, then you might be looking for a flooder.

HKJ has compiled beam profiles of the latest throwers and flooders. I suggest you check them out if you haven't already.

Zeruel said:

RRT-1 Raptor is a dedicated thrower and it has spill. Useful depends how bright and wide you want the spill to be. If you want a bright spill, then you might be looking for a flooder.

HKJ has compiled beam profiles of the latest throwers and flooders. I suggest you check them out if you haven't already.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link Zeruel. I hadn't seen HKJ's excellent beam shots yet. It's perfect, because all his shots are in the woods.

From his shots, it looks like the Raptor might be a little to tight for what I'm looking for, but the M30 looks really nice.

-- Bill

If you are not familiar with Li-ion cells, read this. It's a guide I created about how to use Li-ion cells safely. You need to read it all because Li-ion cells can be dangerous if you use them incorrectly.

JBorneu said:

If you are not familiar with Li-ion cells, read this. It's a guide I created about how to use Li-ion cells safely. You need to read it all because Li-ion cells can be dangerous if you use them incorrectly.

Click to expand...

You mean like running an unprotected 10440 in a Fenix L0D/LD01?

elliowb said:

Thanks for the link Zeruel. I hadn't seen HKJ's excellent beam shots yet. It's perfect, because all his shots are in the woods.

From his shots, it looks like the Raptor might be a little to tight for what I'm looking for, but the M30 looks really nice.

-- Bill

Click to expand...

The M30 is very niece, if you look for lots of spill.

I am also compiling a new sets of beamshoots with a couple of 18650/2xCR123 lights, they will probably be up later today.

You can also find all my beamshoots on my website.

HKJ said:

I am also compiling a new sets of beamshoots with a couple of 18650/2xCR123 lights, they will probably be up later today.

Click to expand...

They are up now: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/235243

JBorneu said:

If you are not familiar with Li-ion cells, read this. It's a guide I created about how to use Li-ion cells safely. You need to read it all because Li-ion cells can be dangerous if you use them incorrectly.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the great link JBorneu. I didn't have any idea that I needed to take such care with Li Ions. Thanks for the information.

-- Bill

HKJ said:

They are up now: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/235243

Click to expand...

Thank you for the fantastic beamshots HKJ! Your beamshots are particularly helpful because of the setting. One of my planned uses for a light is to take along on backpacking trips. Your shots give me a better idea than shots on a white background.

I was looking for a distance to the trees in your comparisons of throwers (as well as the floods). Given that you're shotting with a 26mm lens, I'm guessing around 200-300 feet?

Thanks again for being so helpful and for your dedication. This is a great forum.

-- Bill

elliowb said:

I was looking for a distance to the trees in your comparisons of throwers (as well as the floods). Given that you're shotting with a 26mm lens, I'm guessing around 200-300 feet?

Click to expand...

About 100 meter, that is 328 feet.

I decided to go for the M2X with the R2s. I ordered it Monday evening from 4sevens and it arrived yesterday (thanks for the fast service 4sevens).

Of course I immediately charged a set of Eagletac 2400 18650's and tried the light out last night. I don't have anything other than my little Fenix LD2 Q5 for comparison. However, it makes the LD2 look like a AA maglite looks compared to the LD2. Incredible brightness.

There's an arroyo behind our house which is at minimum 160yards across. The LD2 barely lights the bottom of the arroyo, but the M2X lights it up so I could see a rattlesnake at 200 yards (if my eyes were that good). A few of the houses on the other side of the arroyo are 250-300 yards away, but the M2X easily lit them. WOW, what a light!

One little issue that I've already noticed is that the regular tailcap has several very sharp corners. The way I've been holding the light, the corners somewhat irritate my hand. The clicky tailcap appears to be a good bit smoother, but I like the security of using the lanyard, so I'm hesistant to change to the clicky tailcap.

Is there any way to modify the sharp corners without ruining the anodized coating? Or, maybe with use, I won't notice the sharp corners as much. What sort of experience have others that have owned the light for a longer period of time had?

Thanks. -- Bill