Need Help with First LED Purchase

Hello all,

Ok, here goes. I'm ready to buy my first (and maybe second, depending on your advice) high end LED flashlight, and just joined this forum for advice.

My two needs (of course I want it all) are:

1. Tactical Hand Held for use with handgun (if necessary) in creepy parking garages and to sniff around the house once in a while. Want high lumen output with decent peripheral vision beam. An intense narrow beam is great, but not seeing the 2nd bad guy in your peripheral vision 10 or 15 feet to your left or right is no good!

2. Emergency Backpack use to head for the hills with low but useful light level that will give me a gazillion hours on a pair of Lithium Batteries.

So far, the best candidates I can find are the two Surefire models below, but I'm not a flashlight guy, so wondering if you all have better ideas. Money not really the object, but I don't want to throw it away either! I'm not into name brands, but will pay for quality if it is there. I want to be able to drop this flashlight on a concrete sidewalk and know when I pick it up it will still work.

Surefire E2D LED Defender: I like this because of the 120 Lumen rating on high and the low level 5 Lumen rating that will run for 76 hours (at least as advertised).

Surefire E2L Outdoorsman: I like the 11 hours at 60 Lumens (but is that really enough for a tactical hand held gunfight light). I like the 100 hours on the 3 Lumen setting, but is 3 Lumens enough to walk a trail at night or for around the campsite in general. In fact, is 5 Lumens on the Defender above enough to walk a trail or get around a campsite at night.

I'm not stuck on Surefire, just started there because that's the only name I know. But both of these are very close to what I'm after in theory. Would appreciate recommendations between the two above, and any alternative models and/or brands that you think might do the job better.

Thanks,
Bill

You might want to check out the Ra Clicky; there are a number of threads on CPF with discussions about it.

The E2L might be easier to handle with a gun...if SF only made a C2 with a multi-stage switch...That would be my vote...and yes, it is bright enough, but the E2L is "Low-High", where as the E2DL is "High-low". I'd go with the E2DL and get a regular black tailcap for it to make it more gun friendly. Worse comes to worse...get both! And a C2/C3 with a malkoff! Hope this helps!

The soon to be available Eagletac T20C2 would fit the bill for you. 300/60/5 lumen output settings. 300 lumen is great for when you need a blast of light, 60 lumens for general use such as navigating a trail or rummaging around the house, 5 lumens for reading a map or for poking around camp with night adapted eyes. You also have an included diffuser for pure flood beam as well as swappable smooth and OP reflectors to tailor the beam profile to your own preferences. $80 MSRP.

Maybe look at a MG Mini II R2 with the optional turbo. It has tight hotspot with lots of throw while still maintaining usable spill. http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-152/**NEW**-MG-L-dsh-MiniI-II/Detail http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-137/**NEW**-Turbo-Head-for/Detail

Out of the box, the SF E2L is very weak!
You'll like it a lot if you use Li-Ion batteries (about 40/80 lumens, lo/hi)
.
If you overclock/overvoltage your CPU/GPU, you'll have no problem with this

Nitecore Extreme R2.
Rechargeable Lithium-Ion CR123A Battery
Maximum Output: 220 lumens, 50 minutes to 50%
Minimum Output : 2 lumens, 60 hours to 50%

For a single cell light, I'm pretty impressed with the hotspot and spill.
Selfbuilt's review of the Q5 version.

btw.... :welcome:

(edited to correct some horrible problem between the chair and the keyboard)

Surefire is great, but expensive. Ra and Nitecore also have awesome reputations.

If you're set on a two-cell light, check out the Quark 123^2 Tactical. For myself, I prefer the UI of the standard Quarks, and I'm waiting on the forward clicky to be made available for my Quark 123.

I'm also fond of the Fenix P3D (discontinued and replaced in their lineup with the PD30). For pairing with a handgun, buy the tactical forward clicky and replace it yourself; it takes just a few minutes with a pair of needlenose pliers.

In either case you can buy a 2xAA battery tube that will work with your 2xCR123A flashlight head, for flexibility when you can't get CR123A cells.

All of these are available at 4sevens.com (I have no relationship to 4sevens other than as a satisfied customer).

The Quark 2 CR123 tactical may be good to check out. It won't break the bank and the dealer and manufacturer are highly regarded.
The Surefire E1B back up would be good but it's only a single cell light though.

I'll also suggest the tactical Quark lights. Good hotspot, wide spill, lets you choose what 2 modes you want and a clip. They are currently available in an optional neutral tint, but there's a limited supply of those, once they're gone, they're gone.

Toaster said:

The soon to be available Eagletac T20C2 would fit the bill for you. 300/60/5 lumen output settings. 300 lumen is great for when you need a blast of light, 60 lumens for general use such as navigating a trail or rummaging around the house, 5 lumens for reading a map or for poking around camp with night adapted eyes. You also have an included diffuser for pure flood beam as well as swappable smooth and OP reflectors to tailor the beam profile to your own preferences. $80 MSRP.

Click to expand...

I second this, although the T20C2 isn't out yet (August 3rd) and not been run through the grinder by the masses. I've ordered one myself tho. I also have an E2L and love it - I find myself carrying it most as 3 lumens is fine for anything close and the 60 is definitely bright enough for everything else with great run-time. Also, it's Surefire quality with their insanely good guarantee.

Can't wait for the T20C2 though, as it's a blowtorch with the 300 lumen max output and would definitely make a bad guy's eyes bleed. :devil:

Wow, someone who has no led light at all ...
You have missed the last 4 extremely exciting years (but thus have also saved much money on now "outdated" lights)

Sound as You have no electronic parts already, so I give an important advise (for my taste):
Are You limited to the CR123s?
How often and at what brightness will You use the light?

Because regular use will produce a good number of primary cells with CR123 (cost and garbage), a rechargeable light would be better then.

+ If You change to the 18650 Li-Ion cell, the possible lights are about the same size and weight than 2*CR123 (and 2*AA) but the Li-Ion houses considerably more power.
possible lights:
Jetbeam Jet III Pro Ultra (my 1st choice),
Olight offers some 18650s,
L-Mini II were an "entry-level" light for beginner,
the Fenix 18650 line,
+ several other makers

Also the charging technology is cheaper - compared to Ni-Mh.
doublecell-multiformat charger: f.e. http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=207

Thanks for all the advice everyone Yes I'm stuck in the past of D cell and lantern battery flashlights...but soon no more :laughing:

And thanks for not hitting me with a bunch of nomenclature I didn't understand! Just one abbreviation I don't know...what is UI?

I like the looks of the Eagletac T20C2 with its Big/Medium/Little blast for around the house. And the PD30 looks like a nice pocket carry for parking garages, etc. With their low end, I think they would both be good for around a campsite too. The more I think about it, two new flashlights are likely in my future! I can see where this can get addictive Now I'm already thinking about one for my wife's purse!

But I haven't had a chance to look at everything mentioned, and I really appreciate the advice from everybody. Give me a week or so to study up and I'll let you know what I come up with. Just thinking about it, what I really need to do is buy just one so I'll have a reference point for the next one. Right now, I don't know what 80 lumens vs 180 lumens even looks like! And batteries, good lord, I just figured out what a CR123A is. Now I've got to figure out what 18650's are! I just Googled them, and they look like something I'd have to wire up :huh:

Thanks,
Bill

No wiring up, just good battery's that generally run good flashlights. Here is a decent charger with good 18650's battery/charger combo. Just charge them like any other rechargeable battery just never leave them unattended while charging.

https://www.pts-flashlights.com/products/product.aspx?pid=168-171-6671

Don't forget to use your CPF member discounts. http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=181841

Thanks for the link on the 18650's, JHC.

Now those look like batteries I can deal with. Don't know what I found on Google, but they had wires hanging out of them.

Looks like some models will run both CR123A's and 18650's and the performance is better with the 18650's.

If I can't charge 18650's unattended, how long do they take to charge. What can happen if left unattended or I space out and forget they are charging?

Also thanks for the CPF member discount page. Some pretty decent discounts listed there!

I think I've been bitten by the flashlight bug :thumbsup:

Bill

shoresroad said:

\And thanks for not hitting me with a bunch of nomenclature I didn't understand! Just one abbreviation I don't know...what is UI?

Click to expand...

User Interface. With a multimode light this can be very important.

shoresroad said:

If I can't charge 18650's unattended, how long do they take to charge. What can happen if left unattended or I space out and forget they are charging?

Click to expand...

I've left 18650s in my Ultrafire WF-139 charger unattended overnight and nothing has gone wrong so far, it can take about 4 - 6 hours or even more to charge i usually bring the charger to work and plug in first thing in the morning and leave it

shoresroad said:

Thanks for the link on the 18650's, JHC.

Now those look like batteries I can deal with. Don't know what I found on Google, but they had wires hanging out of them.

Looks like some models will run both CR123A's and 18650's and the performance is better with the 18650's.

If I can't charge 18650's unattended, how long do they take to charge. What can happen if left unattended or I space out and forget they are charging?

Also thanks for the CPF member discount page. Some pretty decent discounts listed there!

I think I've been bitten by the flashlight bug :thumbsup:

Bill

Click to expand...

Your very welcome and yes the 18650 battery is fast becoming the preferred power source for flashlights around here it seems.

They are definitely my favorite. As with any rechargeable battery you just wanna be sure they don't over charge and go boom but with battery's and chargers getting better all the time it seems I hear less and less of problems. Just get yourself some decent battery's and chargers, don't stress out about it but its better safe than sorry. You can use the CPF search on charging Lithium Ion and research all you need to.

Also look in the battery forum and good luck, have lots of fun spending your money. :thumbsup:

Oh yeh, I can usually charge two 18650's in 2-3 hrs. depending on their maximum capacity and how drained they are at the time.