Newbie intro and need help from the experts

I should have known there would be a flashlight forum out there!

Hey everyone, my name is Geoff and go by Jethro on at least a dozen other forums. I live in Southern NH and live a pretty active life with my biggest hobbies being fishing, motorcycling (street sport touring), snowmobiling and camping. I am also a photography nut, so I am sucker for high end optics, which is part of why I am here. I am active on a lot of other forums, to the point where I personally know many of the people I have met on line. Mostly motorcycle forums.

So every year I organize a motorcycle camping/touring trip where we stay at a primitive campground on a lake in Maine for a week. Most of us ride our bikes to the campsite with all our gear for the week, meaning we have to pack superlight, including the lighting gear. Early this year I bought a cheap flashlight at Home Depot, I believe, a Coast LED Lenser which is only slightly larger than a lipstick and happened to be BY FAR the brightest flashlight out of all 30 people there. I certainly didn't plan on this, and my flashlight ended up being the object of desire, jeliousy and revenge. These guys I camp with are all pretty techy people and like the good gear. So half of them wrote down what my flashlight was, swearing that they would buy it as soon as they got back to civilization so they could be as cool as me.

What I need to know from you all is what I have to do to ensure that I remain the flashlight king next year! I have no idea how bright my LED Lenser is as far as lumens, I can't find any information on it. It uses 3 AAA batteries and has a real lens in front that does not adjust. It has a pushbutton on the back that I really like, I will always own a flashlight with this type of switch from now on. I think I paid $40 or something?

So with the new competition, what do I need to do to remain flashlight king? To win I need to stay within certain confines... the light needs to be amazingly bright, as small in size as possible and ideally not too expensive. I could also win on having a bright light that isn't LED, becasue I could easily argue the fact that LED light sucks quality-wise. If I need to spend big money, no big deal becasue I can lie about that...:twothumbs so let's hear some suggestions! Tell me what to buy to remain the top dawg at the campground next year!lovecpf

No input here? You guys must have lights that you wanna brag about!

I'm quite surprised you haven't had any replies yet, but I'll move your thread to the LED Flashlights forum as I think it will do better there. Small + very bright = LED, and if you look around you'll see there is a huge choice.

A good way to narrow down your choice would be to choose a cell (battery) size. Until fairly recently, there were not many good lights in AA size that could be called bright; but now there are plenty to choose from. There are also some very good AAA size ones.

Higher-end small lights will mostly use single Lithium CR123A cells (or R123 Li-Ion rechargeables).

If you are prepared to go slightly larger, there are some very powerful lights using 18650 Li-Ion cells.

As well as threads in the LED Flashlight section, you'll find some extremely useful ones in the Reviews section. Here are a few you should find helpful:

Small flashlight roundup - HKJ
1x AA Round-up Review - Part I - selfbuilt
1x AA Round-up Review - Part II - selfbuilt
1x AA Round-up Review - Part III - selfbuilt
1x AA Round-up Review - Part IV - selfbuilt
1x CR123A/RCR123 Lights Round-up Review 2008 - selfbuilt

Jethro - yeah read up on the info DM51 linked for you.

Jethro said:

becasue I could easily argue the fact that LED light sucks quality-wise.

Click to expand...

Um, that's like saying 'Motorcycles suck, quality wise.' It's a crude generalization and it makes you sound like you don't know what you're talking about. Do motorcycles suck? All motorcycles? Some? Which ones? What sucks about motorcycles?
Do you get what I'm saying? What emitter did you not like the quality of? Which manufacturer, bin, tint, what was it driven at, what optics were used, what was the power source.
Do you want warmer colour? Do you want better colour rendition? Do you want a long throwing beam? do you want a perfectly smooth flood light?

////////

If you want the brightest next year, you'll have to wait until then. If you buy the best of the best, cash unlimited light today, no doubt it will be awesome but something similar will be available on CPF for $60 six months from now. There is no 'brightest,' it's a moving target and if you stick around you'll be floored at how quickly things progress.

You want a short answer, go to 4sevens.com in a few months and buy the 4sevens brand (Quark or maelstorm or whatever their newest line is going to be called) and get one with an r5 emitter (these are not released yet).

You want a longer answer, well, start reading the links DM51 sent ya.:welcome: I think you should stick around.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/227176

Read through that to get an introduction to tint and colour. Mind you, you can't 'see' cri on a computer screen, but read that and it will keep you from sounding like a total newb next time

Linger said:

Jethro - yeah read up on the info DM51 linked for you.

Click to expand...

Great links! I am learning a lot with those, and only been through them quickly. I can see I have no idea what I am talking about for sure. I'll browse a little longer...

Linger said:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/227176

Read through that to get an introduction to tint and colour. Mind you, you can't 'see' cri on a computer screen, but read that and it will keep you from sounding like a total newb next time

Click to expand...

Ah, this makes total sense to me. I am a professional photographer, so I know all about white balance and color temps.

Just a suggestion, as I'm not into "wow" lights that much, and this will not fit your desire for a small light.
The light I have had that blew most people away was a sleeper. Not a compact LED, but a ROP-Hi built on a 2C Maglite with a Fivemega extension and 2 unprotected 18650s. I think I had about $75 in it, not sure, maybe $100. It's, I don't know, maybe 15+ times as bright as that LED Lenser you were talking about? It's similar to the Surefire M6's high output lamp assembly in that configuration.
A couple of my buddies at work actually laughed at me when I showed up with a plain old Maglite. They're always poking fun at my lights(OMG, is that the XR6000?!?), and expect me to have some kind of compact high dollar LED, so a 2C Mag really seemed out of place.
Then I turned it on

You can build some serious hotwires on a 3D Mag(that are MUCH brighter than my ROP was-you can start fires with them), which people are used to seeing in its stock form, and will think nothing of until you hit the switch.

Hey Jethro. Welcome to CPF. My name is also Geoff, and I've been called Jethro before. If I wanted to pick one of my lights to impress some non-flashaholic techies it would probably be my LiteFlux LF3XT. It has full programmability, meaning you can have as many as five modes accessed after turn-on by a double click. These modes can be any brightness or in the case of the strobe mode, if you want strobe, any frequency. There is also a simpler user interface (UI) that allows ramping, instant low, or instant high. The only possible drawbacks would be that it runs on 1 CR123 and that it will cost about $65.

A couple other impressive lights that I'm familiar with that use AAA and AA batteries are the LiteFlux LF2XT and the NiteCore EZAA. The LF2XT is the little brother of the LF3XT, runs on 1 AAA, and has all the other's features plus a three minute shut-off option. It's about the same price. The EZAA runs on 1 AA, has two modes, low and high, is about as small as a 1 AA light can be, and costs about $50.

All of these lights are very pocketable. They're not total barnburners, but offer good brightness and have loiw levels for most of the jobs they're needed for.

Good luck picking a good one and I hope you'll wow your buddies.

Geoff

I am envision-ing a two part quest... 1-practical, 2-LUMEN KING

1-Practical:
For this I think a 2-part solution would serve you best. First a Zebralight H501 or H50. Dual-purpose headlamp or stand alone flashlight, GREAT area flood, and night vision preservation. Pair that up with a Nitecore D10 or Fenix L1T-V2.0. Add some energizer Lithium primaries or Eneloop NiMH cells and youve got a great setup, and you can run off common AA alkies which every camper already has. Either light is reliable and long running enough to serve as emergency back-up to each other if need-be. Kingpower and ITP also have some really nice 1AA lights too that you should also consider.

1-LUMEN KING:
PM bigchelis and ask him about his modded Surefire M6... IIRC its ~1500 Lumens OTF (MrGman verified)... BY FAR the brightst LED light I have ever used. It will set you back a good ~$400 though. BUT I can guarantee you NO ONE will be able to top this... unless they have an HID spotlight. Stay away from the cheap multi-XR-E lights from DX very few of them are designed with optimum thermal management and will just burn themselves out in a short amount of time.

If you are on a tighter budget, you might also want to consider an HID spotlight. You can get them cheap, around $150, if you don't mind lugging one around.

Awesome responses here! Thank you everyone. I'm beginning to put aside the competition thing and am now just getting interested in a very good, small light for personal use. I am liking the looks of that Liteflux LF3XT...

Now I have already learned not to link retailers and such, but can anyone recommend a good retailer? I am also considering the 4Sevens Quark... that is a nice looking light too.

Does anyone have any idea what my little 3 AA LED Lenser might be putting out for lumens? Just so I have an idea as to what bright might be? The LED Lenser sure seems bright, but I'm guessing that I have no idea what bright really is...

Hi Jethro and :welcome:,

I'm guessing that your Coast LED Lenser is rated at 65 emitter lumens. I had one of those years ago and I thought back then that was the brightest LED light around:shrug:. But if you browse the forums, you'll find single cell lights that are over 200 lumens, quad die lights up to 700 lumens, and throwers that are designed for long range illumination. Either way you're in for a treat, but you're wallet may get a little lighter...

Noobiwan said:

Either way you're in for a treat, but you're wallet may get a little lighter...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome! Yep, I'm prepared to be separated from some of my dead presidents soon, that's for sure. Usually it's pretty easy for me to spend, but I just can't decide what I want- there are too many options and suggestions here! I guess I am going to just jump in with one of them and see how it goes. I am leaning towards one of the 123A battery types, they seem really small and many appear to be quite powerful.

1. Bright
2. Efficient
3. Inexpensive

...pick 2!

Seriously though, the Nitecore D20 is a great all around light. As well as Fenix's, Olight, ITP, Lumapower. So many choices with so many different features.

Here are some links you can check out before you make a purchase:

www.fenixtactical.com

www.surefire.com

www.nitecore.com

www.dereelight.com

www.eagletac.com

I guarantee you'd still retain your title as LUMEN KING of the Land!:twothumbs





http://www.eagletac.com

The quickest way to get a LiteFlux light is to order it from www.EliteLed.com. Both of my orders from them took about three days.

Geoff

UpChUcK said:

1. Bright
2. Efficient
3. Inexpensive

...pick 2!

Seriously though, the Nitecore D20 is a great all around light. As well as Fenix's, Olight, ITP, Lumapower. So many choices with so many different features.

Click to expand...

Funny, same mantra with the camera guys about tripods... cheap, sturdy, light- pick 2 lol

I can now see it was a wholly unwise decision to ask suggestions, because here we bring another option to the table. Love that Nitecore Extreme HA... in fact, based on looks, size and finish, it may be my first choice right now. Looks very cool!

There seems like there are no end to flashlights in this $60-90 price range. Are they all Chinese manufacturers or are there any Swiss or German optics companies by chance? Is Surefire a US company? I don't know how to choose one of these "middle of the road" torches (these are middle of the road, price wise, yes? Or are they still the bottom range as far as pocket torches?)

Flying Turtle said:

The quickest way to get a LiteFlux light is to order it from www.EliteLed.com. Both of my orders from them took about three days.

Geoff

Click to expand...

Wow, fast service is good... Geoff, do you know if I buy the LF3XT with the clip, can the clip be removed later or am I stuck with it? Gotta decide. This torch and the NiteCore have my interests peaked the most.

you might also wish to take a look at the Jetbeam Jet I Pro V3.0, get that, 4x14500s from AW and a charger as well and you're all set.

It can run on any AA sized cell so you can always pick up AAs from a gas station, use NiMH eneloops (which you might have since you're into photography as well) or use 14500s for maximum output (as 14500s are 3.7v vs 1.5 for alkalines and 1.2v for eneloops)

Jetbeams are very hardy lights, waterproof, have a removable clip and the best part i like is the flexibility of 3 individually programmable modes so you can have low - med - high, strobe (slow - fast) - max (240 lumens) - low or whatever combination suits your needs.

a budget light that i own and i find very bright is the Romisen RC N3 warm white it runs on 2xAAs and can also run using 1xCR123 or RCR123. I have some amateurish beamshots here. Use "CPFuser" for a discount and shiningbeam ships incredibly quickly, from order and payment to shipment took less than 24 hours.


The higher end version of the 2xAA warm led would IMHO be the Fenix TK20 which can be bought off 4sevens.com click on Fenix lights and use "CPF8" when you check out for a further discount. Beamshots of the TK20 can be seen here.

All the other suggestions are pretty good too, hope you find what you're looking for.