Looking for advice

I am looking to buy a new LED light, but I am overwhelmed by information and choices. I own a couple LED lights from about 4-5 years ago, but learning about all the new advances in technology has been a revelation. I am a nature freak, and one of my main activities is wandering around at night looking for reptiles and amphibians - on trails in the woods, in open fields, around pond edges, in trees, and frequently in the rain. Currently, I use a big metal Cabela's light with two Luxeon Star LEDs that runs on 3 D cells as my primary light, a little Pelican Recoil submersible as a backup and if I need to light something underwater, and a Petzl Tikka headlamp for camping and lighting up the trail about 5 feet ahead of me. I was really happy with my Cabela's light for a long time. Although heavy, it was amply bright enough for my purposes, and the runtime was great. Over time, however, it has become problematic (the LEDs flicker when I tilt the light, the light dims more quickly on a new set of batteries), and whether this is from normal wear, poor quality, or from being taken out in the rain or very humid jungle a couple times, I am not sure. A friend of mine bought the same light and also had problems with it, so unless the Cabela's lights have improved in quality I think I am done with them.

I was on the verge of buying the Fenix TK40, but I took a step back when someone on another forum mentioned the concerns about batteries exploding or failing, and how he tests the charge on each battery before installing them. I'm sure it's not beyond me to take this extra step, and I might buy it anyway, but there are going to be times out in the field when I really don't want to be juggling 8 AA's, let alone worrying about charges and testing and all that. My Cabela's light wasn't perfect, but when it was working, I could put in 3 D's, spend a week or more in Costa Rica wandering the jungle and not even have to think about batteries.

So, here are the basic qualities I am looking for in a light:

-Long runtime. Ideally I would like to be able to take it on a long trip without changing batteries, but at the very least I should be able to use it all night and still have the same or close to the same light output.

-Waterproof. I don't need it to dive, but it must resist rain and being dropped in a puddle.

-Easy to use/load/recharge. I don't want to be juggling or carrying lots of batteries in the dark, or have to recharge a light for 24 hours after each night of use, and I have to be able to use it one-handed so I can have a camera in the other hand.

-Fairly bright but not ridiculous, and either regulated or with a runtime so long it doesn't matter that much. The Cabela's light at its best was ideal (it has 2 3-watt Luxeon Stars and claims 150+ lumens).

-Portable and relatively light. The Cabela's light was acceptable but about as heavy as I would want to go (listed as 1.75 lbs empty). I use the light one-handed while my other hand nets a frog, catches a snake, or takes a photo, and shining the light upwards into the trees kills my shoulder after a while. The ideal would be something about half the weight or less.

-Reliable. I am careful with my equipment, and I don't need something I can run over with a tank like the Tektite models I looked at, but I need to know it will work, even if it gets bumped around a bit. I dont want to be spending time adjusting or re-aligning parts or worrying about what mode I'm in and whether I am overheating the bulb, etc.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

...Cliff

First off for what you want and the concerns your have you need to read this thread as to obtain good run time and a light that will not be to cumbersome you will want to run Li-ion batteries, but like everything in life they have some risks you need to be aware of in their proper handling
Using Li-ion cells in LED flashlights safely

Second my recommendation for what you are looking would be a Malkoff MD4 body and tail, MD2 head with a high/low ring, and M60 led module running on 2 18650 AW 2600mah cells.
This combination of light will yield 235+lumens on high and a much lower lumen output on the low side for close up work or in need of battery preservation. This would be a fairly lightweight light that has rear tail cap clicky style switch, and the high/low feature is done by a short turn of the head, and would have a pretty awesome run time on two 2600mah 18650 AW.

Try cleaning the contacts. Gunk buildup on those could cause flickering and higher power consumption.

What's your price range?
What kind of beam pattern?
Which batteries?

Here's two Fenix torture threads, a TK40 and a P3D Rebel 100 (no pictures, out of production, newer one is the PD30 and PD30+). Most of the lights also have lower output modes for longer runtimes. I'm using the TK40 as an example again. Here's a review, as you can see, medium almost runs for 16 hours. As long as you charge the batteries correctly, you should be fine. Most of the problem seems to happen when the batteries are mostly depleted. Bring two lights and use one as the backup/smaller light when you need it, then change out the batteries of the one that needs changing when you get to a resting spot.

You probably won't have to worry too much about the durability of these lights. The Tk40 uses AA batteries, so you should use Li-ion batteries in it and also don't have to worry about exploding lights.

I'd suggest going for a 2 AA light right now and seeing how you like it. Maybe even a budget one to "test out the waters." The Romisen RC-N3 warm white could be a good light for that(6% off coupon "CPFuser"). Should run for a bit 3 hours regulated on 2 Eneloops. If you want a more expensive choice, check out the Fenix LD20, Quark AA^2, Jetbeam Jet-I EX, Nitecore D20, or Lumapower Vantage.

I think a single multimode 18650 powered light could match your needs. Lower outputs for closer range stuff, higher output for more spotting stuff, and the size is pretty good too. Think thicker and a bit shorter 2 AA light.

:welcome: