ok I'm learning. Now help me!!! Please

Wow I did not know there was so much to learn about flashlights. Are you all crazy??? I love it!! Ok so I would like something I could carry in a holster. Want distance and very bright but a little bit of flood also. I drive a wrecker so at nights I need a good light to check out the cars and the area I am in. Might be on for 5 minutes and then nothing for a few days. Entering a dark lot at night to get cars or find papers. So a light that could have several levels. Ready to spend $75-$100.00 I guess the rechargeable batteries or lithiums might be good. Also need a rugged light. Read up on so many. Is the Olight m21 a good choice? Any suggestions and please forgive me for any ignorance I have dispalyed. The wife already said I am spending too much time reading about flashlights but I have a long way to go. Thanks

Olight M21 is a bit on the flood side so it won't reach out and throw as far as it's brother the M20. So the question for the M21 is do you want a throw light or a flood light?

I'm not sure what kind of distances you're going to be dealing with and how dark things will be. The more ambient light from streetlamps and such the more you're going to need a focused beam to get your light into dark places.

There are a lot of possibilities out there, so another consideration is how many modes you want and do you want any sort of blinking and strobe modes?

You'll get tons of suggestions and opinions as there are som many options to choose from.

DBS V3 might be worth a look

There are so many options out there. For all of the lights I have purchased, inlcuding the Holy Grail of them all.. the $1000 SPY 007... I find myself carrying my Fenix PD30 the most. It's one hell of a little thrower and offers nice flood too. It's relatively cheap so if I loose it, not too big of deal. It's fairly robust in my opinion. It's slim enough to carry in my jeans pocket or you can use the included holter. It has variable settings including a strobe which might come in handy for you if you need to warn other cars that are aprroaching you at night. It runs on rechargable and primaries.

Overall, I use this light the most. I've bought several for my nonflashaholic friends also. Here's a link to the maker http://www.fenixlight.com/viewproduct.asp?id=115

Here's a link to a dealer that I use often. He also sells the rechargables and chargers if you want them. VERY nice guy to deal with and very reliable fast shipping. http://www.lighthound.com/Fenix-PD3...I-Black-Finish-Textured-Reflector_p_3314.html

Hope this helps. It would be a nice light to start your new addiction with!

Dan

Depends on what size you want to carry everyday a M21 might be a bit large for that but that depends on the person I guess. I would suggest a Fenix PD30 R2 or Quark 123x2. Both come with a holster and small enough to carry easily enough to forget its even on you hip while still large enough to give adequate grip. You can go to 4sevens.com and buy either light for around $65 with CPF member discount code CPF8 and spend the rest on the 4sevens 123 batterys. Good luck

Definatly concider an EagleTAC T100C2. Great throw, great beam quality, can be had for less than $50 and that would leave you plenty left over for a charger and a couple of batteries. The lights regulation on 18650 batteries is great and most prefer these as rechargeable instead of RCR123's. They have more capacity and since you are using one lithium ion battery at a time, it is safer and more convenient than using two RCR123's.

Mike at Pacific Tactical Solutions has been great for me. The whole set up should be less than $90 shipped. There is a CPF discount code, also for PTS.

duboost said:

DBS V3 might be worth a look

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Don't forget to specify! The DBS has three distinct configurations, five if you consider that you could use a Q3-5A pill instead of the brighter Q5 R2.

1. R2 with an aspherical lens.
2. R2 with a smooth reflector
3. MC-E pill with an orange peel (OP) reflector

Numbers range from 1 being the most far throwing, focused light to #3 being the most diffuse yet still pretty far throwing light due to the large reflector. There's no holster that's specific for the DBS as of yet, but the Task Force 2C lights fit it just fine.

I think he would be happy with a DBS, with a R2 or neutral, with an OP reflector.

I'm still waiting to see if Dereelight is going to release any new emitter pills.

Jetbeam RRT-2

Jetbeam RRT- 2 or Jet-I Pro V3 great lights you can get at Bug Out Gear or Going Gear they both have 10% discount with CPF coupon. :thumbsup:

+1 on the jetbeam rrt-2. great light with a lot of throw and a little spill. Decient size overall - not too big and not too small (if there is such a thing). DBS also a great light but I personally would put my $ in jetbeam and would get the rrt-2.

chef

MagCharger :thumbsup:

I also also carry my PD30 everyday... Its a great light

+2 on a DBS with an OP reflector. I have SMO and OP reflectors for mine and the OP gets the lion's share of use.

The DBS is a great light, but it is on the large side of lights that I would concider carrying on my person. I never had a DBS, but did have an A9 and I would certainly not want to carry a light that large around on my hip all day at work. Take a peak at the size and style of lights law enforcement carry. They carry lights the size of M20's, Surefires, TK11's, EagleTAC's, etc. A light like one of these should fit your needs nicely.

As a ex "wrecker" driver I think I can speak first hand of what light is required:

You have indicated that you want a holster mounted light.
This would not be my preference but to each their own.
My mag 6D was always my light of choice for a number of reasons (illumination was not a primary reason) but for a smaller belt holstered light I would say the M20 or M21 would be good contenders.
I would recommend a diffusion lens/mod for either as they both would produce excellent area lighting (and more than enough throw for urban areas) for those areas you wrecker recovery lighting does not cover. Assuming you have high mount lights on the bed of your tray or boom that should give excellent cover out to the full extent of your winch rope.

It would be my experience that also suggests you do not want a spotty thrower as this is a real pain in the butt when doing a recovery at an incident with lots of police/ambulance/fire etc in attendance. With the modern LED spotty thrower you will likely get a less than favourable response from an attending police officer who gets that in his face!
Not to mention the glare you get from this type of light from reflection.
The last thing I would want is glare from a thrower whilst hooking up recovery chains to the undercarriage of a vehicle.

I would not be going for anything smaller than a M20 size unit as I know it needs to be long enough to comfortably place under you arm pit whilst filling out all the paper work or operating booms/trays/winches/feeder-pry bars etc.

I have a M20 & M30 and I personally would be going the M30 but it is not a comfortable holster type mount of light. If I was back on my truck in this day and age I would probably have a M20 or similar clip mounted to my chest pocket (I could not imagine climbing in/out of a cab all day with a holster mounted light) just my leather man was enough. And I would have an upgraded LED 6D mag. Somehow I can not see anyone using a single 18650 light to help feed a wire winch rope onto a drum.

Just my 2cents worth......there are so many choices today

ok thanks so much for all the help.. I guess i now realize that I might need less throw and a broader light fopr what I need. Just want it to be bright enough so when Im in lots looking for cars it still helps. Thanks again. You guys are pretty wild!!

well I have talked with a few people and so here is where I am: Either a Raptor rrt2 with orange peel deflector, jetbeam 3m, ot Olight m20 or m21. Here are my questions: Which one can I change light levels on easily? Heard the m21 is tough to do that with. for the money which is the better light? Sturdy, easy to carry, bright, and having at least a few levels of light?
Thanks again folks

Painful Chafe said:

Definatly concider an EagleTAC T100C2.

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+1

also consider the Eageltac t20c2. More power, 15000 lux. and 295 (manufacturer stated) lumens as opposed to 12000 and 220 for the t100c2. It also has a lower low and you can get different color filters for it, if you want to. Of course, like any good thing it comes at a price.:sick2: