Modern equivalent of Streamlight ProPolymer Luxeon?

So some years back (2005, wow!), I bought various family members gifts of the Streamlight Propolymer Luxeon 4AA.

I'd like to buy some similar gifts this year, but it looks like the technology has advanced since then (Streamlight themselves offers a bunch of other lights with "C4" LEDs, which I gather from context are better than those old Luxeons), and I'm not sure those are the best buy any more. What I'm looking for is:

1. Something that's "normal" size. Not a heavy tactical flashlight, not a pocket light, something that's the appropriate size to put in a drawer with your stapler and duct tape.

2. Something that uses normal AA batteries. I don't think my friends and family have ever heard of a CR123 battery.

3. Either brighter than the Propolymer with the same running time, or a longer running time with the same brightness, or ideally brighter with a longer running time.

Does this light exist, or should I just pick up more of those five-year-old flashlights?

Closest thing I've seen is the dorcy cyberlight.

underwater kinetics makes a 4AA led version also a newer zoom version and a right angle version too but these lights used to be a lot cheaper the price on them is up 50% to double

How about some of the Romisen offerings from shiningbeam.com? There's at least one model that accepts AA and there might be more. Those seem like great bang-for-buck with good durability and modern emitters.

brad

I hope you get some good answers here. Though I have many modern lights, I haven't found a good replacement for my Propoly 4AAs and I use them frequently--usually to lend out to children. The Propoly 4AA with a Ripoffs holster is still a great combo.

I've been wanting a 4AA high-output LED light as my EDC light. I see no choice but to add a second AA extender to my 2AA Dereelight Javelin to create a 4AA long light. My P60-sized module will be either my M30WF or my direct-drive NailBender warm MC-E. For what it' worth, Brightguy.com has the largest selection of 4AA lights, both LED and incan.

NutSAK said:

I hope you get some good answers here. Though I have many modern lights, I haven't found a good replacement for my Propoly 4AAs and I use them frequently--usually to lend out to children. The Propoly 4AA with a Ripoffs holster is still a great combo.

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I still use mine a lot too. It stays in the kitchen drawer and is my go-to light for many tasks.

brad

In my humble opinion (I am new around here):


I don't own one but the Pelican StealthLite 2410 Recoil LED Flashlight looks like it would fit the bill. It is 84 lumes with 32hrs of run time. I think the average person on this site would not look twice at this light, but I think it would work well for the average joe being pulled from a drawer.

2nd, at Costco you can get a 3d and 2aa rebel mag combo for around 26$.

Good Luck,
Chuck

too bad the chinese haven't copied the propolymer series as they would at least improve the light engine to have the latest cree LED and multimodes even. Plastic lights should be easier to make than aluminum If they cranked out a lot of them you could get the price down to $15 each vs the time to machine an aluminum light you could mold 100 plastic ones.

Lynx_Arc said:

too bad the chinese haven't copied the propolymer series

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I was thinking that it was a shame that Streamlight hasn't updated an already well-designed light.

NutSAK said:

I was thinking that it was a shame that Streamlight hasn't updated an already well-designed light.

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It is ironic the first plastic lights were having to throttle output because of inefficient LEDs.... here we have LEDs a lot more efficient which would actually be more ideal for these lights and manufacturers don't care.

The initial types of LED's used in the first ProPolymer Streamlights didn't produce much heat.

But now I'm thinking metal bodies and heatsinks are required for heat disipation that a thin plastic body can't supply.

DigMe said:

I still use mine a lot too. It stays in the kitchen drawer and is my go-to light for many tasks.

brad

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yep. i too keep a AA pro-polymer in the kitchen. i have a C battery pro-polymer as well for home safety use.

i got the AA pro-polymer as xmas gifts a couple years back since everybody has AA and aren't into specialized batteries. nice light.

glad i still have mine and i also wish they would get a refresh.

Although it is no longer up to date for us CPF'ers, it has not been surpassed AFAIK. It's still is a great gift for non flashaholics since it runs well on alkaline AAs, which is not always the case with CPF'ers other favorite AA lights, is reasonable priced, has a great beam, and is VERY durable. A lot better than what most non-flashaholics are used to.

I wish I could graft that forward clicky onto some of my other lights!

Csp203 said:

In my humble opinion (I am new around here):


I don't own one but the Pelican StealthLite 2410 Recoil LED Flashlight looks like it would fit the bill. It is 84 lumes with 32hrs of run time. I think the average person on this site would not look twice at this light, but I think it would work well for the average joe being pulled from a drawer.

2nd, at Costco you can get a 3d and 2aa rebel mag combo for around 26$.

Good Luck,
Chuck

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eh, i do not think the light will put out 84 lumens for the whole of 20+hours. :thinking: its more like a competing model from Pelican.

another light that uses 4AA is the Princeton Tec Impact XL, again i doubt it will put out 45 lumens for 50 hours. but from the website, it looks like they now use some sort of optics vs reflector (earlier versions) that i bought as gifts for my relatives.

http://www.princetontec.com/?q=node/78

The two 4AA lights that come to mind that would be brighter than the Streamlight are the Pelican Stealthlight mentioned earlier (seems pretty cool with a glow in the dark bezel) and a UK. UK has had brighter 4AA lights for a while and they have even updated them recently. I purchased the 4C sunlight that puts out 116 lumens and it a very cool light. The lumen ratings are true ratings and the 116 lumens is very bright.

I would rather have a more efficient Propoly 4AA than a brighter one. Adding a modern emitter and greatly increasing the runtime would be great. Heat would be a non-issue. The beam has a great combination of throw & flood as it is and the brightness level is good for most tasks. If the output was increased, I would want the spill brighter and the spot a bit less focused to keep it a good all-rounder.

I'm with LED_Thrift too--that is one of the best forward clickies ever.

If adding a modern emitter, why would heat be a NON-issue ?

Metal body lights get quite hot with modern emitters as they wick the heat away .

So where's the excess heat gonna go in a thin yellow rubberized body ?
.

TooManyGizmos said:

If adding a modern emitter, why would heat be a NON-issue ?

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Heat would be a non-issue because, if a modern emitter was run at an equal output level (as in my example--increasing efficiency, not output), the heat that needs to be managed would be less than that generated by the Luxeon. It's a non-issue because the current heatsink would be more than enough to take care of the heat generated by a modern emitter.

My apologies, I didn't explain that very well. I was suggesting that a modern emitter be used to increase efficiency, not output.

If you really want an updated Propoly, you can do the update yourself:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/149149
The reflector should work well enough with an XP-G, though I haven't tried it. The SSC P4 definitely works.

FYI, the same procedure works equally well on the Propoly 3C:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/157857