New to Flashlights and looking for a General purpose Light

Hey I'm new to the forums here and to serious flashlighting in general. I've found the site to be a great resource regarding reviews and technical info. I've owned several maglites some with leds and some that I upgraded and a dorcy 3 AAA light.. I recently got the craftsman endurable flashlight and also the rayovac sportsman xtreme 3C. I realize that compared to most serious lights these are subpar so I was looking to get into some better quality lights. I'm looking for two lights in general. One for camping/household and large backyard duties and one for the car.

I looked over the checklist sticky so I'll do my best to prioritize my needs.

Light One:Camping/Backyard light

-Traditional Flashlight Form Factor with sliding or sticky switch, position matters not.

-Size: About in the 9 in range or about a 2 Cell mag

-Runtime: Extremely important at least 25 hrs.

-Lumens: In the neighborhood of a 175 or so

-Powerplant: I would like regular alkalines, but I can compromise on this.

-Throw vs. Flood: I would like a little bit of both, perhaps a focusing feature.

Modes: I'd like 2-3 power settings.

Price: The lower the better but I'm willing to put up about $70 or so.

-Durable

Bottom line: I'd like a light similar to a 2 cell mag just better in the brightness and throw department.


Light Two:Glove Box/under the seat light

-Traditional flashlight style

-About 7 in. in size

-About 50 hrs in runtime

-High reliability

Lumens: About 100

Throw vs Flood: More on the throw side

-About 2 power settings

-Power Plant: Regualr Alkalines are required

Price: About $60 or so.



Thanks for all the help. These forums are great! Any suggestions are welcome!

Light One, perhaps an iTP A6 or you could save up a bit more cash and get a Fenix TK40. 2D mag size, can run on alkaline AA's and has four levels of output: 13, 93, 277 and a whopping 630 lumens on turbo. Built like a tank and gives you a great range to work with. Low light for up close work, superbright for a very throwy/flood beam. And a couple in between for general duties.
It's about twice what you want to spend, but you won't regret it.

As for Light Two, can't say much. I don't really use any other light since I got the TK40.

For your camping light it's very hard to beat the Rayovac 4watt 3-C light. Very long runtime and the updated model lists 180 lumens with 2 modes. For less than $30 I really think it's the best out there

http://www.rayovac.com/flashlight/se4w3c.shtml

Theres not exactly a whole lot of high end budget flashlights, but here's my take:

Runtime is basically dependent on a few factors. Lumens are generally dependent on the Wattage (mA per hour) fed into the led. Runtime of any flashlight depends on your batteries, specifically their mAh or milliAmp hours.

Some flashlights are more efficient than others but the above factors are the big ones. So you need a light with a bunch of high-energy density batteries, which is NOT alkalines.

My question is: Can't you just carry some extra batteries to get the desired runtime?


If I were you, I'd consider buying one light. I would make it an "itp A1 EOS Stainless Steel" that uses CR123s. Then buy a big box of 24 CR123s for cheap online.


You can use that one little 32 dollar keychain light for all your needs. Seriously! With a normal 3.0V CR123, it rates 203 lumens on high, has a 50 lumen medium and a 2 lumen low. (more with a 3.7-4.2V RCR123) Really nice power levels.

Put a few extra battery in your car somewhere as needed. Carry a small box of 4 spares when you go camping. Yer set!



----------

If that doesnt appeal to you, you will need to shell out 94 bucks for an itp A6/A3 christmas gift set. It comes with a keychain 80 lumen 1xAAA light (use a L92 energizer ultimate lithium for crazy runtime), and the A6 Polestar.

You will really need eneloops for the polestar though or your runtime on high will suck bad. Best way to do so is to get the 30 dollar battery pack on Amazon with a charger, 8 AAs, 2 AAA, and some other junk.



Seriously though... the A1 produces a LOT of light and I think that will satisfy.

Thanks for the help, the iTP A6 looks good but maybe a little small. In my original post I meant to say 3 cell maglite. In case of last resort I want to be able to hit somebody with it. The key chain light in that holiday special with the the polestar is very tempting though and I do like the rugged look of the polestar. Thanks again!

Hi and :welcome:

Do spend more time around here. CPF's resource of lights is enormous and if you get hook to lumens, you might end up with more configurations than you'll need And you'll find yourself reducing your use for alkalines And a hunger for 500 lumens lights and climbing.:naughty:

For your 1st requirement, camping/household and large backyard duties more than 170 lumens light. I can recommend something small, easy to manage and friendly to alkalines. Try the 4Sevens Quark AA^2 Regular or Tactical. Check it out at their site and do your research. Recommended power source is rechargeable NiMH AA Eneloops. This can also be your in-the-car light.

If you haven't known about 4sevens website yet, do check out their range of lights, even other brands as well. They are one in many of the highly recommended supplier in CPF.

Try a Malkoff module for your Maglite, an upgrade that is incredibly simple to install and will instantly make your Maglite useful, from MalkoffDevices.com. Malkoff is considered the best in the business and is often sold out but it is well worth the wait/effort! Also, try calling.

For a pocket light, try a Quark AA Turbo. The Quarks have become incredibly popular lately and are very nice lights at a good price. You will actually get 200 lumens out of this light, but you can reprogram it to use less if you like.

Also, welcome to CPF and thanks for doing your homework first!

Honestly, the large majority of the lights around here are pretty small because they don't have to be large to do their job.

The only light I can think of that is pretty big and reasonably priced is the Trustfire 1200. It is at DealExtreme; do a quick search for it. 46 bucks and it holds up to 3 18650 batteries (a little bigger than AAs).

That means that it will be fairly hefty and big (2.5ish inch head, 11 inches long) It also produces a heck of a lot of light, as you can see by the Video link at the site.

The biggest expense will be the specialized 18650 batteries x3 and a charger.


The above suggestion is pretty good too. If you already have perfectly good Maglites and you want that kind of heft, a higher quality upgrade is a good option (though expensive!). The TerraLux one is pretty good too supposedly and is a lot brighter for a 4 D-cell light. For a mere 75 bucks... look for 'TLE-300M-EX 700 Lumen upgrade'.

fenix tk40 which uses 8xAA cells (alkalines not recommended) seems like it will fit all or needs and go way beyond them. but it is over $100.

iTP A6 uses 6xAA cells. quality on that light has been sacrificed alittle bit to help keep costs down. both these lights would be best with LSD rechargeables. sanyo eneloops are considered one of the best.

as for a glove box light for your car. the quark AA-2 is great light. from a great dealer, with a 10 year warranty from an american based company.

also check out the fenix tk20 for its different advantages, such as a more rugged build, and warm tint. both these lights use 2xAA cells.

i would not recommend using alkalines in either of these too, since the light will probably not see much use. energizer ultimate lithiums would be preferred because of the over 10 year shelf-life, no leaking because of its different chemistry, much much longer runtimes.

For light one, take a look at the Lumapower MT-E. It's a 3C light with a max of 500 lumens on high. It's carried by one of our vendors here. Even with CPF discount it'll come in over your budget. But I thought it worth mentioning as there are very few high quality C cell powered lights on the market. If you're ok with something smaller, you could go with the Lumapower Mentor 2C instead. Both of these lights are designed to perform well with normal alkaline cells.

Thanks for the help. The Trustfire Tr-1200 has really caught my eye for light one. I think I'm going to go for that one. Just one question, I couldn't find any runtimes on the search. Anyone know approximate run times for this baby?