The Best of the Past

I recently bought a Novatac 120E knowing full well it was getting a little dated and it got me thinking. A great flashlight is a great flashlight, right!?

Therefore for those of you that have been flashaholics for years, I'm curious:

What flashlights do you consider were some of the best in their time? And what lights have you kept (and still use maybe) that are several years old or more?

Basically I'm curious about the history and progression of LED flashlights over time. Just take a trip down memory lane and remember all those lights you eagerly anticipated and hopefully have enjoyed.

Even if you haven't been into flashlights very long, feel free to add your opinions. For me I've had an Inova X-5 for several years but still picked up a new one just a few weeks ago. It was the most recent upgrade and was on clearance so what else could I do. :shrug:

Anyway, I know I'd like to know more about some of the better flashlights that came before and hope others do too. I've learned about quite a few older lights from reading older posts, but I think it may be more interesting to find out how older lights are still viewed.

Thanks!

P.S. Anybody have a suggestion about how to get the tailcap off my Novatac. It will not budge. I haven't heard back from Novatac, but I'm sure they will just tell me to send it in.

I thought the first 2AA LED maglite was awesome!!....before I was enlightened

SF A2 - first and still only (AFAIK) regulated incan light, with leds for long long runtimes at low level. Incan version now replaced by SF with all LED lights, sad to say. Incan still has its place for CRI and bad weather conditions (fog, rain), and the SF A2 has pretty nice beam characteristics.

My original G2 still sees plenty of use, and up until recently I was carrying an original Arc LS on occasion. Really great little light. My M3T is still a fantastic light too.

Streamlight Propoly 4AA (luxeon).

Fourth generation Surefire L1 and first generation Surefire E1L.

The light that got me interested was the venerable Nuwai Q-III

I think the first REAL light I got was a Novatac 120P around two years ago.

Followed by several Fenix'es, 4sevens lights, DX lights ,1 Liteflux, Ra clickies, ITP's, Nitecores and so on. (all single 123 lights - this seems to be my obsession)

This Novatac - meanwhile with an XPG-R5 LED still rides in my pocket.

The other ones sold or sitting apart.

And another two Novatacs waiting for a new emitter (photonfanatic already sent them)

Andreas

Non-custom LED lights...

Arc AAA, CMG Infinity, LRI/Photon Fredom, Arc LS, HDS EDC, Surefire L1, Surefire L4, Surefire U2, Streamlight ProPoly 4AA Luxeon, Nuwai Q-III, Night-Ops Gladius, Fenix L1P/L2P, Fenix L0P SE, Fenix P1, Inova T1 (TIROS), Longbow Micra/Mini/Eco

Surefire A2 Aviator was, and still is a great light. It was king in the Luxeon era because Luxeons couldn't offer a significantly longer runtime at the same or higher output like Cree does today. Dual output levels and two different beam patterns differentiated this light... and still do. It's still the only regulated production incandescent and for the some time it was the gold standard of "white light".

Fenix L1P was a great light. Simple, efficient, and hugely popular. It was really the first 1xAA Luxeon light at a price everyone was willing to pay. Fenix seems to have lost the magic since then for many, and I still long for an updated L1P with a Cree and higher runtimes.

Surefire L4. A true pocket rocket at a whopping 65 lumens for an hour. Used to say it was a real wall of light, a barn burner and a retina scorcher. One of THE lights to have. Nowadays in the same size I can get almost 300 lumens for two hours...

Surefire U2. Originally, if you wanted more than one or two output levels, you had to get the U2. It was either the U2's unbelievable six levels, or two with the A2 and L2. Nowadays with microprocessors in every light, even my $39 MiNi has something like 7 modes. 80 lumens of Luxeon V goodness.

Arc-AAA is another that has lost its way. It used to be if you wanted a keychain light, you got an Arc. No questions, Arc was the ONLY choice, unless you wanted something even smaller, and then you got a Photon II. Way back, just about everyone had a "my Arc-AAA came to the rescue" story.

Streamlight Stylus Pro. Not exactly very old (introduced in 2007), but has a very simple design, good brightness, 7 hour runtime, and a clip that just works. It may not be as bright as other budget lights in its price range ($20), but it just works for me.

This Novatac - meanwhile with an XPG-R5 LED still rides in my pocket.

The other ones sold or sitting apart.

And another two Novatacs waiting for a new emitter (photonfanatic already sent them)

Click to expand...

I had read an old thread with a diy K2 (?) upgrade, but didn't realize all this was possible! Is there a list of Modders(?) on CPF? I'm going to keep it as is for awhile b/c it has a beautiful color and beam.

I still use my LuxIII Peak Pacific every so often and it remains a great backup light (partly because I completely trust it).

I dropped a K2 into my Novatac 120P and it is a screamer, but in reality it was still a very usable and servicable light with the P4 emitter in it.

I agree about the Arc AAA. I still ponder picking up another one - it was a solid little light.

As far as that goes, the original Arc LS series lights were in a lot of respects the precursor to the HDS/Novatac/Ra lights and McGizmos for that matter. At the time - a 22 lumen LED light in that small package was unheard of, and it would still be a solid light now.

It does get somewhat hard to feed CR123's to a light that is so much less efficient and gives so much less runtime - brightness aside the efficiency increases for me are the hardest to ignore...

Heck I bought an Arc4+ back in the day, replaced it with a LuxIII HDS B42XRGT, and replaced that with a Novatac 85P, and replaced that with a 120P and modded it with a K2. So as much as I like some other lights I obviously haven't found anything since the Arc4+ with a better UI!

+1 on the SureFire L1. I've used two of them (LuxIII & Cree) for the last three years (actually I just wrote a short history / narrative of the two L1's here) - the 'Cree' version has been out for a couple of years now and still one of the most useful lights around IMO.

What was great about these lights is the excellent UI in the tailcap - very intuitive for a multilevel flashlight. :thumbsup:

camelNotation said:

Streamlight Stylus Pro. Not exactly very old (introduced in 2007), but has a very simple design, good brightness, 7 hour runtime, and a clip that just works. It may not be as bright as other budget lights in its price range ($20), but it just works for me.

Click to expand...

Have you thought about using the Fenix LD01 head on your 2xAAA Stylus Pro body? You get the ability to change modes via the SL's momentary / clickie switch, and are able to attain near-10440 outputs (~140 lumens or so) from 2xAAA alkaline/NiMH in the Stylus Pro body - comparable runtime with the low mode as well. I liked my SP 2xAAA but with the LD01 head on it, it becomes an amazing penlight:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/179101
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/217658&page=3

ARC AAA.

I forgot to add that I still use my Peak McKinley as a battery vampire :devil:

Kestrel raises a good point - I've become more of a fan of the L1 style UI than I used to be (although with the bandwidth of say my Creemator from around 1 lumen to over 300 I do think 4 levels are just about essential) as a general utility approach to lighting. And whether it is that UI or the Novatac UI - the functional utility of those interfaces somewhat transcends the race for the greatest emitter and the like. There is a reason a ton of people continue to use L1's, Novatacs, McLux and McGizmos, etc...

Sandwich mods- only way to get a high power 2XAA light without going to Arc. Nice sleeper mod for a mini mag too

Space needle mod- Lux V in direct drive abuse

No reflector can duplicate the L4 beam

In my opinion it's the Jet-III Pro I.B.S. which is my first really flashlight. Still like it very much. Swapped the emitter to a Q3-5A over the time and I still use it.

rayman

OOH, heres two more
Jet Mu. Gorgeous body, nice beam. Craptacular regulation
CR2 Ion

I'm quite new to LED lights,

I really thought My Philips Metaflash Luxeon is one of the best, until I got to this forum.

I still find it bright and useful.