CPF CHALLENGE! Help me find my Perfect Work Light!

Ok, here is the deal.
At work, we get issued streamlight 3AA lights. They pretty much suck, but are better than nothing, and have a side clicky, which I like. I have stopped carrying mine after the 4th one in 2 years broke.
Currently, I am carrying an Eagletac P10A2 neutral tint. I love the tint, and love the 2 modes, but the center spot is too small and defined, and the bulges on the body make holstering and unholstering a chore.

I do tend to be picky, so please bear with me.

My dream WORK light would be:
Must haves:

*Price: up to $100, would prefer more like $50. This light could possibly be stolen and WILL be abused, so would prefer to keep the replacement cost down. I suppose I could go higher, but its unlikely I could convince myself to spend more.

**Wide spot, lots of spill. would like a smooth transition from spot to spill. My Quark MiNi has a nearly perfect beam profile for up close work. The narrow beam and defined hotspot on my Eagletac annoys me.

*Tint should be 4-5.5k color temperature or High CRI. NO ANGRY BLUE OR PURPLE TINTS! My eagletac P10A2 neutral is nearly perfect tint, as is the tint on my QMiNi neutral. This is where my streamlight 3AA has failed.

*40-80 lumens. any less, and I cant see what I am doing, any more will blind me for up close work. Multi mode is ok, as long as it comes on at a nice medium.

*size: body should be 1.25" or less in diameter and 4"-9" long. Head can be up to 2" diameter. This is so it will fit my belt pouch. Would prefer no major bulges on the tailcap that would interfere with removing the light from my pouch. My Eagletac sometimes catches, and its annoying.

*Batteries should be AA or 18650s. Other rechargeables might be acceptable, if they are not expensive. I have a Ultrafire WF130 charger that I can take to work if needed.

*DURABLE! this light WILL be dropped onto concrete from 4' or more at some point. Its just a question of when, not if. This is also where my streamlight 3AA has failed, many times.

*Clicky switch. Twisties need not apply.

REALLY REALLY WANTS. will pay more to get these.
*Side clicky. I love side clicky, makes turning the light on one handed much easier when drawing from the holster. My issued light is a side clicky, and its the only reason I put of with the POS for so long. This is almost a must have, but I suppose I could adapt to a tail switch with time. It will annoy me though. Did I mention I love side clicky?

*2 or more modes. Interface should be simple. the bezel twist on my Eagletac is nice. If there are flashy modes, they should be well hidden. The light should come on at a nice medium, say 40-80 lumens. I do NOT want to be cycling modes to get to a good general mode. A low low is not needed. I will never need less than 40 lumens from this light. As long as it can come on at a nice medium, I will be OK.

Does my dream WORK light exist?

Possible contenders
*Mod a streamlight 3AA with a 4-5k color temp cree, and epoxy that poop in place so its durable. The current innards on these are worse than most cheep DX lights. This is more work than I am interested in really, I would rather buy a good light.

*put a diffuser on my Eagletac. I would rather not do this, as I dont like the tailswitch (its partially hidden), and the wide area around the switch makes pulling it from the holster tedious and annoying. Besides, I like this light at home.

* Romisen RC-N3 II Neutral White LED Flashlight. seams like a good values. downsides are narrow beam, and no side clicky. Might be able to fix the beam issue with some diffuser tape.
Whats the lumen output on this light? and what mode does it come on in?

*Quark tactical. Nice interface, would probably need a neutral head which is no longer available. Not sure if the R5 edition would have the beam tint and profile combination I am looking for. not a side clicky. The new warm tint coming out would probably be TOO warm for me at 3k color temperature. Very tempting though.


*Fenix tk20. Not a side clicky, and narrow beam. would have to try a diffusor to make this work. Outstanding durability and good tint. likely to be a great choice

*Fenix LD20+ premium R4. probably a good choice, the xp-g will probably give me the wide spot I want, but the tint is likely to be blueish. Not a side clicky, and not sure how well this light would survive impacts with concrete.

OK! lets see some ideas!
and thanks in advance for any help!

Your Eagletac uses a Cree XR-E which has tighter spot and less spill than a XP-G LED. The XP-G has a smoother transition spot to spill and a larger hotspot.

I think you would be best served with either a tactical quark 123 x 2 or a tactical turbo quark, again in the 123 x 2 format. This format gives you the option of using one 17670 for a single cell rechargeable option for some really good runtimes. You could go for the WW but that does seem really warm(IMO).

I have used some neutral 5b's and those are really nice!

Another light you could look at is the Quark RGB-Neutral. It might be to much flood for you but if not you would get your neutral tint and other colors to boot. Not to mention you can run this on 1, 17670 also.

I'd go for the TK20. I like to recomend it wherever I can as it is quite simply such a great light, but for this purpose it genuinely does seem to fit the bill perfectly, it's just one of those lights that you never have to worry about breaking. :thumbsup:

The regular/tactical Quarks have a very similar beam profile to the MiNis. If you like those you will like this one.

If Malkoff releases an M61L (most likely he will at some point) then it would be well suited for you in an MD2 two-stage body.

JetBeam Jet-III M Warm

I bought a TK20 last week and as soon as I got home I tried to kill it, for research purposes of course.

Dropped half a dozen times from 3-7 feet onto concrete. Threw it as far as I could onto gravel. Threw it at a tree, jumped on it and tightened it up (the head) in a bench vice VERY hard, to the point where I could no longer turn it with vice-grips.

It's one tough light. I'm going to buy another one without the scratches and dents. Perhaps with the yellow rubber grip. The one I've got is now in the tool box. Should feel right at home with all that chunky, tough metal.

The tint is lovely, think old school incan glow. It really feels like you're holding an old light and have to remind yourself it's an led. The low is great for up close work though it is a throwy beam, with a light o/p reflector it would be the perfect AA light.

Whats the beam profile on the jet III-M like?

I am very temped by the quark tacticals with an xp-g, but I am afraid of possible tint problems, though its likely to be better than my issued light.

Guess I will have to price out a malkoff, i suspect it would be near perfect, except the price, heh.

Thanks for the help so far!

I would also suggest malkoff. He currently has M60LL and M60LF on sale!

fixitman said:

Whats the beam profile on the jet III-M like?

Click to expand...

Don't know if it will help you:
JetBeam Jet III M.R2 // Phenix TK12.R5 (link).

fixitman said:

Whats the beam profile on the jet III-M like?

but I am afraid of possible tint problems, though its likely to be better than my issued light.

Click to expand...

Pre-order a Warm Quark.

28% or so less lumens, but warm tint. Neutral tint is quite lovely already.

Sounds like your in the market for a Zebralight H501w or H60w.

*Price: up to $100, would prefer more like $50. This light could possibly be stolen and WILL be abused, so would prefer to keep the replacement cost down. I suppose I could go higher, but its unlikely I could convince myself to spend more.

Click to expand...

Zebralights are about 70-80 shipped, a few dealers like have cpf discounts. Illuminationgear is pretty good.

**Wide spot, lots of spill. would like a smooth transition from spot to spill. My Quark MiNi has a nearly perfect beam profile for up close work. The narrow beam and defined hotspot on my Eagletac annoys me.

Click to expand...

The Zebralights are completely flood, they illuminate an 80deg area very evenly. IMO perfect for close up work.


H60 (cool white)

*40-80 lumens. any less, and I cant see what I am doing, any more will blind me for up close work. Multi mode is ok, as long as it comes on at a nice medium.

Click to expand...

Modes match up perfectly. The H501w has max of around 70lm. The H60w's 110 mode should be about 90lm, in practice I doubt it will be too bright.

*Batteries should be AA or 18650s. Other rechargeables might be acceptable, if they are not expensive. I have a Ultrafire WF130 charger that I can take to work if needed.

Click to expand...

H60 operates on 18650s and the H501 take AAs.


I can't speak to how durable my 501w is, but after a few drops on the pavement (~3ft or so) there aren't any problems.

Look into the Solarforce L2-r. It has a lot of what you are looking for, and will not break the bank if it is dropped, or stolen.

I would expect that as time goes by, there will be other brands of 2xAA drop-ins that would fit this host.

BTW regardless of advertising, it puts out ~100 lumens on high with two NiMh.
I also prefer the optional SS flat bezel so it doesn't catch on pockets.

I use a malkoff m60wlf in a litte twisty at work. (building boats) This light is perfect for the task. my zebralight h30 is.. well i dont even know where it is no more.. probably hidden in a drawer somewhere. The h30 is also a fantastic work light, but i prefer the warm/neutral tinted twisty with atleast some throw.

The bad thing about the malkoff is that everyone else comes to me if they need a light instead of grabbing one of our crappy 9x led cluster nobrand lights.

Malkoff MD2 with a M60LL or M60LF module.

I would post a WTB in the marketplace for a neutral Quark Tactical, then buy whichever body suits your needs best. I have a neutral AA and it is one of my favorite EDC lights. Another option is a Solarforce L2 with a neutral drop-in from Nailbender or Dereelight.

Here's a 2xAA for sale.

An Inova T1-MP rides on my belt everyday, awesome light!

*neutral to warm tint, my personal favorite.
*100 lumens, but quite floody, not too blinding for close up work.
*seemless transition from center spot to spill.
*tailcap forward clickie, not too sensitive.
*head doesn't flare, I carry mine lens down in the holster.
*compact size with enough to hold onto.
*current best price new about $48.
*lacks a low level, so spend another $16 for a Streamlight Microstream.

Howsabout a Zebralight SC30w neutral white for $59? Its got a side clicky and can double up as a headlamp if you need your hands free. Total of 6 different modes too.

I like my H501 as its a great flooder, pure flood, no hotspot at all. I also order my Zebralights directly from them, they're cheaper than at other sites.

Look into the EagleTAC PC series coming out very soon. They have a XP-G for a nice smooth wide spot/spill. EagleTAC's XP-G tint have been very white. If the regular tint is to cool for you, there will be a neutral version also. There isn't going to be a 18650 light, but there is going to be a couple of AA's, and you said you would be open to other rechargeable(RCR123's). Range from 5 lumens low to 300 high. I think the UI is similar to Fenix PD's series with the ability to hide the silly blinking modes, but I'm not sure if the strobe on the high/strobe head tightened mode can be hidden though.

Here is a pdf link: http://webpages.charter.net/tackledog/ET 2010-2.pdf

I'd also recommend an E2E HA with a LF HO-E2R lamp assembly with IMR16340's. This is my new EDC and the beam is flawless with ample spill. Very wide spill too boot.