Pen Light for opthamologist?

My sister is a veterinary opthamologist, and needs a light that will go from dim to bright and live in her pocket. She also wants it to look nice.

Obviously, I'm planning on getting her the Preon 2, but wanted to make sure there weren't any other good options.

Criteria =

1) Dimmish, mediumish, heart of the sun modes for sequentially testing pupil response in variously blind puppies, kittens, and horses. Color rendition isn't that important, but would be a nice side effect
2) <$80 (the "standard" light in her profession is a Welch Allyn which seems rather sad for the money).
3) Readily available battery power (AA or AAA)
4) Current regulated for flat output vs time. She needs a consistent output for comparative data, and wants the light to flat out die rather than slowly dim, so each exam data point is consistent.
5) Stylish.

As I said, it appears the Preon 2 is the ticket, but I figured you guys might know of a "sleeper" in this catagory.

If she wants it to look nice, go the Preon 2 in titanium.

It's the next light on my list. I don't have a AAA light yet and I think it will be the one.

entoptics said:

4) Current regulated for flat output vs time. She needs a consistent output for comparative data, and wants the light to flat out die rather than slowly dim, so each exam data point is consistent.

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Careful; the Preons are not current regulated, they're voltage regulated and will vary in brightness based on battery strength. Only the regular Quark line is current regulated.

Unfortunately I don't actually have a recommendation for a good penlight, but hopefully someone else will.

I have given several Streamlight Stylus Pen lights to doctors and nurses at a children's hospital that I am very grateful to and have seen them since and they absolutely love them.

I wasn't sure if they would even use them but every time I see them they have it with them and thank me for it. I have never tried one but the Sylus Pro looks like a good model as well.

http://www.streamlight.com/product/class.aspx?cid=13

I recently purchased a Preon 2 ''black' Titanium penlight. It's a very classy looking and well-made light. And it really throws out some lumens on high. I think one of its' biggest virtues is that it has multiple levels of light, easily accessed by a very light touch of the button. Of course, another great thing is that it uses ubiquitous AAA batteries.

Here's a review of the Preon 2 by 'nutnfancy': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YvBLRJX0jk

Here's a review of the Streamlight by 'nutnfancy': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03LLPuno310

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Preon 2 black in neutral or warm white.. !!

I have also the titanium black edition but the black is much better! The titanium of the head of the black edition seem too delicate.. mine got covered of microscopical scratches after a few days.. while the standard black Preon is still perfect after a longer and more intense usage!

You can also get the Preon 2 in warm, neutral, and cool white as well.

riccardo said:

Preon 2 black in neutral or warm white.. !!

I have also the titanium black edition but the black is much better! The titanium of the head of the black edition seem too delicate.. mine got covered of microscopical scratches after a few days.. while the standard black Preon is still perfect after a longer and more intense usage!

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That's the thing, WHEN, not if, your black preon head gets scratched up, there's really no fix for it. Your Ti head can be roughed out (sand the scratches out with a rough, strong sandpaper) and then polished to look exactly the same as the day you got it. Try doing THAT with any anodized aluminum! :huh:

So the Preon 2 dims according to the battery level, huh? That sucks. I was going to gift one of the warms I got to my sis-in-law who just graduated and is going into private practice . . . family medicine.

jblackwood said:

So the Preon 2 dims according to the battery level, huh? That sucks. I was going to gift one of the warms I got to my sis-in-law who just graduated and is going into private practice . . . family medicine.

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There are reports on the forums of people being happy with their Preon 2s for similar uses, especially in warm tint. It's just not suitable for precise measurements and comparisons over time, since you can't guarantee the light level is exactly the same. I would imagine an opthamologist has more strict lighting requirements than other medical fields, though (and I should add that I don't know what those requirements actually are -- just going by the OP here).

In another thread, one person didn't find the Preon suitable for pupillary reflex testing, and eventually settled on a Zebralight H501w. Not a penlight, but...

jblackwood said:

So the Preon 2 dims according to the battery level, huh? That sucks. I was going to gift one of the warms I got to my sis-in-law who just graduated and is going into private practice . . . family medicine.

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Not exactly... Take a look at the output graphs in this review and decide for yourself.

One thing that's obvious from those graphs, alkalines in your premium flashlights sure do suck! But I digress . . .
Looks like there's somewhat of a flat curve on lithium primary and Ni-MH batteries for a good 25-40 minutes before output drops in any significant way. Go ahead and define significant though, I dare ya! :nana:

Thanks for the direct to the page, Dude Dude. Get it? Thanks Stereodude (even my wife has stopped laughing at my jokes, go fig.).

I second the notion of a Preon 2xAAA, but only with Eneloop batteries. I'm not getting involved with the debate about choice in finish.

Thanks for all the info folks. CPF rocks.

Is the Stylus Pro current regulated? Is it multi-mode too?

Thanks for the heads up on the Preon's voltage regulation. I had just assumed it was like the other quarks. It's a real bummer that it isn't current regulated, but after inspecting the runtime graphs, I think it will be OK for her purposes. The medium (and presumably low) modes appear to have a pretty flat time vs output curve, and she'll almost assuredly be using those modes the most. She told me she would only be using high on animals that are essentially totally blind already as a "last chance" test.

Feel free to continue the debate on finish color, but she's already informed me in no uncertain terms that she wants red if I go with the Preon.

I won't be buying for a couple more days, so more advice/suggestions/etc are welcome, but at this point I think the Preon is well ahead of any other lights I'm aware of.

For an infinitely variable light this is the one I would go with and it has a great clip for office use.

http://www.photonlight.com/products/Proton-PRO-Personal-LED-Flashlight-(1000%2b-Candle-Power!).html

Better price --> http://www.uniquetitanium.com/Proton-Pro_p_60.html