2AA with soft Wide Flood like Gerber Infinity Ultra?

Can you suggest an 2xAA or AA LED multi-mode light with a low mode flood beam like the Gerber Infinity Ultra?

My old Gerber was a favourite for walking while retaining night vision. It had no real spot, just a brighter centre transitioning seamlessly to a wide low-level spill beam that gradually diminishes & fades out into the night.

I was going to get another then Happily discovered CPF & the world of modern lights. Of course now I also want to be able to switch to Medium & High.

(CPF posts suggest the Gerber Infinity Ultra is 4~5 lumens)

Thanks !

Howdy Chris and welcome to CPF,
One thing a lot of folks do here on CPF when they want a nice floody, soft beam is to place some diffusion material over the glass at the front of the light. The nice thing about that is that you can take pretty much any light that you like and do this, and then later you can remove it if you change your mind.

We have a member that buys this in bulk and then sells single sheets for a very reasonable price. A single sheet would be enough to cover many lights.

Here is a link to his thread over in the CPF market place:
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/sh...haserburn-s-Diffusion-Film-DC-Fix-CPF-Service

And here is a link to the CPF welcome mat where you can brush-up on our flashlight lingo so you understand what we are talking about:

CPF Welcome Mat:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?277224-The-Welcome-Mat-a-FAQ

And a site to learn about rechargeable batteries:
Battery University:
http://batteryuniversity.com/

And some flashlight review sites:
http://www.light-reviews.com/reviews.html
http://www.sliderule.ca/flashlight.htm
http://www.lygte-info.dk/review/Reviews%20UK.html

I'm sure other folks will chime in with specific recommendations. Take your time and look around, there are a lot of choices, and above all..... have fun .

Scotch tape carefully cut and fit over the lens is my fave solution, 1 or 2 layers is sufficient. A lot of companies offer diffuser cones, but I don't like those because the cone lights up like a frosted light bulb and can disrupt night vision. Sometimes I do this with my L1T-V2 and MC10. I loose about 15% of the lumens (absorbed by the diffuser material) but that drops the output to ~7L OTF, perfect for this application.

Side note... I wish they made a warm tint Fenix E01 or Gerber IU, that would be an amazing little light.

nice Welcome ~ thank you

I dont walk so far that Id want to tape it; Id like to be able to quickly switch to a Med or Hi mode and not have the light attenuated by a covering. Just looking for that sort of beam on the low mode.

If price is no object, a McGizmo Mule in Ti can be had with a 2xAA body. Lumens should be right around where you want to be on low, with two well-spaced, very useful levels up top. If you're not allergic to headlamps that can be used as stand-alone lights, the Zebralight H501 has a beautiful floody beam. Welcome to CPF!

zebralight SC51F AA Floody Flashlight
zebralight SC51Fw AA Floody Flashlight Neutral White
zebralight H51F AA Floody Headlamp
zebralight H51Fw AA Floody Headlamp Neutral White

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Fenix E05 XP-E LED 1xAAA Model...

There are a zillion variants of 9LED 3AAA flashlights.

Thanks for the recommendations.

scout, price is an object for me.

Zebralights, been looking at these. However:

my biggest disappointment with the SC50w is the beam. While I can see it might be perfect for some, I feel the hotspot is too tight and the spill is too weak and wide. I would prefer a slightly bigger, less intense hot spot (even though this would provide less throw) and a slightly tighter brighter spill. In other words, I wish the beam overall was a bit more evenly floody, instead of the super tight bright hot spot with the huge weak spill. If the spill was about 10% tighter and brighter, even at the cost of some of the intensity of the hot spot, I think it would be much improved.

Click to expand...

I'm fine with the "huge weak spill" but rather than that "tight hotspot", I think what Im after is also a "less intense hotspot" and overall "more evenly floody".

Suggestions welcome..

chrisbright said:

Thanks for the recommendations.

scout, price is an object for me.

Zebralights, been looking at these. However: I'm fine with the "huge weak spill" but rather than that "tight hotspot", I think what Im after is also a "less intense hotspot" and overall "more evenly floody".

Suggestions welcome..

Click to expand...

LEDninja recommended the Flood version (F), not the SC50w you mentioned in your quote. I have the H31F and it is VERY floody and i think it's the kind of light you're looking for. It's more of a headlamp, but the SC51F is a flashlight with a frosted lens that has a very nice beam with lots of flood

w, OK, I got it now.

Any other suggestions? (incl 2AA. I originally was going for the Quark Mini 2AA)

~ Thanks

I suggest looking at ThruNite Neutron Flood 2AA.

I can highly recommend the 4Sevens MiNi AA2 - a lovely balance of wide hot spot from the R5 LED and very wide, healthy spill from the shape of the OP refector. The one I use for walking as it really does give out a beam that fills your peripheral vision

That Neutron does look very sweet.

The 4Sevens MiNi AA2, I do like the price. They have it with Cree S2 now, more efficient than the R5.
Will the S2 beam be the same style as the R5?

chrisbright said:

I dont walk so far that Id want to tape it; Id like to be able to quickly switch to a Med or Hi mode and not have the light attenuated by a covering. Just looking for that sort of beam on the low mode.

Click to expand...

Not sure if I understand your requirements here, but generally speaking if its floody on low its gonna be floody on high. There are a few exceptions like the Surefire A2 where it has 5mm leds for flood and a high power center LED or incandescent for throw. This is more common in headlamps than flashlights though, and the good flashlights of this style are expensive. I think most people on CPF just try to find a single emitter light that meets their own personal balance between flood and throw.

Don't knock the DC fix diffuser material which is a upgrade in useability over scotch tape. It's good stuff. I use it on most of my headlamps, and a few lights.

cave dave said:

Don't knock the DC fix diffuser material which is a upgrade in useability over scotch tape. It's good stuff. I use it on most of my headlamps, and a few lights.

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I have an SC50w+ and use DC-fix on the lens and it works very nicely. It spreads the hotspot and also seem (to my eyes anyway) make the inner parts of the spill near the hotspot brighter. It does retain some hotspot which is noticeable at short distances, but once you shine the beam at anything further than about 10' away, or so, the hotspot disappears. The overall pattern of illumination it provides is just like what you describe above for your Gerber light.

The SC50w+ is discontinued and the newest models are the SC51w and SC51c. They are identical in form factor to the 50w+ with the only difference being differences in the beam pattern. The 51 has a larger hotspot and puts out more lumens on a standard AA.

I ordered the 4Sevens Mini AA2 S2. In the end I ordered based on price. Slashman reinforced my attraction to it. Its my first modern light. BOwz3r, your post came after ordering and is very interesting reading. Im excited but now have to wait a while. I so much appreciate everyone's experience & input.

chrisbright said:

I ordered the 4Sevens Mini AA2 S2. In the end I ordered based on price. Slashman reinforced my attraction to it. Its my first modern light. BOwz3r, your post came after ordering and is very interesting reading. Im excited but now have to wait a while. I so much appreciate everyone's experience & input.

Click to expand...

No problems. FWIW, you can put some DC-fix on your new mini as well and get the same effect. I did.

The mini is a nice light, and I use it as a back-up, I just prefer the additional solidity and clicky switch of the ZLs.

Some manufacturers include in the box a removable diffuser filter.

Nap.

Lighteous said:

I suggest looking at ThruNite Neutron Flood 2AA.

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+1 on that... Thrunite really hit a homerun with their Neutron series... Best floody EDCs out there... Plus you can buy a 1A body tube for it and run it off a 14500...
My 1C has the lowest low of any modern light that I've seen...