Need a tough 18650 light for work

Hi guys, I'm a mechanic and go through lights about every 3 months. I've been using quark tactical lights but after 3 new heads I've decided they just can't take the abuse of Being a mechanic lol.
They just get dropped and banged around allot.
I had an inova x5 forever but it's not bright enough and I want 18650 batteries. Any ideas? I was thinking about going back to a fenix but figured I would ask my led gods first. Thanks in advance, I'm lost without a good light.

toughest 18650 IMO would be a malkoff MD2.... add a Hi/Lo ring if you need dual modes.
The MD2 really is a awesome work light. All the parts are replaceable(and "user serviceable") and the lens is "plastic".(lens won't break)

Heres a video of some abuse of the armytek predator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvA79TAMu6c&feature=player_embedded

I'm a mechanic and for work, most of the guys use a rechargeable stinger light. But being a flashaholic, the snap on truck does not cater to my needs. Therefore, I use Barry Milton bored surefire c2 with a malkoff drop in and 18650 aw battery.

You really couldn't go too wrong with an HDS.

Wow the hds is nice but I really want 18650. Need a glass lens cause plastic gets messed up with chemicals. I seen the stingers lol my shop is full of them. Kinda big for my taste. Gotta be something out there .

-Solarforce L2
-Replace the tailcap with a Surefire Z41 with over-ready zero resistance upgrade like in my avatar (no switch to fail).
-Pick the Malkoff drop in of your choice.

Solid setup with AW protected 18650 cells. The strike bezel will help protect the glass lens from impacts. The L2 has anti-roll features built into the bezel so your light won't be rolling all over the garage floor.

I would go with a bored 6P, with clicky switch, and get a High CRI M61L from illuminationsupply.com

8 hours of 125 lumens from a 18650, of beautiful accurate color renditioning light, no more guessing is that motor oil or brake fluid, lol.

i was a auto shop mechanic for awhile, and know how tools will get thrown around, we had stingers too, but the beam was horrid.

i too, would suggest either a malkoff MD2, or bored surefire. my current set is a bored C2, with mcClicky switch, and Nailbender XM-L warm tint drop-in. this was after using olight m20, couple different quarks, and a jetbeam 3M... after months of hard use, they just didnt hold up so well....

if something does go wrong with the light... its as simple as.... remove and replace... even simplier actually heheh... with drop-ins, tailcaps, swtiches, lens, bezels, etc...

i also have a armytek predator... and although i havent put it through any hard use.... it seems like it can take a beating.
its much bigger than my C2, and it has great throw... so maybe not so great in a shop environment.
no knurling either, so it might get slippery with greasey hands heheh. but the throw, and UI are really really nice.
the flat black matte finish makes it the best looking finish ive seen on any black light.

I'm automotive engineer. At work we use this,
http://www.burnbrite.com/Our-Produc...ables/Versa-Lite-Portable-LED-Lead-Light.aspx

or their fluro range. Awesome product.

In fact, I loved it so much I bought some for home too... bright as and quite tough.

Electrolumens EDC has many of the same rugged design qualities of the Inova X5. Twisty [although it has a nice momentary for convenience], direct drive, very floody beam. It is a bit heavy for its size, but in your case that's probably a good thing. Wayne would probably fix it if it ever broke. 18650.

I'm an electronic/netowrk engineer and have extensively used my Fenix TK11 in the field and at job sites which most of the time are building sites. It's taken one heck of a beating since I bought it in 2008 and is still going strong, it's literally built like a tank. I'll take a couple of photos of it and host them later this morning to show you it's condition.

As a general guide, it's been dropped through/knocked out of an opening in an unfinished building and travelled down 1.5 storeys before hitting concrete on it's head and still worked. It's been splashed with chemicals such as Isopropanol, mild etching acid and fluxclene which we use on a daily basis in the workshop and they've never affected it.

It's been in the sea a few times during boating trips and has proven to be 100% waterproof and it was involved in a work site accident where a hand drill with a holesaw in the chuck malfunctioned and wouldn't switch off for one of our engineers whilst he was working in a crawlspace. As well as hitting his arms in a couple of places and cutting him, the large holesaw blade hit my TK11 on the body and knocked a couple of lumps out of it. Because the body and head are so thick it didn't make any difference - it still works and the body is intact. All that along with the usual knocks and drops that a rugged work light has to put up with and the only thing I've ever had to fix on it was a broken tail switch - a replacement for which was very kindly provided free of charge by Fenix's UK dealer. Even with that broken switch, the light was still functional, I could twist the tail for on/off because the switch was stuck in the "on" position.

It's one of my go-to lights for pure reliability. It lives in my toolbox most of the time because no matter what it's been through, it still soldiers on.

Dragonfueled said:

Wow the hds is nice but I really want 18650. Need a glass lens cause plastic gets messed up with chemicals. I seen the stingers lol my shop is full of them. Kinda big for my taste. Gotta be something out there .

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Oops!, sorry about that. I guess I'm so enamored of the HDS lights and impressed by their durability that I forgot about the part of your thread title that says 18650 even though I was looking right at it.

I would go with a bored 6P, with clicky switch, and get a High CRI M61L

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That's a very nice way to go, one of the least expensive customs, and yields a tough light with a great beam & long run time.

bored surefire c2 with a malkoff drop in and 18650 aw battery.

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That exactly describes my "bump in the night" light, which stays in the night stand drawer with the Glock. Lots of users, self included, like the squared mid section of the C2, and the special shape of the rubber "combat grip" on that light. The M2 is identical except that the mid section is round.

go through lights about every 3 months.

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A Surefire should last many times longer than that. When a person pays more for a light, they tend to treat it better. Surefires are built for war, and their toughness is legendary. Some of the titanium lights may be even more robust, but the price point for a titanium 18650 is $300 or more. A modded Surefire will cost half that.

SC600 meet your need.

+1 on the SC600!

The sc600 is a great light. I plan on getting one when the neutral tints come out, however I question how durable they are to abuse