Girlfriend wants a powerful light - interesting reason as to why

About a year ago I bought my GF a Xeno AA light, neutral tint with a diffuser wand. She likes it a lot, and has been pretty diligent on keeping it with her in her hand bag (I also bought her a eye glass case to store it). The other day she asked me to get her another light, only something more powerful. The reason? We recently moved into a new apartment that has a HUGE walk in closet, yet whoever built this place neglected to put an outlet in it or light fixture. So she has a room that she stores all (well most anyway) her handbags, shoes, clothes (yeah, she has a serious addiction) in a closet that is more like room at roughly 15' x 8'. The problem is compounded by the fact that it gets no natural lighting either, so she's consistently using her Xeno to located things in there. However, she wants a light to keep in there permanently rather than always digging out her Xeno, and she is looking for more power.

I used my Tri-EDC in there the other day and just pointed it at the ceiling to give a bounce effect and her face lit up in awe and satisfaction as it was like switching on a light switch. A Tri-EDC would never cut it though, as she can be in there 10-15 or more minutes rummaging around and it would burn the battery or board out keeping it on high that long. So I'm thinking I need something around 300-400 lumens (at least) with good staying power and a good diffuser. I also don't want to spend a boat load on a light that's never going to leave a closet. A neutral tint might help also as it would be a more natural light, but this isn't necessary. And lastly, CR123 or 18650 might be the way to go. I have a bunch of CR123's, but in the long run and considering how much this thing will get used regularly, an 18650 might be more cost effective. Any suggestions?

Why not just run a power cord and put a light in there?

qwertyydude said:

Why not just run a power cord and put a light in there?

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My very first suggestion to her, which was shot down and understandably. She wants the light in the far back of the closet, to do that would mean running a power cord about 20 ft (closest outlet) and would get in the way as she has stuff packed to the gills in there.

qwertyydude said:

Why not just run a power cord and put a light in there?

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Yeah. Just what I thought too.

Get her a headlamp instead like the Zebralight H51F. At least she could keep her hands free.

Solarforce L2 with their XM-L drop-in, maybe a diffuser lens or the lantern head attachment. If you're willing to wait a couple of weeks for it then go right to the solarforce-sales.com site.

Though I would consider installing some real lighting...maybe a couple of ceiling mounted can lights or something...though that would probably cost more than even the more expensive flashlights.

pjandyho said:

Get her a headlamp instead like the Zebralight H51F. At least she could keep her hands free.

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She has a jewelery cabinet that stands about 6 ft tall against the far wall in the closet. Currently she just puts the light up there and the light diffuses and bounces enough to give half way decent lighting, but again, that is with a Xeno running on a standard AA battery. More lumens = more visibility. I can't see her putting on a headlamp for any reason short of caving. Although this is kind of like caving in my opinion.

lightfooted said:

Solarforce L2 with their XM-L drop-in, maybe a diffuser lens or the lantern head attachment. If you're willing to wait a couple of weeks for it then go right to the solarforce-sales.com site.

Though I would consider installing some real lighting...maybe a couple of ceiling mounted can lights or something...though that would probably cost more than even the more expensive flashlights.

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I've been wanting to go the 6P route for sometime now, maybe this is a good excuse. Although finally going that route and then giving it to the GF as a closet light might break my heart... I offered numerous more logical solutions (as far as I was concerned for getting an actual light in there, even offering to call up an electrician to put an outlet in there, how hard/much can it be. No go. Her argument remains the same, "I just need a nice little flashlight to keep in there". Me being a flashlight guy, well, this is music to my ears even under such strange circumstances.

Oh and we did get her a few of those closet lights that stick to the wall and you press them to turn on. We've used them before in much smaller closets with success. They get completely swallowed in this space and are next to useless.

Zen Ape said:

My very first suggestion to her, which was shot down and understandably. She wants the light in the far back of the closet, to do that would mean running a power cord about 20 ft (closest outlet) and would get in the way as she has stuff packed to the gills in there.

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If running a cord is not practical, how about something like this Coleman 8 D-cell 580-lumen LED lantern. Just screw an eye hook into the closet ceiling, hang this on it, and you're good to go. A lantern with a boatload of D cells seems like a better bet than a flashlight for this sort of application, so you're not changing batteries every few days. Coleman claims 10 hours on high, so if she uses it 10-15 minutes per day, that's 40-60 days between battery changes.

How about popping a 14500 into the Xeno? With my Xeno XM-L it's plenty bright with a 14500 on medium mode. Not only that, you get to save money by not buying primaries all the time.

Sure sounds like your GF just wants an excuse to buy a flashlight.

For something powerful that might fit her needs, I would recommend a Zebralight SC600. It tailstands well, and in a space that confined, a ceiling bounce with 750 lumens would be like turning on the sunlight. And since it uses a 18650, if you keep one in the light and another charged up and ready, you could cycle them and not have to worry about running out of power. It also manages heat quite well, even on high, so after 15 minutes it will be warm, but still touchable by hand.

And if she needs it for anything other than the closet illumination, it's quite portable!

One potential issue might be the tint, as the current version is a little on the cool side which might make identifying certain colors of clothes or shoes more difficult, but there is supposed to be a neutral version coming very soon...many people are waiting, it seems.

Zen Ape said:

My very first suggestion to her, which was shot down and understandably. She wants the light in the far back of the closet, to do that would mean running a power cord about 20 ft (closest outlet) and would get in the way as she has stuff packed to the gills in there.

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Does she have the ceiling cluttered up as well? If not, you can run the power cord below the ceiling. Depending on the size of the room and how cluttered it is, it would be better to have a permanent light fixture hanging, rather than a flashlight, since she can have her hands free while choosing her garment.

the cheapest and most practical option would probably be an Ultrafire 504b host with a XML dropin because you can get that for around $25 and it'll give you about 400 lumens for a couple hours AND it tail stands without any modifications. only problem with that is that your fashionista GF will probably spot the cheapy from a mile away and call shenanigans.

to get a Solarforce setup that does the same thing, you'll have to spend like $40. and for that, you might as well get a Shiningbeam S-Mini. i'd get the S-Mini.

How about a 511 light for life ?
Mount the charger to the wall near the closest PowerPoint, and it will always be ready to go
I'm pretty sure there is one that comes on in max (270lumens)
Add a diffusion film for a nice flood and you will be good to go
Biggest advantage is there is no batteries to buy, and the capacitors will be good for a long time, much longer than a nicad/nimh/lion pack

ROP low (or hi), not too expensive and 100CRI. if you build out a C cell version with Download's Mag C tower heatsink, the 10 min runtime limitation with the high bulb (due to melting parts) becomes largely a non-issue. It will probably require daily charging though, based on her usage.

btw, her insistence that it must be a flashlight in there makes me think you've got yourself a closet flashaholic (unavoidable pun)

You need an electrician :naughty:

If there is an electrical outlet nearby, it would be pretty easy for an electrician to tap into that and run the wires to a new light fixture/light switch in the closet. You can get nice light fixtures for $30 or less.

barring that, I would want something with a nice neutral tint to make color rendering a little better when she is trying to pick out cloths. I'd also want something pretty floody. A Zebralight SC60w comes to mind but that may not have enough output (270 lumens). The SC600 does have much more output but it is not yet availavle in a neutral tint.

I use these lights and also some of these motion lights in my house and I am pretty happy with them.

Use a lantern...we have the same scenario and it works great, its a cheap 3aa river rock and it lights it up great. If its a big closet, maybe the Coleman suggested above woild work well. I love lanterns personally.

Another Xeno + crAA 14505 ?

Possibly cheap sensor/movement based light or run a cord somehow and run lamp or some led strips?