Bright light from Chinese brands: Multi-cell 18650 (Floody and some reliability)

CPFBiology

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Aug 13, 2010
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273
I am now in the market for a floody light that takes multiple 18650's from the more reliable Chinese brands. I am looking for something with decent runtime on maximum (2h00min+), and puts out around 800-1000 lumens, but won't stop working if it gets dropped a few times.

Which would you recommend?
Jetbeam RRT-3 XML
Sunwayman V60C
I am avoiding the Nitecore fatty because of reliability issues I've read about
Fenix TK35
SR51 Olight

If there are other reliable sources that I have failed to mention, please advise as well.
 

Streak

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Jan 31, 2002
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ex South Africa now SoCal
I have been testing the Klarus XT20 which runs off 2x18650's or 4xCR123's.
All I can say is wow. I have never seen such a wall of light like this out of a flashlight.
If I shine it across the road it lights up the whole side of the neighbors double storey house.
Also the mode selection is quite clever. It has a main on/off switch ensuring that the light always comes on in high mode and a smaller secondary switch to change modes.
 

CPFBiology

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Aug 13, 2010
Messages
273
Thanks for the recommendation. It is an odd looking light, the XT20 Klarus.
 

candle lamp

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Jun 16, 2010
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South Korea
Skilhunt has released the new model DT-20(two XM-L's) powered by 2x18650's or 4xCR123A's. Mine will be arriving next week.
You can put it on your list.
 

moldyoldy

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Maybe Wisconsin, maybe near Nürnberg
some considerations although all of the listed lights seem to have a good reputation:

You probably will want a mix of at least two lights: one for short distances - length of a house; and one for longer distances up to 50+ yards. The goal probably should be to be able to discern at least some features of a person at that distance.

The OLight SR51 has a fairly high-level "low" mode of about 250lumens as I recall. I often want a lot less lumens even in the 800+ lumen lights. In particular walking thru a wooded patch will need much less light than even 250 lumens.

Although you specified "floody", the most obvious floody light missing is the the Zebralight SC600. A lot of users like the UI. I have the SC600 and the SC60. Right now the SC60 is perhaps more cost effective given the sale price on the SC60.

My favorite is the TK-35 - which I have. The TK-35 maybe does not have the throw that some people want, but the mix of throw vs spill is nearly ideal for normal suburbia and ocassional farm/woods usage. The run time is nicely long on 2x 18650 cells.

The Sunwayman V60C has probably the longest run-time of the lot - with 3x 18650 cells. however I would not consider this to be a floody light. The design intent of the reflector appears to be moderate distance, but not to the TK70 or SR90/92 levels. It is bright, and the smoothly variable feature is nice to use. just do not let sand or fine dirt get in to the dial!

There are quite a few threads with comparative beamshots that will help you to distinguish what you need vs what you want. :)
 
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