Small handheld light (1 or 2 cell) VS the cruiser's windshield spot light?

Newuser01

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Not sure how much light come out of the spot/search lights that is mounted on the windshield pillars of Highway patrol cars.
Has LED handheld lights 1x18650 or 2xCR123 light engines have advanced enough that it can replace the function of said spot/search light?

Remember, sometimes this light may need compete with the car's front headlamps searching for things on the same visual planes as the headlight themselves.

Are we talking about 1K lumen here?

And if we are not there yet, has ANY led lights can do this? Like multi LED monsters out there?

EDIT: Really, No one? What about EA4 vs spot light.
 
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enomosiki

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I tested Scorpion V2 with turbo head and TN11 against a squad car spotlight before. I didn't check the specific brand or model of the spotlight, only that it was the run-of-the-mill incandescent spotlight. Scorpion V2 and TN11 both do around 800~900 OTF lumens and have 19k lux.

The result? The spotlight had the edge over the two flashlights in terms of both throw and output. Not surprising.
 

tolkaze

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The only car spotlights I have seen (handheld and mounted) had 100w 12v globes. Maybe putting out over 2000 lumens. That is the first problem to overcome. The second is the spotlight has a large reflector meaning a good amount of throw. Thirdly, Incan (warmer light) seems to throw a bit better, but this is just my opinion. A cool white LED may reflect airborne dust more. There are lights that can throw as good or better, and lights that are brighter, but unless you want to hold a 4D mag lite Hotwire with a 64458 and a 3 inch reflector, I would say that the Spot is better.
 

StarHalo

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There is no one cruiser spotlight - poorer areas will have 55 watt halogens, better funded departments will have 9-LED-with-optics units. You stand a chance against the former, but the latter is using the same technology that's in your flashlight, and quite a bit more of it..
 

HeyGuysWatchThis

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Funny thing about that, I saw a cruiser the other day that had both. One side had the old incan, and the other had the array of LEDs. My guess is that the incan burned out on the one side, so they replaced the guts of the housing with an LED upgrade.

There is no one cruiser spotlight - poorer areas will have 55 watt halogens, better funded departments will have 9-LED-with-optics units. You stand a chance against the former, but the latter is using the same technology that's in your flashlight, and quite a bit more of it..
 
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