argleargle
Enlightened
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2013
- Messages
- 321
Insomnia hit. I finally got up at 3am and there was nothing for it.
It's flashlight time.
I finally put my 9v Paklite through its paces on high and low mode (I have the GITD variant.) It compared quite favorably to my 1.2v-3.7v P60 ultra-low 3-mode in a plastic ultra-budget AAx2 China host ($1.50.) That thing can't be pushing more than 10 lumens on high. To use its low mode, I need pitch-black and a good 30 minutes for my eyes to adjust.
I have an old low-tech cool-white, non-ir, non-UV showerhead 5mmx21 "Special Forces" flashlight (yes, I'm slightly gagging at the name when typing this) that actually stood the runtime, firefly, and vampire challenge. I spent the night feeding it different combinations of "dead batteries." It easily defeated a Nebo Redline on low-mode when it used both nimh rechargables and alkie primaries. This was a surprise. I even took the batteries out of the Redline once it crapped-out and put them in the "SF" flashlight. They proceeded to then run in firefly/moonbeam until the end of the test (approximately sometime 5ish. I wasn't paying close attention.) Apparently, once the Nebo RL drops out of regulation... that's about it. No fangs at all in that driver style, it seems. Nebo Redline versus 5mmx21 "SF" showerhead light in a vampire firefly contest? The Nebo lost hard.
My several gens and releases of the Fenix PD-20 laughed along all night in a high quality fashion on 10 lumen low mode. I have 3 of them of varying age. Factory specs tend to mostly claim 50+ hours on low mode with cr123x1 primary, across the gens. I completely lit one room with white ceiling bounce for the three of them. Yes, they have gotten progressively brighter. The current PD-20 is better than what you used to be able to get. Anyway, this was the brightest light of the test.
I also compared with a SIMDx3 6v "automotive bulb" (please autolight Scheinwerferman, don't have me banned) powered by alkie AAAx4 in a radio-shack (made in China) enclosure. Man, that 180 degree vampiric-mule goodness was a sight to behold. In the indoor pitch-black, you're easily getting 20 feet of 180 degrees of cool white. You see everything. My only complaint is the tint. You can actually carve out the enclosure to take the smallest base 12V SIMD "auto bulbs" under 3.7v lithium ions while still using 4 cells. I've had good luck "overdriving" both 12v and 6v -rated micro LED bulbs. Several of my past (and those of others) have sacrificed a cell for internal electrics. I just wouldn't use them in a car for safety-related lighting. Anyway, this thing ate dead batteries with ease... it just smoothly dims. I love those tiny BA-base bulbs for a home made light when you're stacking 4 cells. No Joule Thief to test.
I guess I had a good time. Non-flashy people think I'm weird for playing with flashlights. These are the same people that go driving during a power outage to find D-alkies to power ancient incans. I'm betting my worst flashlight is better than their best.
Anyway, ITT we post and talk about our best low mode lights. We're talking runtime, we're talking vampires. We're talking lights that run off of "dead" smoke alarm batteries.
I fully expect Reppans to weigh in.
TL;DR, it was a low-mode dead-battery-swap moonbeam/firefly party.
Sorry this post needed so many edits. I was sleep deprived.
It's flashlight time.
I finally put my 9v Paklite through its paces on high and low mode (I have the GITD variant.) It compared quite favorably to my 1.2v-3.7v P60 ultra-low 3-mode in a plastic ultra-budget AAx2 China host ($1.50.) That thing can't be pushing more than 10 lumens on high. To use its low mode, I need pitch-black and a good 30 minutes for my eyes to adjust.
I have an old low-tech cool-white, non-ir, non-UV showerhead 5mmx21 "Special Forces" flashlight (yes, I'm slightly gagging at the name when typing this) that actually stood the runtime, firefly, and vampire challenge. I spent the night feeding it different combinations of "dead batteries." It easily defeated a Nebo Redline on low-mode when it used both nimh rechargables and alkie primaries. This was a surprise. I even took the batteries out of the Redline once it crapped-out and put them in the "SF" flashlight. They proceeded to then run in firefly/moonbeam until the end of the test (approximately sometime 5ish. I wasn't paying close attention.) Apparently, once the Nebo RL drops out of regulation... that's about it. No fangs at all in that driver style, it seems. Nebo Redline versus 5mmx21 "SF" showerhead light in a vampire firefly contest? The Nebo lost hard.
My several gens and releases of the Fenix PD-20 laughed along all night in a high quality fashion on 10 lumen low mode. I have 3 of them of varying age. Factory specs tend to mostly claim 50+ hours on low mode with cr123x1 primary, across the gens. I completely lit one room with white ceiling bounce for the three of them. Yes, they have gotten progressively brighter. The current PD-20 is better than what you used to be able to get. Anyway, this was the brightest light of the test.
I also compared with a SIMDx3 6v "automotive bulb" (please autolight Scheinwerferman, don't have me banned) powered by alkie AAAx4 in a radio-shack (made in China) enclosure. Man, that 180 degree vampiric-mule goodness was a sight to behold. In the indoor pitch-black, you're easily getting 20 feet of 180 degrees of cool white. You see everything. My only complaint is the tint. You can actually carve out the enclosure to take the smallest base 12V SIMD "auto bulbs" under 3.7v lithium ions while still using 4 cells. I've had good luck "overdriving" both 12v and 6v -rated micro LED bulbs. Several of my past (and those of others) have sacrificed a cell for internal electrics. I just wouldn't use them in a car for safety-related lighting. Anyway, this thing ate dead batteries with ease... it just smoothly dims. I love those tiny BA-base bulbs for a home made light when you're stacking 4 cells. No Joule Thief to test.
I guess I had a good time. Non-flashy people think I'm weird for playing with flashlights. These are the same people that go driving during a power outage to find D-alkies to power ancient incans. I'm betting my worst flashlight is better than their best.
Anyway, ITT we post and talk about our best low mode lights. We're talking runtime, we're talking vampires. We're talking lights that run off of "dead" smoke alarm batteries.
I fully expect Reppans to weigh in.
TL;DR, it was a low-mode dead-battery-swap moonbeam/firefly party.
Sorry this post needed so many edits. I was sleep deprived.
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