Princeton Tec PT20 apparently discontinued

It's not on their web site any more and TTS doesn't have it any more either. I think the one I got (for $6.00) must have been a closeout. It's kind of an awkward light but I'd had an interesting mod idea for it. Not worth pursuing if the light is no longer being made. Oh well.

Did ya search for Tec 20?? It isn't PT20.

Yeah, it's not on either of those sites. brightguy.com is down right now so I can't check there.

It's not in their new catalog either. Neither is the original Impact (4 AA).

I've been wondering about this for a while. ****'s and EMS stopped carrying them well over a year ago. Too bad. I've always liked the Tec 20.

I bought two Tec 20s from Texas Tactical about 7 or 8 weeks ago. I didn't see them on his site but I called and he said he still thought he might have a couple left. So I got the last he had and it sounded liked there were no plans for getting more in. John

I posted an unfavorable review of it to the reviews section a couple months ago, but I'm sad to see it gone. Oh well.

I didn't see your review, Paul. I've always considered the Tec 20 to be an exceptional light for it's type and price.

The review basically said the PT20 is too bulky to EDC in your pocket, but is less powerful than the PT40 without being all that much smaller, so it occupies a not-that-useful space between the PT40 and the much smaller Blast. Other than that, it's a nice light.

The PT20 can still be purchased as the "Aqua Flare" which is the same light with a removable "Glow Cone" instead of the black rubber bezel guard.

paulr,
If you replace the lamp in the PT20 with the GH88 from reflectalite (.com) it IS as bright as the PT40 (actually, brighter - even when driven by NiMh). And it is quite a bit smaller.

Aloha, iG

Just incase anybody wants a PT Tec20 they are $9.97, here
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=995&prmenbr=226

[ QUOTE ]
illumiGeek said:
The PT20 can still be purchased as the "Aqua Flare" which is the same light with a removable "Glow Cone" instead of the black rubber bezel guard.

paulr,
If you replace the lamp in the PT20 with the GH88 from reflectalite (.com) it IS as bright as the PT40 (actually, brighter - even when driven by NiMh). And it is quite a bit smaller.

Aloha, iG

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. There are some pretty impressive bulbs at that site:

http://www.reflectalite.com/halogenpage.html

They are quite expensive, plus the vendor is in the UK, which means international shipping unless you're there. However, I think there are comparable bulbs from Carley and/or Welch-Allyn. Thanks!

They only charged me $2.90 (US) for shipping to Hawaii. And the order came fast (10/27-11/03).

I tried several of their "interesting" lamps and was only impressed with the GH88. The others produced a dingy yellow-orange glow that looked like they were being very under-driven, even though I was over-driving them.

Ex: The GH140 4V/0.75A (3W) when driven by 4 NiMh (4.8V) was very orange in color, and not very bright. When pushed by SIX NiMh (7.2V) it is very nice. Don't know what run time will be like at the level, but I don't expect it will be very long (doing OK so far, though...). I had originally planned on running the 6V/1.7A GH24 (10W) in the 6-cell light, but it too suffered from the dingy-yellows at a mild over-drive (7.2V). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The 2.2V GH88, however, runs great on 2xNiMh (2.4V) and produces a very nice, almost xenon like white light (whiter than most other halogens I have). The bulb's shape produces 2 large bright rings in the spill, but the main spot focuses very well with the PT stippled reflector. Lots of throw and enough spill to be useful close up. I posted a beam shot in another thread along side a Legend LX and a Mini-Mag.

I also ordered some with the "Frosted" surface, and it was basically the same lamp that was bead blasted. It produced a very nice, wide flood pattern that is brightest in the center and gradually, and very smoothly fades out over a huge spill area (really lights up a room).

Aloha, iG

I just recieved an email from BotachTactical, they have the PTEC20 on sale for $7.50

http://botachtactical.com/printec.html

Thanks, I'm not looking to buy more PT20's (I already have one), I just thought it was interesting that it's discontinued.

The info about the Reflectalite bulbs is appreciated. I notice the site doesn't have any lifetime estimates for any of the bulbs. I wonder if the voltage ratings are just too low for most of them and that you really need to crank up the voltage til the bulbs run at reasonable color. That means they're running at the right temperature for the halogen cycle, I'd hope. I see that they do specify using 5 or 6 cells for the GH24. That might be an amazing bulb for a 2C Mag mod using 3x123 batteries.

Maybe I'll try a GH88 in the PT20 sometime. It's just a bit painful to spend more on the bulb than I did on the whole light..

I noticed the one at Botach only come with the narrow beam reflector, rather than wide angle reflector. For me, the narrow beam reflector is next to worthless. The wide angle reflectors are great.

Mine says on the packagin that it's a narrow reflector but it actually has the wide one. Each has its points. I think I'd prefer the narrow since I have several small EDC lights and would only use a light this big if I wanted more throw.