Newbie: Bought my first two decent flashlights this weekend

withoutink · Sep 23, 2013

Hi All,

I am pretty new to the world of flashlight technology. Up until now, I have owner pretty much basic lights. Currently, I own:

(4) 2D LED Maglight
(3) 2AA LED Maglight
(2) 1AAA LED Maglight Solitaire
(1) 4D LED Maglight
(1) Streamlight Stylus 3

And a few assorted other crappy lights.

This weekend I bit the bullet and bought (2) higher quality lights.

(1) 4Sevens Mini ML-X
(1) Fenix PD 35

Along with the PD35 I bought a Nitecore i4 Charger and (2) Panasonic NCR18650B Super Max 3.7V 3400mAh Rechargeable Batteries. The Fenix should be here today, and the Mini should arrive tomorrow or Wednesday. I am pretty excited to see what a higher quality light will do. I am also looking to get a 4Sevens Preon 2 for me and a Preon 1 for my wife.

Anyway, how did I do? How do you all like these new additions? Will the Preons work well for EDC? The wife will just toss her's in her purse. I will look to do some sort of modification to the Preon 2 switch,as I heard it turns on very easily. Any recommendations as to fixes for it?

Take care, and I appreciate your time and replies in advance!

-Matt

wjv · Sep 23, 2013

You bought those two crappy flashlights!!!!!!
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
:laughing:

But seriously. .

I have a 47s Mini-ML in my pocket right now and it is one of my favorite EDC lights. Ultra tiny package with great output and run times. It is a superb carry light.

Don't have the PD35, but I have the PD32 and the PD32UE. Fenix is a good product and I'm sure you will be impressed with the "wall of light" that the PD35 produces. My PD32UE is very similar (~100 less lumens) and it has a natural white beam instead of the cool white beam. We went to some local caves a few weeks ago an got this result:

PD32UE

I'd say the PD35 will give you just as good, or even better results!

One concern is the batteries you bought. Googling them I found them listed as both protected, and as unprotected. Hopefully yours are the protected type! One way to tell is by examining the battery. At some point on the body you should be able to feel a thin wire or strip, under the outer coating, that runs the entire length of the battery, from the + to the - end. If you can feel that strip/wire, then you have protected batteries.

Protected batteries have built in circuitry that prevents both over charging and under discharging. This is a good thing because it helps prevent your battery from exploding at an un-opportune time!

Don't have a Nitecore i4 charger, but all i have read here about them has been good!

zespectre · Sep 23, 2013

This weekend I bit the bullet and bought (2) higher quality lights.

(1) 4Sevens Mini ML-X
(1) Fenix PD 35

I'd say that's a quantum leap forward in your lighting tools.

think2x · Sep 23, 2013

I don't have the PD35 but I do have a PD32 and it finds it's way into my pocket every work morning, great choice IMO.

EDIT; On the charger: I use a PILA IBC but not long back I also bought the Nitecore I2. Nice charger for the money and I trust it enough to gift it to a very good friend.

LEDninja · Sep 24, 2013

withoutink, can you identify your lights a little better?

The 2AA LED Maglight comes in 3 flavours:
Mini Maglite® LED flashlight - 77 lumen multi mode,
Mini Maglite® Pro flashlight - 226 lumen single mode,
Mini Maglite® Pro+ flashlight - 245 lumen 2 mode.
Which one(s) do you have?

The 2D LED Maglite ranges from 25 lumens to 134 lumen 388M throw.
Which one(s) do you have?

Note the PD35's 850 lumen is much brighter but its throw of 185M is less than the latest 2D Mag.

Since you are now into lithium batteries please read and follow the safety instructions:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Using-Li-ion-cells-in-LED-flashlights-safely

Hint Next time get the latest 3D Maglite instead of the 2D. Brightness is the same but 79 hours beats 8 hours by a wide margin.
Your new lights are much smaller but the batteries last only 1 (ONE) hour on high.

Lord Flashlight · Sep 24, 2013

Amen to that LEDninja.

RBWNY · Sep 24, 2013

I too have the i4 charger, but I still find myself using the Pila IBC more often. It was my understand that the i4 shouldn't charge just (1) 16340 (RCR123) at a time, and with your mini ML, that's probably all you'll have. I have also found that the i4 appears to take longer to charge 18650 cells than the other chargers I have. On the plus side though, it's a very adaptable unit. Those two new lights are indeed an impressive step upwards! :thumbsup:

weez82 · Sep 24, 2013

I would hold off on getting a Preon 2 till you get the mini in hand. I have the WW MiNi123 and love it for edc. It disappears in the pocket. I used to own a Preon 2 and while I did like it and it is a good light, I didnt like it as much as the mini.

dc38 · Sep 24, 2013

weez82 said:
I would hold off on getting a Preon 2 till you get the mini in hand. I have the WW MiNi123 and love it for edc. It disappears in the pocket. I used to own a Preon 2 and while I did like it and it is a good light, I didnt like it as much as the mini.

Speaking as one who also owns preons 1 and 2, +1 to weez. I find myself going more to other lights, and they spend a lot of time on my desk as backups to the backup of my backup. At the premium price point, preons are nice lights, but perhaps you could find other lights that would be more "expendable"? The ladies in my family will toss the lights I give them into their purse, then decide to carry about 50 other purses in a weekly rotation. Also, they ALWAYS forget to put the light back after cleaning out said purses, which doubly defeats the purpose of EDC anyways...just some friendly advice.

If you decide to get the preon, you could always use a flat tail cap instead of the clicky. If you don't want to pay the premium for that, I think I have one lying around I could give you....if you're USPS able lol

ScottFree · Sep 24, 2013

think2x said:
I don't have the PD35 but I do have a PD32 and it finds it's way into my pocket every work morning, great choice IMO.

EDIT; On the charger: I use a PILA IBC but not long back I also bought the Nitecore I2. Nice charger for the money and I trust it enough to gift it to a very good friend.

I've been looking at the PD35 for quite some time, but since I'm still really not that trustful about 18650's, the light would run on primary 123's.

Theron · Sep 24, 2013

PD35 runs great on unprotected Panasonic 3400mAh 18650s.

FlashLion · Sep 24, 2013

ScottFree said:
I've been looking at the PD35 for quite some time, but since I'm still really not that trustful about 18650's, the light would run on primary 123's.

Running a light on a single battery is more safe.
According to the user manual of PD35,with two CR123A batteries, you will get 50 more lumens (~900) on Turbo. :huh:

withoutink · Sep 25, 2013

wjv said:
You bought those two crappy flashlights!!!!!!
.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
:laughing:

But seriously. .

I have a 47s Mini-ML in my pocket right now and it is one of my favorite EDC lights. Ultra tiny package with great output and run times. It is a superb carry light.

Don't have the PD35, but I have the PD32 and the PD32UE. Fenix is a good product and I'm sure you will be impressed with the "wall of light" that the PD35 produces. My PD32UE is very similar (~100 less lumens) and it has a natural white beam instead of the cool white beam. We went to some local caves a few weeks ago an got this result:

PD32UE

I'd say the PD35 will give you just as good, or even better results!

One concern is the batteries you bought. Googling them I found them listed as both protected, and as unprotected. Hopefully yours are the protected type! One way to tell is by examining the battery. At some point on the body you should be able to feel a thin wire or strip, under the outer coating, that runs the entire length of the battery, from the + to the - end. If you can feel that strip/wire, then you have protected batteries.

Protected batteries have built in circuitry that prevents both over charging and under discharging. This is a good thing because it helps prevent your battery from exploding at an un-opportune time!

Don't have a Nitecore i4 charger, but all i have read here about them has been good!

Thank you for the deply. I have much to learn about this stuff. I received both lights, and they both are amazing for what they are. The Mini is awesome. I love it! It's one thing to hear it is tiny... but when I held it for the first time I was like "is this thing for real".

The PD35 is just wow... that is a whole lot of light. i don't see myself using that high beam so much. but it is sure nice to know it is there.

withoutink · Sep 25, 2013

zespectre said:
I'd say that's a quantum leap forward in your lighting tools.

Many Thanks!

think2x said:
I don't have the PD35 but I do have a PD32 and it finds it's way into my pocket every work morning, great choice IMO.

EDIT; On the charger: I use a PILA IBC but not long back I also bought the Nitecore I2. Nice charger for the money and I trust it enough to gift it to a very good friend.

Hope the Nitecore works well. I checked on Amazon and couldn't find the Pila. So, I will have to do some sniffing at a later point to see if I can find it elsewhere. As I stated before, both lights are pretty amazing.

LEDninja said:
withoutink, can you identify your lights a little better?

The 2AA LED Maglight comes in 3 flavours:
Mini Maglite® LED flashlight - 77 lumen multi mode,
Mini Maglite® Pro flashlight - 226 lumen single mode,
Mini Maglite® Pro+ flashlight - 245 lumen 2 mode.
Which one(s) do you have?

The 2D LED Maglite ranges from 25 lumens to 134 lumen 388M throw.
Which one(s) do you have?

Note the PD35's 850 lumen is much brighter but its throw of 185M is less than the latest 2D Mag.

Since you are now into lithium batteries please read and follow the safety instructions:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Using-Li-ion-cells-in-LED-flashlights-safely

Hint Next time get the latest 3D Maglite instead of the 2D. Brightness is the same but 79 hours beats 8 hours by a wide margin.
Your new lights are much smaller but the batteries last only 1 (ONE) hour on high.

These are all good questions. I think the 2D's are 134. The 2AA not sure, this is an old version its a single mode... but I don't think it throws 226. Thanks for that link to safety. I had no idea. I guess that is why all these ecigs are blowing up and burning people's houses down in Atlanta.

Agreed about the Mags, longer run time. They are not going away by any means. The mags are stationed throughout the house and each car. I believe they are reliable and last awhile. So they are dedicated to those positions. The Mini will most likely come with me. I will need to figure out some sort of cap though. Maybe I will try and make a ranger band for the top. The PD35 will be in the nightstand table for now.

RedForest UK · Sep 25, 2013

LEDninja said:
Hint Next time get the latest 3D Maglite instead of the 2D. Brightness is the same but 79 hours beats 8 hours by a wide margin.

I would have thought that was an artefact of ANSI measurement standards? The 2D will need a boost driver to reach LED Vf which will mean much more stable regulation than the 3d which I assume is effectively direct drive with resistors (please correct me if I assumed wrong!). As ANSI allows measurement of runtime down to 10%, then running effectively unregulated can have a massive inflationary impact on claimed runtimes.

withoutink · Oct 4, 2013

Well I've been playing a bit both both lights and they really are pretty impressive. I dig them both. Very bright.

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Newbie: Bought my first two decent flashlights this weekend

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