overwelmed!

i did have my mind made up on what flashlights to buy myself, but now I'm not so sure after an evenings browsing of old posts!

So now I'm going to start again and seek opinions.
I have pretty much made up my mind on an ARC AAA for a little light to have on me at all times.

But For a main light I'm cluess.
the main issues I need in a daily use Flashlight are:

a: The ability to go from wide to spot beams WITHOUT a black hole in the middle!
or a mid range beamto cover everyhting.
b: Waterproof, and Tough
c: As Bright as can be
d: A long run time with cheap batterys.
e: Affordable and avalible in the UK
Size doesnt really matter to me.

So far I have come to the conclusion that the PT Surge seems very popular? but is it REALLY bright?

Is that the best bet or is there somthing better.
I'm fed up with my maglite 4D, its just not powerfull enough, not by half!

The MadMax module from dat2zip (Wayne Y.) is a good drop in for your 2AA Min!mag and very bright for its size!

http://home.attbi.com/~theledguy/cpf_store/cpf_store.htm

PT Surge. No questions asked. If it's too expensive over at UK side, why not get someone from US to send it over to you instead? You got PayPal?

thanks, I was planning on buying from the US, Via ebay anway, save some money for battersy!

I remember the cheapest price I saw online was $20.99 USD. Forgotten where. Scout around a bit and save yourself some money. Don't forget to include shipping charges into the overall cost, some places sells the light cheaper but charges more for shipping.

crikey that is cheap, I'm happy to spend a bit more if i can get a better product?

There is a problem with your criteria to go from spot to flood without having beam issues. It is an unrealistic expectation. You won't find a light that has a good spot, that can be adjusted as a good flood.

It is the nature of optics and reflectors that it can be good at one but not so at the other and vice versa.

As far as the Surge goes, it is a simple cheap light, but for what it is, it kicks *ss. The output is as good as my $70 SureFire Z2 with the $18 P61 High Output Lamp and uses AA batteries instead of lithiums. Of course the Surge has all the bulk associated with having 8 AAs crammed into it. Its about the size of a 2C flashlight, where the SF is the size of a MiniMag.

You want a bright, relatively cheap to purchase and run, simple, reliable, waterproof light? Get the Surge, you won't be sorry.

You can pay more if you want, but there is no need to.

For a floodlight, I would suggest either a Luxeon Star or Multi-Nichia LED light. The choice is up to you. I just got a StreamLight Pro Polymer 3C 10 LED for about $30. It does what it needs to do, and like the Surge, its nothing fancy.

All things considered, you could get out of this with just two lights and about $55 plus shipping and your needs would be met.

Most people on this board aren't here for that, but either way, its not a bad start.

I second Gun Nut! As the Surge can go from a spot to flood, I do not think it was a intention of it's design. I think you should adjust the beam to what you desire and leave it as such. I say this as it does not go to a very narrow beam and nor does it go to a very wide flood. I think that if you try and perform too many adjustments, you may end up with some of the bulb problems a very few have experienced...

I had my yellow Surge for over a year and it is one of my better lights. It went in the ocean at 4 to 8 feet depths and got banged around a few times while being used on land. Let me tell you that it still looks new. This light smokes my 3D cell Mag. It's about three times brighter, wider spot covering about four times the area, and minimal distortions with almost a perfect beam. All this while running with 8 1600mA NiMH AA cells. With these batteries, it runs slightly dimmer that with Duracells, but pretty constant light for most of the battery life with about 3 hours per charge. Heck, with the very slight dimmness with NiMHs, the bulb has a lot longer life. Still on my original bulb and I know I put in more than 50 hours of burn time (the bulb is rated at something a little over 30 hours of life)...

Thanks guys,
I am trying to build a flashlight collection, slowly but surely.
I'm not so much into collecting them, but just that i use them all the time, living in the cornish countryside, i have one on me at all times.
So far from recomendations I have decided:

Arc AAA - keyring torch
PT Surge - Wide beam torch
SL6 - Narrow beam torch
Streamlight ultrastinger - house torch
maglite 4D is my backup torch that is left in the car.

I think that covers all the nessacery bases?
for now..
I will buy a surefire one day, But as I use torches so much, the cost of batterys is a serious consideration.

Get a AA charger, 16 AA batteries. I have modified the SL6 to run on AA batteries. But it's a very short run time. Prolly around 1 hour on 1600 mah nimhs...

I have decided agaisnt the SL6, it wont offer me any advantage over the Surge,
Instead Im looking at a slightly smaller general carry torch, somthing that will fit in my back pocket 2C size.. any suggestions?

TEC 40??? UK 4AA AS2??? Both of these are easily back pocketed. TEC40 with KPR103 Bulb is BRIGHT and well dispersed. UK 4AA is a bit tighter (mine makes a slightly oval beam that I like!) and not quite as bright (since you can't change the bulb to something else).

Still, these are two very nice pretty cheap lights.

OK I'm sold!

So here is my shopping list:

Arc AAA (pocket)
Princeton tec 40 (daily carry)
Princeton Tec Surge (coat pocket night walking light)

then in the future:
Streamlight Ultrastinger

I belive those cover all bases?

that is a very well rounded lineup.

i have 3 tec40s and they are really fantastic. light, fairly small, simple and inexpensive and tough/waterproof.

the nice thing that playboy illustrated is that they take easily attained and inexpensive PR bulbs. heck, i can get 2 kpr 113 or 103's for $1.50.

also, this allows flexibility: want very bright? stick with the stock bulb, or try the kpr103 or xpr 103 (you might even be able to find the xpr113--i havent tried this yet). some people have blown the xpr 103 on fresh bats--i havent had any problems yet.

want ultimate reliability, longish runtime with a little less brightness? go kpr 113. you can use lithiums with the 113 or stock bulb.

in case you missed my prior posts, here are some lux readings of a tec 40 with alkalines and various bulbs:

stocker is rated at 1300lux, but i didnt like the beam pattern.

kpr113: ~750lux
kpr103: ~1600lux
xpr103: ~3100 lux.

have fun,
Bob<--just ordered a surge!

xpr103: well if its that much brighter, I'll definately get that.
I'll be using the panasonic AA batterys As i buy box's of 48 for £10
Will it be ok with those?

yeah, i think those batts should be fine.

i dont use my lights as frequently as some, so alkies are just fine--except for a few lights with which i use lithiums (my tec40 with kpr113 in my car is on lithiums due to the very cold weather here.

good luck,
Bob

i just looked at your list and noticed one area that your current lights may not cover: long, efficient runtime.

the incans are great for throw/brightness, but wont run as long as a good LED light (the arc is sweet, but i would mostly use it as a task light).

for long walks/work of perhaps an hour at a time, you might consider bringing a tec40 or surge and a long running and economical bright LED light.

for a small one, i would recommend an attitude. opalec would also be a good choice, as would be a streamlight 4aaLED (the new ones have added resistors for protection).

go a little bigger, and a streamlight 3cLED might be a great companion. (i just ordered one, so it will be reviewed soon)

when we go camping, i used to carry a minimag and/or an old army 2d flashlight. they were ok, but the light was quite poor, and i would kill the batteries in a single weekend.
my hope is that a single set of batteries in the 3CLED will last the entire spring/summer/fall!

with an LED light as primary illumination, and an incan for occasional use/long throw, i think you can have the best of both worlds!

Bob

I have a 3AA - why can't I ever remember the brand name? - 4LED model 2100 (which I paid a bit too much for at Frys) that I think would make a pretty decent walking light and/or emergency long run light. Is it Lightwave???

But on my belt is a M!n!m*g with a Madmax 400 Sandwich in it. Has at least an hour on Energizer Lithiums with no apparent drop in brightness.

Only problem is even though the 2100 was a bit pricey, it only reflects about half the money involved in my M!n!m*g!!!

The Attitude is a 4AAA light, that is cheaply acquired and fed nearly as cheap as AA lights, that would also qualify for walk around and emergency.

Sorridsky.

Personally I would not recommend running your Tec-40 with a KPR103 using alkaline, but would rather suggest using some good 1900 ma NiMH rechargeables.
Even using rechargables you are over driving the bulb but because of the slightly lower voltage it tends to work out OK.
I think using alkaline batts you will be going through bulbs a little quickly and with Lithium batts I think you could find the bulb would last about 5 minutes.

In this configuration NiMH rechargeables have a much better discharge curve than alkaline.
Despite the fact that using rachargables are cheaper you will get better performance.

I'm glad to see you are getting the Surge, it's a great piece of kit.
Just a thought but if you need something to take care of your low light needs and you are getting the Surge anyway you might want to think about the Opalec Newbeam as it will happily squeeze out the last bit of power left in the AA's from the Surge (lets face it at the end of a battery change you are going to have 8 of them, might as well make them work for you).

I think I have seen a couple of people here suggest a MadMax for your flood light.
I've been using my MadMax as my EDC and simply can't praise this light enough, don't let the fact that it's a mod put you off, these units are extremely well made.

PlayBoy, you're talkin' about the LightWave 2100...

Quite nice for what it is. Like having 3 CMG Infinity Ultras. A good walking light at night to preserve night vision...