Small LED flashlight to replace my Z3/8NX?

jln

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 6, 2003
Messages
43
Location
Mebane, NC
Hello,

I'm currently carrying a Surefire Z3 or 8NX in my backpack, but would like to replace it with an LED flashlight that has a momentary endcap that gets as bright as the 100-110 lumens that I'm currently using. I want to be able to carry this around in my pants pocket so I'd like it to be as small as possible. It'll be used in conjunction with a gun so I'd like it to have something similar to the Surefire combatgrips if possible, but not required.

I've seen some mods that looks like they easily gets the brightness that I'm looking for, but aren't generally readily available.

Can anyone recommend such a beast? If there isn't an LED flashlight that meets these requirements, I'll probably go with a G2Z with the HOLA for now.
 

Hoghead

Flashaholic*
Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
2,573
Location
Minnesota
jln,
Welcome to CPF!
I don't think there are any LEDs that meet your requirements. I think you'll be very happy with your G2Z/P61 except for runtime.
 

Double_A

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
2,042
I can't think of any off-the-shelf lights that meet all your requirements. I would love it if there was. You might want to check out the L5, which is a C2/M2 size body with an LED head, but I don't think it puts out 100-110 lumens. Maybe someone else will know.

GregR
 

jln

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 6, 2003
Messages
43
Location
Mebane, NC
Thanks for the welcome and answers. I'll keep an eye out for those mods then /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif.
 

Steelwolf

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 6, 2001
Messages
1,208
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Welcome to CPF. 100-110 lumens is still a little beyond LED technology. The closest would be the SF L4, L5 and L6, which use 5W LS. They each differ in beam spread and runtime. Brightness is rated at 65 lumens (though SF is usually slightly conservative in their estimates), so perhaps a light with 2 5W or 3 LSIII would meet your needs.

Trouble is 2 or more LEDs are not easy to focus, and you need to find mods or drop-in modules. I don't think such lights are commercially available yet.
 

Ginseng

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
3,734
Your best bet may be to get a KL5 head, have someone like Chop or CM modify it for overdrive, say to 1 or 1.2A and you might get the output you're looking for. Then stick it onto a C2 body. That's about as close as you'll get in a near-stock light. Heck, come to think of it, just buy an L5 and ask them to mod that.

Chop and CM are great to work with and are presently able to do this type of mod, I think. At least they are doing KL4 mods. Although the KL4 is small, I wouldn't push it any further due to heat management issues.

Wilkey
 

jln

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 6, 2003
Messages
43
Location
Mebane, NC
I have a pm in to Chop to see if I can get what I'm looking for. I've been thinking about that L5 which has the grips and everything I'm looking for except its right around 6" or so which is pretty much the same size as my Z3 and I was hoping for a smaller.

Thanks for the ideas.
 
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