The latest in pocketable 18650 flashlights?

I have been away from the flashlight scene for about a year and reading through recent threads I want to pick up a new compact 18650 light. The last light I bought was aFourSevens Quark Turbo with the Burst Mode.

I have always been partial to Zebralights, is the SC600 mkII L2 still the brightest pocket 18650 around? I'm okay with waiting up to 6 months if something huge is coming out soon, please let me know if something better is on the horizon...

[h=2]Recommend Me a Light For...[/h]
pocketable.

there hasn't much movement recently. do you think that Fenix PD35 is pocketable?

Zebralight sc62d small but not the brghtest ..

shelm said:

[h=2]Recommend Me a Light For...[/h]
pocketable.

there hasn't much movement recently. do you think that Fenix PD35 is pocketable?

Click to expand...

As I have it in my jeans pocket right now, yes, is pocketable, for me

michaelmcgo said:

I have been away from the flashlight scene for about a year and reading through recent threads I want to pick up a new compact 18650 light. The last light I bought was aFourSevens Quark Turbo with the Burst Mode.

I have always been partial to Zebralights, is the SC600 mkII L2 still the brightest pocket 18650 around? I'm okay with waiting up to 6 months if something huge is coming out soon, please let me know if something better is on the horizon...

Click to expand...

By brightest, do you mean in terms of lumens, or, lux?

By brightness, I'm probably looking for lumens. I use my flashlights within 10 yards most of the time.

The PD35 is not pocketable...

Pretty much the brightest stock light available is still probably the SC600 L2.

You can get brighter smaller lights, but you'll either need to mod them or pay to have someone mod them.

There are some good mod services now available. For example, I recently purchased a Mountain Electronics SSSP. It has the body of a Convoy S6, but the head has been shortened. The emitter was replaced with a triple XP-G2 on Noctigon direct copper star with my choice of emitter tints and optic. I chose a different tint for each emitter. The driver is a Nanjg 105c with 8 extra regulator chips added. Tailcap tested to pull over 5.8 amps. Over 1500 lumens OTF at turn-on. It's substantially brighter and smaller than a Zebralight SC600 L2. The entire light, including mods and mod service was only about 2/3 the cost of a Zebralight.

You can even mod your own lights to be even brighter. I modded a couple Sunwayman C20C lights. One has an MTG2 emitter a 3 amps. The other has a triple XPG2 at 7.4 amps. Both are even brighter than the SSSP, and with their sideswitches have a much better interface.

If you want a throwy mini-pocket light there's not a whole lot happening. Best bet would be to buy a small 18650 budget zoomie and mod it with a dedomed XPG2 or XML2. I'm in the process of modding one right now.

Fireclaw, that sounds awesome--a triple XP-G2 running off an 18650, in pocketable format.

But what sort of optics does it have? Reflector? triple lens? mule?

And--isn't 5.8 amps pushing the limit on a single 18650?

lampeDépêche said:

Fireclaw, that sounds awesome--a triple XP-G2 running off an 18650, in pocketable format.

But what sort of optics does it have? Reflector? triple lens? mule?

And--isn't 5.8 amps pushing the limit on a single 18650?

Click to expand...

Actually a single 18650 Samsung 20r low-resistance cell can pull 7.4 amps with triple XP-G2. The driver in my SSSP XP-G2 is simply limited to 5.8 amps.

The light uses a 20mm Carclo triple TIR optic. Mountain Electronics has 4 choices to choose from. The one I prefer is the Carclo 10511 narrow frosted triple TIR. In stock form it produces a wide bright hotspot which smoothly transitions to a very wide spill. It doesn't throw much (except from sheer output), but the transition from spot to spill is about the smoothest I've seen.

To increase the throw, I used blue jeweler's rouge to polish the front of the TIR and remove the frosting. This gives a more sharply defined hotspot with more throw, while still preserving a fair amount of spill.

Thanks, Fireclaw! You answered all of my questions.

I really like my Zebralight SC62d. The output is clearly less than my SC600w, but it's much smaller, lighter and easier to pocket. Still good output and a 3hr runtime on highest mode! It's the first 18650 I actually carry.

I still love my Shiningbeam S mini with a xml. It does 300 lumens for 2 hours on high and has a beautiful tint. Mine was 35 dollars after discount.

Nitecore EC2 is one of the smallest 18650 lights. It has nice throw and additional red LED with very useful voltage indicator.

If youre looking for throw theres a Eagletac D25LC2 with xpg-2 and 2 amp driver. http://www.illuminationgear.com/EagleTac-D25LC2-CLICKY-ETD25LC2RC.htm

It only equals stock EC2 in terms of throw.

supra1988t said:

If youre looking for throw theres a Eagletac D25LC2 with xpg-2 and 2 amp driver. http://www.illuminationgear.com/EagleTac-D25LC2-CLICKY-ETD25LC2RC.htm

Click to expand...

+

Absolutely my most used light is the D25LC2 twisty,,


I'll repeat, Absolutely my most used light is the D25LC2 twisty,,

----------------------------------------------this^:thumbsup:

xp-g2

Fenix PD35, pocketable enough for me!

Hands down my vote would be for the thrunite TN12 2014 version. 1050 lumens of awesomeness in a nice compact package.

P12/PD35/TN12 are quite compact but they're still pretty long so they fit only big pockets. Pic from 'selfbuilt's' review:

phantom23 said:

P12/PD35/TN12 are quite compact but they're still pretty long so they fit only big pockets. Pic from 'selfbuilt's' review:

Click to expand...

Yep. Those three are pocketable if you're wearing cargo shorts or something with loose and big pockets. Otherwise, not so much. I find the ZL SC600 to be much more pocketable although the head is a bit wider so that might make it a little uncomfortable for some people. They are all very comfortable to hold though.