What is currently the brightest single 18650 light as far as OTF ANSI lumens?

What is currently the brightest single 18650 light as far as OTF ANSI lumens?

A home-modded one definitely. A few days ago I read about someone at Mountain Electronics who built the following:

Body: Convoy S3 body (small tubular style single 18650 light)
Emitter: Triple dedomed XPL on 20mm Copper Noctigon with Carclo triple optic.
Driver: Nanjg 105c with Comfychair's FET mod (gives near direct drive performance while allowing different brightness settings)
Cell: Samsung 25r INR 18650

The result? 3500 lumens OTF at turn-on!!!! .... pretty amazing for an EDC sized pocket light not much bigger than a Zebralight SC62.

Of course ANSI lumens would be less, since ANSI is measured at 30 seconds to 2 minutes after turn-on and the above modded light would probably have melted by then. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it could output 2000 lumens after running for 30 seconds at a medium setting. Alternatively, the same innards could be put into a larger body, like a Convoy M1 with more mass to help sink heat.

The brightest stock non-custom single 18650 light? No idea.

Yeah, it depends on what you mean by brightest in lumens...as some are really really bright for 30 seconds, or 3 minutes, or some other short time period, and then they step down to avoid heat damage etc. So some will be brighter after a certain run time, but others might be brighter for a quick interval, or on Turbo, etc.

For stock lights I am guessing the Thru Nite TN12 (2014 edition). A little over 1000 ANSI lumen if I recall correctly.

This is a loaded question that does not have one single answer.
Selfbuilt has tested a few of the widely available commercial lights.
Of course you can get something a lot brighter when you go custom.

For small compact 18650 lights:
Eagletac TX25C2 is about 1000 lumens and 20,000 lux.
Zebralight SC600 MKII is about 1000 lumens and 10,000 lux.

For medium sized 18650 lights:
Fenix PD35 2014 is about 1000 lumens and 10,000 lux.
Thurnite TN12 2014 is about 1000 lumens and 12,000 lux.

However, the focus should not be on the initial output,
but how well regulated and how long the light can maintain that Turbo output.

The lux mentioned above is just about the density of the beam though, it's a spot measurement of the middle of the beam at 1 meter distance. A 1000 lumen light with 20.000 lux is not brighter than the same one with 10.000 lux, it just has a narrower beam and may be more or less useful that way, depending on what you want.

Thanks for all the useful info. I've already got the SC600 MKII L2 and the TN12 2014 edition I've been away from the forums for a few months and was hoping there was an excuse to get a new torch. BTW does anyone have the new 960 lumen PD35 2014 edition? If so, how does it compare to the previous one that was rated @ 850 but as reviewed by selfbuilt was putting out nearly 1000lumens?

nickdizonc said:

Thanks for all the useful info. I've already got the SC600 MKII L2 and the TN12 2014 edition I've been away from the forums for a few months and was hoping there was an excuse to get a new torch. BTW does anyone have the new 960 lumen PD35 2014 edition? If so, how does it compare to the previous one that was rated @ 850 but as reviewed by selfbuilt was putting out nearly 1000lumens?

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Thrunite Lynx might be a flashlight for you.

i've got the lynx with the turbo head.

The TN12 2014 Edition is a great light for the money. The LYnx looks cool but 2X the price it seems.

Try the PD35vn