Need help choosing a light

First Post here! You'll find me posting at BF and a few other froums, but enough about me...

I've only every owned mags so I'm comparing the lights I've been reading about here to a 5 cell. I'm looking for a small enough light that I can put it in my back pocket or clip it somewhere with out it pulling down my pants The other requirements is that it outperform the mag in runtime, throw, and brightness.

Secondly It would be nice to have one that had two intensity settings so I could use it for up close work with out going blind or disturbing others (like in a concert I run sound for).
and of coarse being able to withstand some water a shock would be nice.

Lastly a rechargeable would put the icing on the cake for me.

So far I've had my eye on the surefire aviator but it's not rechargeable and I'm not sure if it can beat the Mag it throw or runtime.

I realize I'm asking for the perfect light here, but I'm ignorant to what is even out there aside from surefire...
I call upon the knowledge base of candle power to help me on my quest

Thanks All!

Welcome. You've just described the CPF members dream light. Unfortunately you're going to have to go with multiple lights. Well...actually there's nothing unfortunate about that. Anyway..

Small light with lots of illumination. Great for concerts and such. Brighter than a Minimag, smaller than a Mag solitare, uses 1 AAA battery and runs for abotu 8 hours would be the Arc AAA. It's easily the most popular light around here. Everyone has one. You can get one now or you can get one later--those are your options. See www.arcflashlight.com about $25

Small light that will outperform the Mag...hmm, this is a tough one because there are so many good choices out there! I'll reccomend another CPF favorite, the Surefire E2e. It's brighter than a 4D Maglight at about 1/10th the size. Only drawback is that it uses Lithium 123 batteries but most of the better lights do. You pretty much have to buy the 123s on the internet because locally you'll only find them on Photo counters for anywhere from $5-$15 each! and it takes 2! However if you play your cards right they can be found on the internet for as little as $0.50 each--but expect to pay closet to $1.25.
See www.surefire.com about $75

Rechargable? Tigerlight. www.tigerlight.com I believe. Not sure on pricing--about $100 I think. It's closer in size to a C or D cell Maglight but great for times when you can pack a light of that size.

Welcome Knife11

I second Saaby and also would tell you about a new light from Wolfeyes in HK(?) it is called 6TX there is one that is recheargable using Li-Ion and has 4 leds in the tailcap. It is so new that there hasn´t been too much reviews done. I want one myself but don`t want to order it from asia. will wait for some US dealer to have them.

Here is a pic.



Here is the link

http://www.wolf-eyes.com/Wolf-Eyes/6TExplorer.htm

HTH
Alex

I HIGHLY recommend the Madmax from dat2zip. It's a dropin module for the MiniM^g so you can use rechargeable AAs. Someone please post the link as I don't have it available as of the moment.

I wne tot he website but it wasn't clear...is that a dual light? LRDs on one side, xenon on the other?

Streamlight has several new lights coming out that have leds and and incandescent, ala the Surefire A2. But they have a 2D, 3C and a 3AA version, so you could easily use rechargables in it.

Thanks for the quick replies... I'm going to do my homework on the one suggested so far...

Keep 'em coming!

I don't think many lights would match the runtime of a Mag. Those D cells have decent capacities, even the C cells are plenty.

But it does sound like you could do with 2 lights.

Well I like the 9T raider from wolf-eyes and I like the A2 from surefire any pros and cons would be appriciated... also will these have the throw I'm looking for?

Onyx, what is the run time on a mag?

no matter what I'm only buying one light so it needs to be an all-in-one

A rechargable light, that will outperform a Mag 5D and can be cliped or attached somewhere on your pants without pulling down your pants?

Without a doubt the Streamlight HP or the Streamlight Stinger HP XT!

HP (below)


HP XP (Below)


The only difference between the HP and the HP XT is that the XT has a tailcap on/off (I perfer that), and the XT has a side button.

Here is what www.brightguy.com says about this light:

The original Stinger® XT™ delivered all the benefits of the Stinger plus the tailcap switch for tactical use. The new HP, or High Performance version of the Stinger XT does the same job but with almost three times the candlepower for an even more blinding beam up to 40,000. Continuous run time of one hour.

Specification Description
Battery Type Rechargeable
Battery Number NiCad battery stick
Dimensions 8.62"L x 2.25" head dia.
Lamp Type 3.7 Volt, 6 Watt Xenon Bi-Pin, 30 hour life
Light Output 40000 CP
Weight w/ Batteries 14.6 oz
Run Time One hour
Charge Time 12 hours
Focus Type Adjustable Spot/Flood
On/Off Tailcap Switch
Material Aluminum
=====================

The only thing it does not have, is a dim mode, but it does have a flood / Spot option (that works very nicely, unlike other flood/spot options!)

My friend has one of these, and the combo of lightweight, rechargable, bright, small and a very well designed and proven design make this a winner!

Also, it is VERY WHITE light for an incandecent.

I LOVE LED lights, but I think this is the one you want. With the exception of the 5 watt luxeon Star LED, LED's, while great, do not have the PUNCH that this light has.

What LED's do have, is GREAT light, at closer range. It took me a while, but I actually perfer a LED light to an incadecent for most of my nightly excursions. LED's put out a "Glow" of light that gently place light all around you. The brighter ones, like most Luxeon Star lights, put out even more light, and it is a very wide, very white light, that litterly lights up almost everything in front of you, while still maintaining most of your night vision.

While I have lots of favorite LED's the one I use almost daily is My Mr. Bulk LGI. While very small in form, it puts our a ton of white light. In total darkness, this baby lights up everything in front of you.

NOW the funny thing, is that my friend has a Stinger HP, and when I have my LGI light on, and she turns on her light, all my light litterly dissapears! Why, because her light is soo bright, my eyes loose their night vision, and only her light can be seen by my eyes.

Like I said, I love LED's you owe it to yourself to start checking these lights out, but you will be happier with a Streamlight.

Other lights to consider, (to be fair) is the tigerlight, the ASP Triad, and the SureFire rechargables.

Have fun and good luck!

Thanks BuddTX You've been a lot of help to me not only in this thread but in others as well!

Thanks all please see my new thread:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=183619&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

That's kind of the continuation of this thread...