KevinL
Flashlight Enthusiast
Well, this is it, never thought I'd see the day when I chose to let this beautiful collector's item go. As I wrote in another post, very broadly speaking, there are three very large (broad brush) 'generations' of SF lights (IMHO, speaking just for myself): the true classic first generation lights, like the 3P, 12ZM, and other rarities lost in the mists of time. The second gen is the one we know and love so well here on CPF, things like the 6P, C2, E2e, M-series, which gradually evolved into what we see today, 3rd gen, mainly LED.
The SRTH is one of the crazy cool awesome things from the first gen: The Short Rim Turbohead, as they call it. Rare as heck, even when I got in, I was buying discontinued new-old-stock.
Originally, the SRTH was meant to be paired with a rare N2? lamp.. If I recall correctly, my memory is fading just as fast. I typically ran mine with the MN15 or MN16, then later built a handcrafted XP-G dropin that gives me about 300 lumens with utterly INSANE throw, with the tiny die size of the XP-G in that massive head. (you will receive this drop-in with the light) I have no way of quantitatively measuring this though, so I can't compare against any of the spec sheets, all I know is that it is NUTS, laser like, as some have described. It out-threw the KT-series 2nd-gen turboheads easily, and weighed less. The beam is truly laser like, and became even MORE so with the XP-G, compared to the incan lamps.
But if you are actually in the market for this rarity, you already know its backstory. If you aren't in the market, you are still welcome to enjoy my retelling of its history, and photos.
Today, we talk about modern throw king lights, and even though I've had the opportunity to try some of the best of them, I feel that I'm lucky that the SRTH delivers a beam that seems to stand up with the best of them! There's a reason why it's so loved.
This SRTH is in beautiful condition, rarely carried (the downside to owning such a prized artifact), never dropped. Over time, it has accumulated some dust in the bezel and reflector which is impossible to clean (one would destroy the reflector in the process), and a couple of minor surface imperfections in the Lexan, surprisingly from the INTERIOR side, but they do not affect the beam quality. Besides, one gets this light for crazy throw, and not for white walling anyway. In fact, there is a donut IF you go extremely close to a wall, maybe about 3ft, because of the reflector design. It's not meant for that.
It is paired to an equally nice D3 Defender (yes, before the E-series Defenders) 3-cell, 2 x 17500 body, with a black Type II tailcap: perfect color matching throughout. D3 is unbored. Dropin runs on 9V.
The only flaw is that the tailcap is now a momentary-only and does not click anymore, seems the click switch I installed a few years back gave out. The repair is very easy but I don't really have the time to deal with shipping parts over (3-4 weeks) to repair the light - the new owner can either supply their own tailcap, OR get a click kit from Oveready. Simply unscrew the old click assembly, which can be done with needlenose pliers and a minimum of pressure, and screw in a new click assembly - shouldn't be more than 5 minutes work. I suppose that's the way it is with great classics, they do require a little bit of work (you do not need to 'gut' the tailcap or hammer anything, I have already done that during the first conversion - you just need to change the assembly.)
(Any P or C-series switch will do: the D3 body is fully parts compatible. D3's used to come with the same hex bezel of the 6P/C2/C3 in matching black. Bezel is not included; long gone. The SRTH IS the bezel)
PHOTOS: CLICK HERE
Looking at $400 (Was: $450) for the whole package, Paypal, shipping, and flawed tailcap all included in the deal. No hurry to sell.. this light has waited a very very long time.. and can wait a while more yeah.. it's a little bit expensive, but it was already pretty pricey the day I got it
The SRTH is one of the crazy cool awesome things from the first gen: The Short Rim Turbohead, as they call it. Rare as heck, even when I got in, I was buying discontinued new-old-stock.
Originally, the SRTH was meant to be paired with a rare N2? lamp.. If I recall correctly, my memory is fading just as fast. I typically ran mine with the MN15 or MN16, then later built a handcrafted XP-G dropin that gives me about 300 lumens with utterly INSANE throw, with the tiny die size of the XP-G in that massive head. (you will receive this drop-in with the light) I have no way of quantitatively measuring this though, so I can't compare against any of the spec sheets, all I know is that it is NUTS, laser like, as some have described. It out-threw the KT-series 2nd-gen turboheads easily, and weighed less. The beam is truly laser like, and became even MORE so with the XP-G, compared to the incan lamps.
But if you are actually in the market for this rarity, you already know its backstory. If you aren't in the market, you are still welcome to enjoy my retelling of its history, and photos.
Today, we talk about modern throw king lights, and even though I've had the opportunity to try some of the best of them, I feel that I'm lucky that the SRTH delivers a beam that seems to stand up with the best of them! There's a reason why it's so loved.
This SRTH is in beautiful condition, rarely carried (the downside to owning such a prized artifact
), never dropped. Over time, it has accumulated some dust in the bezel and reflector which is impossible to clean (one would destroy the reflector in the process), and a couple of minor surface imperfections in the Lexan, surprisingly from the INTERIOR side, but they do not affect the beam quality. Besides, one gets this light for crazy throw, and not for white walling anyway. In fact, there is a donut IF you go extremely close to a wall, maybe about 3ft, because of the reflector design. It's not meant for that. It is paired to an equally nice D3 Defender (yes, before the E-series Defenders) 3-cell, 2 x 17500 body, with a black Type II tailcap: perfect color matching throughout. D3 is unbored. Dropin runs on 9V.
The only flaw is that the tailcap is now a momentary-only and does not click anymore, seems the click switch I installed a few years back gave out. The repair is very easy but I don't really have the time to deal with shipping parts over (3-4 weeks) to repair the light - the new owner can either supply their own tailcap, OR get a click kit from Oveready. Simply unscrew the old click assembly, which can be done with needlenose pliers and a minimum of pressure, and screw in a new click assembly - shouldn't be more than 5 minutes work. I suppose that's the way it is with great classics, they do require a little bit of work
(you do not need to 'gut' the tailcap or hammer anything, I have already done that during the first conversion - you just need to change the assembly.)(Any P or C-series switch will do: the D3 body is fully parts compatible. D3's used to come with the same hex bezel of the 6P/C2/C3 in matching black. Bezel is not included; long gone. The SRTH IS the bezel
)PHOTOS: CLICK HERE
Looking at $400 (Was: $450) for the whole package, Paypal, shipping, and flawed tailcap all included in the deal. No hurry to sell.. this light has waited a very very long time.. and can wait a while more
yeah.. it's a little bit expensive, but it was already pretty pricey the day I got it
Last edited:
