Budget alternative to Pak-lite 9V lights?

Way back in high school I treated myself to a Pak-Lite on a whim. It took a few years, plural, to wear down a standard carbon zinc 9V that I had pulled out of a beeping smoke detector. The concept truly won me over. As I'm stocking up my kits and was recently given a stack of batteries from a theater tech, I would love to splurge on more Pak-Lites...but at twenty five a pop with the same old LEDs? Are there any generic or similar alternatives without doing it myself as I'm not into soldering and circuit work?

Did you try an internet search?

I too like the Pak-lite. Most are on sale for $20 right now, for the dual mode; cheaper for single mode. The LED's are possibly brighter then your high school days, whenever that was.

My wife has a super glow model by her bed. She uses it for low light tasks, and sometimes reading. It is plenty bright on high mode for around the house.

A person could buy a 4 pack of these lights for what I paid when I bought a ZebraLight SC62d; my bedside unit. If you want reliability, you need to pay an equitable price.

Lots of simple led snap-ons you can get for like $3. They have the led 90 degrees to the paklite, which I prefer. Easier to hold I reckon.

With the demise of Pal-lite, Pak-lite was crowned the new king of 9v.

If you want to cheap out with the Chinese budget "Block Lite," go for it. Flimsy switch, too many emitters, too high of a drive. You will not get the superior runtime of low mode of the Pak-lite 2 mode. $1.25 each.
http://www.made-in-china.com/showro...wqxmTBKdZgVR/China-9-Volt-LED-Flashlight.html

You get what you pay for.

Better still, make your own from a 9v battery header from Radio Shack.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi...ums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=81383
http://www.instructables.com/id/make-a-PAC-LITE-only-smaller/

So you mean to say a generic would not match the insane runtime the platform is good for? That may actually steer me towards bargain hunting for the real deal.

more_vampires said:

With the demise of Pal-lite, Pak-lite was crowned the new king of 9v.

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I'm glad I bought 2 Pal-lite Handyman flashlights while they were available. You may stumble on a used one or find one on the bay. Otherwise, Kitro and Mr Vampire lists the only options I can think of.

If there's something else out there, I'm all ears. I love 9v lights.

I have a few Pak-Lites, and it's a neat little 9v plug and play option, but for insane runtimes, I'd much rather go with an efficient, versatile, AA moonlight mode light.

I do sub-lumen output/runtime tests and I use the AAAAs from a disassembled 9V to shorten the tests. My Malkoff MDC AA starts out on 0.6 lms (same output as my PakLite on low, BTW) and will run 80 hrs before shutting down at ~0.3 lms, or ~50% output. That's 480 hours from a 9V, while PL specs 600 hours. I know the PL will run longer, but it is unregulated and I'm assuming (I don't have the patience to test it) the 600 hrs is to a 10% ANSI cutoff or ~0.06 lms, which is below my useful illumination level. Anyways, on fresh cells, the tailcap measurements are 6.1ma for the MDC and 1.31ma for the PL indicating the MDC has better efficiency on a lumens/watt basis.

The big advantage of the AA moonlight flashlight is that it'll run AAs and AAAs, in addition to the AAAAs from a 9V, and those cells are a whole lot easily to buy and scavenge. Yes, the light itself is a lot more expensive than a PL, but I need a proper flashlight anyways, and an efficient AA moonlight can replace the insane runtime of a PL, but a PL cannot replace the functionality of a AA flashlight.

Truth be told, my favorite insane runtime flashlights are the D25A and low voltage Quark Pros - both run their negative ground through the threads. Both have "bright" useable moonlights (~0.4 lms), although not quite as efficient (~10ma, ~360hrs/9V), the negative threads makes them simple to rig for ANY larger battery C, D, 18650, 26650, etc, at least as a tailstanding lantern. The D25 doesn't not have great voltage regulation though (modes shift all over depending upon V), but the Quark's regulation is excellent and can be Lego'd for many battery configs with optional tubes.

I'm assuming (I don't have the patience to test it) the 600 hrs is to a 10% ANSI cutoff or ~0.06 lms, which is below my useful illumination level.

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Yeah, I run it on low mostly. As the voltage sags, I start having to use high mode towards end of life. Even so. Cool light. Drains batteries dead dead dead.

Gotta have a 9v 2 mode Pak-Lite AND a Quark. Cannot live without both.

more_vampires said:

Yeah, I run it on low mostly. As the voltage sags, I start having to use high mode towards end of life. Even so. Cool light. Drains batteries dead dead dead.

Gotta have a 9v 2 mode Pak-Lite AND a Quark. Cannot live without both.

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For me, the attraction of the Pak-Lite is that I have 5 smoke/C02 detectors all running on 9v alkaline. Every year or so, they start beeping loud as all heck, and I have to swap batteries. I figure the batteries I take out must have some juice left in them!

I here ya man. At my shop, there's so many smoke alarms my stack of dead smoke alarm batteries exceeds the drain rate of the Pak-lite!

I might as well leave it on 24/7! Pak-lite. The light you don't have to turn off.

We've already burned more energy talking about pak lites, on our computers, than the pak lites do in a year.

KnifeStyle said:

So you mean to say a generic would not match the insane runtime the platform is good for? That may actually steer me towards bargain hunting for the real deal.

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There are 4-packs of Pak-Lites available (sans batteries) at a discount. I am a big fan of Pak-Lites except for the basic model.I have had a couple of the Basic models and while they are cheaper they are not as well made as the other Pak-Lites.

Found one! The 9v "Battery Snap." About $5. The only right-angle 9v light I've ever seen!

Found two! The 9v "Battery Snap-on Light" sold by Red Hill, $5.50.

What I learned in this web search? Never name your 9v flashlight anything with the word "snap" in it, you just killed your product WRT SEO.

Google Blocklite looks better than the Pak lite and cheaper