Unique flashlight use and recommendations for upgrade

GREENREBELLION

Newly Enlightened
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Sep 18, 2020
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Thought you folks might enjoy this story - recommendation requested at the end.

I fly R/C airplanes in a club located in the middle of a farm field. Last night we hosted a night fly event...usually this means people bring planes equipped with LED lights so that the plane glows in the night. and you can still fly when its pitch black.

One of my friends had a large gas powered plane that was NOT equipped with LED lights but he wanted to try to fly it with flashlights.

So I pulled out my Sofirn SP36, Lumintop GT Mini, Emisar D4v2 and Zebralight SC64 HI. Recruited some volunteers who lit up the runway while I used the Lumintop GT Mini to track the plane and beam light on to it.

It worked! Plane didn't crash, he was able to do some 3D stunt flying, it lit up quite well and everyone thought it was incredible we were able to fly in a moonless pitch black night (a very fast gas powered plane) with nothing but flashlights. The beam profile and hotspot size seemed to work quite well on the lumintop GT mini.

Recommendations Needed:
Even though the Lumintop GT Mini worked quite well, I started to think what I could upgrade to to further enhance the experience.

I would want something that:
- Can hold 1200 lumens minimum without stepping down, maybe even brighter
- High CRI preferred as it makes it easier to see color scheme of the plane and thus the orientation of the plane.
- Probably a similar beam profile to the Lumintop GT Mini meaning not a super aggressive spill and a narrow (but definitely NOT pencil sized) beam of light
- Size of flashlight is flexible, this is special use so certainly doesn't have to be EDC or super small.
- Cost, really no budget
- Tripod mount would be nice but not a must have - could use the tripod to light up the pit area at night when people are putting their planes away


Any thoughts on what options are out there to upgrade my Lumintop GT Mini for a future RC Night Fly Event? Curious to see what thoughts you guys might have.
 
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