What are your thoughts on these lights? ...

Thanks for the great ideas already guys.

I've got the UK on my short list. But I've been looking at a few others and I'm interested in people's opinions, along with any notable advantages/disadvantages of each.


1. http://elektrolumens.com/
Are these as good as they seem for the price? Where are they made? Like a poor man's SureFire?
http://elektrolumens.com/XM-3/XM-3.html
http://elektrolumens.com/BLASTER/POLICE_HEAD/Blaster_Police.html


2. Gerber LX 3.0
http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/reviews/gerber_lx3.htm

3. Gerber LX 1.0 Flashlight
http://gerberblades.com/products/view.php?model=0045

4. Gerber Trio
http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/reviews/gerber_trio.htm


5. Even though I despise CR123 batteries, is the Inova X0 good enough that I should consider it anyway?


Are any of them notably brighter than the others? Which ones are regulated?



Thanks very much in advance! I really appreciate your experience and advice.


Christopher

Perhaps you could tell us why you despise 123 lithiums?

Many of the smaller, hi output lights can only achieve their size/form with lithium 123's

Lithiums have a much wider temperature operating range than alkalines.

Lithiums have the longest storage life. Retaining over 80% of their original capacity after 10 years in storage.

These charactoristics wide temp range, long storage life make them very desirable for emergency lights.

The problem is that often people go to their nearby store and balk at the $5-$12 price each, not knowing that many online shops sell them for $1 -$1.50 each.

Simply put if you stick around CPF you are going to find yourself very frustrated as many cool lights are 123 powered.

GregR

I have several of Wayne's lights, they are very nice and many (most?) use standard alkaline cells.

I don't have any on that list, but I do have a different Electrolumens -- the Hyper-Blaster 1R. I love it. Good quality, bright, well-designed. I have an XM-3 on pre-order, and hope it's as good.

GregR, some answers ...

>> Perhaps you could tell us why you despise 123 lithiums?

Cost, availability, can't recharge like NiMh.



>> Many of the smaller, hi output lights can only achieve >>
>> their size/form with lithium 123's

I know. :-(



>> Lithiums have a much wider temperature operating range
>> than alkalines.

Agreed.





>> Lithiums have the longest storage life. Retaining over
>> 80% of their original capacity after 10 years in storage.


True, but I plan to use the light much more often than that.


>> These charactoristics wide temp range, long storage life
>> make them very desirable for emergency lights.

Agreed.


>> The problem is that often people go to their nearby store >> and balk at the $5-$12 price each, not knowing that many >> online shops sell them for $1 -$1.50 each.

Agreed, I have bought some before online for $1/each. But I just love the AA NiMh rechargeables.

Chris

[ QUOTE ]
Christopher Meisenzahl said:
5. Even though I despise CR123 batteries, is the Inova X0 good enough that I should consider it anyway?



[/ QUOTE ]

The Innova XO or XO3 are very nice lights in my opinion. They are regulated. I find I use my XO quite a lot as it is quite bright, and has a 4-5 hour runtime. The XO3 is a lot brigher, throws even further, but has less runtime. It's overkill for just finding stuff in my house in the dark, but it's great for walking out in the woods at night. They seem to be very solidly built lights. Unfortunately, they use CR123a batteries. Whether they are worth it or not depends on what you are doing. If you need flood, they are not as good as other lights. If you need throw, they are pretty amazing for LED lights. Since the most important criteria for me were:
1. Throw - this was critical for me
2. Size - wanted a small, lightweight light. So CR123a's were an advantage as far as I was concerned.
3. Runtime of at least 2 hours at full brightness (This is the only thing that made me unhappy with my PM6 incandescent light.)
4. Durability
These lights matched my criteria quite well. I think these lights rock. If your priorities are different, you might not like them at all.

The beam on the XO is ringy - I don't notice this, but it drives some people nuts. It's an artifact of they way they get the throw, so the quality / performance tradeoff is worth it to me.

Now I\'m thinking about the Inova again.

nt

[ QUOTE ]
1. http://elektrolumens.com/
Are these as good as they seem for the price? Where are they made? Like a poor man's SureFire?
http://elektrolumens.com/XM-3/XM-3.html
http://elektrolumens.com/BLASTER/POLICE_HEAD/Blaster_Police.html<br />
<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">



[/ QUOTE ]

Elektrolumens (ELs) are very good flashlights for the price, especially the Blaster series. They are no where near the quality of a Surefire though, IMO.

In the intended price range, you'll be hard pressed to find better alkaline battery luxeon flashlights. However, don't expect Surefire quality, its simply NOT there.

I recommend the Blaster series, since its proven and has the best quality of EL lights that I've tried.

Re: Now I\'m thinking about the Inova again.

Chris is that a question directed to me?

I will take anything that runs on 123's over ther rest of the larger older batteries. Get'm online for $1 or $1.25 from various sources. Inova and Peak make a lot of nice multiple LED lights. I like my Peak 7 led single 123 withe the 2 heads (has 2 123's actually and 2 heads different colors of 7 LED's. Very nice quality. I am thinking of a new Inova in near future with single Lumiled.

NT also known as

NikolaTesla /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

An Arc lamp is the Spark that takes away the Dark--HID Forever!

My Lights

Re: GregR, some answers ...

[ QUOTE ]
Christopher Meisenzahl said:
>> Perhaps you could tell us why you despise 123 lithiums?

Cost, availability, can't recharge like NiMh.


[/ QUOTE ]

Set to change Real Soon Now, I am carrying a light on me right now with two rechargeable lithium ion 123s /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

The only drawback is the higher voltage, not all lights can tolerate this. If you go with them make very sure to check which configurations are supported. Too much voltage will make you cook things, too little will result in very sub-optimal results.

[ QUOTE ]
Double_A said:
Lithiums have the longest storage life. Retaining over 80% of their original capacity after 10 years in storage.
These charactoristics wide temp range, long storage life make them very desirable for emergency lights.


[/ QUOTE ]

I might add a comment here about the lithiums...

To my understanding, the lithium batteries do have a long shelf life of up to 10 years before they have been used. If turned on even once, the life of a new lithium battery drops to between 6 months and a year.

This means that once you turn a 123 light on the first time, the lithium batteries then have a much shorter lifespan than alkalines.

Now that's something new to me. Thanks.

Interesting. Is there a reference you can point to regarding this? I ask only because early on, lithiums were touted for applications like garage door openers on the principle that they would last longer because typically garage door opener batteries rot before they are used up. The behavior you mention would indicate that this is not the case, so it would be worth tracking down further.

Thanks.

nerdengineer-
Good point about the lithium batteries & garage door openers etc. I am not totally clear on this point. There have been a number of discussions that touched on the first-usage of lithium batteries but I haven't been able to find them.

I have posted a question on lithium battery life on the electronics/batteries forum on this topic.

Stu