Back from Iraq with a few flashlight reports

BentHeadTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,892
Location
A very strange dark place
After 5 months in the land of fun and fascination, I am back! I am fully intact, partially rested and have a few thoughts.

I brought a large amount of flashlights with me for several reasons: I am a flashaholic and require many different lights to do my job. My gig was repairing radiology equipment to include Cat Scanners (CT), digital plate readers, radiology rooms and building digital imaging networks. I thought I brought the correct amount and types of lights with me but, as always...it needed some adjustment as I went along.

This is what I brought with me.
Minimag R2H BB500 SX-17 (two)
2D Mag R2H Madmax+
Arc AA (two)
Arc AAA-P
Arc AAA (red LED)
Peak 5 LED AA HO Brass (red LEDs)
MicroIlluminator (single AAA R3J LS)Dorcy AAA
CountyComm keychain UV light

(I left the Anglelux at home as my family uses it as an emergency light.)

Arriving at my location, there was no need for blackout conditions as we are a massive base, there is light everywere and they know we are there. Time to ax the Arc AAA red and Peak 5 red LED lights first off. The amount of ambient light negated the Arc AAA red but the huge output of the Peak was usable (as I figured)

Since I had to wear dog tags around my neck, my lanyard had my (trailer) room key and the Arc AAA-P along with the tags. I wore it 24/7. The Arc worked for walking to the porta-potty in the middle of the night but the ambient light washed out its output making it there. The other problem was the flood beam would wake my roommate (a bad thing) On occasion, when the battery was about 1.3V or lower, it would sometimes not light up (very, very bad thing)

The BB500 R2H SX-17 Minimag had problems from the start--they were easily fixed with extra parts I brought with me or fabricated. The beam was waaaay to wide and I needed to narrow it down as to not attract attention. Threw the Fraen LP optics back in and it was perfect for my beam demands. The other problem was it could turn on in the lanyard and my teeth did not like to hold it in my mouth. I fabricated a tailswitch guard with a plastic valve insert, electrical tape and double-layer heatshrink. This "uparmored" minimag became the hit of this deployment. The soft outer layer would perfect for biting and it would not turn on. Problems solved! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The 2D Mag R2H Madmax mod was the cannon, that thing would throoooooow waaaaayyy out there and was used by the night shift to see what that noise was. I did not use it but the other people that did thought it was a great light. It ran on 2 Powerex 11,000 mAH D cells so I told the users to have fun with it.

The MicroIlluminator AAA fit in a side pocket of my Leatherman Charge Ti holster. Its specific job was to backup the minimag and doctors liked to borrow it when their batteries died. Everyone that used it loved the little guy, very, very bright for its size and the R3J gave a white beam.

The Dorcy AAA was lent out to a girl that became famous for losing flashlights. It worked well until it met its fate by falling into a porta-potty. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

The Arc AA worked great but was too large for my lanyard and the MicroIlluminator would destroy it in output. I lent it out to a guy that needed a light, he loved the little guy loaded with a lithium AA. Problem is, he did not give it back (yet) but will mail it to me when he gets back in a few weeks.

After a few weeks of stumbling around and waking my roommate with the Arc AAA-P, I told my wife to order me a Peak AAA HO with 3 snow LEDs. The light came in and I tested it against the Arc AAA-P... needless to say, it had a brighter and narrower beam so I would not wake my roommate. I could see roaming around at night looking for the bathroom and it suffered no bad effects from its daily shower and clanging against keys. The snow LEDs give a much whiter beam so the Arc AAA-P went to the girl that loses flashlights (yep, she lost the Arc AAA-P also) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

One day, I was working on a digital imaging plate reader and was getting very odd symptoms... multiple sensor problems. Ran back to my room and grabbed the UV keychain light to have a look... viola! Sensor contamination with blood... cleaned the mess up and it came back online. The little guy did what is was supposed to do but needed to have more power. When I ordered the 3 LED AAA snow...threw a 5 UV LED AA head in with the order. Put the head on an Arc AA body and fit it inside an Inova X-5 holster (perfect fit) It was an EDC light to check all the equipment for blood contimation and saved me hours of time troubleshooting. It is an awesome light for the gruesome task of finding blood... never failed and could handle errrr... uhhhhh.... being dipped in body liquids and soaked in bleach.

Since I was ordering from Peak anyway, a brass AA 5 snow LED head was thrown in for good measure. The brass 5 red LED head was not being used so I wanted something with punch. Its life was lived attached to the loc-line/clamp thing for troubleshooting digital imagers and CT machines. The utter usefullness of the loc-line clamp gave me the award for "pointy-headed geek gadgets"

I was issued an Inova X-5 LED light, did not use it but the holsters were used for my Benchmade switchblade and Peak UV light. Once you go Luxeon, you can't go back.

How did all those lights fare in the land of mortars, blood, patients, broken equipment and darkness? Some lights worked, some did not, some failed and a few surprised me with their usefulness.

My most used light was the BB500 R2H Fraen LP "uparmored" minimag. That was evident as I keep count of how many batteries were consumed by the beast. I went through 48 sets of rechargable 2200 and 2300 mAH AA batteries along with 3 sets of alkalines. Every 2.8 days it was time to change the batteries as it was extensively used. The clickie switch died after 3.5 months but I kept a spare so no worries. Chipped a crystal lens which was replaced and installed the tailswitch guard and mag head guard to keep it intact. The best way to improve it would be to replace it with an Inova T4 and heatshrink the tail. It took a beating but will go back to being my bicycle helmet light.

The Arcs were not used by me, I did use an AA tail for the Peak 5 UV LED light which worked well. The girl that used the AAA-P thought it was "cuter" than the Peak 3 LED AAA if that is any saving grace.

The Peak 3 LED snow AAA was used everyday with great results. It never failed to light, gave a decent narrow beam, ran through 14 batteries in 3 months and looks great after the abuse. It now lives on my keychain. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The Peak AA 5 LED UV and snow lights worked well, always turned on, were bright and could handle dousings of bleach. All the Peaks are keepers in my book.


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Is there a perfect light out there for the conditions I was exposed to? No! It can be achieved by bringing multiple lights to EDC, which I EDC'd four lights daily. BB500 R2H Minimag for high output lighting, MicroIlluminator for medium, Peak AAA 3-LED HO snow for low lighting and Peak AA 5 LED UV /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now, if I was going back, I would bring different lights. Peak's AAA or AA Luxeon would be on the top of the list. The ultimate light would be a single AAA with a low/high brightness control with the build quality of the Peak AAA. Throw in red and UV heads to handle those specific needs. The other light would be an Inova T4 to handle high powered/rechagable needs along with being waterproof unlike the modded minimags.

All in all, my lights worked well and having several specialty lights made critical equipment troubleshooting much faster and easier to maximise uptime. In my business, if equipment fails... people die so having the correct tools at hand with choppers landing makes all the difference in the world.

On a side note, I was going to build my (8AA) 2D Mag/nFlex/WX1S 5 watt cannon on my first day off. Alas, that never happened as equipment fails and patients were never ending so now I have my days off coming and that project will restart. It will be about a week or so for that report, I need to process and deal with the mess that is war-time medicine and its after effects. The UV and red lights are going back into storage and the minimag/2D Mags go back on the recumbent bicycle.

Now to figure out how to go to Turkey in three months, yep... blowing out of TX for two years in early May. That should be interesting and my boys need some AAA powered lights that are indestructable and lanyard mounted. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 

Cornkid

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,488
Location
Charlottesville, Va
Thanx for the message. Nice to have you back alive and still a flashaholic.

How would I get a 2D Mag R2H Madmax mod? It sounds cool!

-tom
 

Stanley

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 10, 2003
Messages
1,531
Location
Canberra, Australia
Glad to hear you're back and are alive and well... Even better to hear how your lights performed out there! Thank you for the detailed report, I enjoyed reading every word of it!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 

Sigman

* The Arctic Moderator *
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
10,124
Location
"The 49th State"
GREAT writeup! Thank you for sharing that with us, not to mention those who may be reading and preparing to "fill your shoes"!
 

gorlank

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 2, 2003
Messages
269
Welcome home buddy, great report. Good to see how some lights function in real world situations not just shining on the bedroom wall.
 

KevinL

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
5,866
Location
At World's End
Welcome back and that was a fascinating story about how the lights made all the difference!

It sounds like you need a SF U2 to go along with the arsenal /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

MaxaBaker

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
2,260
Location
South Jersey
Glad to have you back (without being in a box)!!!!

I was wondering what standard flashlights the military had there already. I remember reading something about a contract from the government with Reva Instruments. It said that they were sending Reva LongArm 2400's to Iraq. Any of those floating around out in the middle east??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
 

GarageBoy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 12, 2004
Messages
3,975
Location
Brooklyn NY
Welcome home! I think you can do the 2D to LuxIII by sticking a converter bd into the heatsink, then following the rest of the Mag mod instructions
 

ob1

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
125
[ QUOTE ]
BentHeadTX said:
After 5 months in the land of fun and fascination, I am back! I am fully intact, partially rested and have a few thoughts.

I brought a large amount of flashlights with me for several reasons: I am a flashaholic and require many different lights to do my job. My gig was repairing radiology equipment to include Cat Scanners (CT), digital plate readers, radiology rooms and building digital imaging networks. I thought I brought the correct amount and types of lights with me but, as always...it needed some adjustment as I went along.

This is what I brought with me.
Minimag R2H BB500 SX-17 (two)
2D Mag R2H Madmax+
Arc AA (two)
Arc AAA-P
Arc AAA (red LED)
Peak 5 LED AA HO Brass (red LEDs)
MicroIlluminator (single AAA R3J LS)Dorcy AAA
CountyComm keychain UV light

(I left the Anglelux at home as my family uses it as an emergency light.)

Arriving at my location, there was no need for blackout conditions as we are a massive base, there is light everywere and they know we are there. Time to ax the Arc AAA red and Peak 5 red LED lights first off. The amount of ambient light negated the Arc AAA red but the huge output of the Peak was usable (as I figured)

Since I had to wear dog tags around my neck, my lanyard had my (trailer) room key and the Arc AAA-P along with the tags. I wore it 24/7. The Arc worked for walking to the porta-potty in the middle of the night but the ambient light washed out its output making it there. The other problem was the flood beam would wake my roommate (a bad thing) On occasion, when the battery was about 1.3V or lower, it would sometimes not light up (very, very bad thing)

The BB500 R2H SX-17 Minimag had problems from the start--they were easily fixed with extra parts I brought with me or fabricated. The beam was waaaay to wide and I needed to narrow it down as to not attract attention. Threw the Fraen LP optics back in and it was perfect for my beam demands. The other problem was it could turn on in the lanyard and my teeth did not like to hold it in my mouth. I fabricated a tailswitch guard with a plastic valve insert, electrical tape and double-layer heatshrink. This "uparmored" minimag became the hit of this deployment. The soft outer layer would perfect for biting and it would not turn on. Problems solved! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The 2D Mag R2H Madmax mod was the cannon, that thing would throoooooow waaaaayyy out there and was used by the night shift to see what that noise was. I did not use it but the other people that did thought it was a great light. It ran on 2 Powerex 11,000 mAH D cells so I told the users to have fun with it.

The MicroIlluminator AAA fit in a side pocket of my Leatherman Charge Ti holster. Its specific job was to backup the minimag and doctors liked to borrow it when their batteries died. Everyone that used it loved the little guy, very, very bright for its size and the R3J gave a white beam.

The Dorcy AAA was lent out to a girl that became famous for losing flashlights. It worked well until it met its fate by falling into a porta-potty. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

The Arc AA worked great but was too large for my lanyard and the MicroIlluminator would destroy it in output. I lent it out to a guy that needed a light, he loved the little guy loaded with a lithium AA. Problem is, he did not give it back (yet) but will mail it to me when he gets back in a few weeks.

After a few weeks of stumbling around and waking my roommate with the Arc AAA-P, I told my wife to order me a Peak AAA HO with 3 snow LEDs. The light came in and I tested it against the Arc AAA-P... needless to say, it had a brighter and narrower beam so I would not wake my roommate. I could see roaming around at night looking for the bathroom and it suffered no bad effects from its daily shower and clanging against keys. The snow LEDs give a much whiter beam so the Arc AAA-P went to the girl that loses flashlights (yep, she lost the Arc AAA-P also) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

One day, I was working on a digital imaging plate reader and was getting very odd symptoms... multiple sensor problems. Ran back to my room and grabbed the UV keychain light to have a look... viola! Sensor contamination with blood... cleaned the mess up and it came back online. The little guy did what is was supposed to do but needed to have more power. When I ordered the 3 LED AAA snow...threw a 5 UV LED AA head in with the order. Put the head on an Arc AA body and fit it inside an Inova X-5 holster (perfect fit) It was an EDC light to check all the equipment for blood contimation and saved me hours of time troubleshooting. It is an awesome light for the gruesome task of finding blood... never failed and could handle errrr... uhhhhh.... being dipped in body liquids and soaked in bleach.

Since I was ordering from Peak anyway, a brass AA 5 snow LED head was thrown in for good measure. The brass 5 red LED head was not being used so I wanted something with punch. Its life was lived attached to the loc-line/clamp thing for troubleshooting digital imagers and CT machines. The utter usefullness of the loc-line clamp gave me the award for "pointy-headed geek gadgets"

I was issued an Inova X-5 LED light, did not use it but the holsters were used for my Benchmade switchblade and Peak UV light. Once you go Luxeon, you can't go back.

How did all those lights fare in the land of mortars, blood, patients, broken equipment and darkness? Some lights worked, some did not, some failed and a few surprised me with their usefulness.

My most used light was the BB500 R2H Fraen LP "uparmored" minimag. That was evident as I keep count of how many batteries were consumed by the beast. I went through 48 sets of rechargable 2200 and 2300 mAH AA batteries along with 3 sets of alkalines. Every 2.8 days it was time to change the batteries as it was extensively used. The clickie switch died after 3.5 months but I kept a spare so no worries. Chipped a crystal lens which was replaced and installed the tailswitch guard and mag head guard to keep it intact. The best way to improve it would be to replace it with an Inova T4 and heatshrink the tail. It took a beating but will go back to being my bicycle helmet light.

The Arcs were not used by me, I did use an AA tail for the Peak 5 UV LED light which worked well. The girl that used the AAA-P thought it was "cuter" than the Peak 3 LED AAA if that is any saving grace.

The Peak 3 LED snow AAA was used everyday with great results. It never failed to light, gave a decent narrow beam, ran through 14 batteries in 3 months and looks great after the abuse. It now lives on my keychain. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The Peak AA 5 LED UV and snow lights worked well, always turned on, were bright and could handle dousings of bleach. All the Peaks are keepers in my book.


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Is there a perfect light out there for the conditions I was exposed to? No! It can be achieved by bringing multiple lights to EDC, which I EDC'd four lights daily. BB500 R2H Minimag for high output lighting, MicroIlluminator for medium, Peak AAA 3-LED HO snow for low lighting and Peak AA 5 LED UV /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now, if I was going back, I would bring different lights. Peak's AAA or AA Luxeon would be on the top of the list. The ultimate light would be a single AAA with a low/high brightness control with the build quality of the Peak AAA. Throw in red and UV heads to handle those specific needs. The other light would be an Inova T4 to handle high powered/rechagable needs along with being waterproof unlike the modded minimags.

All in all, my lights worked well and having several specialty lights made critical equipment troubleshooting much faster and easier to maximise uptime. In my business, if equipment fails... people die so having the correct tools at hand with choppers landing makes all the difference in the world.

On a side note, I was going to build my (8AA) 2D Mag/nFlex/WX1S 5 watt cannon on my first day off. Alas, that never happened as equipment fails and patients were never ending so now I have my days off coming and that project will restart. It will be about a week or so for that report, I need to process and deal with the mess that is war-time medicine and its after effects. The UV and red lights are going back into storage and the minimag/2D Mags go back on the recumbent bicycle.

Now to figure out how to go to Turkey in three months, yep... blowing out of TX for two years in early May. That should be interesting and my boys need some AAA powered lights that are indestructable and lanyard mounted. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

What camp were you at? I am in Kuwait right now heading to Baghdad in a few days. I brought a

SureFire G2
streamlight night fighter 2
Dorcy 1AAA (my EDC)
Streamlight Luxeon Jr ( I carry almost daily)
Electro lumens XM-3
2AA MiniMag with a Ministar2 mod from terralux (carry on the lbv thats load bearing vest for you non army people)
and 3 standard 2AA MiniM@gs just if anyone needed a flashlight to borrow

I just ordered a Peak 1AAA the other day and pretty excited about it. My job is a bit different from yours and I'm going to be outdoors more. I'll let you guys know in a few weeks how my lights hold up. Here in Kuwait we haven't done much so I mostly use the Dorcy 1AAA get around the tent at night to the port-o-potty and the Streamlight Luxeon Jr. Used the XM-3 for the first time the other night and I love the sidespill on it. It has a nicer beam then the SL Luxeon Jr but Its a bit big to carry around as much.
 

BentHeadTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,892
Location
A very strange dark place
Thank you all for such kind responses! My situation was a bit different from normal considering what I was doing but it can be applied to different missions.

I was in Camp Anaconda/Balad were the Air Force built upon the Army CSH and expanded it to a theater hospital. It was the first huge Air Force hospital in a war zone since Vietnam (CNN did a report on it a few days ago) Pretty interesting to take part building the beast, it worked well and was proven by Fallujuh as casualties poured in around the clock. I now understand the freaked out response on the MASH TV show, choppers! and everyone started running.

My 8AA to 2D Mag running an nFlex variable output regulator to a WX1S Luxeon V would of taken place of a Surefire U2. The light was never built as I never had the time or a day off in 5 months to complete the project. It will be constructed in a week or so and be my new frame-mounted bicycle light.

ob1, enjoy Kuwait and keep your head down heading to Baghdad! Your lights seem to be the ticket but I must warn you about the Streamlight Luxeon Jr. It is a great light and worked well for three months until the switch failed. A guy I went with had one and he worked night shift were it was in constant use. He used a Inova X-5 to take its place, not as bright but it worked.

For us non-Army/non-lbv wearing ceramic body armor medic AF guys, the most common flashlight was the minimag. Second place was the Inova X-5 loaded with Surefire batteries available at the PX ($3.95 for a two-pack and $17.95 for a dozen) For the group replacing us, the Inova X-5 moved into first place as it is being issued before they come here.

The night shift guys loved messing around with my 2D Mag with R2H Luxeon and Madmax+ conversion. They would sneak around in the darkness and blast folks in the face which would blind them for entertainment. "It only has one LED" was their response. "That cannon must be one of Merlin's modified lights" was the typical response as my lights became well known (and borrowed)

ob1, the Peak 1AAA 3-LED HO snow is a wise choice for lanyard/EDC use. The strong, narrow hotspot with very weak sidespill works well when going to the bathroom and sneaking around and not waking your roomies. If it is too bright, just cover one or two LEDs with your finger to dim it to the correct level.

The light I really wanted to replace my minimag BB500 R2H was the Electro lumens XM-3, the long delay getting to market is what took the light out of the equation. My co-worker that destroyed the Luxeon Jr. will get an XM-3 or an Inova T4 as a replacement.

Oddly enough, in the darkness, flashlights are a common topic. Everyone loved the BB500 R2H Fraen LP equipped minimag with rechargables with my 1AAA MicroIlluminator being a close second. The Peak AAA 3-LED was admired for its small size, indestructability and decent power output. My buddy that still has my Arc AA likes it for the ultra-long runtime (lithium AA), idiot-proof reliability and "cool factor" The Inova X-5 gave the right amount of light, was indestructable with the only downside of using "weird" batteries. Once the Surefire batteries became available at $17.95 a dozen, that complaint lessened.

Ran into a guy with an Inova T2, that puppy had the nice Luxeon brightness with a slightly longer size than the X-5. He said he picked it up for this deployment and is glad he paid the $50 upfront (he works at 4AM and needs a good light) The T4 version is the one I want to know about, it would be a nice replacement for my minimag/R2H as my little guy is getting mounted on my helmet.

The perfect light for us non-army/non-combat medics was discussed in detail. Take the Peak AAA or AA body, make the head a little larger to fit the MicroIlluminator Luxeon head in. Add a three-position switch for 20mA, 100mA and 200mA drive levels. The 20mA for sneaking around in tents, the 100mA for walking around and 200mA for checking things at a distance.

The doctors and nurses preferred the AAA body for its small size and lanyard use. The field medics prefered the AA body to fit the loops on LBE or ceramic body armor vests (the larger head will prevent the light from falling out) For the folks that keep drumming up business for the medics, a Peak AA with 20/100/250mA with larger head and clip would be perfect.

Peak is coming out with Luxeon AAA or AA lights soon, I am keeping an eye on them to see if this light will soon become available. Since I am here, a 2AA with variable intensity and switchable to a small 5mm red light would be nice for a high output/blackout light to go with the small AAA/AA lights. Throw in the Surefire U2 and all your (non-UV) lighting needs would be complete with three flashlights.

One can dream!
 

PhotonBoy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 11, 2003
Messages
3,304
Location
Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada http://tinyu
How did the SL JR. Luxeon switch fail? Was it dropped tail down, or did it just fail from overuse? Just wondering.

Nice report. I'm going to really have to peruse Peak's site and consider getting one of the lights you've recommended. Thanks! I like the looks of their stainless steel lights.
 

BentHeadTX

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,892
Location
A very strange dark place
Photon,
I took the light apart and the switch failed from overuse, the parts were worn out. Granted, he worked the night shift and probably turned on the light a few thousand times before it failed so.... One of my Kroll switches died also, it was worn out after a year of use so I don't fault it. He said he got his $30 out of it but needed a stronger light for next time.

Next time he will have either a Inova T4 rechargable, an XM-3 or a Peak XXX light. He has a 1.5 years to go before he leaves again, the X-5 works fine for him at present.
 
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