Wow light or Work light?

So, by some strange twist of Wyrd's humor you have found yourself in possession of one of those ultra rare binned Luxeons. The ones that haunt dreams more than sugar-plum fairies (you know, the Christmas ones).

Do you A) Put it in a 2D Mag mod driven reasonably for a work light or; B) Put it in a ooo aahh wow light that will spend more time as a shelf queen with intermittent blasts followed by the ooo aahh wows?

All of my lights are work lights (and I am not sure I would know the difference).

Say I had a UY0J? Work light definitely. I don't keep those on the shelf, after all, what's the point of owning them if they won't be there when I need them most /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

BUT... I would also drive it for all it's worth. I may stay to more conservative specs depending on the design of the light (ie. small lights may not be driven at 1A+ for thermal management reasons).

To put it into perspective, my brightest LuxV is my X-bin U2 (it takes 3 TWAKs to take it down) and it follows me 24x7.

OK, here's a "for instance". On the left your run of the mill silver Maglight, on the right a double nickel chrome plated Aleph 1x2CR123.



-LT

I think we CPFers have become spoiled about what we consider work lights. We don't have the same perception of a "wow light" as normal people.

I went to a fire call the other night, a tree on fire in a campground. The fire was out before we arrived and the park has no electricity, so it was a flashlight show from the start. I had my Surefire L2, which is my "work light" for emergency calls.

While finding my way to the singed tree, I heard someone off to the side say something like, "Damn! That's a bright flashlight!" Uh-huh. Low beam.

When I got to the tree, some of the other firefighters had a spotlight from the fire engine pointed up into the tree. Given the narrow beam and odd play of shadows, you couldn't see much. They had their 3-D mags out, with batteries not exactly fresh, looking for burned moss and bark. That didn't do a whole lot either. Time for high beam /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif And then there was light. And it was good.

Scott

Scott, good point. My KL1 (~20 lumens) is considered very ordinary, whereas when I pull it out, it never fails to attract attention. I'm just wondering what they would think of the U2 I carry in my other pocket.. very few non-flashaholics even know of the existence of a U2, much less that I carry one. Nowadays the KL1 is my show-and-tell light. The U2 is always on call for either LESS light (dimmer than KL1) or shock-n-awe wide open full blast.

Light is good, oh YEAH! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

With the K2 and other Lux improvements, I would use the brightest Lux in the flashlight that I used in an application requiring the most light. Definitely use it.

Ah... I know the feeling.
Worklight, definitively!

gotta love the KL4+e1e for that reason

Kevin:

A X-bin U2?

uh, so, uh, when do you usually sleep deepest such that you don't wake up when, ahem, people come in your house? and, uh, be a sport and draw a diagram of your house layout and where an intruder, I mean, fellow CPFer can get in and save you from that, uh, unlikely boogieman in your closet?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

jesus, I need to get my self some of that....

I concur with KevinL one of my many virtual FL sages'I have learned soo much from in the last Yr.
I think the KL-1 is killer light but not an MC with 1160 lamp on aeros's. But that TIROS pattern and sheen it has
when it throw's, which for what it is, does throw pretty damn
well, just throw's my young neighbor, a type A "rent a cop" security guy into fit's of photon
fever. (he has since ordered a E2d and will later get a
KL-1 after I showed him the lego like appt's these setups have)

I am still new enough to high end light's to still see the rest of the non f-aholic's are still very happy with there mini mags, or have even stepped up and found brinkman maxfire's and less tactical inovas at SI to be mind boggling.
Guy''s that play guitar on weekends think a 500-1000 dollar amp is about right or even too much, mine start at 1500 for small practice amps to 3-4K for hand made no compromise stage amp head's (no spkrs either in that price boy's)that will take bouncing in a truck, plane, car for a lifetime if properly maintained. So i do see using the best you got for your livelyhood. VDG

I would think an over achieving LED should go in a light that needs the brightest LED you can give it. In most cases that would be a light that had a tight and narrow beam for greatest reach or throw. I think such a light is a wow light by definition and a work light of specific or specialized service; not generally an EDC. Most properly chosen work lights are used well within their limits of illumination range so adding to that range is not likely something of great import. Obviously there are exceptions and for some of us, the typical use or need may well be in terms of max illumination.

My beater light on the job is a modded Q3, but my "wow" light, which is also the one I have the most money and time tied up in, gets used and banged around at work all the time, too. It's a Longbow Mini with a PR head, McR27 reflector, AR coated lens, and Pila 168S or 1500mAh 17670 feeding a TYOH through a Wizard2 at 937mA.
I actually need more brightness/throw for when there's a lot of ambient light to overcome, as I rediscovered just a couple of nights ago, but then I can say the same for most 2x123 incandescent flashlights I've used at work.
First time I see UYO* emitters for sale, I'm getting one for my "work" light.

[ QUOTE ]
beezaur said:
I think we CPFers have become spoiled about what we consider work lights. We don't have the same perception of a "wow light" as normal people.

[/ QUOTE ]
No doubt. Everyone who sees my Longbow in use is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif while I take it for granted so much that all I can think about it how it's "not quite THERE" just yet.
I dare say that we are very...not normal /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It would seem that some of this would depend on who you are trying to wow...

While at work, I am usually trying to wow myself. My current work lights consist of a LionHeart, an Aleph 3, and an 8NX. The LionHeart is my main light, but it does not have enough power to illuminate shadows in ambient light. I picked up the 8NX for that job, and the Aleph 3 is almost in a position to take over for the 8NX. A "killer output" LED for the Aleph 3 would be very interesting and may be able to push it ahead of the 8NX.

While trying to impress the general public, I quite often grab the same lights. The LionHeart is very adjustable, the Aleph 3 has great throw, and the 8NX with a turbo head is awesome.

Tom

McGizmo,

Actually your post is pretty close to my needs. I will likely end up with an X-bin Lux V in the very near future. I'd really like something like the PK-1 in which to house it but I'm afraid that the peripheral parts are a bit difficult to come by. Therefore the biggest reflectored host I have is a Mag. I've still got an Otokoyama LOP PMR and a converter on the way that I believe will adequately utilize the LED's potential.

Unfortunately a Mag is a Mag and not nearly as slick as the previously posted Aleph or its ilk. That's why I was interested in this poll. It's also interesting that right at 1/3 of those checking in would prefer to see this in a Wow light.

Personally I think it's pretty cool that the majority still use these tools for that which they are intended. Don't get me wrong, I've got a number of shelf queens but not many.

It's too bad I don't have any 3"+ reflectors laying around, and Pila powered would be cool too. Well a guy can dream right?

So now you've got a bit more detail. Still think it should go in the Mag? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif

-LT

I too agree with Scott that what consider a 'work' light by CPF standard might be considered 'wow' light by non-flashaholic standard. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

And my 2 cents is similar to what Tom said above--that if I were given an unearthly bright lux star...depending on the Vf, I would be inclined to put it into my 'brighter' work light which will be a great balance between wow and work.

Say I have an Lux III UY0H, then I would be inclined to put it into maybe a EDC-able mod such as Minimag, Jil, FF2 or similar small mod driving it at 500-700ma...but if it were a Lux III VX0L, then I might put it in Aleph, Mag C or D so I could drive it with higher level of current for the wow! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I rotate my best (appropriately sized) lights for work duty. No shelf queens reside here.

I would be rather happy with TWOJ/K Binned DD QIII ... Cheap, Cost Effective & Bright... rechargables have an added advantage of low running costs. Not a Huge thrower neither a super flood... some where in between.

a light with super cheap uC controlled light is also a desirable...

lights above $120 dont intrest me... they would rather be shelf queen / kings !