Suitable light for identifying 'targets' 100 feet away?

I like to go night caching (What's caching? - see www.geocaching.com) and I'm looking for a lightweight flashlight to take along with me purely for identifying 'things' approx 100 feet away. Run time isn't really an issue as I have a headtorch and Infinity Ultra for the actual walking/caching bit. Would a SF G2 with a P61 lamp be suitable for this? What distance would a G2/P61 combo allow me to reasonably see?

Thanks in advance

Got a G2, not bad.

But for caching I use my 8NX Commander, no battery costs and quite bright.

last time I was out night caching we had to spot reflectors more then 100' away. I was told A SF L5 barley did it so I used my 2c mag with 3 cr123 and a KPR112 bulb. It handled the job rather well. I like this set up sololy for seeing things a distance away. It's not to heavly and the batteries and bulb last for about an hour and a half.
Light weight, good throw, cheap to make, and rather cheap to run.

Cheers
RM

A UK4AA with either the 2-watt or 4-watt incandescent lamp should meet your requirements. With the 4-watt lamp you will want to use either NiMH or Lithium batteries. The shape of the UK4AA is such that it fits nicely into either shirt and pants pockets. The 4-watt lamp is made for their rechargeable version but can also be used in the regular body. The 4-watt lamp is available from Brightguy.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/uk_4aa.htm
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/uk_4aa_nimh.htm

Get yourself a Peli M6, with Pila batts.

the new Pelican LED PM6 HAIII is really bright that will allow you to identify target at 100ft away.

You can get Pentagon light xenon X3 which is really powerful. It is more powerful than SF C3

According to Flashlightreviews the Pelican M6 LED has a throw of 38 (meters)
(125 feet). Where throw is defined as:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/features/output_vs_throw.htm
'this also means the number listed for "throw" is how far in meters that the light can illuminate a surface with 1 Lux of light. 1 Lux is a pretty pathetic amount of light, so you'd want to use the flashlight at ranges of less than the listed number of meters under "throw"..'

So it would seem that the M6 LED is just barely up to the task.

OTOH, a UK4AA/4-watt has a throw of 58 (meters) (191 feet) according to Flashlight review.

Overall light output of the Pelican M6 LED is given a value of 21.
Overall light output of the UK4AA/4-watt is given a value of 38.

Its not lightweight but maybe a UKE SL4 or SL6 will do the job for <$40.

A Strion would definately do it.
I might be selling mine too.

Rogue_monkey said:

last time I was out night caching we had to spot reflectors more then 100' away.

Click to expand...

Hey RM,

Those reflectors were a little more than 100 feet away... Try over 2000 feet! :sick2: (Actually, slightly under half a mile) Definately the job for a light with a bunch of throw! Though I guess it depends if you just want to see the light off the reflector, or if you want to be able to see the bridge they were mounted on!

For the later, I think you'll have to borrow Mr. Mom's Costco HID!

TOMTEC

David_Campen said:

..So it would seem that the M6 LED is just barely up to the task....

Click to expand...

The M6s previously suggested were (a) the incandescent version which has a throw of 78 meters, and (b) the new 3W LED version which hasn't been tested by flashlightreviews but likely has significantly more throw than the old 1W version.

So either one mentioned can probably do the job with room to spare.

For less than $60 shipped, nothing matches the throw of a Streamlight TL-3.

An LEDWave Z-3 (same price) comes extremely close, and because it's Surefire compatible, you can try out other heads, lamps, tailcaps, and accessories.

Hello Alan,

Welcome to CPF.

Doug shows throw in meters down to 1 lux. It has been pointed out that 1 lux is not much light for "identifying things." You can easily convert Doug's charts from lux to foot candles by taking the number in meters and change the value to feet.

You will end up with throw (in feet) down to 1 foot candle. 1 foot candle = 10.764 lux which is still a bit dim, but is a much more useful amount of light to use in identification.

For example:

Doug lists the Princeton Tec Surge as having a throw of 94 meters down to 1 lux ( check it out here ). At 94 feet, that same light will be down to 1 foot candle (or 10.764 lux).

Tom