Looking for a LED flashlight...

Hi CPF

I've got a request from someone who wants to buy LED flashlights for his company. They are a cleaning company which cleans up stuff after environmental disasters. They often work in dusty and dirty conditions. Upto now they used Maglite Rechargeables, but they want to switch to LED solutions.

The new LED flashlights should have these features :
- Rechargeable batteries. The batteries should be recharged by connecting a power cord directly to the flashlight, so it's not necessary to get the batteries out of the flashlight when recharging. The power cord should be available in 230V or 12V with a cigarette lighter adapter.
- Decent light output. The Maglite Rechargeable specifications show they have a light output of 175 lumen, so it should be at least a 5W Luxeon LED or a double/triple 3W configuration?
- O-ring sealed and water resistant (but of course not submersible)
- Solid construction and shockproof
- Hard Anodization type III (HAIII)

Does anyone know a flashlight which has these features?

Thanks in advance for your help

Is the Inova T4 HAIII?? But it doesn't have enough lumens...hmmm....tough one.
What about an LED drop in module for the MAG lights??



Blades

That's a tough one. Most rechargable duty lights are incandescent. Is there a rechargeable Surefire incandescent that would take a Lux V LED head?

The Elektrolumens multi-LED lights can be ordered with a tail plug for charging without removing batteries.

In theory something like a Pentalux with the in-light charging option might work (except it's not HA III, but neither are their current Mags):

http://elektrolumens.com/Pentalux/Pentalux.html

It's going to be difficult to match a Magcharger's output with an LED flashlight.

Even the mighty Surefire 10X Dominator wouldn't meet all of those criteria, as it is an incandescent, non-metal flashlight.

The Pelican Little Ed Recoil Rechargeable and 2460 Stealthlite Recoil LED Rechargeable lights are rechargeable Luxeon lights, but they aren't nearly as bright as a Magcharger, and they're polymer.

http://www.pelican.com/medium_lights/medium_selection.html

The Inova T4 fits most of the criteria, but it's more of a spot than a flood, which might not be so good in a cleanup situation.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/inova_t4.htm

Blades said:

What about an LED drop in module for the MAG lights??

Click to expand...

Hmmm... so you're proposing to drop a Luxeon replacement in the existing inventory of Magchargers? Interesting... :thinking:

For an EverLED, you could do a reverse Mag BP mod, since the Magcharger bipin slug and the Maglite PR base bulb socket are interchangeable. The EverLED would probably work just fine with the stock Magcharger 6.0 volt NiCad battery stick. Heat sinking might be an issue with prolonged runtime. The other issue is that the Magcharger and Maglite switch assemblies are not identical, and the EverLED is going to sit somewhat lower within the reflector of a Magcharger than it would in a standard Maglite. That might affect the beam significantly. (In a Mag BP mod, the bipin lamp pins may need to be trimmed to allow the lamp to sit lower within a Maglite... this preserves the ability to focus the beam, but renders the Mag BP more prone to thermal damage to the bipin slug. Hence, the need for mica heat shields or Kiu's/Fivemega's high-temperature bipin sockets.)

I don't know if the Diamond Luxeon drop-ins would be compatible with a Magcharger head, and if I recall correctly the 1W and 3W modules are supposed to be run with 3 cells max (4.5 V), and the 5W module runs on 3 CR123s (9 V), so they probably wouldn't work with the stock Magcharger battery stick.

It's somewhat of a moot point anyway, since none of the drop-in Luxeon bulb replacements are going to be anywhere near as bright as a Magcharger.

Hookd_On_Photons said:

It's going to be difficult to match a Magcharger's output with an LED flashlight....

Click to expand...

The Magcharger is a very impressive light (and considering Mag's general lack of competitiveness, that's saying something).

However an Elektrolumens Pentalux should output about 250-300 lumens, with more runtime than a Magcharger.

But since they're individually made, I'm not sure what Elektrolumens' capacity is for a big order.

The T4 is a nice light but it's just nowhere near the Magcharger's output/throw. Flashlightreviews.com test indicates it's about 39 lumens.

You can get a more compact yet still high output rechargeable light in the Streamlight Stinger, if you omit the LED requirement.

A couple of years from now after the K2 emitter is deployed in various designs, LED lights will be more competitive in this segment.

joema: you're right about the Elektrolumens lights. They are well regarded on CPF, and have gotten excellent reviews from knowledgeable reviewers.

However, the fact that they're made individually can be an issue for a corporate user. I don't know how many lights the cleaning company in question needs. If it's a big order, that might be a problem if the lights are needed in a hurry. Service after the sale is also an issue. A large company might be more at ease ordering production lights from a well-established "name brand" company, in case there are warranty or service issues. I know from personal experience that Wayne provides better customer service than any large flashlight company out there. I'm just saying that as a corporate purchaser, who has most likely never heard of Elektrolumens/Wayne Johnson before, I would probably prefer to go with Pelican, Streamlight, Mag Instrument, or some other well-known, well-established flashlight company.

If the company only needs a few lights, then the Elektrolumens lights would be an excellent choice. Heck, it might be possible for Wayne to mod some of their existing Magcharger stock into multi-emitter powerhouses that can run off the stock battery stick, and tank up on the stock charger.

But again, as the purchasing manager for a company, I think I'd be more comfortable purchasing production lights as opposed to custom mods, no matter how well the lights are made and how stellar the modder's reputation is.

Thanks for your replies. I will contact Wayne to see if he can make some modified Mag Rechargeables with 3x3W LED.

Great! Let us know how it turns out! You will not be disappointed dealing with Wayne.

Is the inova t4 really only 39 lumens?

Flashlightreviews tested one T4 -- how representative that is of the entire T4 population we don't know. However the overall output of the tested T4 equates to roughly 39 lumens.