Stinger or ?? as general purpose rechargeable

One day I decided that I wanted to get a "good" flashlight. I really didn't expect a lot of hits when I did a google for flashlight reviews. Boy was I wrong! I didn't realize there were so many flashlight fanatics, oops, I mean "fans", out there. I'm hoping to tap your collective wisdom.

Some of the uses I have in mind are:
-being able to look up at my relatively tall, long, and poorly lit unfinished attic ceiling to figure out if I have wet spots from water leaking under the shingles. I'd like a fairly clean beam so that I don't confuse dark spots from the beam with spots from water. The attic ceiling is my pet peeve
-working on the car or inside computers on occasion
-getting around the house during one of our altogether too frequent power outages, at least long enough to calm the kids and gather up some potentially longer lasting flashlights
-other house interior/exterior inspection/repair tasks at distances from 1 foot (or under a sink) to 30 feet.

I have a strong preference for something that I can leave permanently in a charing cradle, and just grab and go as needed. I was thinking about a streamlight stinger for this purpose, but started to wonder:

-Is it *too* bright (glare) for most of the uses I mentioned above? On the other hand, maybe it's not bright enough and I should get a stinger HP instead.
-Is the beam too narrow for most of the uses I mentioned above? People seem to think that it is not very adjustable.
-Is the beam relatively clean and umblemished at the various widths?
-How come no one on CPF talks about how much they love their plain old vanilla stingers?

If there are other candidates you think would be better matched, I'd appreciate hearing about those as well. (e.g., UK 4aa recharageable, pelican 2460 Stealthlite Recoil LED Rechargeable, streamline strion). I can get a stinger, including recharger and shipping for $66 on amazon. For now, surefires are not within my budget.

For my "longer lasting" light I am thinking about a propolymer 4aa luxeon (since I think that you're not allowed on candlepower forum unless you own one of these) or a streamlight jr luxeon. I don't know if getting one of those would change the "right" answer for the rechargeable.

Thanks for reading this long post!

Since I do computer work I tend to work at two distances: point blank at say 1' looking into an open computer case, and running wire - say about 30'. I EDC a Stinger - but I only use it at distances. It is too bright for use within a computer - too much reflection. For close up use, I use a SL Luxeon Jr or other lights dependent on specific needs.

If I had to quantify it, I would say that close work requires 30 lumens and less to be comfortable (really depends on beam diffusion, heat, position...) and distance requires 30+ lumens to really get decent detail. Other things would be special needs - I also carry a Stylus and a Stylus Reach due to my need to poke into floppy drives, tape drives, Zip... nothing else illuminates quite like being able to stick the light right into the drive.

The Stinger is a good all-around light. Decent price, weight, size, good brightness, beam quality is better now that they textured the reflector. Just wish I could get a flip-top diffuser for it like the color lens they sell.

Surefire's Z14 Beamshaper (diffuser) will fit the Stinger's 41mm bezel just fine. Flip it up for distance, flip it down for close up work.

It also fits the TL-3's0 41mm bezel.

My stinger has an excellent beam and plenty of power for the tasks you describe. I really like it, except for closeup work. Its simply too bright!


For working on things closeup, I find a Princeton tech EOS headlamp hard to beat.

For inspecting, as posted by Blackbeagle, the Stylus is excellent.

Have fun getting them all!

Since we are voting with our favorite lights and/or lights that we have experience with here are mine:

-Streamlight Stinger HP (that way if you get bit by the "bug" and want to be able to modify the light you can switch to an Ultrastinger bulb and get a custom 6 volt battery stick for it)

-Inova T4

-Streamlight Twin-Task rechargeable

I don't even own the Streamlight Twin-Task rechargeable, but when I saw it at Cabela's for $49.99 I got interested. It would be bright with good throw on incandescent and good for up close work with either three or six LEDs selected.

One more thing, I wouldn't necessarily leave any of these lights on the charger all of the time. I know that there is going to be some strong disagreement with me on this issue, but lately I simply recharge my rechargeable lights once a month. I know that the ni-cads lose some power just sitting, but I just made it a habit to charge everything up at the first of the month. The only analogy or anecdote that I can give for this is actually from the radio hobby that I also enjoy. I have talked to some people that keep there portable transceivers on their charger ALL of the time and then when they go to use them the batteries don't last very long. I, on the other hand, charge them and then remove them from the charger. In fact, I have a second battery pack so when the first one is discharged I can swap it out and charge it while using the second pack. This method will NOT work for everyone, but it has worked great for me. I have noticed, by way of comparison, that my batteries that are managed this way seem to last longer not only between charges, but overall life of the battery.

I'll order the stinger, and then start researching something less powerful (and/or beamshaper) while I'm waiting for it to arrive. It sounds like the SL 4aa propolymer luxeon might end up being too bright for the closeup work, although I might also want one of those anyway [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/font]

Oh, and thanks for the info and advice!

JAS,
Oh no, extra stuff to think about! I thought I could upgrade a regular stinger to an HP by buying a new head. I thought the Ultra was a different body. Wouldn't an ultra be *too* bright for the kinds of uses I mentioned?

I don't think I have your discipline to always remember to top off the batteries on a monthly basis. That's why I was looking for something to leave in a cradle, always ready if the power goes out. I hope it doesn't ruin the run time.

I definitely like the multipurpose idea behind the twin tasks series. I'll be curious to hear what you think about that light when you get it.

Might want to consider the SL Strion. 90+% of the Stinger's benefits, at a much smaller size - pocketable. The li-ion battery doesn't self discharge like the Stinger's does (far far far slower), and it doesn't need to be left on a charger.

Check out the reviews at www.flashlightreviews.com. Happy hunting!

What JAS is trying to tell you is that nicad batteries (which the Stinger comes with) do not last their full potential when kept on charge all the time at normal (C/10) rate. Think about your car battery; if the alternator didn't have a regulator that adjusted the charge current going into the battery, and simply kept pumping a full charge into a full battery, how long do you thiunk before that battery would suffer some degradation? Same deal.

I am a state trooper; we are issued Stingers. Lots of our guys do what you plan to; keep it in the charger all the time. Streamlight even says that is okay, that the battery is designed for that. Wrong.

It doesn't take long before the batteries begin to exhibit shortened life; capacity, if you will. This is what JAS was talking about. This usually isn't a big problem here, because the guys only use their light for 10-15 minutes, max, per night. Even in the rural areas, there is usually some ambient light to "assist" in visual acuity. And, of course, it goes back in the charger to be "topped off".

The recent hurricanes here finally made a lot of folks see what I've been telling them. A lot of guys were on SAR detail in a city without power, AT ALL, and were separated from the chargers in their cars. In less than an hour, all of those who relied on the Stinger as their only source of light were WITHOUT a light. Those of us who spent our own money on non-rchargeable lights just popped in fresh batteries and kept going.

While this is indeed an extreme example, I've talked to hunters who made the same discovery; if you are unable to recharge your light in due time, you're hosed. And most rechargeable lights last less than an hour.

What I'm saying is that rechargeable lights have a serious drawback that never seems to get addressed in these threads. Some disagree; but I can still hear the whining of grown men when their lights died, in a lightless environment with the odd bullet flying around. Once too cheap to spend any personal money on job-related gear, all the ones I know now have some sort of 123-powered light in their kit; along with spare batteries.

A SureFire G2 is VERY affordable. But the only type of light I can think of that will fulfill the varied tasks you mentioned is one of the hybrids; like an SF A2 (big bucks, but worth every nickel), or one of the SL Task lights.

Anyway, don't restrict yourself to rechargeables. Lithium batteries have a ten year shelf life.

Just another viewpoint...

Streamlight Stinger with AC fast charger (2.5 hrs.). The Streamlight fast charger senses when battery is fully charged and shuts down / goes into trickle charge mode, keeping your battery topped off. If you want to use it in your vehicle just get a DC plug for the charger base.

http://www.productwizard.com/ststwfach.html

I have had one in my car for 5 years now. Does a pretty good job of keeping the battery fresh.

Streamlight Propoly 4AA Luxeon is a good second light.

Thanks to all for the additional info. I'll definitely also get something(s) that run on regular batteries.

One reason I am picking stinger over strion is that it claims it can handle 1000 recharges vs strion's 300.

I think I'm going to take the plunge tonight.

Steve C said:

What I'm saying is that rechargeable lights have a serious drawback that never seems to get addressed in these threads. ... Once too cheap to spend any personal money on job-related gear, all the ones I know now have some sort of 123-powered light in their kit; along with spare batteries.

Click to expand...

Nice perspective and one reason I like Pila lights. You can run them off Pila rechargeable li-ion batteries, or regular 123's.

Steve C said:

A SureFire G2 is VERY affordable. But the only type of light I can think of that will fulfill the varied tasks you mentioned is one of the hybrids; like an SF A2 (big bucks, but worth every nickel), or one of the SL Task lights.

Anyway, don't restrict yourself to rechargeables. Lithium batteries have a ten year shelf life.

Just another viewpoint...

Click to expand...

The G2 is a very affordable light, and the batteries do have a fantastic shelf life, but if it's your primary light, then you are spending a ton on batteries. Having a lithium backup is a great idea for the reasons you mentioned. Of course, again if it's a regular use light, it's the reason that rechargeables were made for. If you use it a lot, get an extra battery and keep it charged. Don't restrict yourself to just a lithium light unless you are rich. Rechargeable for everday use, lithium for backup. Alkaline would work ok as well, but aren't nearly as bright and small as the 123 powered lights.