What's the best light to start my collection?

The good lights I currently have include a couple of Mini-Maglites, a Mag 4D, a Photon Freedom and a Sharper Image Blue LED Rocket Light. I would like to know what the next step should be. I want to take that quantum leap to a light that makes my Mag 4D look cheap. :rock:I can't afford too much, but from what I've been reading it sounds like these new LEDs are much brighter. All suggestions welcomed.

I'm definately not an expert or have half the knowledge of some of the members here but for starters I would suggest the ledbeam 3c www.ledbeam.com ($24.95 shipped) and the Sam's Club Element 2 pack 3AAA ($27) for starters. I have these and like them very much, even bought multiples to give away to friends and family. Good luck!

Being a newbie myself, I may be a little underqualified here, but heres my small list of good lights to start your collection with;

Dorcy 3D Super 1 Watt (Target has them for $21.99)
River Rock 2 AAA (Target again for $9.99)
Nuwai Q3 (Amondotech.com has them for $29.99)
Fenix L1P or L2P (just over $40 each) {You can also get the non P models for about $30}
Streamlight 4AA Propolymer Luxeon ($25 or so)
Sams Club Element and/or Cyclops (They come in 2 packs for $20 - $30)

Thats my small list. But Im sure other members will suggest other good lights that I may have failed to mention here.

Yeah, I'd pretty much have to second Skyclad01's list.
I'd also add a favorite of mine, the Gerber LX3.0 (REI.com and others)
and also the new Dorcy 1watt that runs on 1xCR123A battery (Sears and I think Brightguy has them).

AloneInTheDark said:

I want to take that quantum leap to a light that makes my Mag 4D look cheap. :rock:I can't afford too much.

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The Dorcy 3D super 1 watt definitely gives my 4D Mag (with xenon bulb) a run for its money. Personally I Prefer my Dorcy over my mag cause it has such a better beam. But to make you mag look cheap, it's gonna cost you no less than $50 (unless I am mistaken here?)

Also be sure to check out this thread here "The poor flashaholics top 10" https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/94229&page=1&pp=30

Are all these much brighter than a 4D Maglite? Any chance I can get you to list them in order of brightness? Skyclad01, I see you have several of these lights. Is the River Rock 2 AAA really brighter? I find it hard to imagine a tiny 2AAA light can be brighter than a 4D, but that would be cool. What's a 3W MXDL?

Since the funds are tight, why don't you just mod your mag into a beast of a light. New and improved, longer runtime, much more light, and you still have your other LED to hold you over.

Curtis

Thanks for the extra link Skyclad01. I've seen that link and have read it. But I'm not sure which of those lights are brighter than a Mag 4D. I've read good things about the Surefire G2, but I don't know if that's brighter than a Mag 4D or not. I also think that's a regular bulb and not a LED.

How do I mod my Mag 4D into a beast of a light? What do I need?

My LED's aren't all that bright. The Photon Freedom is bright for it's size, but compared to a Mag 4D, it's nothing. I thought the new LED's were super bright.

I'd say the Fenix L1P but that will spoil you for everything else out there that isn't as well finished, is larger, and has shorter runtime on odd battery types, all while being more expensive.

Newbie flashaholics have it so easy these days .

Take some time and browse through theledmuseum.org and flashlightreviews.com

Think about what you're going to use the light for, what size you want it, type of batteries (AA, C, D, 123's, rechargeables, li-ion, etc.)? All this, plus the info from those sites should help you decide.

AloneInTheDark said:

Are all these much brighter than a 4D Maglite? Any chance I can get you to list them in order of brightness? Skyclad01, I see you have several of these lights. Is the River Rock 2 AAA really brighter? I find it hard to imagine a tiny 2AAA light can be brighter than a 4D, but that would be cool. What's a 3W MXDL?

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The River Rock 2 AAA is a bright little around the house light.

The MXDL was an unexperienced buy, you can find them on Ebay. Some people like them, and many dont. I like mine, but I would suggest a Q3 over the MXDL.

The Dorcy 3D will definitely compete with your 4D Mag. I have the Xenon bulb in mine (which is brighter than its stock bulb), But the Dorcy, stock off the shelf, is just as bright. Ive even opened the focus all the way on my Mag to compair it to the dorcy and the Dorcy covered the same amout of area WITHOUT loss of its hotspot. The Mag with Xenon bulb throws a little further when the beam is in its tightest focus - but not by that much suprisingly.

The Q3, Fenix, Streamlight 4AA Propolymer and Sams Club Element and/or Cyclops I havent yet had any experience, but Im somehwat sure they wont be as bright as the Mag 4D. The Sams Club ones and the Streamlight may be a step or two lower, but they are still extremely good lights.

Now if you really want to blow your Mag 4D away, you can always go to Costco and get the Thor 15 million candlepower HID lamp for $30 (provided your a memeber, or know someone who is that can go with you).

But for a standard size flashlight, you would have to get one of the Surefire brand lights. But those are high end and will cost you over $50 at least.

Resistance is futile - buy a U2 now - you won't be sorry. However, your wallet will be slightly thinner!

Cheers,
Tim

greenLED said:

Take some time and browse through theledmuseum.org and flashlightreviews.com

Think about what you're going to use the light for, what size you want it, type of batteries (AA, C, D, 123's, rechargeables, li-ion, etc.)? All this, plus the info from those sites should help you decide.

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An excellent suggestion from greenLED - along the same lines, you may want to refer to the Flashlight Recommendation Checklist. You can use it to post your preferences back to CPF, or you can just use it as a sounding board to help you decide where to go next.

First thing's first... you know if you put a 3 cell Krypton (not Xenon) bulb in your 4D Mag, it will make it at least twice as bright... but the bulb won't last much longer than the cells. Still, very impressive, very cheap mod... $2.

For something similar, but smaller and brighter, buy a 2C Maglite, replace the bulb with a KPR112 or KPR113 bulb available at Radio Shack, Lowes, The Home Depot etc... Now, buy at least 3 CR123a cells. Next, get a piece of rubber hose about 3/4" in diameter and cut it to be just a bit shorter than the three CR123A cells. Put the hose in the body of the light and put the cells inside the hose. Very impressively bright light. Runs for about an hour. Hints: the batteries are available for $1 each at http://www.batterystation.com/cpf.htm Buy several, you'll eventually need them for this or other lights.

To make the beam much smoother and to get a seemingly larger hotspot, try sputtering the reflector... do a search for sputter or sputtered. All you need is $1 clear acrylic spray paint and about 10 minutes. You can do this to your Mag 4D as well. You will trade away about 10% of throw, but gain a radically smoother beam.

For something impressive and even smaller, pick up a Princeton Tec Tec40 and try replacing the bulb with a 3 cell bulb. It's a 4 cell light so with the overdriven bulb, it will wow your friends.

For larger LED lights, I personally prefer the Dorcy 1W to the LEDBeam 3W as the beam is wider and more useful. And you get like a day of runtime! But the LEDBeam throws further. Cost is similar but the Dorcy is much cheaper to feed and again, I think the Dorcy is a better general purpose light.

For small lights, the Fenix and the Q3 are the hot budget tickets. They are about the same if you use a primary (not rechargeable) CR123A in the Q3 but if you use a rechargeable LiON cell in the Q3, it becomes even more impressive.

In all honestly, none of the stock lights I've listed here are going to be brighter than the 4D Mag on fresh cells. But improvements can be made in beam quality and the ability to throw a wider, more even beam whereas the Mag is really only borderline acceptable when focused to its tightest position.

Solstice said:

I'd say the Fenix L1P but that will spoil you for everything else out there that isn't as well finished, is larger, and has shorter runtime on odd battery types, all while being more expensive.

Newbie flashaholics have it so easy these days .

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The Fenix L1P. If you're spoiled, then you're spoiled. They'll simply have to make better lights then wont they?!?:naughty:

depending on how much cash you have a surefire is guaranteed to blow away your mag. I highly reccommend the L4 or L2. They won't out throw your mag but they'll put out a wall of light.

I'll throw my hat into the "Surefire G2" ring. Many of the lights listed are phenominal lights, but for differing purposes in terms of durability, runtime, etc. Most of the ones mentioned will not "blow away" a Mag4D on sheer brightness, but some are close. The G2's competetive with the 4D in a package that's about the size of just 1 D cell. (and in the realm of flashaholism, the G2's pretty cheap) Add a P61 module and you're throwing out a whole lotta photons in a little light.

Funny thing is, to the uninitiated, you'll find that people will underestimate the power a little light can put out. I was once on a jobsite with a coworker looking at some stuff up above the suspended ceilings. He went up and needed a light, so I handed him my G2. It didn't occur to him how much light it was throwing out until I went to hand him his 3D Mag (which he assumed would be brighter since it was a bigger light ) The look of surprise when he traded and got this feeble orange glow in exchange...

(to be fair, it did seem his light did have some worn down batteries)

So once you start your collection, don't be surprised if you have people going "Why do you have that? Don't you just want a big flashlight?"

And welcome to the club. Hold onto your wallet. :rock:

Woa I can't believe some of the answers you've gotten so far.

If you are serious, the first light you should buy is the Surefire E2e.

If you change your mind and never buy another light you will have one of the finest, general purpose, tiny flashlights. It will blow away your 4D cell Maglight out of the water and seriously impress all your friends. All of this in a flashlight the slightly larger than a roll of LifeSaver candy.

You can change lamps, change to two different LED heads, buy aftermarket accessories E to C head adapters.

Seriously if this is the one to buy.

There's good suggestions here. Why not start with a SureFire G2, and YES it IS a whole lot brighter than the Mag 4D—especially when you drop a P61 in it! You can then go on from there by replacing it with a BOG 3W LED drop-in. One cannot go wrong with SureFires, but either one of the suggested lights to get is all good.

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

AloneInTheDark, if you just want brute power, try a spotlight or something. Many of us are into more refinement and feel that power isn't everything. You also don't mention how much cash you're ready to burn right now (hold on to your wallet when you get interested in this stuff). The light that got me addicted was the McLux TK. Its current successor is the McLux III PD. You can buy those through the McGizmo forum. I don't have one yet. They start around $185 and the one I want is around $250.