Looking for a bright flashlight.

mikeeey said:

[quote author=REVENGE link=1236538236/0#14 date=1236554077]Hey man, you might want to ask your question at the flashlight enthusiast's forum instead: The Candlepower Forums!

Specifically, check out this thread: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=223240.  It is an amazingly comprehensive list of reviews of cheap -> moderately expensive flashlights from places like Dealextreme and Kaidomain.  Also, check out the marketplace, as many enthusiasts sell their DIY stuff there.

As for me, I bought the Romisen RC-F4 Q5 mod from Shiningbeam.com.  It's a 2 CR123 light for $24 shipped, and it's easily pocketable.  One of the best everday carry lights around. http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/the-55/Romisen-RC-dsh-F4-CREE-Q5/Detail  The regular RC-F4 P4 version on DX is only $14 shipped! But it looks like you'd rather pay a little more for better brightness.

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i actually did check out CPF before posting this but all the different flashlight names and thread names confused me lol.
These graphs seem to help, however i dont understand what "throw" and "lightbox" are measuring. Is it better to have a larger or smaller number?[/quote]

Throw is how far a beam of light can reach.

Spill is the light around the hot spot usually from the hot spot to the outer edges of a beam.

Not all flashlights beams are the same. Some have pin point hot spots or some have a lot of spill.

OP reflectors are "orange peeled",  diffused beams, have smooth beams, good spill but not much throw.

SMO reflectors are "smooth ", have a bright hot spot , better throw than an OP reflector. Some SMO reflectors have good spill.

A lightbox is usually made of a milk carton.  2 holes are cut into the box. One for the lightmeter sensor and one for the flashlight head to project the beam into. Many out there use this box to measure the overall light throw and the spill to measure how bright a light is. They can get an average and figure out how many lumens a light is putting out.

There is a device to measure lumens, it's a Intergrating Sphere. A Intergrating Sphere costs around $10,000 and that is way too expensive just to read what your light is putting out in lumens. So the cheap route is to use a milk carton.

I built one of these but it is very hard for me to get the same reading each time.

I use a lux meter and always read at the hot spot of the beam (brightest). Lux meters only read in lux but mine can also read in candles. A lot of us on CPF use 1 meter as a measuring point.

There is no coversion to convert lux to lumens.

mikeeey said:

thank you kenom! So does that mean if i use a 18650 host and put 2x cr123a's in it, it should meet the full power?
If not, then maybe I will get a host that takes 2x 18650 to achieve that full power...but then I'm back at square one..which flashlight to get..

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Actually just because your increasing voltage with 2cr123's does not mean that your increasing current. Average an 18650 is like 2000mah while a cr123 is 880mah. About the same. The only way your truly going to get the most power is either to use a boost converter taking 3v and making it into 2A (they do sell these drivers but I've yet to find some.) so your best bet is to go with the double host provided you don't mind the larger size of the flashlight. It is not overly large. I'll head outside and take the pictures of my 2 flashlights.

thanks for all the helpful information!
So if i get a bright flashlight that has lots of spill, I can just get a SMO reflector and replace it giving it more of a beam?

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btw, here is my updated list:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060 (between these 2, I'm not sure if i should get the 2-mode or 5-mode version)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14451
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12588
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13336

so many possibilities...

I personally like the 2 that take 2 18650's.

Kenom said:

[quote author=mikeeey link=1236538236/0#11 date=1236546992]thank you kenom! So does that mean if i use a 18650 host and put 2x cr123a's in it, it should meet the full power?
If not, then maybe I will get a host that takes 2x 18650 to achieve that full power...but then I'm back at square one..which flashlight to get..

Click to expand...

Actually just because your increasing voltage with 2cr123's does not mean that your increasing current.  Average an 18650 is like 2000mah while a cr123 is 880mah.  About the same.  The only way your truly going to get the most power is either to use a boost converter taking 3v and making it into 2A (they do sell these drivers but I've yet to find some.) so your best bet is to go with the double host provided you don't mind the larger size of the flashlight.  It is not overly large.  I'll head outside and take the pictures of my 2 flashlights.[/quote]

it would be most interesting to see the comparison of a p7 using 1x 18650 vs a p7 using 2x 18650, unless that is what you are taking a picture of. Either way, i cant wait to see it!

Yeah sadly nothing so extreme.  I wish I had a dual 18650 P7 myself.

Q5


P7

Thanks Kenom for helping me decide!

This is the one I'll be getting:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14212

An excellent decision.

Nice choice

If you find a tail cap for the 1 18650 style, you could use it with two CR123As to make it smaller

That wouldn't work as the single 18650' ones are not usually regulated (as much as they claim they are mostly it's a lie!) and driving one of those emitters off 6+v would kill it!

Yeah the one i have is directly driven, but the bigger one needs 7V to power it (i think)

Kenom said:

If the host you buy does not provide the desired current then your under driving the led and wasting it's power.

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On the upside: Under driving can significantly improve efficiency which is one of the main reasons for getting an LED flashlight in the first place.

^Correct. "Droop" (yes, that's the scientific term) is a problem that is getting serious attention in LED research. It's the problem that the harder you drive an LED, the less efficient it runs. There's quite a bit of fighting going on about what's causing it and what can be done to stop efficiency droop, but no can agree on it yet.