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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Affordable long-throw flashlight?

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Oh my, the grumpy cat in the middle of the clip, must deal additional damage. :crackup:
 





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I've seen you use this cartoon before, Jeff. I suppose it would be the modern version of the cat-a-pult. Trying hard to remember who put that old comic out as it was in the newspaper at the time. Late 70s or 1980.
 
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Oct 12, 2007
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I have a lot of lights and TBH for one that I keep using that's extremely versatile, durable and just plain works is this one:


https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Lighting/Handheld-Lights/2354-20


It's a hell of a thrower and its LEDs look as close to quartz halogen as they come. Excellent CRI and color temp around 3000K. Of course it was an easy choice because I'm on the 18V Milwaukee ecosystem so it was just a go out of the box. At $89 it was a bargain IMO. It doesn't have the grunt as my SR90 at 1/5 of the price but is way more handy and it has a nice flood mode as well.



It's hard to stay compact and have decent throw as throw requires a deep, wide reflector. My olight headlamp can put out over 2000 lumens out the front (for about 90 seconds before throttling back due to thermal constraints) and is just a bit larger than the 18650 powering it, but it's a wall of light.



Another way to cheat is with an aspheric lens as they will provide tremendous throw in a more compact size but there are tradeoffs as well, i.e. funny beam shapes and (typically) a bulging lens out the front, etc. But done right they can impress I must say. I have a few of them in my collection too.
 
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Every time I see the title of this Thread...
all I see is a new Olympic Event called the
Long Flashlight Throw... :crackup:

Jerry
 

Benm

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I have a lot of lights and TBH for one that I keep using that's extremely versatile, durable and just plain works is this one:


https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Lighting/Handheld-Lights/2354-20


It's a hell of a thrower and its LEDs look as close to quartz halogen as they come. Excellent CRI and color temp around 3000K. Of course it was an easy choice because I'm on the 18V Milwaukee ecosystem so it was just a go out of the box.

Thanks for the suggestion, though i don't have any of the batteries and charges for that series of tools. The whole system would come in at over $200, and i'm not sure it's what i want for this application, though it would make a pretty good work light as well.

It's just a bit large as a hand held, but i guess the intended application is to put in down somewhere, aim the light at whatever you are working on, and be on your way.

all I see is a new Olympic Event called the
Long Flashlight Throw...

Maybe a modern highlands game type of thing... after tossing the caber, it's time to hurl the 6D maglites as far as you can :D If they are real original maglites you will get bonus points if you manage to break them in the process ;)
 
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I've got a Black & Decker 18 volt drill, so I do have a charger that would likely work with it. But, flashlights aren't my thing and I have too many already, so I don't need or really want one.
 

JimK

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Int'l outdoor charges shipping?
I was sure my last 3 orders cost $2 for tracking but that was it.
They use 4px afaik.
 

Benm

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It's more that the vendors that carry the nitecore that was mentioned before all charge fairly high prices for international shipping. Expensive in like $25 to $45 to mainland europe, which slaps a lot of extra cost onto a product of that price.

I might go for the Emisar D1S light though - i don't care about the $2 for tracking, and it's a much cheaper (but by the looks of it very well designed) product to begin with. Since it's so power hungry and needs to get all of that out of a single 18650 i'll have find some cells to power the thing to anywhere near full capability though :D
 

Benm

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I ordered the Emisar - really curious to see what such a little (and affordable) light can do.

I guess i'll need to some unprotected high current cells locally to bring it to full potentional power, but when it's here i'll post some feedback :)
 

Benm

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Well, it arrived, and it's really cute - actually looks a bit comical with a huge head and small battery compartment.

I can't test it yet though: the website clearly states it does not work with unprotected cells. I figure that mean't it would not work to full power due to the protection kicking in before full brightness is reached, but they also physically just do not fit: the battery barrel is so short it's impossible to put in a protected cell and the tailcap make electrical contact with the host.

I have some flat-top, unprotected NCR18650PF cells on the way though, and they'll be here so i can do tests and a review soon. I had to get them domestically from a reliable vendor - perhaps not the best of the best cells, but easily capable of delivering current requirement and known to be reliable.

Good way to test if the flashlights undervoltage protection works as it should as well i suppose :D
 
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Not really a flashlight guy, myself. Hope yours works out for you. If the Panasonic cells are real and unused, they should work well for you. I have a lot of Panasonic cells and every one of them is a keeper. I just bought some Efest IMR cells from liionwholesale. They came today and they all have a very low internal resistance of ~10 mohms. They are 30 amp drain cells, but claim to be able to supply 60 amps for 75 seconds. They are all 18650s.
 

Benm

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I'll see when i get them, but think they'll be a good buy from things like this: I want reasonable energy density and good peak current handing for a realistic price. The ones i ordered specified to sustain 10A continuous discharge rate.

I just tried to power it from a randomfire protected battery bridging the tailcap with my multimeter leads to have a look at current. When ramping up towards maximum output it displayed 2.18 amps, but that is with a dubious cell, and me pushing down the multimeter leads with one hand while operating the side button with the other.

It did produce an impressive amount of light, but i think it may be capable of a bit more with a good cell and without the contact resistances and multimeter leads + shunt in the way.

The beam looked very well focussed and very evenly distributed - more on that when it gets it's proper cell installed ;)
 




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