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WTB...Powerful Flashlight

C

crabapple

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I'm looking to buy a very powerful flashlight to use for my line of work. I work in the boilermakers trade and need a flashlight that is rechargeable, powerful with a tight beam. I don't know much about flashlights but have had 3 Surefire's and countless numbers of Streamlights and have never been satisfied with any of them.

If anyone has one for sale or knows where I might locate one please let me know.

Thanks
 





I ordered this one not too long ago... It's extremely bright (5x brighter than a D cell maglite IMO) for what it costs, but it doesn't have so much of a 'tight' beam like you're asking for.
 
Personally I use these:5W CREE Led 300 Lumens Flashlight A15 Torch Lamp 2-MODE | eBay

They are cheap, so no problem if I lose one, and they work well for the situations I usually need to deal with... which means about half hour of light. With o-rings oiled this light is watertight. Plus they make for great little camping gifts. Usually order 5 at a time... so not often, the seller I used last time was cwtco.

If you're going looking for a full time work light... surefire's while a little dated in some of the designs, IMO are rock solid, a friend of mine actually ran over my p6, plenty of scratches, but it still works. I also like fenix lights a lot, haven't had any streamlights.

Aside from a tight beam what else are you looking for? How bright do you need the light to be, how many modes, how long of a run time? To be honest you might be better served by going to CPF. Jayrobs's kits look very cool btw: http://laserpointerforums.com/f64/f...ltage-monitor-parts-complete-light-59581.html but how often does one actually need that much power.
 
I have been very happy with my 1000lumen XM-L maglight from jayrob. Highly recommended.
 
Could someone please send me the link as to where I can buy a complete jayrob maglight flashlight? I have looked and can only find where to buy the kit.
Thanks
 
I don't think for your line of work usage you'd be looking for HIDs. You can have them up to 250W. (20000 lumens)

How about a Trustfire X6? Throwjunkie measured it at the tailcap at 2.9A with 3 fully charged AW IMR cells, so probably that is like 8A at least to the diode (don't think the driver is that inefficient). Probably 1900-2000 lumens at the emitter. Its able to throw quite good as well.

Review Trustfire X6 SST-90 OUTDOOR BEAM SHOTS ADDED

Its only usd 139 at manafont.com (shipping is included), the site ships really fast (50% the same day, 50% the next day) and with registered HK Air Mail it is pretty ok. I have ordered 4X from them.

The thing with LEDs is that you probably would want at least 1hr of run time continuously, so you'd need good heatsinking. The Trustfire has pretty good heatsinking, you can run at medium power and still be able to hold it easily with minimal heat, and still get very good amount of light.

You also need to tell us what weight you want, which form factor (lanterns? Size? Must be slinged? ABS Plastic is ok, or do you need Hard Anodisation so that after 1 year of good hard use it still looks pretty ok? Are you expecting knocks on it?)
 
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Or maybe you can tell us more about your budget. Flashlights are really a pretty diverse hobby.
 
If you're looking for a somewhat cheap but still bright (~350 lumen) heres your answer...

Host: (a solarforce L2)
Solarforce L2 Host for 18650 Battery - Body with Head and Switch, all Black Type 2 Anodized

Light Engine: (Cree R5 based LC-XPG) This one is 5-mode (350lum, 210lum, 80lum, SOS, Strobe) you turn it off and back on quickly to cycle the modes, but there is a single mode also, and either one has a good tight beam, and throws a decent amount of light until about 65 yards away.
Solar Force LC-XPG Cree R5 5 Mode Drop-In

Batteries: I know this is a single 18650 host, but you need the voltage of TWO 18350's. AW IMR 18350 700mAh LiMN Rechargeable Lithium Battery
Another option is to use standard CR123A's or rechargable RCR123A's and wrap them in a bit of cardboard to make a spacer.

Charger: I hope this is self explanatory. This particular charger will work with any of the above mentioned batteries, and the light it will turn green when they are finished. That takes a lot of the guesswork out! Lithium batteries have a tendency to explode / catch on fire if under/overcharged. You can also test the batteries' voltage with a multimeter to see how much they are outputting, but each model of battery has a different range, just google it. A protected battery will cut off before your over/undercharge it, hence "protected", but they usually have a lower mAh rating (and therefore lower run-time) due to the need to squish the protective circuitry into the same size package.
DSD 2 Station Charger


I'm an aviator, and I use this exact setup for 99% of my applications. It works wonderfully, is relatively cheap and lighthound ships fast (they're located in TX). Another good company to check out is Oveready, but they are a little more expensive than lighthound.

Good Luck!
I'm really into building flashlights, so if you have any more questions feel free to PM me.
 
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