Looking to get a decent budget "thrower"

[floki]

So I'm in the market to get a new light. I'd like to get something that throws really well, but not break the bank.

Requirements are as follows

Under $50
Must throw a good light at least 250 yards or around 230 meters.
Runs on 18650 protected cell or cells.
Pocket clip ( i know small requirement)
Brightest lumens possible for the distance.
Good run time
Decent tint, for a woodsy area with lots of greens browns and red tones, especially when fall rolls around.

Basically when I go up to the cabin, I need something that can I scan the surrounding fields to treeline from the front porch. The treeline is about 200 yards out, some areas it goes a little further. When I go to start a midnight coon hunt, the last thing I need is to walk into ol'Mr black bear or the momma and her cubs. That said I want to see them before they see me, at least from the front porch. That way I'm not walking out, with that eyes on the back of my head feeling, at least till I get across the clover fields. I can't hear a bear moving across the clover, but I can hear one in the woods, so a good hotspot of light would be nice. It gets dark up north where I'm at, and I thought my 200 lumen flashlight was fine and dandy till I started huhting up there. Then I upgraded to a 550 lumen, still not good enough. And from the cabin to my blind is a good 20 acre walk, though an oak forest. So runtime is a factor as well.

I've looked at few budget lights on Amazon, and there was just to many cheap knockoffs to count.

Of the few that got decent reviews was the new Thorfire VG10 at 847 lumens for $35 bucks it seems like a decent deal. But I like options and choices to compare to. So what do you all think.

I was also looking at the Jetbeam WL-52 at 1080 lumens, over at batterie junction.

Could use a few more suggestions, before I drop a ton of money. When u have four kids under 7 and three dogs.....anything over $20bucks is alot of money to me.
Also I know very little in the way of throwers, so don't get to technical on me.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[TopGunRMNP]

Yezl Y3 &/or Small Sun YZ-T08. I just bought both! 2x18650. For about $15 the Convoy C8 is a pretty dang good thrower, but a bit too pencil-beam for me to be useful. 1x18650

 

[floki]

Thnx for the comparisons, ended up ordering a convoy c8 and a thorfire vg10.


And since Tmart has them on sale I may pick up a skyray king. Still figuring out how what model skyray... The reviews I've seen and watched show the 3 led skyray as having more throw, and the 4/6/8/9 models seem more floody. Anyone who has any of the different models care to share the experiences / info

 

[fractal]

I picked up a C8 last year and it is the best budget thrower I have. Much better than the HD2010 I thought would be a beast. My only issue is it is too bright for close up work. But for a porch light to scan the treeline? It makes a nice, compact choice.

 

[TopGunRMNP]

I had the SkyRay STL-V2 forever, the budget throw king and I didn't know it. Left in the car every day and night, summer and winter. Led finally died. It was great, not pencil beam, useful food, and strong center beam.

 

[floki]

I'm patiently waiting for the C8 and VG10 to arrive, VG10 should be here today. Half the reason I chose those two was for the "starter" kits they came with for the overall price. I'll eventually get a better charger and cells, but needed to get my foot in the door first. Plus theres so many cell and charger options, it gets overwhelming fast.

 

[TEEJ]

I see you mentioning lumens, but not cd.

cd is the spec that tells you how far away you can see what at.


Generally, to see a bear at 230 meters, depending upon your night vision and the contrast between the bear and what's behind it, etc...you will tend to need between 2 - 30 lux ON the bear at that range. If its a polar bear in a licorice patch, 0.5 lux might be OK, etc.

The lower number is with night adapted vision, and a bear in contrasting cover. The higher number is with less night vision and the bear not contrasting well. 30 lux CAN even be too little if the contrast is very low, etc.


For perspective, the above would mean that your new light should have a cd of ~ 110,000 or higher to put ~ 2 lux at 230 meters.

To get ~ 5 lux would require a cd of ~265,000.

A light with a cd of a million would only get you to ~ 19 lux at 230 m....and that's rarefied territory, so, hopefully, a coupla lux on the bruin is going to work for you.

 

[Poppy]

The convoy C8, should out-throw the VG10, but I don't think you'll get 250 yards out of it. My guess is that it will get you more like 100 yards that will actually be useable, if you have good vision. If you want more distance than that, you will need to get a light with more of a pencil beam.

I seem to recall seeing a C8 light with a XP-G2 emitter that would throw better, but again, you'll be scanning the horizon with a tight spot.

As mentioned, a thrower is not all that good a light for close up work, but that is not what you are buying the light for. Overall, I believe that you'll be pleased with your new purchase, good luck!

 

[WarRaven]

Diffuser, then you can have range an close utility when needed.

 

[floki]

thnx TEEJ thats the kinda info I need. Visions the only thing still working good, I swear I'm falling apart to early.

And I know certain lights throw better with less lumens and a bunch of other factors... Thats why I came here. To sift through all the tons of info and hopefully learn something.

My VG10 came, its brighter than I expected, but definitely not what I was looking for in a throw light. It does however fit the bill nicely to replace my old nebo redline, that I've been using for the past few years.

The C8 comes tomorrow, until then I'll be doing some more research.

On a side note, I tried using cr123a's in the VG10 and it was making high pitch noise when turned on. It doesn't make that noise when I use a 18650, just the cr123a's. Slightly disappointed in that. Since I bought it based on the fact I keep extra cr123a's around for my other lights. Thought a dual battery light would be nice, but not with that noise, 18650's only I guess. Still happy with it.

 

[more_vampires]

Ahh yes, flashlight whine. It's soured me on many a light that I would otherwise like. Some examples of the same light do it, some don't even. Really frustrating, particularly when you finally get your hands on another and it does it too.

 

[floki]

grrrrr.... so the whine only happens during the medium and low settings and not during high or moonlight settings. regardless of batteries. just venting...

 

[more_vampires]

That can be "PWM whine," it bugs the crap out of me too. It caused me to never EDC an otherwise cool 10440x1 light, causing me to put new lights straight on the "junk/giveaway shelf." Can't ethically return it as it "works."

 

[floki]

After playing around last night, when it finally got dark. I was very impressed, more so than the few starter tests during the day in my dark garage. The VG10 lit up a stop sign about 80yards out... and pleasantly the whine was only noticeable on the mid level setting when using it outside, and after a few minutes a letting it run, the whine quieted down some more, small issues with an otherwise nice light. My other light arrived, so can't wait to get home from work and start playing with it.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

Yezl Y3 &/or Small Sun YZ-T08. I just bought both! 2x18650. For about $15 the Convoy C8 is a pretty dang good thrower, but a bit too pencil-beam for me to be useful. 1x18650

Convoy C8's only come with XM-L/XM-L2 as far as I know. These are not pencil beams, far from it.

The Y3 and T08 uses the same emitters in larger reflectors, so their beams will be tighter and more focused than any C8, given the same emitter.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

Throw requires a large reflector as a rule. And the smaller the LED in a given reflector will also produce more throw.

For example:

18650 tube light reflector
p60 reflector
C8 reflector

If all of these used the same LED driven at the same level (i.e. same LED lumens), then the tube light would have the biggest hot spot and least focused beam and shine the shortest distance. The C8 the tightest beam, the smallest hot spot and shine the furthest.

An even bigger reflector than the C8 will throw even better. This all means good throwers tend not to be pocket friendly.

Lots of small reflectors (i.e. Sky Ray Kings), these will generally throw better than a single reflector of that reflector size, i.e. a 6 LED SRK will out throw a tube light with the same small reflector, simply through the lumen count. But it still won't be anything like a large single reflector.


LED type.

Small LEDs have a brighter surface area. This will allow them to throw further in a given reflector size. The downside is less output, smaller hot spot and duller spill beam.

example:

C8 with XM-L2 @ 1000 lumens
C8 with XP-G2 @ 500-600 lumens

The XP-G2 will shine quite a bit further, but with a smaller tighter hot spot.


De-doming.

Last up, if you de-dome an LED it will substantially increase it's throw and generally retain good lumen output. But you can end up with a tint shift.

De-doming an XM-L2 in a C8 will massively increase it's throw. While retaining a very similar lumen level. If you want a de-domed LED, you'll pretty much have to do some modding however.

 

[fishx65]

Since this is the budget forum, at the cabin I keep a Stanley hid spotlight near the back porch that I picked up for around $20.00 and I have a few 3D Defiant lights I picked up on clearance at Home Depot. The Defiants are huge but they throw like crazy. To walk back to my bow hunting stands I just carry a Solarforce L2 XML and a Maratac 1aaa with clip for headlight duty. I also carry a big ole can of bear spray when I'm bow hunting!!!!!

 

[rupertsilva10]

I also had SkyRay STL-V2 and I'd say it's the cheapest that offers more than it's value. I had my first two years ago and it is working fine until now, you've got to check it.

 

[bykfixer]

I see you mentioning lumens, but not cd.

cd is the spec that tells you how far away you can see what at.


Generally, to see a bear at 230 meters, depending upon your night vision and the contrast between the bear and what's behind it, etc...you will tend to need between 2 - 30 lux ON the bear at that range. If its a polar bear in a licorice patch, 0.5 lux might be OK, etc.

The lower number is with night adapted vision, and a bear in contrasting cover. The higher number is with less night vision and the bear not contrasting well. 30 lux CAN even be too little if the contrast is very low, etc.


For perspective, the above would mean that your new light should have a cd of ~ 110,000 or higher to put ~ 2 lux at 230 meters.

To get ~ 5 lux would require a cd of ~265,000.

A light with a cd of a million would only get you to ~ 19 lux at 230 m....and that's rarefied territory, so, hopefully, a coupla lux on the bruin is going to work for you.

Good, basic easy to understand info.

Thanks.

 

[Ethan_90]

Does anyone know if the crelant flashlights are any good? The V6CS is only listed around $23.