Muyshondt Aeon MkIII, HDS clicky High CRI, and McGizmo Haiku 119V with Hive

Seeking to possibly add one high CRI light to my collection as a general purpose, mostly indoor flashlight.

I have the Aeon Mk III high CRI light. Wondering if the HDS High CRI clicky or McGizmo Haiku with 119v and Hive driver will provide any additional distinct functional differences.

Four that I am aware of include:
1. moonlight mode
2. more run time from primary batteries due to more mAh capacity
3. less expensive use from rechargeable batteries
4. more than 50 feet of throw on high lumen mode

I know the HDS may be safer on the nightstand when using rechargable batteries due to its low battery indicator.

Which one of the two would you add to the collection - HDS or McGizmo?

For an "indoors" (and high CRI) flashlight, I prefer the SunDrop to all of those you've listed above.

archimedes said:

For an "indoors" (and high CRI) flashlight, I prefer the SunDrop to all of those you've listed above.

Click to expand...

I will research that light a little further. From what I have seen the SunDrop looks like a full flood light with limited throw. I have a fairly large indoor space and several floors so about 50 feet of throw on high is important.

Yes, if you need ~ 50' of effective beam throw, you will likely be disappointed in the SD (compared with the Haiku)

I love my McGizmo Haiku 119V 3S. However, point 1 on your list of distinguishing features is the moonlight mode, which of course, needs the HIVE converter instead. One thing to be aware of is that there is visible PWM in the lowest 3 settings of that converter (see here). I am not aware of any distinguishable PWM of any mode on the HDS, so if this is an essential feature, I would go for the HDS.

HDS has a matte "reflector" option that is pretty useful indoors. As far as moonlight is concerned, a HDS rotary has an awesome low

Having said that, for indoors I would stick to a mule type of light, although this is hardly compatible with your 50ft requirement

Thank you for the responses. After much research and consideration I went with the HDS Executive Clicky High CRI. See picture in link.

I really wanted the McGizmo Haiku to work for my needs but there were too many users confirming the visible to the unaided eye Pulse Width Modulation at the moonlight lumen level. I even investigated purchasing the Host from Don and adding another driver. The unfortunate part of that is the H17F driver would have to use a 16340 IMR unprotected battery. I had two issues with that. First, while it is a safer chemistry compared to Lithium Ion it is still an unprotected battery and second, those batteries are made by only a few suppliers in China and are difficult to find presently. If my needs did not require a majority of use in Moonlight mode I would have purchased the Haiku with the three level switch.

View attachment 7396

I don't think that HDS supply the matte or Orange Peel reflector any more. The company that made them has stopped and no one else in the US seems to be able to supply them. Henry only uses US produced stuff.
I have an HDS 170 Nichia and I find it invaluable for indoor use. It also works outside too. Be aware that the 325 doesn't throw as well as the lights with smaller emitters, but it gets there with pure force.
What a nice quandary to be in, good luck.
P

It might be a bit late now, but you don't need an IMR for the H17F. Just don't program the higher levels and it'll still be plenty bright and draw a safe amount of current from a protected ICR.

Random Dan said:

It might be a bit late now, but you don't need an IMR for the H17F. Just don't program the higher levels and it'll still be plenty bright and draw a safe amount of current from a protected ICR.

Click to expand...

I did think about this option. The option would be to run a lithium Ion protected cell at lumen levels with lower amp draws. Decided against the programming "fix" as I wanted to keep the management of the light stupid simple.

To put it out there the sundrop doesn't have the worst throw. There is the sundrop XRU which is focused to 50 degrees instead of 75 like the standard sundrop. But then when you're looking at stuff up close you get a little bit of "tunnel vision" as I call it.

RCS1300 said:

I did think about this option. The option would be to run a lithium Ion protected cell at lumen levels with lower amp draws. Decided against the programming "fix" as I wanted to keep the management of the light stupid simple.

Click to expand...

If you have not thought about it yet, start into research lights that have the over discharge protection built into them instead of having a protection circuit on the cell itself. Often lights are more durable than a "protected" cell in case you drop it. You are not relying on a thin piece of tape to separate a short circuit in a "protected" cell. Often time protected cells cut the voltage when it hits 2.5 volts which is OK on INR/IMR but often too low on ICR.

Did you consider the Beagle? It meets all four of your attributes. It has a great moonlight mode, an amazing tint/cri flood beam, you can run it on primaries or protected IMR's, and it has enough throw for you on the highest modes. How is the HDS working out?