Can anybody advise me a new flashlight with all these parameters

walshy155

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Apr 4, 2018
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Hello everybody I have been a keen adventurer of caves and mines and anything that is beautiful outdoors, I have been thinking of building a torch as I'm experienced in many aspects that are helpful for building a torch but I really don't have the time so I need help on buying a new torch which meets my needs here goes

Waterproofing/Dustproofing - Must be waterproof (caves, mines and fishing) not sure on IP Ratings but good enough to be submerged for a short period of time

Must be able to be focused (spot and a wide angle will be very helpful)

Must run 18650 batteries or anything else common like 3s Li-polymer or even a conventional SLA Battery

Would like a built in charger but not necessary

Must not have an integrated battery

Run time of at least 3 hours at high output

Must have good build quality

Output??? 1000 lumens? Not very sure
And for output I'm not sure I have a Chinese 85watt HID which is pretty much a H1 HID from a car, which I have many spare from cars I have sold and a 3s Li-polymer, if anybody can give me an estimate of the output of this flashlight I'd be grateful, I like it but the beam pattern is terrible, so I'd like an LED flashlight. And of course I have a head torch as caving requires two hands a lot of the time and again it is a Chinese make I'm sure becuse of the build quality, it's seems to be a Boruit XML T6 run time was terrible so I made a new pack consisting of 6 parrarel Samsung 25R as I had the spare...I also don't know the output if this headlamp

Thanks everybody, would love to have some suggestions
 

Timothybil

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You have an interesting set pf parameters. One that stands out is your run time requirement. It is going to take a very large battery to be able to do 1000 lumens for three hours. My question is, do you really need that much light for that long.

One point you haven't addressed: How interested are you in accurate color rendition. As a know nothing to caving, I would think that accurate color rendition would be very helpful in picking out details, at least at reasonably close distances.

And IPx8 is the rating you are looking for. Total submersion for a significant period of time.
 

mamelo

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Must be able to be focused (spot and a wide angle will be very helpful)

How important is this requirement for you, is this an absolute "must"? It eliminates the majority of current flashlight imo.


Run time of at least 3 hours at high output

Most current flashlights aim to have a very high lumens output on max setting, so the producers design for very high output at shorter runtimes at "max" or "turbo". Would a medium setting with long runtime suffice your needs?



Is weight and size a concern too?




I have been a keen adventurer of caves and mines and anything that is beautiful outdoors


This somehow tell us where you want to use the light but not for which (main) purpose. Do you need a thrower to illuminate long distance objects or a "room" lighter, a light to illuminate the path you are walking or a light illuminating the scene for photography (high CRI)?

I am afraid that THE super duper allround flashlight which excels in every respect e.g. with very high output at long run-times, high quality build, reliable, durable, impact resistent and submersible but still carryable and light-weight etc. does not exist (or is not known to me); that's one reason many of us have several different lights.

Edit: How important is impact resistance? I assume caving often means it must withstand harsh conditions, dropping to "floor" several meters...

Sometimes you have IPX-8 but impact resistance about 1m, or you have focussable beam but neither IPX-8 nor a high impact resistance. If focussable beam is not important, did you look at Armytek flashlights?

Can you give a priority of your requirements?
 
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walshy155

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Well I'm glad I came here to understand more...I will reduce the max run time to 1 hour at least at full power, obviously most flashlights have a number of power modes included on the driving board. Focus isn't absolutely necessary but I like it because when in a large cave or mine I need both spot and flood especially spot if I take it fishing. I do take my DSLR to caves also but as it's modified internally for astrophotography it's incredibly sensitive so a massive amount of light isn't needed but is better and also I like the idea of having the high output if I need it even if it's max run time is 30mins or so at high power levels, my original post I did not think too much about battery choices but I prefer 18650

Thanks guys
 

Poppy

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FULL power for one light may be one hundred lumens, FULL power for another may be 3200 lumens.

For example, you might look at the Thrunite TN32 NW


  • LED: Cree XM-L2 U2 LED
  • Max 1702 lumen output using 3 * 18650 batteries
  • Level 1: 0.6 lm/80 days; Level 2: 21 lm/7 days; Level 3: 307 lm/11.5 hours; Level 4: 709 lm/4 hours; Level 5: 1132 lm/2 hours; Level 6: 1702 lm/1.5 hours; Strobe: 2 hours.
  • Working voltage: 8V-13V.
  • Max Runtime: 2000 hours
  • Max beam distance: 979 meters
  • Peak beam intensity: 240,000cd
  • Impact resistant: 1.2 meters.
  • Waterproof to IPX-8 standard, 2M.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Thrower-quot-Review-RUNTIMES-BEAMSHOTS-VIDEO

This one will run at 760 lumens for 4 hours without a set of batteries being changed, or 1132 lumens for two hours.

If you need a waterproof zoomie, then look at the Fenix FD series. Actually I don't know if they are waterproof, you'll need to research that.
 

mamelo

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Most flashlights have both a hotspot and a spill, a fixed proportion of spot and flood, the spill is minimizing the tunnel vision effect and allows to see where you stand or walk while spotting a more distant object. This is quite practical. Sometimes the spill light can rebound from close objects like branches, cave walls or the ground, and can "blind" you if the amount of closeby reflected light is higher than the amount of reflected light from the distant object.

Focussable lights do not have spill, if they are hot spotted you don't have spill rebound, but tunnel vision. Focus systems can be a challlenge to be made submersible.

Colors
For outdoors (and "incaves" :) neutral white is surely better than cool white due to low CRI for most cool white LEDs, and a high CRI (>90) flashlight for even better color rendering is even better, especially if used for lightning the scence for photography. You can post-process white balance and tint but you cannot post-process differentiation of colors into your images if it is not there at capture time.

From my observation neutal white LEDs have been getting more popular over the years in flashlights, as well as high CRI LEDs (e.g. Nichia 219) but the latter are (still?) rather rare.

Photography / High CRI

Focussable lights:
  • "LED Lenser" has focussable models, but only cool white LEDs, afaik, and only IPX-4.
  • Wolf Eyes "Pro Nite Hunter" offers IPX-8 (1m) and impact resistance 1.2m, the other models are only splash-water proof.
  • Fenix FD series, IPX-8 (2m) and 1m impact. Neutral tints available. China made but usually decent or good quality (similar Thrunite)

Rugged flashlights:
  • Malkoff Devices, US made and very rugged, cool or neutral white, but only offer up to 2 output modes and no guaranteed underwater sealing.
  • Elzetta, US made and very rugged, but do not offer the lumens output.
  • Armytek (Canadian company, since 2009 own factory in China) has interesting models which are IP68 submersible 50m and claim impact resistance 30m. LED choice is "white" or "warm" for better color rendition but I did not find the colour temperature in Kelvin or CRI (they might reply you if you ask) e.g. "Viking" or "Barracuda Pro".


User interface (selecting modes) and buttons (do you wear gloves?) also might play a role, especially for LED flashlights with many modes.

EDIT: The Fenix FD lights focus system (depending on the model?) seems to have a spill even if tighly focussed, so, no tunnel vision but rebound effect, so it is more like the "normal" fixed beam shape lights with added ability for pure flood without hotspot.
 
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