a couple of flashlights

turbid

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
2
Hello everyone, I'm looking for four sets of flashlights:
For all flashlights, I like to have several modes of power but no strob/sos in the main group.

1. Hiking.

I need a set of headlight and flashlights uses the same power source (Li-Ion preferably, 18650?), an idea is to carry less weight and units.
The budget for the set is about 100 USD + batteries.
It'd be cool if one of the lamps have charging option (or to have space in the budget to buy a small charger).

1.a. a self-contained headlamp
I have an old HP10 by Fenix (with a diffuser), I like it, but it's a bit "retarded", LED turned to be more efficient, drivers used to give more power, etc. I find 60° beam with 15° hotspot quite handy.
I'm looking for a replacement for hiking flashlight; the desired beam distance is about 50-70m, the main mode 70-120lm with a boost option to 350+ and runtime in the main mode 8+ hours. It'd be nice to have an option to turn it to be extra-floody (a diffuser or the second LED). It has to be IPX8.
I've thought about Fenix HP25R, but I can't use two lights at the same time + it has an external battery block.
Also, I've thought about Skillhunt H03F, but its diffusor doesn't look reliable. So now I'm pointing to H03R.

1.b. a compact thrower
Sometimes I need to see objects on longer distances than headlamp can light (like 250-300m), so I'm looking for a compact (something like Convoy S2, or a bit bigger like Emissar D1) flashlights using the same battery as the headlamp above. It has to be IPX8. I'd prefer a side switch.

2. A backup car flashlight.
Budget: 15-25 USD.
Size: Small/Medium
Brightness: 70-150lm (+turbo mode)
Power source: It will probably be used not so often, so Alkaline or LSD batteries would be the best choice.
Runtime: 120+ minutes
Wide-flood.
HiCRI.
Nice to have IPX7/8.

3. A home flashlight.
Budget: 15-25 USD.
Size: Tiny/Small
Brightness: 5-50lm
Power source: doesn't matter (it will be used a couple of times per week, so LSD NiMh would be better).
Runtime: 60+ minutes
Wide-flood.
HiCRI.

3. A general EDC.
This is the most tricker one + I'm ready to DIY, but not too much (only soldering, no turning works, no coding, etc). I already have Convoy S2+ XML2 U2 1B 940Lm 7135 x 6, which can be modified with nichia219b + TIR 60°.
Budget: 25-40 USD.
Size: Tiny/Small
Brightness: 5-250+lm
Power source: doesn't matter
Runtime: 60+ minutes
Wide-throw.
HiCRI.
I'd like to have a side switch.
Nice to have IPX7/8.
Nice to have a charger built-in.
 

parametrek

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Messages
578
Welcome to the forums.

1a. An 18650 Zebralight. Maybe older H600 Mk2 since that leaves plenty of budget for batteries and charger.

1b. Emisar D1S

2. My backup flashlights are usually my old flashlights. They are free :) So the high CRI requirement kind of limits options. Maybe the Manker E02 with 219C? It is has a magnet, a nice feature around the car.

3a. 219C Manker E02 again.

3b. Nitecore TIP CRI.
 

MikeSalt

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,948
Location
Stoke On Trent, Staffordshire, UK
By my reckoning, there are five lights there. For options 1a, 2, 3a and 3b, the total budget is 100+25+25+40 = $190. In my personal opinion, I feel you would get better value spreading that over less lights.

Let's get the easy one out of the way, 1b, for which you do not specify a budget. I would recommend the Emisar D1S, with a 18650 battery tube to minimise the number of different cells.

If you're anything like me, my house and car keys are with me all the time, so they are effectively EDC equipment. As such, I have two 10180 lights on my keyring that are my car, house and EDC lights. To cover the duties of 2, 3a and 3b, I would recommend a Reylight Copper Pineapple with Nichia 219c emitter for $30 to live on your keyring. It has good performance on LSD NiMH, but for times you want a proper barn-burner, you can put a 10440 Li-ion cell in there for 360 lumens of Hi-CRI keychain goodness.

And for 1a, the headlamp, I would recommend the Zebralight H600Fc, using the mode programming to set it the way you like.

So that's only $130 dollars of lights, leaving you $60 in change. I would spend $20 on a dedicated charger and identify whether you have a gap before filling it with that $40 light, if you need it of course.
 
Last edited:

TheShadowGuy

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
365
1a. My go-to headlights right now are the Armytek Wizard Pro Warm XHP50 and Zebralight's 18650 based headlamps with high CRI XHP50.2 emitters. However, both of those eat up the vast majority of this budget. The Skilhunt you mentioned is a popular budget option. In between, the Armytek Elf C2 is nice enough.

1b. I'd be concerned with the durability of the D1S due to the large lens. The D1 might be fine and it is a good thrower for the size. You could go for the S2 non plus version with an XPL HI in a warmer tint as well.

1c. Accessories. For a compact charger I often recommend the Liitokala Lii 100. It's dirt cheap, can serve as a powerbank, and is forgiving enough when it comes to charging inputs that you can use it for charging off a good portable solar panel. For a home charger, something like the XTAR VC4 or Nitecore D2 would work well. For batteries, the 3500mAh Sanyo NCR18650GA is a good balance of capacity and drain. Vapcell rewraps the Sony VTC5D 2800 mAh battery, and while expensive, is one of the best in terms of high drain. Samsung 30q are easy to find, good capacity, and high drain. None of these are protected; for lights without low voltage protection, look for these types of cells with protection circuits added by a reputable brand like Keepower.

2. Thrunite Archer 2a if you can deal without high CRI. Otherwise you are left with 2xAAA penlights with reduced runtime or 1xAA lights with reduced brightness.

3. L3 Illuminations L11C, Nichia 4 mode option.

4. If you really don't mind power source, there are a ton of options here. Nitecore has some high CRI keychain sized lights, for example, or you can go ahead and mod the Convoy to suit your preferences.
 

turbid

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
2
Thank you for your replies!

1a. I had a bad experience with zebralights back in 2010, however, it might be time to change my opinion on it.

Is there any headlight with both flood and throw which can fit 80$?

1b. Finally got my d1s today and that's something unreal!
But probably a bit too much for hiking, so D1 looks like a bit better option, and I'll have to decide between S2 and D1.

2. Probably I don't really need HiCRI for a car backup lights. So I'll leave the position for "leftovers of budget" or will use my old Jetbeam PA10 (oh, I hate this flashlight, it is the most stupid one ever)

3. Home one.
I was thinking about Jaxman E2(L) with nichia 219B but accidentally ordered Astrolux S42 4xNichia 219C.

4. EDC.
this one is the most complicated one, I also have a nitecore tube, but 45lm is not enough sometimes (like in simple scenarios I'll be using just my phone flash)
I'll consider about TIP, however, using something able to consume AA batteries would be the best (normally I can expect them to be present at supplies boxes at work, I have a lot of eneloops at home, and they are smaller than 18650)

I already have liitokala 202 as my "travel" charger and C3100 v2.2 as home one. I use very cheap Liitokala 18650 22A and they have to be replaced for sure, I much appreciate your bits of advice about batteries.
 

MikeSalt

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,948
Location
Stoke On Trent, Staffordshire, UK
Hmm, I know you had a bad run-in with Zebralight, but given your access at AA disposable and Eneloop, you're not going to get brighter than a Zebralight SC5 mk II for your EDC light. My pick of the bunch would be the SC5c mk II, sacrificing a bit of output power for Hi-CRI and better colour temperature.
 
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