The Gun Counter

I need a handheld flashlight. Must be:
• 5" or under in total length
• Impact Resistant
• In the $50 - $75 range
• Retina scorching

Thanks in advance.

How flexible are you on the OAL? Another inch or two and you have a LOT of options.

For example, at ~6" oal you can find something like the Xintd C8 (v5 is latest) which will get you over 1000 emitter (700+ otf) lumens for $30 in a very well made light. (I have a v4).

Within ~5 oal you can choose from any number of P60 format lights. They offer similar max output to the C8 style lights, and have smaller heads/are more pocketable, but also have worse throw and inferior thermal characteristics (can't run as bright as long as the C8's without overheating).

As a P60 light I have a Solar force L2P as well as a couple of dropins to choose from, one xp-g2 and one xm-l2. (My P60 xm-l2 combo is good for something like 700 otf lumens, for a little while before it needs to cool off and the parts - host and drop in - together are well within your budget.)

Of course these all assume you're willing to go to lithium rechargeables. Really if you want a compact light with really high output you need to be using lithium batteries of some sort.

If you want to stick to eneloops or the like, there are any number of single and double aa lights that will get you a couple hundred (I think between 2 and 3 hundred is your practical max right now) lumens. Look at the Quark line from Four Sevens, for example.

I find all of these flashlight threads seriously fascinating. The excellent side benefit is that they satisfy just enough of my geeky interest that I don't go researching and buying a thousand flashlights to clog up my life.

But eventually a thread is going to mention one that I just have to have, and I'll fall down the rabbit hole.

Damn you, Greg.

Alright. What can you get in a two AA size light that has good thermal characteristics; a low, medium, and high mode (don't care about strobe either way), decent battery life, and relatively pocketable? For the most part, I don't need retina searing capability.

I could also think about those lights that have three AAA's in a holder. They seem to have a nice diameter for holding onto and be in the 4-5" range, so relatively compact for carrying in a backpack.

I am also a flashlight geek. What is the advantage of 3AAA vs. 2AA or even the recent 1AA thread?

skb12172 wrote:I am also a flashlight geek. What is the advantage of 3AAA vs. 2AA or even the recent 1AA thread?

I hate those 3aaa lights. In terms of stored energy, 3aaa roughly equal 1aa yet cost quite a bit more and take up more space. Unless you *need* to use aaa's, don't.

The advantages of a 3aaa light vs a 1 as, is that the 3aaa - due to the difference in voltage compared with the single aa - can be made slightly brighter (at a corresponding penalty in run time) and let the maker cheap out and save a couple of cents on circuitry. That's it.

The disadvantages, well aside from that holding a swollen knockwurst feeling, are that you're using aaa batteries at all, your light is going to have worse regulation/be unregulated (that cheapening out on circuitry I mentioned) and the battery holder. It is a major disadvantage all on its own- it's a fiddly part that will be prone to breakage (it's going to be made *cheap*) and it introduce serious resistance in the flow of current from your battery, robbing you of brightness and runtime both (it's going to be made cheap).

So yeah, the only real advantage the 3 aaa light will have is that, with *absolutely* fresh batteries, for a few minutes it will run brighter than a single aa light can. For a few minutes only, then the brightness will sag (unregulated, almost certainly).

You can get the same advantage of greater brightness, without the unregulated brightness sag, with a single aa light that supports 14500's (lithium rechargeables the same size as a aa), when you power it with a 14500.

Weetabix wrote:Damn you, Greg.

Alright. What can you get in a two AA size light that has good thermal characteristics; a low, medium, and high mode (don't care about strobe either way), decent battery life, and relatively pocketable? For the most part, I don't need retina searing capability.

I could also think about those lights that have three AAA's in a holder. They seem to have a nice diameter for holding onto and be in the 4-5" range, so relatively compact for carrying in a backpack.

Anything with good regulation circuitry. Likely to run you somewhere around $50 to $60, give or take some. That will get you a reputable brand with good quality (not Surefire quality) and a max output probably around 250 lumens, give or take with current technology. I'm partial to the Quark line from Four Sevens, and to a lesser extent Fenix. There are a number of other Chinese brands in roughly the same ballpark but it can be hard to keep track of them all, and some of them fluctuate substantially in quality over time.

Would you prefer a 'tube' light where it's the same (or almost) diameter its whole length, or would you be willing to accept a big 'head' in order to get a more capable reflector?

workinwifdakids wrote: • Retina scorching

Thanks in advance.

Define retina scorching.

permanent blindness upon direct viewing

temporary debilitating blindness

temporary MUST avert my eyes or face blind spots

Oh shit that's bright , this might hurt my eyes

Then at what distance for each of those categories.

Precision wrote:

workinwifdakids wrote: • Retina scorching

Thanks in advance.

Define retina scorching.

permanent blindness upon direct viewing

temporary debilitating blindness

temporary MUST avert my eyes or face blind spots

Oh shit that's bright , this might hurt my eyes

Then at what distance for each of those categories.

Uh oh. No Vinh editions.

There are people who do to flashlights what overclockers do to computers, more or less. Except much more varied and potentially extreme, because with flashlights all the hardware can be modded, or replaced with fabricated parts. Some people have gotten famous for it, and kind of do it as a jobby.

Greg wrote:Would you prefer a 'tube' light where it's the same (or almost) diameter its whole length, or would you be willing to accept a big 'head' in order to get a more capable reflector?

I think tube with a clip so it won't dump out of a pocket in a backpack. Seems like the bigger headed ones are top heavy and dump out. You know me - I'm more about convenience for this sort of thing than absolute peak performance.

The quark with two AA's looked interesting. There was one with about 5 light levels from very low to very bright. The little olight I carry now has moon, medium (40 lumens?) and high (80, I think). It's pretty good for most of what I do, so 250 or so would probably do everything I needed.

You may have just cost me $65.