[AT] [Bulk] Re: Todays flashlights

[Ken Knierim]

I carry a Mag-lite Tactical and have for several years. At the beginning of
this thread there were questions about switches... the reason I went to the
Mag-lite was to replace the less expensive light I had carried for a couple
years. The inexpensive light had a switch failure so I went with a unit
with a sealed switch (OK, my wife did, as it was a Christmas present).
The first Mag-lite (XL100) was good enough to survive me for a number of
years, including a trip through the washer and dryer, though it wasn't
unscathed. It became somewhat flaky after that and finally failed about 8
months later. The housing is bent and whatnot; I use the light a LOT and
it'll get dropped on everything from concrete to cactus, and they are
extremely handy for looking in electrical gear (meaning it's a work tool,
IMHO)
    I bought 2 replacements; one XL50 and one XL200 from Amazon. My biggest
beef with these things is that when I put them in my pocket, I tend to
eventually bump the switch and turn it on which drains the battery. I
realize the proper thing to do is get a belt holster for it but I still
haven't gotten one of Farmer's Round Tuits. Perhaps Christmas... hmm..
Anyway, the XL50 is a very concentrated beam which I use for my morning
exercise. More than once I've used it as a deterrent for dogs deciding to
come at me while jogging... the bright beam confuses them and makes them
back off. For working in the shop, the XL50 can be too bright to use unless
used on the dim setting. The XL200 is somewhat more diffused and more
useful for (my indoor) general usage. Outdoors, I prefer the XL50 though...
    I've used a number of cheaper units as well. I just want it to work.
It's an important tool, like my pocket knife (Kershaw, US-made) and
smartphone (Motorola Droid Maxx, well-made but not in US), and it's worth
having quality gear for me. Mag-Lite are reliable, not cheap.

Just my $0.02

Ken in AZ



On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 8:04 AM, Stephen Offiler <soffiler at gmail.com> wrote:

> Candlepower is not the best way to evaluate a flashlight.  It is a value
> that can be manipulated very easily by your typical unscrupulous
> marketing/sales people.  The American National Standards Institute
> recognized there was a lot of monkey business going on, and stepped in with
> a new standard just a couple years ago, called ANSI/NEMA FL-1.
>
> One of the FL-1 ratings is lumens, which is an unambiguous measurement of
> total light output, but it does not describe how tight (spot) or wide
> (flood) the beam is.  Same lumens in a spot beam will seem very bright (but
> over a much smaller area) vs. a flood beam.  FL-1 also rates by distance,
> how far the beam of light will travel until it peters out to a given
> (fairly low) intensity. Knowing both lumens and distance on flashlights
> that are legitimately rated to FL-1 will allow you to compare and choose.
> High lumens with short distance means you're looking at a flood beam, for
> example.  A very tight beam that travels far is only good if you typically
> need to see something a long way off.  It's not very good at all if you
> are, say, changing a tire or something.  The spot is small and terribly
> bright when used upclose.
>
> By the way, FL-1 also rates runtime, which is how long it runs until the
> batteries peter out to 10% of the intial lumen output.
>
> On to Maglites.  The owner, Anthony Maglica, is a steadfast, diehard MADE
> IN USA kind of guy. Check:
>
> http://maglite.com/about/history
>
> I am seeing some Maglite discussion here, on the mutiple D-cell lights,
> C-cell, and the ones taking 2 AA's which are called MiniMags.  If you have
> older ones around, you can convert to LED using kits supplied by third
> parties.  For the MiniMags, an outfit called NiteIze has some
> cost-effective kits.  You can get these all over the Internet, and I've
> seen them in camping stores like REI.
>
> http://www.niteize.com/collection/LED-Upgrades.asp
>
>
> For the C- and D-cell lights, there are a bunch of LED conversion kits out
> there, sometimes replacing the whole head and requiring fancier power
> sources. The cost-effective ones are called "drop-ins" because it's really
> just an LED built into the shape of the incandescent bulb that normally
> fits.  I have a couple of TerraLux that I'm pretty happy with:
>
> http://terraluxportable.com/products/led-conversion-kits/
>
>
> SO
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 8:32 AM, Dan Glass <dglass at numail.org> wrote:
>
> > I never heard of a flashlight that was too bright.  My biggest one is
> > six million candlepower and I would still buy a brighter one if I could
> > find it.
> >
> >
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