[AT] [Bulk] Re: Todays flashlights

Fri Nov 21 07:12:13 PST 2014

I agree in many respects with Ken.  A quality flashlight is a TOOL.  I
don't like crappy tools.  And if you develop the habit of carrying a
flashlight routinely, you'll soon wonder how you ever got along without.
One of the best "EDC" (every-day carry) in keeping with the Made In USA
theme is a Maglite Solitaire LED:

http://maglite.com/shop/maglite-solitaire-led-1-cell-aaa-flashlight.html#.VG9TU_nF-50

The Solitaire is TINY... hit that link above and look at the image of it
beside a set of housekeys.  I have one clipped to my Swiss Army Knife and
use it daily, more often than I use the knife.

Another Made In USA light I would highly recommend is Surefire.  This is
the Cadillac (Tesla?) of flashlights.  The prices will stop your heart.
Mine is their lowest-end product, the G2 Nitrolon.  It's the only one in
their line that's plastic (a very tough grade of glass-filled nylon)
instead of the rest of the line which is all military-grade,
MIL-spec-hard-coated aluminum.

http://www.surefire.com/illumination/flashlights/g2x-pro.html

The Surefire is designed to take two CR123A lithium (non-rechargeable)
batteries, which are law-enforcement and military focused.  They pack a lot
of power, they have a shelf-life of 15 years with zero leakage concerns,
and they work very well down to -40F.  Therefore, they are not cheap!
Purchased in bulk they aren't too bad, about $1.50 apiece, but I've moved
on to a rechargeable lithium-ion cell called a 17670 which drops in place
of 2 CR123A.

I've got two 3 D-cell Mags that have been converted with Terralux drop-in
bulbs, which my wife likes to have around.  These are very early Terralux
bulbs that only throw out about 30 lumens (I think they're up to about 140
now) but when you focus them in, you get a tight, bright spot.  Runtime on
LED is so high that we'll never see the end of the first set of D-cells and
I worry more about alkaline leakage and corrosion than I do about draining
them.

And I've got several 2 AA Minimags dating to before Maglite even offered an
LED product.  They were converted with NiteIze kits, which in those days
used three normal LED's (the little cylindrical ones that are familiar to
most people) which don't have a ton of output and don't focus, rather
throwing a sort of floody beam that is very useful at shorter distances
like walking the dog.

SO

On Fri, Nov 21, 2014 at 9:14 AM, Ken Knierim <ken.knierim at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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