Floody Throw Light Recommendation

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
16

Is it bad that I want all of these lights mentioned? LOL

I do want something durable and definitely waterproof. That said, I wont be beating it up too bad but I might drop it here and there.

Currently I’m looking at these:
Astrolux MF01
Fenix FD65
Haikelite MT03
Convoy L6 4000k
Acebeam K30
BLF Q8 (due to color temp)

All but the Convoy has a tripod mount which isn’t a huge deal. I think it will fit in a clamp mount. Price isn’t a huge factor here as all of these are affordable….I actually thought of purchasing 2-3 (not counting the Fenix or Acebeam)

That’s not a huge deal as it will be mounted on my kayak mostly.

17

Yes all of my great ideas are stored there for safe keeping

18

I think the Haikelite MT03’s hotspot diameter might be a little too big for your usage. Not talking about the absolute throw distance but rather it hitting the ground/water, esp since you are gonna be kayaking.

Maybe get both the Convoy L6 and the BLF Q8? Actually if you don’t mind hearing me out, may I suggest the BLF Q8 and Sofirn Q8?
The soda can form factor really makes practical usage sense, cutting the flashlight length dramatically but still maintaining hand-holdable diameter. I have over 50 flashlights, very big to very small, very long to very short, and those in between.

In fact these soda cans are still pocketable in case you are gonna take it out from the Kayak mount, just a bit on the heavy side so when you walk you’d feel the mass moving around. Also they use 18650s, so the batts are interchangeable. The Convoy L6 uses 26650s. The L6 and Sofirn Q8 would come in handy should you need 200+ metres illumination, which could be rare in your case but not impossible i guess?

When the lights are that good, you’d not only mount it on the kayak mostly……as you progress farther along the path of a flashaholic other than just for hunting and kayaking use. And in those cases, you’d want to pocket the light in one way or another (jacket, jeans, vest, coat etc). :smiley:
Trust me, most of us have been there done that. :smiley: I have been in the hobby for like 17 years now, though i took a short break and “came back” recently.

The Sofirn Q8 is a 100k cd cool white version of the BLF Q8. Hotspot area of the Sofirn Q8 is going to be around half of the BLF Q8. Both are very good price, the Sofirn can probably be had for just a few dollars over usd 39.95.

If you think having 2 different variants of Q8s is crazy, then the L6 would do also.

19

Welcome Checkerfred. Excellent enquiry.

I have similar outdoor uses in the wilds of Alaska and here are my picks to add to the good responses you have received.

BLF Q8 : Waterproof. Has four batteries – you won’t need to carry spares. Good throw and just the right amount of spill to light the periphery. Very bright (up to 5,000 lumen). Weight: About 1-1/3 pounds with batteries. Has ramping UI. Lit button. Has a tripod screw hole.

Sofirm C8F with 21700 battery: The latest version. Waterproof. It is smaller and a bit floodier than the Q8 but has plenty of throw and brightness (up to 3,500 lumen). Weight: About 1/2 pound with battery. Has ramping UI – although not as default. Lit button. For run times equaling the Q8, you will want to carry a spare 21700 battery or two.

20

The MT03 is a very nice FLOOD ONLY light, with very little throw. I think what you want is the MT09R with the XHP70.2. That is a monster of a light that both throws and flood. It is about three times the brightness of the lights in your list, making about 15k “real” lumens.

21

It actually makes 19k OTF lumens of good NW 80CRI light, so a very good beam actually, if it wasn’t for the tint fest of the XHP70.2s.

Would be absolute overkill though. It powers through everything during the night.

22

19k lumens is on the CW version. My 4000k 80CRI TA version makes about 15k only.

23

Huh, really?

I got 19k lumens out of my 5300k light with driver built by TA, and confirmed by him.

24

I looked at this but seems like it had some issues…can’t remember…maybe it was extreme heat?

25

Thanks for the info! I actually would want some spill in front on the water so it can light up obstacles underneath. I’ll be mounting it about a foot or so up off the kayak too. Right now I’m leaning toward the BLF Q8 and Convoy L6 just because they’re cheap. Then the Fenix TK75 or the FD65.

Thanks! I like the looks of the C8F but the run times are a little low. I keep going back to the BLF Q8

26

@cherckerfred, here’s a nice discount for the BLF Q8 :slight_smile:

https://m4dm4x.com/blf-q8-arrived/

27

Appreciate that!

I bought the BLF Q8 and thinking of buying the Convoy L6 and Astrolux MF01

Does anyone know if Banggood sells the v1 or v2 of the MF01? Seems like I read there were two versions.

28

Smart move on the BLF Q8! Sofirn Q8 was in use last nite in heavy misty air. Not the best for humid conditions. Both great lights.

29

Yeah, if Sofirn Q8 were offered in 5000K or less, it would be the better choice, I think. But the BLF Q8 is certainly not disappointing either, and since the Sofirn Q8 is only offered in Cool White, it loses in practicality IMHO.

30

By the way i’d have to point one important thing out.

All the lumens and throw specs listed in here would be be available in TURBO mode only.

That means in small and light lights (what we call pocket rockets), on the extremely powerful lights listed here, max output would be available for a very short 30-60 seconds burst at most. Double that in winter perhaps? Recovery times are also not gonna take less than 5 minutes, unless you splash it with water.

On less powerful lights, eg the Convoy L6, that effect is going to be less noticeable, you might get 3 minutes in Turbo before ramp down due to temp regulation or your hands give up. Since you’ll be mounting it on your kayak it’d be via regulation. If there is no temp regulation or it isn’t working well, you might have a dead light soon after forgetting to turn it down after a few times.

Take for example the Convoy L6 and Haikelite MT09R, both are of the same weight. One is like 20k lumens with each XHP70.2 driven to close to 7k lumens. The other is a single XHP 70.2 driven to just under 4k lumens. In reality, after the initial turbo burst on the MT09R, you’d need to wait out for quite a while for it to cool down first before attempting the burst. You’d need to search the reviews and see how long it’d take for it to cool down say 15 deg C before it’s good to attempt another turbo burst.

31

The throw distance between the Convoy L6 and Haikelite MT09R is in the same ballpark in reality.
You mentioned that you need to see obstacles under the water as well, i guess that’d range between 3 metres to 5 metres, wrt your line of vision while sitting in the kayak? I am of the opinion (you’d need to confirm that yourself in youtube vid reviews wrt your own needs and mounting situation) that the hotspot on the MT03 and MT09R is too big and while mounted on the kayak just 1-2 feet off the water, the hotspot would hit water about 5 metres away thus spoiling a lot of your night vision? Yes, if you are using a pair of binoculars and looking at a 300 metres big target you are going to see it illuminated, but trying to see it with unaided eyes is going to be tricky.

The keyword here is keeping the hotspot off the water or ground for ground distances that are below say 20 metres?

I believe the spill from the more “regular” 3000-6000 lumens lights would still be able to serve 3-5 metres illumination range. In fact, even the spill at 1000+ lumens is more than sufficient for prolonged usage.

32

Dunno, but to me, having too much spill with a too-bright beam just blinds me with the washed-out stuff right in front of me, which makes it harder to see what’s Out There™.

Might want to consider a zoomie like the 15buk Cometa at BG, if you’re okay with modding it somewhat to “freshen” it.

Or two lights, a dedicated thrower and dedicated flooder.

Other than that, the Q8 is great, and the C8F very pocketable.

33

Don’t mind me sharing a story, quite a few years ago, like in 2011 or so, triple XM-L lights started to come into the market and that’s when the lumens war started. Budgetlights started to have 3 x XM-L, then 4x XM-L, 5 x XL-L, 7 x XM-L, reaching i believe 12pcs. Simple coz XM-Ls were coming down in price.

Over here in BLF, we had a popular pocket rocket called the DRY 3 x XM-L. Many of us had these and also other variants of multi XM-L lights. I also have the Fenix TK70 3 x XM-L as a full-quality light, the most important point is that it is full-sized and optimised for extended run in high modes, downside is that it is big. There was one version in which the highest mode is a Direct Drive, ie driver is connecting the 3 x XM-L directly to the 3 x 18650s. So with certain cells like the Sanyo UR18650 2600mAh, you’d get a nice and toasty 4A plus, especially with a spring bypass.

You’d hit just over 3000 lumens in a cold climate. I was crazy to run the light till around 5A plus connected to an external power supply and cooling the head with ice and even dry ice, just to see how much light i could squeeze out of it. Yeah, that’s for being a flashaholic hobbyist. Yeah, 3000 lumens is nothing nowadays, but that’s in 2011. :smiley:

There is a big difference in practical usage between the DRY 3 x XM-L vs the Fenix TK-70. Yes, the former is like 3000 lumens during start-up and the latter if i remember correctly 2200 lumens. The DRY triple XM-L has around 20k cd and the Fenix TK-70 about 90k cd. The REAL big difference in real life usage is that the TK-70 is able to sustain max output operation for way longer, it does this with (1) significantly more heat sinking and (2) significantly higher surface area for heat dissipation, i’d guesstimate about 5 x more. The DRY triple XM-L is really a 1 minute light (maybe 2 minutes in winter conditions?) and after that it needs to rest quite a while. The TK-70 is a > 5 minutes max output light, easily more than that in a cold climate (I’m in the tropics).

The point i am trying to make is, pocket rockets have their place in flashaholic hearts. All of us have been-there-done-that one way or another.

But in reality it might be a different picture, and it really depends on your own usage needs + preferences. Even within the practical usage group, there are many different requirement levels, some are not so critical, some are very critical, requiring really extended operation at max levels.

34

Exactly bro. And that depends on the height of the light as well. On a kayak with a mount that might be just 1 foot. With hand holding at waist level that’s ~ 3 feet, or 6 feet best if you put it over your head and you won’t be able to do that while walking/running or for a long time. 7 feet if you really extend your hand up, that’d really extend the distance.

Yes one could argue that you can tilt the light/hotspot upwards a bit so that the spill does not hit the ground at 3-10 metres distances with a 20k lumens MT09R. Then you’d be able to get that 500-600 metres ANSI throw (practical usage 250 metres or so with 1 lux at target). Fair enough point.

However, you’d be doing that kind of performance at 20000 lumens, heating up the poor little 600g light very fast, gunning down 4 x 18650 battery juice at a crazy rate. It might not be an issue for flashaholics fun use, but that means carrying maybe an additional 8pcs of 18650 as extras and also more importantly fumbling with them in a creek/lake during a battery change, risking the light as well as the batteries during a battery change. Especially when you are wearing gloves.
That’s the only way to get longer runtimes as per original post’s requirements.

I believe the keywords here are efficiency and optimisation

But of course the OP also stated that he might need a bit of close-up illum, for avoiding obstacles in the water while navigating. So aspheric throwers like the Cometa might not be suitable. Reflectors are probably better which do both at the same time. With that said, the zoomable Fenix might not be suitable now that I think of it. He just needs to get the hotspot size, lumens, runtimes, heat levels, host size optimised for his particular usage requirements. :smiley:

Efficiency is always better than brute force, especially out in the field/wilderness. :+1:

35

Another reason for my suggesting multiple lights is the adage “two is one, one is none”. Better to have something, especially if they share the same ammo.

(Eg, avoid mixing 26650 and 18650 lights.)

I’ve been a recent convert to Nitecore lights as hella bright and hella compact, at least the MH20/-GT. I’d definitely keep that as a pocket-light, whichever other lights I’d use.

Or keep that and, say, a SP32Av2, both of which could take CR123As. Keep some ’123s for emergency juice in case the zombie raccoons come after you and you need to hide out for a while.

I’m also really surprised no one yet suggested a headlight, either.