Overready does not appear to be doing bore runs any longer. The thread was locked nine months ago, and they linked here as a possibility… https://precisionelectrical.us
Correct, as one of their blogs shows the Amp draw difference from the P3X to the Charlie, Bravo and Malkoff model.
The Surefire’s were drawing more the the cells rated max Amps at first, although I believe that was to get 1,300 lumens out of the light turn on and still get 1,000 lumens out of the light at 30 seconds. To me, I do not like that. Yes, I own P2X Tactical, P3X Tactical Titan and Titan plus , PLUS all my Surefire WML’s.
Mean while I currently own ZERO Elzettas but will soon and I love their Constant output of at or above 900 lumens for about one whole hour.
Meanwhile, Surefire starts about 1,300 lumens and then decides to run a quick drop to about 650 lumens after just a few minutes. I will try to look up their graph
I think you and I are like minded. I agree with everything you have mentioned. Remember everyone, sometimes it is not about sheer lumens but coming home alive. With a quality built illumination tool that is rarely rivaled.
Then there is the other side of the coin, BLF. Yes like a 100 USD D18 light that does 14,000 lumens for 20-30 seconds then goes to 2,000 lumens . Bright and fun yes, But give me that Elzetta OR Surefire to get me back home in one piece.
This explains it well. I can’t even imagine what many of the Chinese manufacturers are doing. Pushing LED’s past max, making them smoke or burn out, or maybe I can. Since the reliability is like flipping a coin on some brands. They are toys though so I understand it, and trust me the D18 I will buy it, but Emisar is one of the finer Chinese companies no question .
Sounds like you have has bullets whiz over your head and possibly pistols in your face as well. The shooting stuff, I am trying to move away from , but addictions are hard to break when offered to you on a GOLD platter, Just have you make it back alive…
There are very few lights out there that I trust to work everytime no matter what, and even fewer that withstand weapon recoil or getting bashed against equipment and structures, but again I reccomend the ASP Triad series or a custom P60 module built by Nailbender or PFlexPro. Cant beat the price point on those compared to a Malkoff or Elzetta especially when Im buying them myself for duty lights. As much as I would love to own those, its a risk losing stuff.
I try to be a little ready for anything; the expenses are many (from the provisions to the maintenance of a lot of equipment); for the lighting I have to stay on the budget and for my protocol I have 3 flashlight for daily use, always present on me, and 5 in case of rapid departure from the home (or even from the city); I tried to optimize them and make them better, rational, without many modes (3 out of 5 have only one mode, but different intensity) and focusing on redundancy; because a single flashlight, however good, could get lost, fall and be irrecoverable, and many other things.
3 out of 5 use the P60, so each one is also a replacement for the other; all 18650 (but if I use a flashlight I have 4 spare batteries).
For the “durable” flashlight I have two simple Ultrafire 503b SS (one in use, the other for spare parts), the P60 module is tropicalized, components immobilized and coated with paint; the led is glued (as well as being welded, of course). frontally they have a 3mm mineral glass (it comes from spare parts for diving watches, there is no o-ring gasket, there is paste for the engine head) and also the tailcap has undergone some changes. In use will be: one made of steel, three made of aluminium and one made of plastic (let’s not underestimate plastic, it has many interesting features, such as, for example, being safely introduced into a high voltage switchboard)
P60 is king for me, the prices these days of a quality built module allows me to have several different styles and a single host ready to swap out in seconds, even of I choose to have multiple hosts a Solarforce is cheap and solid enough for anything. The option of primaries or 18650 is a major plus. Theres no excuse for settling on a light that almost is exactly what you want anymore. The most expensive high output P60 from Skylumens is just over a 100 bucks and is right up there in quality with a Malkoff Id bet. Im ordering parts from Mtnelectronics to build a copper quad P60 that should be the equal of my D4 with some helpful emails from Richard. Once built and potted I can have as simple a UI as I want with single mode, or change groups and have an EDC. All well under 100 bucks in price and quality I would trust my life with. I also machine some of my own hosts out of billet aluminum so thats a major plus hahaha
Elzettas are neat, but FYI their flood lens is just a regular pebbled TIR optic. If you have any other tube lights like the A6 or S2 you can install one in it and many other brands such as Olight and Armytek use them stock as well in their floody lights.
I see a lot of hearsay in this thread about some Chinese manufacturers vs others but no real evidence of WHY some brands are claimed to be more durable or higher quality. It it’s not potted, it’s not potted. Simple as that.
Most of the quality Panasonic CR123As made in the USA and Japan, as well as the Sanyo~Japan sourced cells, have an expiry date of 10 years, not 30 years, but yeah…they should be a monetary problem for ‘departments,’ or people buying Elzettas.
It’s like the Ferrari owner worrying about tires, or an oil change.
Chris.
I beg to differ. I have 15 years old CR123A still going. 3.20V. from 3.30v.
Also, the Panasonics made in Japan are better than the ones made in the US.
The only ones I recharge. But that’s another can of worms.
The US plant was built for Surefire batteries. Who insists in 1300mAh.
Panasonic says this about their CR123A’s “Shelf life up to 10 years when stored at 68°F (20°C) 90% capacity” So for those of you that have survived eating something past their “Use before” date codes I’ll say again. It’s a 30 year shelf life battery.
I remember when I started collecting flashlights, a test to which I submitted them was the washing machine; a washing cycle and I saw where I had to intervene to make them better. Over the years I know from experience what I have to do, but sometimes I put them back in the washing machine.
I have only one short film of that period, it is from 2010.
Ah! I remember that I also put a small flashlight in the blender, it gave me indications on break points due to violent, continuous and destructive impact
By coincidence, I ordered my first Elzetta last week (Bones), with optional floody lens, and quickly did some runtime graphs. The Bones is designed to also work with an 18650. Although Elzetta claims the output is highly regulated, that's ONLY using CR123 batteries.
Elzetta claims the following:
What they don't say - is that the steady regulation ONLY occurs if you use CR123 batteries. As you can see in the runtime graphs below, if you use an 18650, the regulation slopes down from beginning to end.
Also, the Texas Ace Calibrate Lumens Tube measured 555 lumens, not 650. And, if using the optional floody lens, it dropped down to 340 lumens (a dissapointing 39% drop in output). I may use the DC-Fix diffusion film, which in the past, has only dropped the output of my other lights by about 10-12%.
Relatively good regulation for about an hour using the two supplied Battery Station CR123. I exceeded Elzetta's listed runtime by 3 min.
Orbrtonix protected 10A 18650 (3,500mah)
Samsung INR18650-25R (capacity tested at 2,471mah)
I also have 15 years old Energizer CR123 still going. My guess is the L91 (AA) uses the same technology as CR123 and after 10 years they were still good and the manufacturer decided to print the labels with 20 year shelf life, I don’t think they changed anything in manufacturing to make them last longer. Probably the same with CR123 except they still come with 10 year shelf life printed. But, 30 years? I don’t know.