This is my first flashlight like this (not a cheap little AA or something). I did some research (I read a lot on this forum actually) before purchasing my 18650. I read some bad stuff about the Tiny I, but I wanted something small, and light that I could EDC (being a dress pants wearer for work) and low profile meant everything.
I started vaping about a year ago so I have a bunch of unprotected 18650’s, and I thought, “man I should get a 18650 light, that would be cool”. I started doing some research and quickly learned, “wow this is a hobby for a lot of people, and these specs really go in depth!”. So here I am my first decent light, and I am impressed.
First off, I am blind from still trying to see if it could ‘blind’ someone at night for defense purposes… it does. Second, this is lighter, and smaller than I thought. I mean I used a digital caliper on some of my mods to do a ghost comparison, but now that its in hand, it is very small and VERY light.
Anyway, I would like to use some higher mAh batteries. I am using VTC4’s @ 2100mAh. I noticed a lot of torch guys saying they use protected. What’s the difference? I know they protected have circuitry, but is this strictly for safety? Overheating? Drawing to many amps or shorting? Is the performance hindered by this circuitry? Do I really need them? My VTCs are working great, but I noticed Keep Power has a 3400 mAh I believe it was, that seems popular. This must obviously have a lower amp rating, but will that matter with this small light?
While it was not my first 18650 light, I think it makes a great first light. There are no surprises with this light, except how small it is…. The UI is good, unless you are used to something else, the thing is more than bright enough for 99% of anybody’s uses, but I am not knocking buying lights for SPECIFIC uses…. The price was right on mine and I am overall very happy with it, and glad to see you are too…
I dont have any high drain batteries, but I have one protected battery that runs fine in this light. I usually keep it stoked with a NCR 18650B for the run time. I seem to use it a lot more than other lights right now, and I am liking the run time…
Have a circuit board board attached at one end (normally the negative end) that opens the circuit if the battery voltage gets too low, too high or current gets too high - I've seen current limits of 3 amps to 7 amps depending on battery.
I prefer unprotected batteries as you can get more current in high drain lights.
If you use good charger and lights with low voltage detection and quality batteries, the unprotected are as safe as protected except for the unlikely possibility of a short.
e.g. in the '80s one of my mates dropped a spare nicad battery for a UHF commercial hand held radio into his pocket - with his keys. To this day the image of that key ring is branded on his thigh.
Another person stumbling upon this forum that also vapes, cool.
Overall I think It'd just be better to get the biggest capacity battery you can get for a flashlight. A XM-L2, I have found out is enough to blind me, pulls 3A to get maximum output. Nothing close to the current you pull in a sub-ohm mod. Check out battery bro, the site does a lot of testing on the blog. Find a cell that is rated for 4-5A or whatever your light pulls + safety margin and that has the highest capacity.
The DQG won’t draw crazy amounts of current so you’re better off with a high capacity cell rather than a high current cell with mediocre capacity.
If you stick to name brand cells such as Panasonic, Sanyo, Samsung, and LG, you’ll be golden. Just stay away from XXXFire cells. Protected cells add a layer of safety but should be left as your last line of defense.
I use Illumn.com, I signed up and to be honest, Illumn still has cheaper batteries and you don’t have to buy 10 or 50 MOQ.
I recently discovered, I like using the high amp batteries I use for vaping. Reason being, I keep one in my Cloupor mini mod, and one in the light, if I kill the Cloupor mini, I can switch it with the flashlight battery, and it still has enough juice that it works fine. Higher capacity would be nice though.
Thanks about the XXXfire cells, that is something I learned vaping, I don’t touch Trustfire or Ultrafire. Now when you mentioned the protected cells, are you saying “use them, but don’t count on the safety first” or “protected cells should only be used as a last choice”?
Thanks you guys, and yes, I am already looking at maybe getting a dual 18650 for bigger carries (when I am not at work in slacks), and possibly a mean tactical for a bug out bag.
