18650 Light with a very Low " Low " Light setting ?

[robertkoa]

New Here- just ordered a SA 9 - 7 watt Zoom Cree cheapie from Ebay for $16.50 including shipping because it comes with a charger and 2 -18650 batteries- I wanted to try a rechargeable light and may get a low power Laser that will use 18650 s as well.

The light ,which I haven't received yet has a cool adapter which houses 3 aaa batteries in a slightly extended tube to substitute for the 18650s if desired. Good for Hurricanes with no power for a week in a 18650 as substitute, right ?

Had I joined this Forum first- I probably could have made a better choice- NOW you tell me.

OK- so it will be cool to have an XM-L Light of some type ( if I get one ) but I don't really need one like most of you and to be honest I'll be using the light indoors mostly at night so I want a light that has a really nice "Low " setting.

Maybe my first 18650 could have been the " Jaws " OR I could have spent a few more bucks for an Ultrafire XM-L or the Keygos look impressive.

So which of these lights or others have a very nice low light "Low " setting and it does not have to be an XM-L - I do like nice machining etc. and tailstand would be nice also-I like LED light as a cool nightlight as long as not too yellow and if there's an XM-L with a real pretty low setting of a few lumens or even less- might be cool.

Any recommendations ?

[2100]

The cheapest is the iTP EOS A1, you can probably get it for like $21 and it does 1.8 lm so that's pretty low, but uses RCR123/16340. Issue is it was discontinued like 1 month ago.

Email Stanley at HKE, shipping is included and he can do a few dollars less if you mention you are a BLFer.

http://www.hkequipment.net/?sp=&p=6&cat2=189&cat1=36&cat0=1&id=1028&cat1=36&cat0=1&new=&more=&s=12130b242328c0a7f3d3627886f2ff43&lang=en

Check out the Ultrafire UF-H3, the low should be very low, the thing is that it is a floodlight so at the lowest setting it definitely would not harm your dark adapted vision. Issue is it has somewhat bad 110Hz PWM (flickering like your old CRT). But it is an immensely useful light esp for your use. Dinodirect is having a 3-day offer from $32 discounted to $25, shipping incld. Search for the thread.

You can get the Zebralight SC600, pretty nice branded light with very high quality machining. 2 different users told me the machning is even better than Surefire. The special feature of this is, this is the smallest XM-L + 18650 light ever available, very good quality and natural type III (hard anodized) anodisation, still below $100, perfect beam, and probably the brightest EDC you can ever buy. I have measured the budgetlight "equivalent" ie the Uniquefire UF-2100 (but that's 20mm longer), somehow it is not getting the OTF lumens out and mine has a slight flickering problem already after 1 month of use but it still works. People will complain that it's expensive, but my opinion is just splurge once for a good EDC light + night light that you will use almost daily for the next couple of years, coz that is the single most used light and it is worth it.

High: H1 500Lm with 750Lm turbo in the first 5 min (2hrs) or H2 200Lm (5.9hrs) / 330Lm (3hrs) / 500Lm (2.1hrs) / 4Hz Strobe
Medium: M1 65Lm (18hrs) or M2 21Lm (50hrs)
Low: L1 2.8Lm (280hrs) or L2 0.1Lm (80days)

^^^^^^^^^ Note, you can have a choice of 65lm which is often the lowest mode of a normal budget light, and then you also have a choice of 21lm which a small number of budget light can reach, 2.8lm which i think no other XM-L budget light can reach, and then a 0.1lm mode of 80 days.

And doing all these low modes with absolutely no visible PWM and a side clicky.

http://www.hkequipment.net/index.php?sp=&p=6&cat2=105&cat1=48&cat0=1&id=911&cat1=48&cat0=1&new=&more=&s=56330e21b8effb47a239580358f732b5&lang=en

If you do not need the power, get the Balder SE-1. 3 lumens for 50hrs with a 14500. http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1297

14500 - Trustfire Flames (protected) tested with a capacity of about 750mAh on the hobby charger. A pair is less than $6 shipped.

[mitro]

I'm thinking maybe you need a Zebralight SC60. It's cheaper (still not cheap by any means) and smaller than the SC600, just missing the XM-L. Plenty bright indoor or out, low low, and has the capacity of a 18650 in a typically AA size (1" diameter head and 4" long).

[2100]

Yeah, the SC60 is still way cool. You just miss out the lumens that's all, sometimes you do not need that "BRIGHT" in the equation while still keeping to the budget and not subtracting anything else. Also the SC60 has neutral white (SC60w), which is actually what you need as a night light or reading light.

Trust me, below 50 lumens or so, cold white looks GHASTLY. 5 lumens warm white or neutral white looks way better. This due to the way our brains are hardwired. We deem lower kelvins light as more natural in lower intensities (eg dusk/candlelight, incan), and higher Kelvin light as more natural in higher intensities (eg sunlight, spotlight)

[2100]

That is why the DRY triple XM-L 2500 lumens OTF in cold white looks so bloody good in the house. But the low mode looks really funny.