Brightest single 18650 edc flashlight now is??

Dales quad X6 xpls? or? iam lost in it…probably the brightest will be 26650 flashlights no?

26650 high drain cells can push a quad harder than the best 18650
Also more mass is better as you deal with a shitload of heat

XPL W2, XML U4 or XPL2 V6 should give an impressive amount of lumens

Lumens or Lux, stock light or mod?

probably the modded one will be much brighter:))

And a top 32650 can do more than a top 26650, but the original question was about a single 18650 so, given that, I’d say a quad X6 at some 4200+ lumens with Nichia 219C 5000K emitters and an LG HE4 at 21A draw at the tail would be the most I’ve seen.

For lux, somewhere in the 170-200Kcd range is probably about the highest from a single 18650. Modding can push that considerably further, I’ve seen a de-domed XP-G2 in a Convoy S2 mounted under a 6” diameter Ledil Sienna making well over 500Kcd. There are a lot of possibilities, especially if an aspheric is brought into the picture. There are some fairly largish aspheric lights that use 2 18650’s, these can be modified with an FET driver and a dummy cell to make very nice throw numbers as well.

A stock Nitecore P30 is a nice thrower, illuminating a barn at 610 yds fairly well even though quite underpowered with only 1000 lumens.

Probably something I’m forgetting, surely someone knows of some other options… :wink:

I’m not exactly sure, but I did just get a quad XP-L drop in with a nice tail switch from modder Vinh, and now waiting for my Solarforce host to arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to testing lumens once I get this light setup.

For the price… maybe the Astrolux S41 4x xp-g2 and it’s Manker equivalent. $40. all in.

Wouldn’t the S41(S) with XP-G3 be brighter?
Lower Vf and more efficient LED than XP-G2, isn’t it?

You’re right. It’s probably the better of the two. I read somewhere about the tint of XP-g3 being like off, and then a couple negative tidbits and I got dismissive. Actually, that’s just what happens when you base assumptions on small amounts of information. Thanks for the correction. I still have yet to get my hands on any XP-G3 light.

With the tiny TIRs it’s a fairly even tinted flood.

U have a Rochester as31 modded by Tome pumping out over 1700+lumens with a xml2-u4 emitter I don’t remember the lux reading off the top of my head but estimated a throw in the neighborhood of 400 meters.

Seems like we are bumping into cell amp limits and device heat dissipation, maybe waiting on next gen LED or cells for much of a bump.

I’ll take a guess the next step will be in better optics.

i guess,xplhi in quad have to by the highest lumens firestarter…nichias,xpgs,xmls are just less no?

Vinh made a 4000 lumen S41S, probably LED lumens I guess?

Key words? XP-G3 and XP-L/XP-L2 should be brighter, but you haven’t personally seen that yet?

I love that we’re building single 18650 lights that outperform modded SRK’s from a few years ago. We used to get excited about an honest 3000 lumens in a soda can light, and now we can fit that in a pocket.

Curious… Why are there no multi-die XHP emitter options? Is it the 6-12 Vf ?

you know, we can build Quad Xp-l2(over 1500 lumen)
that mean 6000 lumen in the pocket

XP-G3 doesn’t make a nice beam, even under optics. Nichia 219C has a low Vf, allows for a great pull and output. Haven’t really gotten enough of the XP-L W2 emitters on hand at one time to find out what it’d do in a quad, except for in my 18350 Ti/Cu Quad and there they didn’t fare so well, not enough cell to provide for em.

I’ve done a Quad XHP-50 that made over 7000 lumens, maybe more, don’t remember exactly, what I DO remember is that it heated up the X6 in about 20 seconds to the point of burn level. I put 3 XHP-70’s in a BTU Shocker for up to nearly 15,000 lumens on a pair of 18650’s. 3 PF’s took it to about 20,000 lumens but it was killing traces on the spring pcb. I beefed up the pcb but never tried it again after that.

I have more of the XP-L W2 1D on the way from AlliExpress, never got the situation with Cutter resolved, they quit talking to me. So I’ve got V6 1A’s where I ordered W2 2B’s. (W2’s are XP-L2 with the smaller dome)

Short bursts are perfect for me. It’s enough to blast through the coolant to see if a tool is still there, or to see if that critter is a skunk or not. It may not be able to stay on as long as a big light, but like cameras, the best one is what you have. It’s rare when I’m carrying one of my big lights, but I almost always have a 1x18650 light in my pocket.

Yup, I suspect that the way most folks use these hot rod lights. I know that’s how I use them with the majority of my shining pleasure being at the lower output levels. I even use the L6 that way.

Normal use is like that, day to day, but on Thursday night I blast away for 10 - 15 minutes on my weekly walk to the road with the trash can. :slight_smile: “Fire in the HOLE!” :smiley: