In light of recent events in Texas, I’ve been thinking adding another light to my “toolkit”.
Main function… shorter bursts of lighting during moderate to heavy rain/snow/fog events. Intended use would be confirming “things” at distances of 100’ or less…think is that a person in that window, is the top of that tree broken and ready to fall. That being said, this would not be my main light. Smaller (pocketable) would be ideal and since it’s likely to see only very occasional use, I’d like to stay somewhere near the $50 mark.
I know zoomie is kind of a curse word around here, but the bit of reading I’ve done so far seems to point in this direction. It’s still very early in the game, but what do you think about Brinyte B158B filling this role? Which is the warmer tint…Cree XPL HI V3 or Cree XM-L2 U4?
It seems like a real longshot, but I’ll ask anyway. Any way an Emisar D4 could be modded (by a rookie) or configured to be even remotely practical for this use? I’d love to have an excuse to buy a second one.
Convoy L2. Can take 2 26650s with the extension tube, else 1 without. Sleeves let you use 18650s, too.
Lots of nice tight throw, fairly light and easy to carry in a 1-cell config.
One of my faves is an Ultrafire F13, modded. Use the emitter of your choice (XM-L or -L2), and I’m using a 1-mode (on/off) 3A buck driver that can hack 1 or 2 cells.
Nice and beefy, dissipates heat extremely well, can run it wfo for a long time and it won’t turn into a curling iron.
Nice tight hotspot, almost like a C8. Plenty of “reach”. Quite impressive, actually.
Of course, the ubiquitous C8. Stock, they’re pretty damned good (XM-L/-L2 for a wider hotspot, XP-L HI for a tighter hotspot and more throw). Plenty out there to choose from off-the-shelf, or roll yer own.
Ultrafire DV-S9. Diving light, so will withstand hurricanes and drenching. Magnetic slider to vary brightness from moonlight to full-tilt. Nice and bright, throws well, and yeah, really waterproof.
Oh yeah, about zoomies. My main dislike for them is that as you “focus” them, you’re pulling the lens farther and farther away from the emitter, so you drop to 1/3 or so the light vs full-flood mode. Plus, you’re projecting the batsignal out there, ie, the image of the LED chip itself, all square and the little lines crisscrossing it, etc.
They’re unbeatable for all hotspot and no spill, but are horribly inefficient. Ie, why bother belting out 1000lm if only 350 are making it downstream?
But there are times when you want/need zero spill, and for that, zoomies are perfect. Just slightly defocus it so that you don’t project the batsignal out there, but a squarish blob instead.
Thank you for the input. I’ll start doing my homework.
I have a Klarus G35 and Armytek Barracuda for throwers. I’ve yet to use either in the rain, but my thinking is a smaller/ less “brute force”?? backup…little spill to help sneak through the rain drops, and a warm tint. This is why I started looking down the zoomie path.
I think I have the sickness, I might just snag one of those Ultrafire DV-S9 just cuz it looks cool as hell
For that, Hell, just mod an SK98 with a warmer emitter, and a 20mm driver. Lots of nice 1-mode 20mm drivers at FT, get a 4C or 5D for something warmer, roll yer own in like 10-20min. Compact, pretty robust (the older one I got, anyway), and cheap as dirt.
I got 2 of ’em, quite nice. Some parasitic drain (10mA), so unscrew the tailcap a quarter-turn or so to lock it out if not using it for a while.
I lit up the area by my washing machine with the overhead fluorescent fixture croked, by tailstanding it and using ceiling bounce for light. Quite bright! Stayed pretty warm w/o getting hot, even when left alone a while.
As for the F13, that’s easy to mod, again with a nice new emitter (prefer neutral like a 3A/3D) and great little driver. Here’s the modding thread, complete with embarrassingly bad pix.
Didn’t take all that long, just the 2 wires to solder to the LED star, that’s pretty much it. Makes a great host.
Absolutely… except for the “general purpose” part.
I always considered it a great compact thrower, but decidedly not a GP light. There’s decent spill, sure, but the hotspot is way too bright and would wash out your night-vision to see what’s in the spill area (eg, lighting the path in front of you).
But plop in a nice XP-E2 and it’ll have an especially tight hotspot that will light up things downstream even if it’s not a lumen-beast. Make it a dedomed XP-G/-G2 and push it harder, and you’ll have a nice pocket-rocket.
My 4300K-4500K XP-E2 C8 is still one of my favorite toys, even if I haven’t used it in a while. Beautiful CT/tint as-is. If I had a cooler -E2, I’d even try dedoming that for a neutral-white laser.
