Hi, I’m new to this forum and a noob in this flashlight world. I have some keychain flashlight that I bought reading posts here.
Now I’m looking for a flashlight that I can use also on a helmet (fireman) that:
1 operate on lithium battery/s for the “performance mode” (18650 or other common size if possible)”
2 can also operate with AA batteries in an” emergency mode” when I can’t charge it, the AA alcaline batteries are a standard for rescuers flashlight. (are they probably safer than lithium at hot temperatures and useful at very cold temperatures?)
3 is (type C is possible) rechargeable when use lithium batteries
4 reversible clip or “double” clip (like olight h2r nova) to lock where you want
5 magnetic tail
6 nw led
7 fluorescent bezel or lighting button
I can accept compromise on all the points but not with the 1-2 batteries points
Thank you
Welcome. I was wondering. How thick is the spot on your helmet where the light has to fit? Because from what I know they’re pretty thick as in 4+ mm. Normal clips on 18650 lights can’t hold on to that sturdily enough. Another thought. Isn’t a headlight better suited to your needs?
The problem with 18650 / 26650 lights that are also compatible with alkalines is that they usually come with a carrier for 3xAAA batteries, and those have a horrendous capacity compared to Li-ion cells or even AA primaries. So your best bet would be to get a 14500 / AA light like the aforementioned Tool AA 2.0.
The Li-ion / Alkaline compatibility constraint does narrow down the choice quite a bit… Single AA or AAA size battery indeed.
Jetbeam Jet I MK is a good choice too. AA/14500 compatible and quite bright too. Twisty though.
Utorch UT 01 with a side switch was a nice light. It had issues at some point. Not sure where it is now.
A classic and SK68 zoomy could be all you need. They are so cheap you can afford to have a couple with you.
How to fit those on your helmet and how they will survive action remains to be determined.
PS: speaking of battery carriers, although not great they do allow to replace a 26650,with 3xAA or AAA if i recall correctly. In an emergency that can be acceptable? That opens up quite a few options. Astrolux MF 01 Mini 5USB C), Emisar D4S, Convoy M3; Lumintop ODL20C (USB C)…
Once you look at the run times with 18650s versus AA you won’t worry about AA lights and backup AA batteries ever again. Armytek has a few different options of straight flashlights and headlights with magnetic charging/ tails. Warm options. Sturdy clips. Side switches that flash every 5 seconds to indicate battery charge. Last mode memory. Depending on how you’re going to mount the light on the helmet though I would think a tail switch and limited modes would probably be better.
First of all, your list of enumerated items is wrong because you ended it after every item. When you press the Return key you step into a new list item, but if you press twice you end it up; this is the reason you created 7 lists of a single #1 item.
On to what matters: support for alkaline cells is a roadblock precluding such an insane amount of high performance flashlights that it is nonsense. Alkaline cells are toys, their power delivery ability is abysmal. When heavily loaded their output voltage crumbles and their effective capacity goes down like buildings being demolished with explosives. Ni-MH cells are a far better solution.
In essence you're better serviced with a high performance flashlight, plus some other emergency light. The 14500/AA torch route, as others suggested, is also worth considering. Flashlights compatible with 3xAA carriers exist, too, but you will need a big head strap for such a thick tube.
3xAAA with good Ni-MH cells delivers ⅓ of the energy of a 18650, roughly speaking.
14500, with the latest 950mAh rated Heter cell and rewrapped by Vapcell (review @ lygte-info.dk) and others, does nice and can power up some decent output 14500 flashlights. The Jetbeam E10R is one of them, but as far as I can tell is sold only in cool white. Still for sale in AliExpress, there's a new “downgraded” version with XP-G3 emitter, and still what looks to be the old XP-L HI one.
There is another option if you are creative with that helmet mount. My TN4a will put out over 500 lumens for about 2 1/2 hours on AA NiMh. Over 1100 lumens for about an hour. This is very similar performance to many 18650 lights. Now it is called a soda can light for a reason and typically I would never even consider it for a headlamp. However, when you are already wearing a helmet I don’t know if the large diameter and heavier weight would really make that much difference. With some creativity, you could certainly make a mount. Would it really be useable or just too heavy / bulky? Not sure but it would meet the requirement for standard AA. When used with good quality NiMh cells it gives similar performance to many 18650 lights so it does cross those two things from your list. You could pick up a Sofirn SF11 for about $20 if you just wanted to give it a try.
As others have said the 18650 / 3 AAA lights but not aware of any that use AA. Therefore I think I would just get an 18650 light with a spare battery and a good charger. The run times with a good 18650 will likely take care of you and if Temp issues require AA then you a probably limited to the soda can style without Li -ion or single AA. The single AA lights will have very short run times if you want more than 100 lumens.
Thank you all for the answers
TN4A and sofirn sf11 are too havier for a helmet use but i really like the TN4A as a compact thrower and i’ll buy it for test in night research.
JetBeam Jet a MK
JETBeam E10R
Tool AA2.0
Sofirn SP10A
I like this 4 and i’ll buy 2 of this list but no one has a reversible or double clip, Is it right?
Looking at the runtime I’m thinking that is really insane the difference with a single 18650 battery flashlight.
How many AA batteries shoud I carry with a 14500+ AA flashlight if I want to have the same amount of lumen/runtime of a single 18650 flashlight considering that with the first option I’ll start with a charged 14500 battery?
About 150-200 lm output for long time use is a good compromise
If you start with a single 950mAh 3C 14500 cell like the one I posted above, that does nearly ⅓ versus a good 18650, grossly speaking. However, for 150 - 200 lumens of output you'll need no less than 1.5W at the emitter, or let's say 2W from the cell. Two watts is a very heavy load for an AA alkaline as you can see in the following graphs from 3 different batteries:
Basically little more than 20 minutes with each AA alkaline cell, if the flashlight driver can work down to 0.8 volts and considering good boost driver efficiency. I would only reckon on 15 minutes each AA alkaline for 150 - 200 lumens, to be sure. At such rate, bet on at least a dozen AA alkaline cells plus a single high capacity 14500 to match the runtime of a “regular” 18650, more or less. You will be better served if you carry more 14500 li-ion or AA Ni-MH cells.
Ok, I’ll buy one of the AA/18650 of the list (one with the reversible clip)
And a single 18650 flashlight… if i need 12xAA to have the amount of lumen/hours of a 18650 in an ‘’emergency mode’’ i can’t carry a bag only for AA batteries and i haven’t the time to change them
Thank you all for the answers
