Buying my first Cree light, very overwhelmed

Hi everyone, my names Taylor and your forum is turning me into a flashlight junkie...

So I have spent a good 5 hours reading this awesome forum. I have read through just about every review in my search for my first light (or two). Can you guys help me decide on the following lights.

This video is what tipped me off to how LED's have advanced recently, after learning your lingo I think this is what you call a good thrower. I'm looking for something that can do this, with moderate size (fit inside a larger jacket pocket) and run around an hour minimum (preferably more)

I plan to just buy the exact light in this video. But it's amazing how many clones there are, so do any of you think this is a good deal? Is this an authentic model that doesn't have any known flaws that you all are aware of?

http://www.linkdelight.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=2820

But that's not enough, I was thinking of a more portable/powerful floody light. From reading the pocket light thread I thought this looked like it would be a nice solution

Also, any tips on choosing batteries and chargers would be great. It seems a number of people like the "Trustfire flame" batteries. I was considering that, although not exactly sure what they are.

So that's it, Sorry if I'm not being specific enough. If any of you have any advice for or against these lights or anything you think I should know about I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Taylor

Hi Taylor

Welcome to BLF!

The C8 is well regarded round here, but the charger and cells with it aren't that good. The head is around 2" in diameter which is pretty large for a pocket - too big for me. But we're all different. I only take the larger headed lights when I expect to need them/want to play with them.

I very much doubt that either of them come close to the advertised outputs - the second one would burn your hands in minutes if it did. That said, it will be extremely bright and you probably will use it mostly on one of the lower output modes.

Taylor, welcome to the best flashlight forum on the net!

Get a good charger and batteries. It will cost more than the light on most cases but is money well spent.

Aloha and welcome to BLF TaylorTTR!

+1 to that.

If you're on tight budget, get a Xtar MP1S, if your wallet is a bit bigger, WP2 II.

For batteries, Solarforce 2400, Hi-Max 2600 and Xtar 2600 are all fine. (or the new 3000mAh TrustFire's, but I'd rather stay with cells that have known Sanyo cell in them)

Welcome to BLF Taylor.

You can get the UF2100 here a lot cheaper here.

http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S020108 $15

They have a great C8 also I have 2.

http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S009844 $19

This is a really nice charger I have one.

http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S003682 $10

These batteries are decent as well I have dozens.

http://kaidomain.com/product/details.S006833 $13

I own all of these products and can recommend them all.

Solarforce-sales has bodies, various emitters, batteries, and chargers. Not sure where they fall in terms of price, but all the items I have purchased have worked with no problems.

Exactly.

Don´t do like I did and bought first many chargers for 10440, 16340, 18650 etc. Buy one good and be done with it. Also saves you some bucks to get Xtar right away.

The C8 is a great light, it's a bit bulkier than a P60 but still small enough to drop in a pocket if you are wearing comfortable jeans. Here's the kit I have bought for others and they like it:

That's a bright XM-L C8 with 2x TrustFire Flame 3000 cells, a charger, and a cheap C8 sized holster. There was a bad batch of that model charger last year and some users reported a number of them died immediately on use. Both of the ones I have still work fine with no issues. It's also a single-bay 18650-only charger so if you are looking into getting more flashlights with different cell configurations, you may wish to buy a more versatile model. I use the TrustFire TR-001 from DealExtreme and find that it works well for my slightly-more-than-casual flashlight use. It's a two-bay charger that can charge 10440 cells up through 18650-sizes.

(Links to Manafont contain referrals, if you buy from my links, I get a small cut in MF points. I'm not shilling for MF, just referring to equipment I have personally used and have no qualms about recommending from a retailer I have been happy with.)

Good advice above. Welcome Taylor.

I figured vendors would reliably exaggerate the output, as long as I get something that can do what was in that video, and a more rounded pocket light, I would be blown away. My brain doesn't believe what its seeing when that light illuminates apartment buildings across the street, it looks fake!

Interesting, I'm guessing I'll have to check on here to see what kind of cell a battery has? Is that referring to the battery construction or some kind of processor that regulates the battery.

I think I'll go with the better charger, I found it for 16.99 and it comes with a car charger which is mandatory on camping trips.

Yes. Have fun exploring. It's the best part of the journey.

One or more cells make up a battery. A protected 18650 battery has one cell and a circuit to protect against over and under charge and over current.. Shadowww is referring to rewrapped respected brand cells. Heres a useful explanation of an 18650s construction.

My first torch purchase included a KD C8, TF3000s and a WP2 II