streamlight bandit
Not familiar with the charger, but if you bought it and like it then great. Just don’t believe the numbers on the display are perfect, but for reference only to compare cell A to cell B.
For a battery, if you find the Efest IMR is does not last enough, a couple companies sell an 1100mAhr 18350. I have a Vapcell 1100mAhr 18350 that does me well.
That’s actually a pretty good option that I missed previously. I saw that it had 3 modes but didn’t realize that it always turns on and off in low (you use multiple clicks for high). So that is exactly what I was looking for! I may still buy that one as well, but the bummer is that it doesn’t have a replaceable battery. I’m not a huge fan of lights that have to sit on a charger when they are out of power. When I need my light, I have to have it working, not charging.
Also, lately I have really been preferring the type of beam that has a hotspot/spill combination (like the Elf C1). I find that as the batteries get low the hotspot enables you to use the light for much longer. With the streamlight bandit it’s more of a floodlight and when it starts to get dimmer it’s pretty hard to see details or look inside of an HVAC unit.
[quote=sbslider]
Yeah I doubt the charger is perfectly accurate. Ok I’ll give them a try if the efest ones don’t do well. I just wish some of these batteries that I’ve seen people recommend were offered on ebay or amazon…I think the efest was the only brand I could find which is weird.
I was never happy with my efest 18350’s, infact I was never happy with the 18350 format in general up until I tried the Vapcell 1100mAh already mentioned a few times above. Now I’m a convert (from 18650, for EDC).
$5/ea at Mountain Electronics which is a small business owned and operated by a contributing member here. :+1:
Nice! Did you choose warm or white ? :partying_face:
Howbout a headlamp like the RJ02 (or any other one, say, that takes AAs) that has a headband like the ’02?
https://www.gearbest.com/headlights/pp_251155.html
Take off the elastic bands, and you’re left with a 1-piece rubbery doodad with 2 holes to stick the light in that acts as an infinite-angle hinge, friction-fit to hold it in-place.
You can mount the “base” to a bill with hot-glue, rubber-cement, rivets, whatever you want. Test-fit it first to make sure it angles downwards enough. And make sure it won’t be too heavy, even though it’s relatively lightweight.
The ’02 has usb-charging, magic wave-on-wave-off control, etc. And it’s dirt cheap. I bought something like a half-dozen of them thinking them to be “disposable”, but I’ve been banging on the first one forever and it’s still chugging along fine.
It has press’n’hold ramping up/down to any brightness level and holds that level. In magic-mode, it defaults to 100% only, which is hella bright.
But if you find a Skilhunt or whatever brand you like, and it has that kind of mount, you can do something similar.
Personally, I absolutely WILL NOT EVER get any headlamp with a discrete hinge, as once any part in the hinge goes, the light part will just flop around like it’s dead.
Oh yeah, the ’02 takes standard 20mm TIR lenses, so you can swap the come-with lens for anything.
I swapped mine for a 60° lens and it’s got a wider field which is great for close-in work. If you’re looking farther out, the come-with lens (30°?) would be fine.
Alright, small business that offers quality stuff, enough said. I bought a few of them 
Not sure. I know there are two options but the seller never said which one it was. I’m thinking it’s probably white but that’s ok because that’s what I’m used to anyways.
As far as I know, there’s exactly one new-generation 18350 cell, originally sold under the Aspire brand. It’s now sold by Vapcell and Keeppower, and it has much better performance in terms of both capacity and ability to handle high current than other 18350 cells.
I wonder what they did to increase the mAh. I will say that it’s kind of surprising that the majority of 18350s are only 700mAh. It just seems like most manufacturers haven’t tried to improve any upon the original design. There are manufacturers out there claiming higher number but it seems like when someone actually tests them they are just relabeled 700mAh batteries. It’s nice to know Vapcell is selling the real thing.
There are fewer battery manufacturers than there are battery brands. A lot of them are just wrapping and marketing someone else’s cell.
Most of the R&D effort from big battery makers like Sanyo, Sony, LG, and Samsung has gone toward the 18650 size, which is why a typical 18650 has much more than twice the capacity of an 18350 despite being essentially double the length. I don’t know if any of those companies manufacture an 18350 cell; I think it’s mostly smaller Chinese companies who just aren’t on the same tech level as the big Japanese and Korean conglomerates.
Ok that makes sense!
Black and Decker 2xAAA swivel light 20 lumens .white /red /green leds
Bought back in 2011. 2 pack amazingly good lil light ..Added dc-fix to smooth out the beam . If I was smart I'd add some hi cri leds .
Agreed. :+1: