~Things you need to know when you are new to flashlights~

LED Flashlights – General Info
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11) If your flashlight gets hot, that's good. It means that your torch is putting out a LOT of light, and that the heat that said light creates is being dissipated through the body of the light. However, if only the lense is getting very hot, you may be destined for trouble. Look into better heat sinking, or at some point you will fry something in the pill.

12) The Pill means the internals of the light that include the emitter, the driver (electronics) and the stuff that keeps them together.

13) XR-E's, XP-G's, and XM-L's. Three generations of Cree emitters. XR-E's usually require less power, and inherently have tighter hotspots but dimmer spill. XM-L's emit more light than the others, can be driven harder than the others, but in P-60 use tend to be more floody than throwy. XP-G's are a nice compromise between the two, at least when it comes to throw vs. flood. But this is a very simplistic and general comparison. In specific hosts, there are distinct advantages to any/all of the three emitter types, and there are variations within the three groups that determine tint as well.

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#4 great advice.

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If you pull it apart and put it in an oven it will change color.

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Not entirely correct, beam pattern depends on the reflector design as well as the type of emitter used.

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Great post Troop.

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Well the spill shape is also different depending on bezel used.

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addtion to point #7 - there's a price, there's quality

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Additional comment.

11) People do weird stuff to their lights. Where else will you find instructions on cooking your light?

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Great post! This needs to be sticky'd!

Trooplewis, can you and other people who have knowledge of why 18650's and other batteries are dangerous posts the do's and don'ts.

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Lothar you beat me to it!

It should be a sticky. Simple stuff, but very useful!

Nice one Troop!

Marc.

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Well , not all hosts are equal ...(p60)

Past a certain point - quality does not really improve that much , in fact you can pay more , and get less [ yes you can ]

For a long time Surefire owners tried desperately to put down the P60 clones [ Solarforce comes to mind ] , but these days they have pretty much given up , some have even gone out and purchased the Solarforce host after resigning to the fact its a hell of a clone for the money ..

Are all P60 clones equal = No , just depends on what is important to you ..

The largest source of issue could be the clicky , this is the Achilles heel of cheap lights [ clicky switch ] , so chose wisely ..

2011 saw a marked increase in the overall quality of budget lights , but the Ca-vet Emptor still applies [ buyer beware ]

Lights

Single cell lights = Thumbs up , not much to watch for here , except shorts ... [ Buy a Multimeter ]

Multi cell lights = Match the cells - For capacity - Discharge capability - and test often for matched discharge [ batt voltage should match ]

Batteries ,

Discharge capability is often linked to temperature ... Warmer = Higher discharge

What to watch out for = Overcharging [ dont get excited till you go over 4.25v ]

Over discharge = try to hit the charger before going bellow 3.5v [ performance really drops off at 3.5v so why go there ? ] I aim to charge around 3.8v to 3.9v

If you discharge to 2.5v , get it in the charger as quickly as possible , maintaining very low voltage for a long time damages the battery

Charging :

Watch battery behaviour , and learn ... [ variable depending on individual charger ]

What to watch = Termination voltage , voltage sag after charging ..

If you have a hobby charger , discharge the cell to test capacity ...

Even cells that can hold 4.2v after charging can degrade and lose a lot of capacity ..

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trooplewis is talking about the same P60 drop-in, used in different hosts.

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old4570, is there a link to explaining the above. I'd love to know more and know why it damages the battery.

Is the "don't use below 3.5V" only for high mode, or medium and low modes as well. Why?

So 18650's are only useable from 4.2V to 3.5V

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Basically it is the drop-in (i.e. the combined emitter/driver/reflector module) that defines what the beam will be like. Meaning that if you put the same P60 drop-in into any host then you'll get the same beam.

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Learn about lithium ion batteries and understand that not all batteries are created equal. Know that with the exception of a few higher end brands, almost all 18650s over-rate their capacity just as most budget lights over-rate their lumen output.

http://batteryuniversity.com

Learn what the protection circuits do and why you want one on your batteries.

Know that overall output does not equal throw and that just because one light has a higher lumen rating does not mean it will out throw another with a lower rating.

Etendue the concept of throw

Not all emitters even within the same bin are going to be exactly alike. A quick tutorial on Bins can be found here.

Also keep in mind that different bins will have different color temperatures or tints and that the same lumen will appear different to the human eye depending on that tint. Colors referred to as warm can be thought of as being mixed with yellow (2700k incandescent is an example) while tints referred to as cool can be thought of as mixed with blue (5500k cfl). Knowing which tint you prefer will help you select the proper emitter bin and make you happier with your purchase.

i.e. At least to my eye a cold tint (T6 cool white) appears brighter than a t5 warm white when put in the same body with the same drive and same cell.

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Every drop-in I've purchased included the reflector. Doesn't matter which p60 host you put the dang thing in, you get exactly the same beam. Every time. AN expensive host is a joy to hold and behold, but my $85 Pelican host throws the exact same beam as my $8 Ultrafire host when I swap the drop-ins between the two. LOL, someone mentioned the bezel of the host may change the beam. That is true, it will 'scallop' the edges if it has a crenalated bezel, but the beam is actually the same, your host just cut part of it off.

14) Be aware that claims of 1000-1400 lumens from single cell 18650 flashlights are bogus! Ebay and many Chinese web sites claim these numbers, but they are almost always off by a factor of 40-50%. The very best lights, like a TK41, can manage 800+ lumens with EIGHT AA batteries, and that thing is a hundred bucks. You are not going to get 1000 lumens out of your $25 Ebay light, but that does not mean it won't be the brightest light you ever bought. Prepared to be amazed, but not 1000 lumens worth of amazed. Remember, in comparison, your Dad's 2 x "D" cell Maglite put out about 29 lumens.

15) Many inexpensive torches have PWM. PWM stand for Pulse-width modulation, it is basically a cheap way to obtain Medium and Low modes. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless the PWM is very slow, in which case your eyes may detect it as "flicker" or a fast strobe. Members here detect PWM by holding a flashlight in a dark bathroom, and then waving their arms around with it in the shower. Get used to the idea, flashaholics are strange people.

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Be aware that every light you order will be about half as big as it looks online.

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Great source of information for everyone just starting out and some who have been around for awhile.

Thanks

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This is exactly the experience I had when I got my first SF P60 host. I looked huge in the picture and got me thinking for a while before ordering because I was worried about the 'large' size.

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Great thread, it deserves to be stickied for all new flashaholics to read.