Looking for a nice flood-to-throw flashlight

Keygos M12. Very bright, very wide flood, quite good on zoom.

You'll have to replace the spring/oring that holds the zoom/head in place, but mostly that's it.

Takes 1 x18650 or 1x 26650.

Here is more info:

Good luck!

Viktor



Nope, -JOE- is just my username for all of my forums.




I'll defiantly get one of those G7s just to try because I am also going to be getting a SIPIK clone with a Q5. I might get a couple other AA/14500 lights to because they can run off of AA batteries so they make great gifts.

That MXDL was actually one that I was considering and for $9.99 it's worth a try.

That does appear to be a nice light but I'm not sure what you mean by replace the spring? I can see it needs an o-ring but by spring are you talking about the one on the driver?

Hi -Joe- welcome to the madness

Nope, I mean the spring that holds the head (for zooming). Originally there is no oring for the head, just a piece of "springy" metal.

You can see it here.

Viktor

I found that I could substantially increase the width of the flood mode on my zoomies by modifying them to allow the lens to retract closer to the top of the LED.

Some zoomies with narrow floods leave a large gap between the LED and the back of the lens. This can be corrected sometimes with something as simple as cutting a strip of aluminium sheet and using its as a spacer to prevent the pill from screwing completely into the body.

Other lights need more radical work, such as filing down the pill or filing down the body to allow the head to retract further into the light and closer to the LED.

I don't have one myself but the 18650 sized EDI-T P4 available at dealextreme looks like an interesting light.

The smaller 1xCR-123 EDI-T T11 was one of the best small budget zoomables I've seen, with a comfortable cylindrical shape, a wide spill, extremely tight zoom, and multiple brightness settings including a ramping infinitely variable brightness (the only zoomie I've ever seen that came infinitely variable brightness, even if it's based on rather slow PWM).

The P4 looks like the same thing, but with more knurling and in 18650 size. Might be worth checking out.

Good luck! So far, all the XM-L ones have been way underdriven which makes them kind of worthless relative to an XR-E emitter that throws much much better.

Your best bet if you want a real thrower is shiningbeam.com check out their Romisens that they customize. They have actual XR-E emitter with a recent Rev bin which is a big efficiency boost. Way better than P4s and Q3s and the usual crap.

You can also get an XP-E or XP-G for various compromises between better overall brightness and flood, but less throw.

If someone actually made a decent flood to throw, they would sell a lot. Id love to see a triple-barrel XR-E one for reasonably priced. (50 bucks or so). Led Lenser made a huge 7xXR-E emitter light with flood to throw which is pretty awesome. But the price is awesome too(in a bad way) and it hasnt been updated in years.

How about these lights?

TANK007 TK736

YEZL T9

SS-A100

Hi Joe, welcome. CopperTop loves that SS-A100! Search his old posts. Very very wide flood with excellent runtime. I've read good things on that Tank too. Me, I just ordered the Poppas W-878 due to 26650 ability.

-Garry

Aloha and welcome to BLF -JOE-!

Oh no !!!...The MXDL also is sold as a small sun and is one of my worst lights ...I remember having long loving discussions with budgeteer over which one of us got the worst version of this pathetic light ..It has to be me .Mine is so bad you can just pull the tail straight off ..if I said cross threaded it would be being too generous . that would insinuate it ever was threaded .Even if I drilled a set screw to hold the tailcap on the light is anemic in every way known to man .

I've bought a lot of bad lights .. this one is in the top ten .

The definition of a good flood to throw is the throw...Any one can make a floody light .take the head off or lose the reflector ....Lots of people fawn over certain flood to throw lights but

the "good ones" In my personal opinion...throw

if you're looking for more of a flood than your search should be easier and an xpg or a xml will work for you .

I'm always looking for a nice body .. [Between rides ...if you like that style than the tank 736 is exactly what you want ] if you're looking for a nicer flood to throw buy a tank /romisen/ or an edi-t....the jump in quality is just like.... a solarforce vs a ultrafire

EDi-T P-4 is a great light if you can find it ..(it took me a year) I have 3 edi-t lights and I assume they all have similar quality ..yet still cheap at about 13$

Edi-t T-11 is a nice little light too cr123 version with ramping as well

I have the tank 737 too which is a twist head but feels very well built and does 3AAA or 18650 too

Tank lights impress about everyone whose ever had a flashlight ..and romisen lights are almost never spoken poorly of .

three companies that almost universally don't make a bad light ... in the budget world that speaks volumes

You know I was kidding, right? Well, hopefully, in time, you'll learn to take very little of what I say seriously. Very, very little.

This isn't your preferred battery format, but I have this Romisen from Shiningbeam and it is quite nice. Use "BLFuser" for a small discount, 6% if memory serves, and it will around $15 to your door. Get yourself a few AAA Eneloops and you'll be all about it.

A "good' flood-to-throw light in my opinion is one with a balance between flood and throw. For instance my SkyRay ZY-C10 throws far but it's almost a dedicated thrower compared to my other zoomies because it's lacks flood. However I do agree that an XML can only be good if you are wanting more flood than throw.

I originally thought about getting a Rominsen but I read that it isn't as bright overall as the other lights mentioned. I also believe that it is twist style and not slide. I prefer the slide.


I have heard a lot about the Edi-T P-4 so I will add that one to the list.

What about a Trustfire Z5 or Z6?

Ya I knew that you were joking.

I'm not sure that a light ran off of AAAs can compete with some of the lights mentioned. I really like the 18650 batteries and I think that I will be able to get a lot better performance out of them. That it is nice looking light for $15 though.

Joe, and anyone else who hasn't yet got one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190529994052?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l264

Most definitely a budget offering, but IMO one of those incredible bang-for-the-bucks lights where you really can't go wrong. Don't know how seriously to take the '2 left' tag, but it could be true. I have two of them, seriously thinking about pulling the trigger on a third one. They can't last forever at this price..

I don't know about the standard one, but the one from ShiningBeam has been modded so it is brighter than it you would think. It is however, a twisty, but you can still adjust it with one hand. Personally, I think the biggest drawback with that light is it has no memory and, therefore, always starts on high.

I actually think it not having memory is a plus. I use high on my lights 90% of the time. I wish all lights had no memory and were 2-mode (High-Low).

I'm mixed feelings about no memory starting on high the upside is you don't have to see a strobe .

less strobe is a huge plus for me //but i'd rather it start always on low

How about a LIE REN KC-01?

Well. I like it more than my Yezl T9. Did you already see my review of it?

It's my current favorite FTT in 1x18650 format.