Zooming Model List (2018 Updated) Tell us about your newest zoomie!

LED Flashlights – General Info
582

Zappaman,
I presume most hunters knows their hobby and they all gotta to be solid shooters if they want successful hunting. I don’t doubt you know to shoot and bring bacon home… Even I can do that. And sure if we will look that way we don’t need any special equipment at all… We could even shoot on pure moonlight without any light/thermals/night vision devices if you have good classic rifle-scope…

“I know the OP is about zoomies here and so I certainly can agree the zoomer gets WAY out there better than a reflector… but some applications (hunting pigs, the only legal night game I can hunt) don’t nessesarily benefit from a zoomed thermal, IR or white light source.” :person_facepalming:

Zoomies do throw better than any reflector light in same reflector/aspherical head version but they can also be set to cover ALL i really mean all hunting situations (even bird hunt at night if someone do that) cause you simply can adjust fov/light intensity to current hunting situation. I can shoot on a heard of pigs on 60 meters and set it much WIDER than you can set your C8 reflector light and have much cleaner targets at that distance than you with your C8 plus I can shoot up large distances as well when zoomed in.

But most of the time since I have my scope set at 6X mag like you do I really don’t have any need to zoom out… Light is always zoomed in cause it perfectly covers scope fov on 6X magnification. Everything I see at 6x magnification of mine scope FOV goes down(if I hit it of course :) ). But If I will ever have an opportunity to use AR with aimpoint red dot on pigs( God Bless USA :smiley: , but hope you know that kind of guns/hunt is forbidden in most parts of the world) I will certainly set my zoomie to widest possible beam and do the drill :) .

Zoomie rig is more covert than any reflector light cause there is no spill coming out of the light and reflecting from nearby grass, branches, barrel moderator…

Watch some vids and you’ll see that these thermal hunters are not zoomed in. We have to see the whole field at once. “Zoomed thermal”?
What do you mean? I don’t get you here… Whole point of thermal night vision rifle scopes is that they don’t have to use IR light. And if you like thermal scopes without magnification??? That is ok but it is surely better to have thermal rifle scope with variable magnification to cover all hunting situations. I would personally prefer thermal spotter and night vision device on rifle.

IR light? Only host for good and ultimate IR lights are zoomies nowdays. There is no other host option for high power VCSEL laser illuminators. It can’t be fitted to reflector lights. And it can cover any hunting situation. If you want you can have wide FOV to shoot on all heard of zombies up to 50 meters or you can shoot coyote on 500 meters…

You will see that one day only zooming light will prevail… I can bet on that :beer:

583

Does anyone know the throw numbers for Jaxman Z1 variants?

584

As I said, we will just have to disagree… I know what works in the field.

I do not have time to “dial in the zoom” during my hunts and spill (with a white light) doesn’t matter pig hunting- it helps greatly to find the NEXT pig actually. When you turn on the light, you shoot the first pig (at 50 or 250 yards) within 2-3 seconds, then track one or two more as they scatter. I explained also that you can NOT hit a running animal zoomed in. You have to see them when running like hell— and see in front of them to place the lead on the shot.

I think you are also missing the larger point I am making: Thermal is thousands of dollars and bulky. It’s a tool for the rich to do what I have done for 40 years with one light (used to be the lights of the jeep or a hand held spot light until these LED lights got good).

So for hunting… with enough spill AND throw you see the field WIDE and DEEP. And that does the job better than something I have to think about (and adjust).

Zooming lights have a place, and as I agreed… coyote hunting at long distances they are great. As this isn’t a hunting forum I’ll stop there and just say that in any scenario what will “prevail” is what does the job well and I have explained why I would not use a zoom light (or other higher dollar thermal, IR, etc.) for pig hunting.

’Nuff said I hope :wink:

585

My botanist/naturalist friends hate (and shoot) pigs, they’re so destuctive of native plants.
The bacon is an extra benefit to the conservation.

But they can’t keep up with the hobbyist pig hunters who keep bringing pigs in and releasing them into wildland areas.

586

Hank…

There is a place for the mass slaughter of pigs when they just get too thick on the land. I said I don’t hunt them for sport and part of that reason is because the lands I do hunt have them under control. In other places, if a rancher asked for help with a “big pig” problem, I will kill more then I can eat. But I still try to get the meat to a source that can use it.

15 years ago when we dropped about 15 pigs in a night on a ranch in S. Texas (for a week), I called the neighbors and invited them to come over with a “sharp” knife. We got a lot of the meat to people who could use it. Waste not, want not.

Also, if you have a pig problem, the BEST way to do it IS USE night vision— go in with plenty of fire power (for mama pig) and take out the litter when they are young and still in the brood. Just find the eyes and use a shot gun with #1 Heavy Shot (special tungsten shot).

I once got a letter from the state of New Mexico Dept. of Wildlife allowing me to “eradicate” any and all pigs I find in the BLM and Forest Service managed lands— that was 22 years ago and I still have that letter. I did see sign a few times, but never found one when deer, oryx, or elk hunting there (which I try to do often ;).

OK, I keep forgetting this is a LIGHT forum :blush:

587

NOt sure if this was posted before: Anekim UC50.
It seems to be a push pull zoomie, tail switch and changeable pills/leds.
Link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000181640511.html

588

Still search for AA/14500 zoom host with retainer ring for hold Led mcpcb instead of the classic piece of plastic press fit

589

Just use thermal epoxy + black sharpie and dont even bother using the ring

590

Think will be difficult swap Led once is fixed with epoxy.Do you know a good small host with solid pill and tail switch not press fit?

591

Oh no… Not nuff said :laughing: :+1:

Yes I agree for thermals. You don’t really need that for successful hunting. But modern digital night vision devices(around 500:money_mouth_face: are well worth the money. Cost much less than premium classic glass riflescopes (Zeiss, Swarovski etc…) and you have all in one rig for day/night shooting - recording everything you do(sometimes this is good cause you see why you missed something.

Now about this: “with enough spill AND throw you see the field WIDE and DEEP”.

Hmm… :face_with_monocle:
I have a whole lot of 200 - 350 KCD 1x18650 tube modded reflector lights at home and mine experiences are following:

When you turn on reflector LED light, our(human) adaptive night vision is instantly killed by spill light that is reflecting from grass, ground, and other objects like barrel, car hood etc.
Our pupil of the eye narrows and we see less. The brighter the environment is, the narrower is the pupil of the eye, so there’s a reduction in light that hits the fundus.

Aspherical type of beam has sharp borders, so there is better contrast between illuminated area and dark area. The enhanced contrast lets us to perceive objects/persons/things better. 300 kcd reflector vs 300kcd Aspheric. There is no doubt at all that you see further in a night with aspheric because everything mentioned.

USEFUL SIDE SPILL IN REFLECTOR FLASHLIGHTS (spill imho is just halo effect from reflector light) So what do we have with that Halo effect of reflector light beam?

- Spill/reflector halo effect messes with our adaptive night vision. Our pupil of the eye narrows and wee see less.

- We are spooking and give away our position to anyone around such light(yourself, other people, animals)

- In summer days we are attracting more bugs to your position

  • There is no possibility of beam adjustment so it has too much light and to narrow beam on short distances (when used with super thrower emitters with intensity of lets say 200-400 and more KCD).

Why you are explaining that we can’t hit running animal once when zoomed in? That is not true! True is that you got to speak for yourself so… You can’t hit it! :laughing: But I know that is not the true :innocent: since you can hit it but “you can’t” since you did not even try it. :laughing: And you know 350kcd zoomie throws 1 mile and it can be set to throw up to 250 meters with 5-10x hotspot size than reflector…
But ok I see you are old school hunter. Why change something that works? But you will eventually. You’ll see… Just a matter of time. :+1:

592

These large diameter ultra narrow TIR might be a good compromise between both hunting styles.

I agree often spill is as bad as it is good. On a white “bay” boat in fog before sunrise spill absolutely made it painful with reflections from deck. This boat hull is at or below water line so i am not tall enough to escape spill. Maybe from higher vantage point it would be minimal problem but as is that was a poor example to show off my awesome lights. Lol

593

Except a little problem… It does not have 1” body… Yes I know it can be fitted with some 30mm non adjustable, non magnetic mounts, but standard for hunting light is 1” tube because of various types of mounting system for them. So dear China sellers you are just driving me mad when you make good looking light and you actually declare it as hunting light like this one above but you don’t think on elementary thing and standards now-days… OK. They don’t hunt (well some of them probably hunt some small beasts like rats and bats). Same goes for Simon Convoy zoomie… I don’t want them even for free until they switch to 1” tube.

594

On The Road i5: “Unboxing Video + Written Review”: On The Road i5 - Zoomable – 1x18650 – 1100 lumens – USB-C Charging

Store: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001335585730.html

Similar in some things to the Z821, but with USB-C charging!

595

I was thinking about ordering this Skywolfeye E527 for my niece.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32732619540.html

According to this old thread on CPF, it's modes are High/Low/Strobe, but it has mode memory!

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?428628-ROUNDUP-Review-Lensed-Zoomable-14500-AA-Cheap-Flashlights

After reading what everyone thinks of Skywolfeye in this (BLF) thread, I don't know if I want to order this el cheapo flashlight.

By the way, the flashlight is available from other sellers on AliExpress and eBay, but the AE link I provided is the cheapest I can find, and that store on AE doesn't have very good feedback, but that doesn't bother me too much.

I am worried, however, about the build quality of the Skywolfeye E527.

(Apparently they don't make flashlights very well.)

596

I got a couple similar cheapo zoomies, but 18650 tube size. There was one cheapo, think the model name was ZB-006, I liked to mod. Expect no shelf - I made one out of copper, then used a de-domed XP-G2 at the time:

Expect very thin alum housing, rough sharp threads, a cheap press-fit button. This is all stuff par for the course. It is really cheap - $2.63 shipped.

Similar to the light we called the slim AA zoomie:

597

I've already got a couple of those, and my niece likes that one.

They were good for the price, but the price has increased quite a bit.

...

I'll ask my niece if she even wants the Skywolfeye E527, and if so, I'll order it.

598

A new warsun zoomie:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001844704781.html

599

Nicron Mini zoomable, AA/14500:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001889112880.html

High-Mid-Low
Push-pull

600

Anyone mention the Sofirn S11Cs, or the WDT zoomies on Amazon for 2fitty each (now 6bux each)?

If not, well, them. :laughing:

601

New 26650 zoomie, SupFire X60-T:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001843721639.html

Another zoomie / lantern combo. Too many functions (magnet, red light, …) but I kinda like it:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33038302899.html

18650 tail clicky, Laserspeed IS1000T. I don’t know what makes lasers faster than flashlights…maybe they are more stramlined so when you throw one it flies faster.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000307499562.html