Hey Guys,
I’m looking for a thrower to use in SAR operations.
Currently I’m quite happy with convoy flashlights.
Has someone of you compared the L6 and the L21A?
regards,
cwood
What kind of SAR? Are you on foot, in a boat, a car, a helicopter?
Do you have a budget?
If not on foot, then maybe something like this would be useful:
Or a bit more compact:
The L21A is a nice budget coat pocket sized thrower. But a lot less range than the ones above. Also with the Osram W1 or W2 LEDs the beam is quite narrow. So while you can light stuff up a long way off, you’d need to wave it about a lot to cover any kind of area.
More money, but the SBT.90 equipped K1 might be better overall than the L21A. Although I’m not sure on run times. I guess a spare battery would work though.
I’m on foot as a dog handler looking for missing people.
My budget is about $100,- for flashlight, batteries and charger.
I’m looking for a flashlight with a tight beam and only a verry light spill. Thats why I’m interested in the L6 and L21A.
For a narrow range I’ve got the C8+.
My desired battery life is about 1 hour on high.
To be fair, the K1 SBT.90 has realy realy nice beamshots.
I like the L21A. But it isn’t that the beam is tightly focused. It is that it is also quite small too. Maybe this is what you’d be after. But you are covering less ground with a small hot spot. I haven’t done S&R, but I’d have thought covering more ground than less would be beneficial.
On the flip side, as the W2 isn’t a lumen monster, it does mean it holds it output and distance very well. I think in some cases the high lumen lights, kind of muscle their way to big beam distances, but only when they are cranked up. Drop the lumens and they loose the distance quickly. While something like the small Osram LEDs will still throw really well even when ramped down onto lower modes.
This was my take on it:
Not that I’d suggest an FT03 XHP50.2, but here is my comparison. My train of thought is, even at these relatively close ranges, scanning the field I could easily miss a person with the L21A, but it would be almost impossible to do so with the FT03.
The FT03 can be had with the SBT.90 for less than the K1. But I have no idea on runtimes or heat when they are producing the beam distance. For under $100 including batteries and charger. The L21A is likely to have the most throw for your money.
Convoy L21A is great but the C8 with osram W1 is not far behind it on throw. The S11 with osram and 8A is also a great thrower with a slightly wider beam. I mostly carry the Emisar D1 as it’s small and throws well, the KR1 might be a good shout.
I have an older Convoy C8 that I put the W1 in and the 5amp Convoy driver. I measure 93,000cd on my rig at home vs 300,000cd for the L21A with the W2 HX. My W2 KR1 does over 94,000cd on the same rig.
I admit the C8 has an OP reflector, as that was all I had. A SMO should make it throw more, but it won’t be doubling the cd I’m sure.
I might be completely wrong as I never went on such a mission, but the first light that comes to my mind is the Olight R50. It’s only about 300m throw (means 100m usable beam distance at most), but has a very broad spill, allowing for a good overview. I believe it’s the king in the forest and on small fields.
If you’d invite me on a SAR mission, I’d take it with me along with a SST40 FT03 for really long range.
Unfortunately, the R50 is no longer available and has no successor with its characteristics.
acebeam k75
I do fancy a KR1. I’ve got the C8 with SMO reflector and side by side with the L21A to my eyes the C8 doesn’t lack much. It’s a good bit smaller and lighter though.
To geht this clear, i don’t need the flashlight to search for people, thats what my dog is for.
I need it to watch, what my dog is doing. 
In my experience a flashlight with an op reflector or at least a bright spill is quite counterproductive in an woodland environmand, what is common in Austria. You’ll get so many bright reflections from trees an leaves, that you won’t see very far.
Some of your suggestions are quite interesting, especially the one with built in USB-C charging. But the ones like the acebeam k75 are to large an heavy.
If size is a factor and you have to carry it in your backpack and hike, I would consider the Catapult V6.
It offers great throw, with a good sized spill. Its very compact and the 26650 single battery offers very good capacity.
Cheap C8 w1 is fine for you, better M21A w2. And you can try putting a tube on the head to dismiss spill
For that same reason you don’t want anything that is cold white. It lights up and reflects back everything between you and what you’re trying to see beyond those objects. Nothing over 5000k and lower if you can find it.
I already got an convoy s2, M1 and C8, but I do want something even mor throwing.
Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.
For around $100, I like the Acebeam L18 or slightly more money L19. They have buck drivers for long, linear runtime with constant output, dual switches, and both throw over 800 m with minimal spill due to the optics. If you can swing the L19, I tested this light to throw 1300 meters and the L18 to throw 900 meters. It’s Acebeam so high quality lights with charging built into the batteries.
How about a Noctigon K1? Don”t know if its the right size for you. Throws very well with minimal spill.
If you don’t want blowback from too much spill reflecting off stuff right near you, go with a LEP. Pricier, but zero spill.
Or try a big zoomie like a Jaxman Z1. Don’t think Brynite still sells the venerable B158, but they do carry the Artemis (white/red/green in one, selectable on the fly).
I got a Cometa, a “cheaper” version (lesser-quality lens, for one) of the original Z1, and Mr Jax has an updated Z1 which is brighter, etc.
After thinking about it some more I suspect that most of what you’re interpreting as a spill problem already is a cold white problem that you’re dealing with. And many/most/all? of these new fancy schmancy throwing lights are cold white. Not good with a lot of trees and bushes around. You’ll notice that people pick their spots for beam shots that don’t look anything like where you have to see your dog.
C8 w1? It throws 850 meter easily
I have a K1 in the 90.2 and it’s prob my overall favorite light. But depending on how long you need to run it, it may not fit your needs. It is fairly compact and puts out a ton of light. I’ve got a ton of lights that don’t see more then 2 min of use on turbo. Mostly because I don’t need them that long, but also they are hotrods like the K1 on turbo will overheat if ran that long. Both the heatsinking and the battery reserve are really inadequate for any high output useage. If I am going to be using a light on high or turbo for extended amounts of time I’d grab a Thrunite TN40s. With this light I have no worries running it on the highest setting for any duration. The light is smaller than you might think. With 4 18650s I pulled this from their posting
Strobe(1100 lumens /9hrs),
Turbo(4450 lumens/85mins),
High(1780 lumens /2.7hrs),
Medium(580 lumens /9.5hrs),
Low(90 lumens /2.5days),
Firefly (1.2 lumens /57days).
Peak beam intensity: 331200cd.
Max beam distance: 1151m.
vs
K1
SBT90.2 LED, 5700K, 4500lm, Lux: 420Kcd (420,000cd)