1000 lumen LED flashlight with beam focus $10?

Hi guys, my dad just bought a 300 lumen Cree Q5 flashlight from tomtop for $7, and the beam can be focused.

I am looking for a similar flashlight, around 1000 lumens (the inflated china specs, not a true 1000 lumens spec) with a beam focus feature.

I found the Ultrafire 501b, which has a T6 with 1000lumens (obviously is not a true 1000 lumens but its much brighter than a 300) but it doesn’t focus the beam.

Is there any flashlight with the above features and $10 and below (shipping included)?

sorry repost, mods pls delete, internet being retarded

you can delete your own posts

Hi.

You honestly may not like an XM-L zoomie (I’m assuming you are referring to zoomies) because the die is larger than Q5 and it doesn’t look much brighter. But there are lots on ebay (like the CANSO, which I have), although not any under $10 I know of.

I’m a noob at flashlights, I’m not sure if zoom is different from adjustable focus. What I’m looking for is to restrict the beam to a small spot so it can shine far, or to let the light flood a wide area, kind of like a light bulb.

This is the flashlight my dad has, If the zoom (or adjustable focus) is like that, I don’t mind. The bulb produces a very wierdly shaped beam, something like a square, which I’m totally fine with.
Youtube - Mini Cree 300lm

This Small Sun ZY-C10 is said to be one of the brighter/better zooming flood-to-throw lights available but it's above your $$$ limit at $14.33. I doubt you will be able to find a decent XM-L zoomie at your price range...

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/small-sun-zyc10s-cree-q5-3mode-floodtothrow-led-flashlight-black-18650-p-8459

The Sipik SK-68 (maybe what your dad has?) is probably the best/cheapest zoomie you will be able to find at that price point...

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/sipik-sk68-floodtothrow-zooming-cree-q4-convex-lens-led-flashlight-black-1aa-p-5821

...and it runs on AA cells so you don't have to buy a charger and Li-ion cells. It's much brighter on 14500 though so it's worth the extra expense.

I see the ZY-C10 uses a Q5 as the emitter, how many lumens is it? Or is lumens another overrated feature just like megapixels on a camera?
Also I was under the impression that Q5>Q4>Q3, so would the Sipik be worse than the Q5 Cree that my dad bought?

Ultrafire 800lm

It seems this one can zoom, its 800lm and $10, the pictures indicate that its zoomable because the head moves in and out. Would pictures indicating a moving head be enough to assume that the flashlight zooms?

That looks like the SK98 style light - I didn’t read back through the reviews (example below), but I don’t remember them being all that. That’s part of why I want to try one where the head screws in instead of holding in the heat.

I have a zoomie similar (perhaps identical) to the sipik 98. I find the zoom hopeless because what zooming in a xml-light mainly does is blocking about half of the light with the hotspot (the lukewarm spot I would call it) of the beam only getting a littlebit brighter than in flood modus. A xre-light (like the Sipik 68) does a much better job.

Not exactly the same since it’s a measure of light and light is the point. It’s deceiving though. At the emitter lumens (usually rounded up) have less to do with output out the front of a zoomable light than one with a reflector. Only light that comes out of the emitter at an angle to hit the lens escape the head. The XM-L has a much broader angle of output than an XR-E so less of it hits the lens and makes it out to where you can see.

Thanks for the reply guys, does the Q5 zoom the same way as an XML T6? I don’t think so, because the light actually gets brighter when you focus it.

I think I’ll get this one:
1300lm Ultrafire Zoomable

It can zoom, says 1300lm, so it should be maybe a true value of 800lm??? Which is good enough for me.

EDIT: Oh crap, I didn’t know these won’t take normal AAs, because my dad’s does, its just darker, what is the brightest flashlight that will take normal AAs below $10?

In addition, will all flashlights on aliexpress that state 7W 300lm Q5 have exactly the same output? Or will they be different as well?

They will vary on watts and brightness.

An ~1.5v AA will probably be 150-180 lumens. If it will take a ~3.6v 14500 lithium (which is AA sized) then it may hit 300 . . but that will only be in a good sample. There is a thread on the SK68 clones where several draw measurements were reported and only like 2 of 7-10 samples hit 7W. A lot of them run about 5W with high volt lithium and 3W with a single AA.

If you want bright, I’d look for a 3 - preferably 4 AA light with XML. Sorry, I don’t have any recommendations for those, but you might want to check out the most popular lights in this post.

With 1xAA, 150 lumen may be the best you can find.

This one claims 130-lumen and used to be the best IMO for 1xAA (but it may no longer stock):
http://dx.com/p/torch-light-c78-flood-to-throw-zooming-cree-q3-wc-130-lumen-led-flashlight-1-aa-29095

Think this is the best currently available in its class (Highly doubt 300-lumen):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B009NAE3YM

[EDIT]
Here’s the BLF review of the TomTop:

A little more info for you. Don’t get hung up on lumens, it’s a bit like torque on an engine. More is usually good but it doesn’t always mean the best.

Lumens is the amount of light but doesn’t tell you anything about what it does with it. As a rule a smaller LED will throw the light further even with a lot less lumens.

The surface brightness of the LED also plays a large part in this. So a Q5 (which is likely an XR-E emitter and more like 100-200 lumens) can throw very far. Further than most 600 lumen XM-L’s can.

The Trusfire Z8 is a nice compact zoom light but only runs on 14500 batteries not AA’s. But the old Sk68 with the XR-E will throw further.

But maybe the best way to learn is to buy a few so you can see the differences first hand. But the key point to take is lumens are not the be all and end all.

E.g. A 70’s Trans Am has way more torque than a modern Ferrari. But a modern Ferrari still makes 2 1/2 times more HP.

11 USD at Manafont.com, <12 USD at DX.com. It is a small 1x18650 powered XM-L T6 zoom to throw flashlight. DX claims about 510 lumens which is probably close to correct. Manafont claims much more, but no way you’re going to get that many lumens from a mediocre heat-sinked XML T6 LED. That’s as close as I have seen for any XM-L T6 or better flashlight.

Interesting thought on the lower luman out put than listed. Im tempted to belive the claim only because i recently got a solarstorm D00 diving light tha i belive claimed a 1000 also. it was like 30 with a farther beam range but over laping the beams on a wall i can see both mainly because the spectrum of the cree light is really violet hughed compairitively. I guess i wonder if that spectrum change affects total luman

Hi, Luap. Why not make an introductory post and tell us about yourself and your journey toward illumination?

To answer your question, the eye can be a bad judge of lumens. And believe it or not, the “eye burn” wall test is not very accurate, either. Tint has and does matter, but it is different than lumen output and may only make a significant difference when it comes to visibility of light to us, not the more precise machines that take these measurements.

Please don’t necro old posts like this. That was a 2012 post you bumped. I am pretty sure they havent been waiting a year and a half for your 2 cents on the matter…

Threads like this are a good learning tool for a new guy like me that would have never otherwise have seen it.