Help Needed Choosing a light and battery with charger

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for helping find a new light.

I’m new to the forum and New to the flash light scene but I do enjoy them.

I work as a arcade tech and carnival ride maintenance and my current flashlight just died.

I had this exact one
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12W-2000Lm-UltraFire-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Zoomable-Flashlight-Torch-26650-Charger-/281194794082?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item4178840c62

I’m looking to upgrade to a better one any help would be nice.

Things I liked about my old light
Size and Weight / long battery life / I enjoy Flood more than throw

Cons
Bad click on off switch / would flicker if dropped or shaken /

Current budget is set at $30-$40 including battery and I would need the items asap or no more than 2 weeks

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=110

http://www.mtnelectronics.com/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=138

This is a top of the line C8 flashlight. It’s small yet very bright. It’s durable and this is one of the best suppliers around, he is in the US and ships very fast. The batteries are very high quality. You might go over your budget by a little but this is a high quality light that is well worth it.

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1601/10002364/1195010-convoy-s2-cree-xm-l-u2-1b-2-group-3-5-mode-edc

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1420/10002357/1170800-authentic-samsung-icr18650-26f-18650-3-7v-2600mah

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1421/10000856/1073301-trustfire-tr-001-multi-purpose-lithium-battery

Thank you for that great flashlight suggestion, I think this one might be it for me. I’m gonna need the light, 2 batteries and a charger so its about $60 not including shipping so I’m gonna put this on my wish list.

I’m gonna wait and see if anyone might find one that’s almost as good for the budget if have, if not I’m gonna get this setup.

thanks again.

About $35 since you already have a charger

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1601/10002364/1212405

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001980/1141100-panasonic-ncr18650b-rechargeable-3400mah-3-7v

Or $30 if you want to save a few bucks with lower battery life

http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001901/1136603-authentic-sanyo-ur18650fm-18650-2600mah-3-7v

Keep in mind the heat generated on high will be a bit much, but think of it as a manual turbo, and heat build up faster if you tailstand a light vs in hand use

$40 for a Flashlight, 2 batteries, and a charger.

That is going to be quite difficult to achieve and acquire quality items. Next to impossible if you want them within 2 weeks. You may want to save up and increase the available budget, or increase the amount of time in which you wish to receive them after ordering. USA shops are going to be a bit more expensive, but you’ll get the items within a week. Asian shops are going to be less expensive, but the shipping time could be anywhere from a week to 7+ weeks, depending on specific vendor and their shipping method.

I would suggest avoiding using the battery charger that came in the bundle you purchased. It may be a decent charger, or it may be a piece of junk that will cause a potentially deadly explosion in the near future. To be on the safe side, set it aside and buy a charger of known good-quality with the proper charging method and safe charge cutoffs. The risk is not worth saving the $8-15 it costs to get a good charger.

And I implore you to chuck that ultrafire battery in the trash ASAP. Absolutely not worth the risk for the $5-10 in savings.

10+ everything unknown00101 said.
Ultrafire / _any_fire batteries are often counterfeit, poor quality, can be dangerous. Flashlight kits on ebay that include a battery & charger send the cheapest battery & charger they can get. They are often dangerous straight up. Seen several reports of the chargers dying or blowing up.

I recommend Starry Light SA-22 $24.99 - 880 Lumens, 4x AA, cree XM-L2. USA seller so you can get it quick. You can use alkaline AAs until you get ni-mh rechargables.

In li-ion only get batteries with quality protection. Panasonic NCR18650PF Protected (usa) Imho others should really not be suggesting unprotected li-ion. Mtnelectronics is run by RMM (Richard). Ships fast. Answers questions / provides suggestions on his blf sales thread. Just check that your light isn’t known to stupidly have problems fitting protected batteries. In that case IMR / Li-mn batteries would fit, they are ok unprotected. Panasonic CGR18650CH is IMR. Likely the same battery relabeled with a button top. I’d go button top.

Isn’t every battery linked unprotected, don’t you think he should be buying protected since he’s kind of new. Maybe all of the lights linked have drivers that stop at low voltage. The XinTD and Convoy are both great quality lights for the money. You will need to order from a USA company it you need it in 2 weeks or less so Fasttech is out.

Maybe a Convoy C8 from Banggood? Seems like they ship pretty fast in the US (US warehouse I guess).

At Banggood you should also be able to find some cheap (but good) protected panasonic (or other brand) batteries and a deasant charger within budget.

When ordering with any of these vendors don’t forget to checkout the commercial sellers part of this forum for coupon/discount codes.

Imho nearly everyone should get protected. Very little reason not to. Li-ions were never meant by battery manufacturers to be sold or used unprotected.

From this thread. Overdischarge protection is very important too but was talking about flashlights which had that in the driver.

Only those that want to push more amps then the overcurrent protection allows & want to risk it for the extra capacity over IMR should really be using unprotected. Need to be very experienced, knowledgeable & practice extra safety precautions. Without protection you can do internal damage making them dangerous.

Before RMM brought us his evva seiko protected panasoncs, quality protection was excessively expensive. $13-14 for one keeppower 3400? $4 extra per battery just for their name? $17 Orbtronic, $20 Xtar, $21 RediLast, $25 nitecore. All the same NCR18650B cell. At $9.75 for evva, little need to get mystery protection or unprotected anymore. Wallbuys had keeppower 3400s for $9.60 but they have raised it now. If you have family you live with, even more reason to want quality protection.

IMR / Li-mn are ok unprotected. Takes higher temperature to reach thermal runaway, aka “vent with flame” (or explosion if inside flashlight). IMR / Li-Mn 250°C vs li-ion 150°C. Doesn’t happen very often but that doesn’t help the people it does happen to. Even major brand name mobile phones & laptops with li-ions that would include quality protection have burned.

I was thinking Convoy C8 as well, but he mentioned flood>throw.

I find for close range applications like OP is involved with that a thrower beam can get kind of annoying after a while, even with an OP reflector.

I was thinking more along the lines of sticking with a zoomie for the smooth and even beam.

SK-98 Zoomie 18650
Nitecore i2 Charger

Ordering from FastTech I’ve had the vast majority of orders arrive in less than 2 weeks. Many within 8 days. Make certain to select the following shipping method “USPS First-Class via Hong Kong Post FREE (8 to 14 working days in transit typical)”. Just note that you may not have the same results as me.

Now the batteries… Definitely go with Protected.
Panasonic 3400mAh NCR18650B Protected
Edit: RMM said they’re due to arrive tuesday.

$23.28 [Flashlight & Charger] (Use Coupon at FastTech, enter when you open the cart click “have a coupon code?”, Coupon Code: BLF)
$20.89 [2x 18650]
_
$44.17 Total (Includes shipping costs).

To me keeppower charges too much for their name unless you find them on sale. Since RMM’s evva 3400 is out of stock Panasonic NCR18650PF Protected 2900mAh $8.75 seems to be the next best deal for seiko protection (same as evva 3400s) if you don’t want to wait.

Evva protection teardown & comparison with keeppower same seiko IC and 3 x AO8814 MOSFETs vs 2 for kp. Makes keeppower feel like a ripoff to me.

~ edit ~
RMM just posted that 3400s should be there Tuesday the 14th.

I suggest you use a cheapie AA torch for a while, and figure out what you need to spend to get a few good batteries (I guess 18650s) and an appropriate charger - and then find a flashlight that will serve your purposes.

You budget at the moment will cover a few good batteries and a charger, or a good flashlight - but you would be doing well to get both.

http://illuminationsupply.com/other-brands-c-28_98/starry-light-sa22-880-lumens-4-x-aa-p-901.html
http://illuminationsupply.com/chargers-c-48_51/nitecore-intellicharge-i2-p-448.html
http://illuminationsupply.com/chargers-c-48_51/nitecore-intellicharge-i4-p-225.html
http://illuminationsupply.com/convoy-c-28_92/convoy-s2-xml2-t6-neutral-white-18650-p-653.html
http://illuminationsupply.com/convoy-c-28_92/convoy-m1-xml2-t6-neutral-white-18650-p-662.html
http://illuminationsupply.com/batteries-c-48_50/18650-keeppower-2600mah-samsung-icr1865026f-protected-button-top-p-833.html

First is able to run on any AA batteries. very good price on two nitecore chargers that can be used for NiMH or lithium so if you decide on different battery chemistry this will be useful as you will only need one charger for what ever chemistry you choose. The convoy lights are a good light in the 18650 format, and a quality protected 18650 for good price. Good prices and fast shipping from quality vendor.

Choose link 2, 4, and 6 in the listing above and with shipping you are just a little over $40 and you will get it in a few days.

The only thing i am not liking about the s2 is that it overheats too quickly, the M1 is a bit better at handling heat

$57.18 with shipping. (2 batteries, shipping is very high $9, and the charger is on backorder). :frowning:

I was going with one battery and didn’t know the charger was out of stock. Have bought 2 headlamps from IS and the shipping was only about 3 dollars for me and I’m on the east coast. Buy these , sell the other 3 for $7 each to make your money back and you can use that until you save a little more money.

They want $9 for shipping to me in the midwest; checked a random zipcode in California, showing $6.

I think the SK68 14500/AA, though a great light, wouldn’t have enough run-time.

Have you considered repairing your current light, likely its one of three problems, the switch, LED or circuitry, and all are replaceable