I’m a total noob on this forum but also to the world of crazy awesome flashlights, so forgive me if I breach protocol here.
I’m an expat living in Germany and here in Europe, we’re being urged to prepare for blackouts this winter. All politics and personal views on energy policy aside, I’m trying to be prepared
I have a couple of small lights for edc, but I’m looking to round out my blackout preparedness kit with a “holy cow, let’s stop trying to climb this guy’s fence” flashlight.
Over the past week, I’ve been obsessively reading reviews and my budget has climbed from 30EUR (Amazon blackout special 10000000 lumen) to about 90EUR.
After all my reading, I have moved from the aforementioned Amazon specials to OLight (Baton 3, then Javelot Mini) and have now settled on either the Sofirn SP36 Pro or the Wurkkos TS30s. CRI isn’t much of a concern for me at this point (I know, I know…) since this I plan on using the light outdoors.
The two lights both cost about 90 EUR here this week.
I don’t think you would go wrong with either choice.
I have the Sofirn SP36 BLF, and it is a good torch. It will be a bit more bulky as it is more of the coke can shape with the three batteries. It’s not my go to to throw in a pocket.
I haven’t used the Wurkkos but is more a traditional shape with the single battery.
The ts30s is power hungry - I looked at this too. I can only comment on what I have - sofirn C8L and C8G. C8G is awesome and simple (no charging port). A thrower and stays pretty cool. It is economical to run. The C8L is also a thrower but a wider and brighter beam. It has a charging port, runs warmer and uses more battery. Both are 21700 powered. I like them both, my favorite is probably the C8G.
Hello and welcome. you have declared the budget of about 90 € and this is the most important point. in what kind of environment will you use the flashlight? outdoors? do you need to light up in the distance? at what distance? how long do you think it is necessary to have the flashlight on?
Thanks for the reply! I’m buying this for use outdoors in a blackout scenario. So I was thinking relatively short use times (1-2 minutes) to check out my yard during a blackout. I have cheapie edcs for normal navigation and candles and lanterns for light in my house.
I don’t know sp36, but I own TS30S and C8L.
TS30S on turbo is a monster but it heats up quickly (on turbo it takes a couple of minutes) and drains the battery very quickly. However, it is very usable even at the lowest levels.
the C8L is smaller and lighter, has a good compromise between throw and flood, is much more efficient and heats much less.
I would say that all these flashlights are fine for your use, choose the one you like best.
I like hearing that the ts30s is a monster and I keep coming back to this light. I’ve now found the acebeam L35 which also send really cool. I now understand why you guys all own so many lights.
I would perhaps consider the SP36 Pro to be too bright given the wide throw (you might blind yourself, which isn't useful) and it heats up very fast so won't hold the brightness long. (I was looking at this model also.) I'll note measured lumens at 30s is 3688.
By comparison, the Convoy M21C-U runs one CREE XHP70.2, throws 355m at 31.5K cd on one 21700 cell, has 3691 lm at 4 minutes, has a more confined throw, and costs 1/2 of your budget meaning you could buy two if you wanted and have a backup in the event something goes wrong. Using 1/3 the cells means 1/3 the quantity of spare cells to charge which is something to consider when power is intermittent.
We have regular blackouts as I’m in the country on the end of the line. One thing to consider is how long and often your blackouts could be.
Why?…. in a blackout you won’t have the ability to charge a battery from mains power for a few hours unless you have and alternative power source.
So, you have 2 other options to consider -
keep a charged set of spare batteries
and/or
buy torch/s that are power efficient and gets you many hours of normal use
For me, I’ve a couple of throwers that I use for fun and the odd time I need to light up the paddocks in the distance - Convoy L21B (very tight spot light) & Astrolux FT03
Otherwise its a good mix of flood/throw and small enough to fit in my pocket with 21700 batteries for longer run times of which there are plenty. I use a Sofirn SP35 or the HS40 headlight/handheld (18600) that both have simple UI’s (user interfaces) and have great throw/flood beams. Convoy also has some good equivalent budget options.
A key consideration for me now is how likely its use is in wet weather as an external charging port of the style above with the rubber cap is a point of failure if it’s not always fitted correctly. When its dark, wet and lots of manual handling its pretty hard to ensure its always fitted correctly. So now, I’m looking for units that don’t have a charging port specifically for wet weather use due to one that failed last week (HS40) in torrential rain.
One thing I forgot to mention is that a lot of the brands mentioned on these fora aren’t readily available here. I’m pretty much restricted to what is available through resellers on “the big river” over here. German customs (especially the very strict officers at my local branch) make getting things shipped here from china very difficult. I haven’t started exploring the German flashlight fora for tips yet, but I’ve had a lot of bad luck with customs in the past.
In any case, I haven’t found a source for convoys yet and I’ll be ordering the Ts30s.
Customs is usually not a problem if you order from a seller that supports IOSS like AliExpress or even various flashlight manufacturers directly.
I really wonder for which blackout I should prepare, haven’t heard anything about it yet. Light will be the smallest problem anyway. Any light will do in that case as long as it is charged and available when you need it.
Hey man, thanks for the tip on customs. I’ve probably ordered from the wrong sellers then: good to know!
Have you really not heard anything about the blackouts? I think it’s a lot less likely with Scholz’s decision to keep the nuclear power plants running and now that we’ve had some rain and the Rhine level is higher. I was pretty ok with ignoring it but my wife started to get nervous and a lot of her friends were talking about their emergency preparations, so I got to start preparing as well which I have used as a great opportunity to buy some things I’ve always wanted like a really cool flashlight.
That’s one thing about flashlights. They’re great to have in an emergency and for a myriad of other uses too.
I wouldn’t be obsessed with long range throw, in this consideration. You’re probably going to do fine with about 200 meters distance. You do want adequate spill.
The key thing for blackouts is the power. You want a mix of different cells. I would invest in a multi-AA flashlight that can use NiMH cells (or even alkaline in a pinch). Those are quick to charge, plentiful, and not expensive. I have an old Nitecore EA4 Pioneer. 4xAA. Very reliable, excellent throw and spill. The tint is rather cool, but I don’t care so much about that as a backup flashlight.
It’s also good to have some flashlights that support 18650 cells. Those take less time to charge than larger ones (21700, 26650). And they’re very easy to source. More than half of my 18650 cell inventory is from laptop pulls. Granted, they’re not high performance on amperage, but frankly I’ve used them in some pocket-rockets like the Lumintop FW3A and they work fairly well. While it’s useful to have a flashlight with charging capability, get yourself a USB type charger that can handle NiMH and Liion. Don’t get one that uses an external AC adapter—USB is far more versatile (you can even charge off your car’s power outlets).
Anyway, as you can see the range of flashlight choices is enormous. I would opt to get two flashlights that cost less instead of one that’s 90 EUR… but I wouldn’t go so cheap as to get those “million lumens” Amazon specials (they’re junk). PLUS, it might not be a bad idea to check local listings for used flashlights.