Hi all I know I have asked this question before: but I personally got to talk to fire chief And hot go over exactly what he was looking for in a light to fit his department he liked the throw/spill combo of C8 but as mentioned in earlier posts he finally narrowed his preferred power source to AA or AAA s. He’s looking to order about 30+/- and of of course reliability for search and rescue so ony serious feed back would be welcome .I was wondering myself if the Fandyfire rooke would fit the bill but I think you longer flashaholics would point me to a better light
Nitecore EA4 or EA8?
The Rook looks nice but is said to perform poorly from AA cells and really needs 14500s to shine. I don't have one though to provide first-hand information...
I think the or turbobb reviewed some lights designed for firefighters, they have some specific requirements that our lights dont match up to.
Here’s the reviews
its to do with the health and safety aspects of the job.
personally, I wouldn’t wish to put 30 or so orders worth of business nitecores way because I dont approve of their shoddy practices.
I read the foxfury write up with interest, but saw no reference to heatsinking in an all plastic light, I thought an XML might get a weeny bit hot ……
Fenix TK41 comes to my mind. It has side clicky and good throw for searching.
Jetbeam PA40 is another good C8'ish light with AAs.
I think their as bothered about heat on the outside as heat from the inside tbh….
to bad turbobb never fleshed out that review as it was of interest to me. I’ve been asked about firefighters lights, but worry I’d build them some decent 18650 lights and them take them into an inferno….
our average lights aren’t meant to cope with that ambient temp, thats my concern.
I can imagine the rubber button on the EA4 melting. :~
The fire chief really liked the compactness and throw of C-8 but hated the 18650 batteries and they would not use these for vitals or structure fires they wanted for strictly search and rescue
+1 for the Ea4
I also recommend the Fenix LD40 for throw, or ld41 for a more C8 style light.
The Pa40 would do nicely too.
Eagletac and Olight has some multi AA light choices but I have no experience with those
1 to nitecore ea4 - if you are ordering 30 you should contact nitecore directly - they might give you a discounted price
Olight make a S65 (6 x AA) and a S35 (3 x AA). Sunwayman had a 4 x AA (M40A?). EagleTac have a new 6 x AA light, the GX25L2…
The button on EA4 might melt or get damaged from wear and tear?
Also, will they be using with gloved hands so a big sturdy button is needed?
They want these lights for search and rescue only not fo r structure fires and the chief really liked the C8 for throw size and mostly price, as they are a volunteer firedepartment with no pay, they get small grants subscribers but nothing as far as financial income
This might be a long shot, but the Costco Techlite seems to address some of your wish list.
1. Dirt cheap at 3 for $20
2. 250 lumens on 3 AAA batteries with a one hour runtime
3. weather and impact resistant
4. small size. carry 2 if you need more runtime.
5. Run them on Eneloops to save battery cost
I think the EA4/EA8 is too fussy on the user interface for search/rescue work. If you have 30 copies in service, there is bound to be someone who will be befuddled by the UI. In other words, "how do I work this thing?". When you're searching for someone in the water at night, you don't need any unnecessary distractions.
my concern about these lights is the reliability in a life and death situation, and can they take high temps, lights are designed for average everyday use not extreme temps and abuse
Not sure if these lights will see much in the way of high temps (posts 9 & 14). I have one of the 200 lumen prior generation in daily light use with no issues. But I do hear what you are saying.
Thanks I am getting all the I formation, whatever seems what he likes he’ll buy oone first and see how it performs if he and the rest of team like it then hell outfit whole department with them I have at this point contacted nitecore and sunywayman and waiting to see what they have to say but I agree the user interface should be fairly strait forward maybe just two functions like high /low I dont think sos would be neede as they all have radios.
Probably something with simple UI. And something with moonlight mode most likely isn’t needed I would assume. TK41 I believe would be a good choice.