Been researching flashlights for boating for a couple of weeks now but he shear amount of flashlights on the market is mind-boggling. I have a few practical needs out of a thrower for boating use. This light wouldn’t be used very often and usually for short lengths at a time ( 15-20 min). Spending a small fortune on sparse use wouldn’t seem useful. LEP too costly and pencil beams unnecessary.
Throw - sustainable beam with usefulness of a couple hundred meters for spotting buoys and other obstacles in boat path. Brief need of father throw (500 meters or more) for reflective marker spotting. Don’t need 1.5 km+ throw.
Runtime - I’d say at least an hour of usable beam strength of a couple hundred meters in the rare case of being a bit far from home. Farther throw time is momentary.
Build - used in marine environment so some water spray/splash expected.
Size - holding a light in your hand at shoulder height for extended period of time can be tiring. I think around the size of the Catapult V6 or so would be as big as I’d like. The massive cannons are not what I’m looking for right now.
Beam spill - this is an importanat factor to be considered in boating use. To much beam spill reflection from deck affects night vision so keeping spill down is important. zoomie an option
Color - NW is preferred (helps with bad weather)
Budget - $100 if it can be helped
Any common battery type is fine with me, runtime being a concern is to be considered.
Some lights that interest me:
Acebeam E10 - compact, nice throw and low beam spill. Runtime? No lanyard attachment. Budget friendly
Acebeam L17 - similar to E10. Runtime? Budget friendly
Thrunite Catapult V6 - Good throw but light spill might be issue?. On sale at Thrunite for $62 free shipping.
Brinyte T18 Artemis - Adjustable zoom very handy for different throw length uses. Very bright throw. Low spill. Over budget.
Noctigon K1 with W1 - Awesome throw and maybe runtime. Spill?
Heard from an avid night boater on his choices for lights. His collection is a bit dated but extensive. For smaller lights he likes Fenix TK32, HT18 and Nitecore P30.
His YouTube video of boating lights: https://youtu.be/jyBu-l37re0
Derrelight NM800-4S very popular amongst boaters. They swear by the aspheric lens usefulness out on the water.
Marinebeam Ultra Long Range is another thrown around among boaters
I’ve asked this question on r/flashlight. I’d like the suggestions or advice of some of the users on this forum.