Well now, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sorry about that. I do pop in to lurk and learn though.
Just for the heck of it, I was looking at reasonably priced ($50 or less), somewhat powerful (3,000 lumens or more), flashlights with a decent throw (200 yards or more). Now my missus and I are seniors, meaning technical complexity is not our thing. We would, however, be using this light every night. We live rural and have a dog that needs to go out (don’t all dogs?). Any-who, we’re in the woods and there’s critters all over the place. Some of which aren’t so friendly. Currently we’re using a Wuben L50, 1200 lumen, 200 meter throw, one 18650 cell, it’s a good light and it works out well. However, a brighter one wouldn’t hurt either and, after all, I’m just shopping.
I was leaning towards a Sofirn C8L, however with the two switches I’m thinking we might not want to bother with the learning curve. Then I stumbled upon the Childbot Y1915C @10,000 lumens with a 3640 foot throw. It takes a
26650 Li-Ion cell or has an adaptor to run with three AA cells.
This thing sounds way to good to be true. It’s on Amazon and I can’t find a website for “Childbot”. I believe links to Amazon are frowned upon here, but if you search “Childbot Y1915C Amazon” you’ll get there. They have a lot of information on their Amazon page.
What I was wondering was does anyone own one of these lights and, if so, what do you think of it? Actually, the same holds true for the Sofirn C8L, which is probably the better quality light (I’m assuming). Also, non-owners are welcome to toss their 2¢ in.
Yeah, no. Move the decimal 2 if not 3 places to the left, and it’d be more accurate.
For throw only, the best would be a cheap LEP, and there was a W1 or something that was around 50bux. Someone else can jump in with details.
My old L2 throws like Hell, but I haven’t followed the new Convoys. Nice big reflector, compact emitter, the… L21 would be the replacement?
I’m more into flooders than throwers (more practical for me), so I’m not too well versed in the latest throwers out there.
But for seeing way far out, avoid any thrower with “usable spill”, as people call it, as you’ll be lighting up the ground in front of you to the point of washing out whatever the hotspot is lighting up way far out.
Adding Astrolux FT03 Pro to the mix, very punchy beam but not so much spill, I find it doesn’t put any light immediately in front of my feet when I’m dog walking at night.
I’ve tried to post comparison pics, pictures I’ve posted here before, but I’m getting an error message because the file is too big.
Here’s a link to the Astrolux.
I also have the Convoy M21K, it throws well and has some spill beam so I’m not tripping over rocks or roots. Definitely a better dog walking light IMO.
I’d suggest a Convoy M21F with LHP73B led and a decent battery like EVE 50PL or Tenpower 50XGor similar. Have a look at other Convoy lights as it’s the best bang for the buck on the marker with every spare part available.
Nice recommendation!
I prefer the M21E, but the two flashlights are quite similar.
I like Convoy, especially for somewhat throwy flashlights–partly because of the amazing selection of LEDs and LED tints.
@Toaster79 and everyone else, a gentleman on another forum recommended a Convoy M21F gray 21700 flashlight. LED type was SFT70 and color temp was 5000k. It looked nice but, as I said, eariler, “now my missus and I are seniors, meaning technical complexity is not our thing”. I get the light color temp somewhat but the LED type baffles me. Why so many choices and what’s the difference? Those are more of rhetorical questions. I’m sure the differences are technical.
Honestly, I find Convoy’s site a bit overwhelming. It’s got to be heaven for a flashaholic.
We will all recommend Convoy because of the unlimited choices to tailor a flashlight to our taste. This might confuse you but not knowing what exactly you expect from your flashlight, my recommendation was based on an allround flashlight that is capable of putting out enormous amount of light with a relatively wide beam. There are multiple different emitters available in multiple different colours. Smaller emitters will have tighter beam pattern meaning you will have a small circle of light lighting up stuff far away where a larger emitter will have wider spot of light but not reaching so far out. You mentioned dog walking and woods, that’s why I chose the LHP73B. It can put out ridiculous amount of light for a handheld device and light up everything from almost under your feet to at least 100 yards away with a wide beam. That’s what I prefer for the woods where throw isn’t so important. The recommended SFT70 is also a good suggestion but will have much more pronounced hotspot with a decent throw.
6500K, 5700K, 5000K, 4000K, 3000K … This is the so called CCT or simply the temperature of the light emitted by the LED going from cold white 6500K with mostly blue-ish timt to warmer temperatures like 3000K or even 2700K and 1800K. With 5000K usually the whitest and most neutral of them all, 4000K would be in the range of a halogen bulb, 3000K or 2700K like incandescent bulb and 1800K a candle. You pick your poison based on your preference. I find around 4000K the most pleasing for outdoors or even down to 3000K as the dullest colours pop out especially the browns. With coldest whites the image gets pretty monochrome.
@Toaster79 An all round flashlight that is capable of putting out enormous amount of light with a relatively wide beam would probably work best for us. Currently, our go-to light is a Wuben L50. This video shows pretty much the illumination we get. I’d just like a bit more power to illuminate out to 200 yards or so. This one works well out past 100. I can post the L50’s specs if need be.
Basically, we illuminate the yards and woods from the porch before we let her out. Then keep checking once she’s “occupied”.
This is a pretty good pic of the L50s beam shot (though I’m sure it’s enhanced a bit) and it has the basic specs on it. We also have a Wuben L60, which is “zoomable”. We don’t care for it for our needs, though it is a very good light.
Perhaps that LHP73B is the way to go. The SFT70’s pronounced hot spot is similar to the L60s when the beam is concentrated, which we don’t care for. By the time we widen the beam to more of a flood, the light seems to lose a lot of its brightness, for lack of a better term.
I’m thinking 5000K is the coldest we’d go, 4000K the warmest. Like you said, 5000K and above loses a lot of color and to our aging eyes detail as well.
BTW, thanks for the assist on the details @Toaster79 . You and all the folks here have been very helpful and patient. If I remember, I’ll try to take some pictures of both out lights in action outside. You’ll see what we see, hopefully.
@Toaster79 Gotcha, I was just wondering because I have an M21F with a 70.3 Hi in it. I’m curious if the LH35B LHP73B gives you more or less sustained lumens.
L21A
Ahh I see. That looks like the L6 head on a 21700 sized tube. I have an L6 so that’s my point of reference
Edit: I was mistaken. The styling is L6-like but the reflector must be different as it is listed as a separate product from the L6 reflectors on the Convoy website. Looks like the L21A and L21B share the same reflector though so that’s nice to know.
