Favorite lights of all time, what are yours?

Off-topic Chatter
1

After modding lights for years now, I got to thinking of which light or lights I favor over all others.

First and Foremost would be a modded Maglite 1D. I will always love Maglites and modding them. The short body and versatility will always make a great light. Floody or thrower, or multiple led. 32650, 26650, 18650, multiple 14500 or multiple AA. It's my all time fav.

The rest?

Well, I really love the Fandyfire S3. With an XM-L2 on copper, a 3 amp nanjg driver, I could carry that thing everywhere.

For a multiple emitter light I will still take the Fandyfire UV-S5 over any other SRK light. Modded with resistor changes and XM-L2 leds on copper stars, it's a great light!

For a thrower? Well, I don't really like them, but if I had to pick one, it would be the Fandyfire HD2010 with an XM-L2 on copper and a copper pill, a 4 amp nanjg driver and a Sony 26650 in it. 60k lux at one meter is good enough for me.

For a multiple AA light? The Trustfire TR-A9 with an XM-L2 and 4 amp nanjg again and a DrJones ramping program in it. Great 4xAA light.

For a small carry? The Thrunite T10. Tough little light and it puts out a good amount of light with a NW XP-G2 or Nichia 219 in it. I use it almost every night in the house, as a walk around light, when the lights are all off.

Why am I posting? Well, people probably sometimes ask me what my first pick would be and here they are. The lights I would buy and mod first, above any others.

What are your favorite lights to mod?

2

Hands down for modifying a light it would have to be the Defiant Super Thrower. For the original purchase price of $25.00 it was in my opinion a steal let alone when the price dropped. I wont name them here, OL being the first to answer my call for help, but I ended up with three shipped to Australia from some very generous members here.

I'm looking forward to here what other members favourites are.

3

As evident by the ridiculous amount of maglite mods that have been done, I don’t think you can beat a Maglite. They have the ability to be just about anything you desire and are massively available at a reasonable budget price.

I can’t pick a favorite, there’s just too many great variations to choose from.

DST is a very close 2nd behind all the Maglite mods.

4

Not really a long term modder but a c8 is a pretty decent package all-arround perfect and cheap, very sturdy and nice heatsinking.

5

Since I am not a modder, my favorite light is the one I EDC, so at first it was my Fenix LD12, which I gave to my son, then now the ET D25c.

6

If I only had to have one light, it would be the Sipik SK68 or better, a good 3 mode clone of that light.
AA to 14500 and anything in between, flood to throw, the thing is a legend.
It is the Small Block Chevy of small lights.

Just hard to beat for the price.
JMHO
Keith

7

HD2010 hands down. Best compact (ish) thrower ever!

8

I’m not a modder , but I really like my solarforce L2N , just the right size , plenty bright with the right dropin and it looks expensive even though it’s cheap

9

http://budgetlightforum.com/search?q_as=xiaozhi

Xpg-2 4c qlite ...and another with a nichia 219a.

less than 20$

10

Three of my favourites are unmodded so will not mention them.

The W612 is one that I really like. Mods well, works with either a domed or dedomed xml2. I run mine DD.

A Convoy S2 with IO triple Nichia is the dogs nads, two of them on a fenix headband makes a really great headlight.

Next the Courui Bighead for it’s size and cost is another favourite. Once modded a very impressive light for the cost.

Lastly the BTU easy to get a substantial increase in output, works very well as DD. But the basic assembly has the potential for an extreme light. I am halfway through modding one to become an ultra light. Not easy and will take me some time. But have very high hopes for success.

Oh a 46 year old ever ready spacebeam torch that I have modded several times including one iteration with a aspheric lens MT-G2. LOL

11

… My “HandLights”. A solution I invented (with SWMBO’s incroyable help making the wrist straps and holders) as an alternative to being blinded by “headlights” my friends wore fishing at night.

You’d slap them against your thigh to turn them on, then they’d throw a beautiful floody ball of bright white light around your hands, and the driver had an auto-off after a couple of minutes. I could tie a Bimini Twist in absolute darkness with one, landed many fish, it made enough light to make it to the outhouse at midnight, and no one ever got accidentally blinded by it. The headlights stayed in the tackle box after I brought everybody one of these.

But that was a LONG time ago, in a galaxy… well… They’ve all gone the way of the Great Auk now. :^(

12

AA Minimag chopped for 14650, great pocketable size and can be made into a triple Nichia flooded or an xpg aspheric thrower.
Convoy M1, only slightly larger than the typical P60, has a much better reflector, a decent set of fins, and a screw in pill design.
Tank007 E09, always wanted one, never bought one. Seems right, just the way it is.

13

I loved old 2D and 2C incandescents, but which brand did not seem important. My first wow light was a $20 Tekna Microlith to replace my 69 cent polyethylene AA light for backpacking. I lost it, but still carry a Monolith in my day pack, in case I am out after dark.
My current favorites are Yezl T9, Sipik SK-73, Sipik SK-58, TrustFire Min 01 and Smiling Shark SS-5039.

14

ZY-T08 tops my list. I have done MT-G2’s both domed and de-domed. XP-G2 de-domed. XM-L2 domed and de-domed and I have done an Aspheric thrower with an XM-L2 and some of these more than once.

It has such a nice big pill to work with and really had pretty good thermal control too. The two 18650’s in the short body just make it a great light. I really think that every flashaholic should have a modded up ZY-T08.

My EDC right now is actually one of the $1.50 AA police lights. I got mine free. It’s really lite which is nice. I took mine apart and made room for a 14650 a East driver, orange peal reflector and a nichia 219 high CRI on a sinkpad. I keep in the pocket of my flannel shirt and pretty much every single day it gets used a dozen times.

For a while my favorite big triple was the J-19 but now that I have figured out how to mod the SP-03 that is my favorite.

Favorite P60 is the 502B it’s just a great little light than can be had for next to nothing and turned into a supper light that you don’t worry too much about beating up on. It also makes a great host for an XP-G2 or XML or even a triple nichia which is just perfect as far as tint and beam pattern goes.

I also love modding SRK’s the 4x is probably the best there.

Best dimming light to mod is the Warrior. The Crelants are great too but for the price the Warrior is just really hard to beat. It’s easy to resistor mod and with sinkpads it’s super. A four thousand lumen warrior is really hard to beat.

15

Have you ever done a tear down / info on modding the warrior?
I don’t think I have seen much in the way of modding it on here, was it an easy job to do?

16

No I haven’t done a build thread on it. I have only done two of them so far. Both are in other members hands right now although I just bought another one. It’s not really too hard to do if you can get the driver out. There are three resistors one for each set of wires that needs to be either stacked or bypassed. Of course after that you need to go with sinkpads or noctigons too. It doesn’t hurt at all to add heavy wire while you are at it. If you can get yours apart PM me a picture and I’ll be able to point out to you the resistors that need to be jumped. What I do is just take a tiny piece of single ply copper wire and solder it over both ends of the resistor. This makes it a ZERO resistor. Of course you could stack whatever you want on it. You can also just shorten the wires instead of putting on heavy ones. The stock ones are not too bad really but they are long. Cut in half reduces resistance as well.

Let me know if you plan on modding yours I’ll be more than happy to talk you through it.

Oh to get it apart you can go through the switch and pry up from the bottom or you can solder a piece of wire to the driver and pull on it. But the two I did were both glued in pretty well so it’s kind of hard to get out. I pried from the bottom as I didn’t want any solder on the contact board.

17

My favorites are listed in my signature. It changes over time, and will probably change as soon as my current orders arrive (D25A Ti 219, T10T NW), but for now…

My favorite stock lights are:

  • DQG Tiny AAA IV (3B tint): Gets used frequently, and expect it will remain on my keychain for a long long time. It’s sturdy steel, nearly as small as possible for 1xAAA, and is generally just well-designed. It could easily last me for decades, since I don’t really need more brightness or runtime on my key chain.
  • Zebralight H52Fw: Is versatile and very practical. It gets worn around my neck a lot for hands-free light, and is the first thing I reach for when I’m wearing my purse. Also useful on my head on occasion, but that’s infrequent. Great tint, beam pattern, modes, run times, UI, and form factor… but I wouldn’t mind if it had more CRI.
  • L3 L10-219 (4-mode): Awesome tint/CRI, very small, perfect modes, silent, decent run time, good beam pattern. Really needs a good screw-on clip though, and I’d like one in titanium or steel or brass. Hence the D25A Ti 219 and T10T NW I have on order… still searching for the perfect traditional EDC.

My favorite modded lights or moddable hosts are:

  • Convoy S7 (modded w/ Nichia 219B and DC-Fix and SF L2 clip): Beautiful stainless light with awesome tint/CRI, decent modes and run time, nice floody beam, bulletproof, and bright enough for biking. Still needs some firmware upgrades though, and it’s a bit large and heavy.
  • Wide-spectrum BST (and soon, wide-spectrum SRK): Massive flood of vivid-color lighting in a convenient form factor. Everything looks so alive! The electronic momentary switch also allows for lots of interesting UI possibilities.
  • CNQG brass EDC (XP-G2 3B w/ DC-Fix): Arguably the smallest 1x18650 around, and pretty in raw brass. Decent tint, good modes and run times, and bright enough for biking. However, a bit inconvenient without a clip. Not modded yet (unless you count DC-Fix), but it’s far too nice of a host not to upgrade. For now it’ll probably just get a Nichia 219, since it’s just about right otherwise.
  • BLF C10: Great ~600m thrower and small enough to carry sometimes without a lot of inconvenience. The host has sharp edges though, so a somewhat higher-quality C8 might be better.

I’ll probably keep modding some of these over time, improving them as new tech and new ideas are available. In general though, the lights I like the most tend to have a few traits in common:

  • Small. Preferably thin too, unless it uses several cells. No plunger-shaped hosts.
  • Bare metal body. It looks nice and doesn’t show scratches like anodized aluminum.
  • Smooth, floody beam (unless it’s a thrower), but not a mule.
  • Neutral white color temperature, ~4500K to ~5000K.
  • High CRI or wide-spectrum, for accurate or vivid colors.
  • Includes a sub-lumen moon level.
  • Has several well-spaced modes (~3X to ~6X difference between subsequent modes).
  • Long run times on moon/low.
  • No PWM, or at least very fast PWM (10 kHz or more).
  • No mode memory. And ideally, can go both low-to-high and high-to-low directly from off (though if I must pick only one, I prefer low-to-high order).
  • If EDC-sized, has a clip which doesn’t swivel or pull off (except on a headlamp, where that’s useful).
  • Reasonably easy to disassemble and modify.

And maybe I’m silly, but I like glow-in-the-dark lens O-rings. There’s just something about the way it glows after use, like a smoking gun.

18

:smiley:
Typical American, I guess.
I would kill for one (or at least pay for one…)

19

Ellie! Anyone remember the Ellie? Single AA, super easy to mod and cost about $6?
I learned on Ellies and made some cool lights. Not the highest quality but they were fun
to play with. I think the neatest one I ever made had a royal blue XR-E with a TIR and single
mode 4x7135 driver. Completely useless except as a toy, but I loved that thing…
Wonder whatever happened to it…

Favorite stock lights of all time?

Arc-AAA Premium
Surefire E2DL
HDS EDC Ultimate 60 GT XR

20

Sunwayman D40A because it’s the most versatility. I love the big throwers, but if it came down to it, the D40A can be used in more situations due to it’s compact size, decent output, water proofing, range of modes, and ability to run on AA’s.