I am looking at a 50 to 80 $ led handheld flashlight that has a lot of flood for outdoor activities. I sent emails requesting propducts proposals to some big names but no answer…
My basic need is to be able to see the whole side of the mountain facing my property (250 meters away). I am not interested by a center of light that doesn’t show what is around.
Regarding the batteries, i have no issues with that, i have both 18650 and 26650.
I was looking at the Jaxman Z1, is it a good FLOODER ?
The Jaxman Z1 is a good flooder but has not enough light to light up things at 250 meter away. To get enough light over there and at a wide angle as well, you need a flashlight with a lot of output. Lucky for you there are some of those flashlights around at the moment in your budget range, but if you asked that question 2 years ago they would not yet exist.
To get usable illumination at 250 meters you like to light it up at about 2 lux (0.25 lux is the minimal usable level you can see things but you want a bit more than that), that translates to a throw-number of 125 kcd. True flooders that throw 125Kcd are not in your price range, but as a comprimise you could look into the BLF Q8, it has lots of light output, throws 55 kcd (should work quite well for 250m) and is a bit in between throwy and floody. Look for a deal, you should be able to get it for around 50 dollar.
Another, bit more expensive and bigger, option is the Astrolux MF01 with XP-G3 leds, a bit under 100 dollar but again look for deals, it has the same illumination at 250 meter, but has a wider flood, it achieves that because it has about twice the output of the BLF Q8.
(personally I like the Q8 because it is a very robust flashlight with a nice even and neutral beam)
I had a look at these two flashlights you mentionned and they also look the same. I thought that the best angle could be achieved by lamps such as the JAXMAN where you can zoom in and out and where the lense is convex, like an eye.
I have those cheap 18650 lights with zoom in and out, and they show a perfect beam with same amount of light, but only indoors.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that after lot of research, i ended up with the H600FW from Zebralight. How does it compare with the BLF Q8 ?
Q8’s are amazing for the price. There is the XPL2 BLF version for a little more flood and the Sofirn XPL Hi version for a little more throw. Sofirn is discounting the XPL HI version for less than $40 right now. I will bump the link to the first page if it is not there and you can see for yourself.
I have seen some videos of the BLF on youtube and it has a noticeable hotspot in the center. Is there anything else that doesn’t have that concentration of light in the center ?
I was looking at a beam pattern like my WARSUN X65 but with much more light.
yes, the link you provided is the flashlight I mentionned in my original message, I would like a beam pattern that looks like the JAXMAN, or the WARSUN one, but in way more light.
I don’t think such light exists, but I may be wrong. There are many unusual lights on the Chinese market. This is the closest I’m aware of. Though I’m not sure if you can zoom out and zoomed-in it doesn’t have a smooth beam.
Zoomies typically don’t have powerful emitters because they are harder to keep cool.
Furthermore, they are optically inefficient; they lose a lot of lm in throw and intermediate positions (which doesn’t hurt their throw though).
Makers can’t compete with lumens, so they do with throw. And so they usually use small but intense LEDs.
You may try modding a stock zoomie with XHP70.2 and FET driver. It may be doable in $50-80 and should give high output with the beam you like. But only for seconds before it cooks (and needs to step down). And it still likely won’t be able to give you the performance that you need.
Note that if there are zoomies much larger than I’ve seen, they may be thermally better.
H600FW is a compact flooody headlamp for close-range use. It will do a good job illuminating everything in front of you, but won’t reach 250 meters away. It probably won’t even reach 50 meters away.
The BLFQ8 uses 4 cells so is much larger. It has enormously more output and throw and flood than the H600Fw, but isn’t nearly as compact or convenient to carry around. Its wall of light is much closer to what you request, though even it won’t reach 250 meters ANSI throw.
It sounds like you’re looking for a light able to illuminate a huge area at a distance. For that purpose, unfortunately the H600Fw probably is not what you need. It’s a great light, but only really suited to very close-range use.
after some further researches, i found out that what i exactly needed was a Zoomie. This is according to what I read (and what i have : the warsun x65). I have the OLIGHT Javelot for the throw. And i never use it…
Now the million dollar question is : is there any Zoomie more powerful than the JAXMAN Z1 ?
Astrolux MF01 if u want a decent but cheap flooder its a good budget soda can flood light. and price with a coupon is like 78$. It should light well up mountains if u get the XPG3 version which tops almost 10k lumens or something.
OP says he has a budget of max 80$, sadly acebeam x70 and ms12 costs way more then that sadly…
The one that might fir your range is Ozark Trail 750 lumen rechargeable light. More flooder for sure. $35 US approximately. I have 1 for sale. But shipping to EU will be steep.
Imalent & Astrolux way above budget and i am not sure they will provide the beam pattern needed : the one of a zoomie where there is perfect light spread, no hot spot at all, which kills night vision.
Again, what i am looking for is a upper version of the JAXMAN Z1, or WARSUN X65, or CMUNITE S31 series…
I am just not confortable at all with the hot spots.
