Flood to Throw Flashlight

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Hi all. First post so please be gentle :slight_smile:

I’m after a good ‘flood to throw’ flashlight. I have a LED Lenser P7 which is ‘ok’ but nothing spectacular.

What I’m after is a really good one. Max budget would be $150 and preferably would be 18650 based (as I already have some and a charger).

What do you guys think? I’m in the UK if that makes any difference? Although I normally order stuff like this from the US as it’s cheaper and more choice available.

Thanks for any recommendations.

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Ditto

4

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I can’t see any youtube videos or even any sample shots of the light? However they do deliver to the UK for free and it’s half my budget, so I’m going to order in the morning :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

5

Search this forum for Jax Z1, you’ll find reviews

6

Just a heads up, that flashlight does not use 18650 batteries according to the specs I see.

Monty

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search for “zoom”

8

It’s 26650 but you can always use an adapter :slight_smile:

9

All the really good zoomie lights that throw really well use 26650’s. I’d try to find a UK member who mods lights and get them to make you a Uniquefire T20. Done right you’ll get 400-650m of throw from one depending on LED and driver. Shouldn’t cost more than $65. Better yet have one built by Richard from Mountain Electronics, I think he ships to the UK.

But really you should have him build up a Uniquefire 1504 if you want monster throw. Even with batteries it’ll be less than $150.

10

Cheers again guys. 26650s aren’t a problem either as I have a few too. I’ve looked at the 1504 which indeed does have a great throw but the flood looks pretty awful.

Is the Jax going to be better?

11

Right, I’ve ordered the Jax. Found it on ebay for a bit less from HK so ordered it from there (we have less chance of import taxes from HK than US).

I’ve still some budget left, so if anyone has another recommendation please let me know.

I’ve noticed on here that a lot of people are modding their flashlights. Is there any obvious mods I can do to the Jax to improve it? Or is it as good as it gets in its current state?

12

Copper braid or spring bypass and dedome the led

13

G’day Audi321

Though not a Flood to Throw light, but have you considered the Courui D01 ? It uses 3 * 18650, has a great spread and a great long distance beam.

One of my favourites for the price. It is a bit on the large size for an EDC, but it is a good light (in my book).

Monty

edited: spelling

14

Typical mods to improve performance:

  1. Wire or copper braid bypass on the spring(s)
  2. Replace stock driver with a FET driver. FET drivers give the maximum possible brightness. Mountain Electronics sells them.
  3. Replace the emitter. My preference would be an XPL High Intensity (HI) emitter. Its throw is comparable to a dedomed XPL and it has much better tint.
  4. Use a high-drain lithium ion battery.

More mods you might try:

  1. Rings in the beam? Try coloring the inside of the pill with black ink or high temperature black paint.
  2. Want wider flood? To get maximum width possible flood the back of the lens must retract as close as possible to the top of the dome. Most stock zoomies do not retract nearly as far as they could. With judicious use of a handfile, it is usually possible to file down parts to allow the head to retract further giving better flood. Another advantage of this mod is it makes the entire light shorter and more compact. However, pause before filing. The bezel needs to retract further, but the lens must still be in the same position when extended into spot mode. If you file the wrong end you’ll screw up the light.
15

Great advice guys thanks…….can’t wait for it to come now :slight_smile:

16

I would bypass the resistor in the head of the P7, and maybe swap the LED. The LED swap probably means filing down the pillar on which the XR-E LED sits directly, so a filed down Noctigon will fit. If you use a Nichia 219C, you won’t need to bypass the resistor.

For a new light, I recommend https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10003915/1675300-p7-2-9407-1-r5-2-mode-240lm-zoom-cool-white-led. That is the current version of the P7 at a budget price. It comes with an XP-G2, so I have only bypassed the head resistor in mine. I believe a Nichia 219C will fit on the original star, so a re-flow is the only needed mod. for that option.

You don’t get as much total light per volume with these as with a 18650 light, but the optics partly makes up for that.

Added: I have a 18650 POP Lite on order, but the one such I had had shortcomings. I have hopes for the new one, but I can’t recommend it yet.

17

Yes, certainly.

The Uniquefires (I have a modded 1504: singel 26650/5A driver/dedomed XP G2, braided springs = around 430Kcd) are excellent hosts if you want throw, but the flood is not very pretty. And they are heaevy too. Good to absord a lot of heat, but it doesn’t make them very “pocketable”.

The Jax Zoom1 is of excellent build quality: great matte ano, good quality lens with (as far as I can tell) good quality coating, threads are excellent to.
My version produces 215Kcd on one good 26650 (LD1 driver and XP G2 S2 1D dedomed, braided springs) with NO RINGS, eithter fully focussed, defocussd or anything in between.
It is - though not the lighttest of the lot - very pocketable and easy to use. And reliable to. I love it.

Grtz
Nico

18

My favorite lights are pocket zoomies. Here’s my brightest one:

This is my modded Aleto N8 with 20mm aspheric lens. The light is 94mm long and 24mm wide. It’s just 2mm longer than a Sipik 68. Running on a fresh LG HE4 18650 cell peak throw is 44k lux. The flood beam’s beam angle is approximately 85 degrees wide … far wider and more useful close up than most stock zoom lights.

Distance to the tree in the spot picture is 140 feet.

19

I received my POP lite 632 yesterday. So far, it is all I hoped for, but I haven’t had it apart. It is definitely the best zoomy I have bought, being just as nice generally as the Lensers and also nicely finished stainless steel. I got mine for $43, in a gift box, with a charger and a good lithium ion cell from here:
It is listed a bit cheaper here:

It has only an XR-E LED, which is old and small but good for throw. The Fresnel-like LED Lenser type compound optics gets nearly maximum throw for the luminance and aperture, and also gives a large spot. I may swap the XR-E for a Nichia 219C or an XP-L High Intensity, but as the light came it is comparable in trow mode to an aspheric light with perhaps an XP-G2, but with longer run time. Stainless is not ideal for high power mods. With the forward clicky, one changes modes before pushing the button all the way to turn it on.
Strangely, this one cell light has a battery holder similar to those of the multi-cell Lensers. The battery holder screws onto the tail cap and includes the switch. There are tree sprung bumps that make contact with the driver or contact plate.

Firelight2’s zoomy is awesome, but one can’t buy anything like it.

The disadvantage of Jaxman Z1 appears to be a fairly thin long focal length lens. That gives absolute maximum throw per luminance and aperture, but a small spot and only a small fraction of the LED’s output getting out of the light in throw mode. The XHP50 makes up for the low optical efficiency in output, but that makes it big for its light output and run time. The build looks great in the pictures, maybe even better than that of the POP lite, unless you like stainless steel.