I’m looking for a smallish/EDC-style flashlight with a super low power “moonglow” mode. Or, is there a way to deliberately lower the light output of an existing light?
We have a newborn baby who’s not yet sleeping through the night. When she needs attention at night, we need just a little light to change diapers, make formula, etc.
What I use now is a Convoy S3 2100 mA version (FastTech SKU 1195001) but with two pieces of plain white printer paper taped over the business end. This on low mode is perfect (although kind of ghetto).
It would be nice to have a light that natively supported a super-low power mode; or, if there is some kind of “cleaner” way to get the effect of having the paper taped on.
Those Convoy S-series lights on FastTech all have 1000 mA versions. Maybe the “low” mode with these is close enough to what I need?
As cheap (err, should I say “budget friendly”) as possible. $60 is definitely too high. $20 or less would be ideal. Could probably stretch to $30 if it was truly wonderful.
I second boaz’s suggestion if swapping in a qlite driver. I use a cnqg d4 (convoy m1) with an xm-l 4c and blf a8 driver for tending to my little one, its ideal tbh, the qlite should be just as good. There’s the newer asgard nw from fasttech, if you’ve got an android phone you can program what modes you want, its relatively cheap with the blf coupon code for what you get
Just as a follow-up for anyone who has a similar need…
This is the route I ended up taking. In particular, I bought the Convoy S6 XM-L T4-7C 1000mA from FastTech, SKU 1319303. On low mode, pointed at the ceiling, this seems to be “just right”: puts out enough light to change diapers and prepare bottles, but not so bright that it completely ruins our night vision. A moonglow or firefly mode might actually be too little light (but that’s just speculation).
My only complaint with the S6 is that it doesn’t accept protected cells. My protected Sanyo 2800 mAh cells are too fat. My protected Panasonic 3100 mAh cells almost fit: the first time I powered up this light, I was able to shimmy these cells in. But the next time I tore the plastic coating on the battery. So my conclusion is that it’s really too tight of a fit to safely use protected cells. I’ve got heat shrink tube and unprotected batteries on order.