I’ve been looking for a decent budget thrower. 2 that I’ve seen come up are the HD2010 and Defiant Super Thrower?
Which is the better buy? Ive also been eyeing up the Lumintop SD10 for it battery selection, but I’d guess it far from the same throw, and ive got a pile of general use lights already.
Thanks!
At $12, the Defiant is the best buy by far. If you can find one. If you spot one, how could you not buy it at that price?
Do you still have access to get a Defiant Super Thrower? Most stores are sold out by now? That may help your decision! The HD2010 is also a light that may require attention right off the bat. You'll very likely get one with a weak driver and you have to address the issue of making sure the reflector doesn't short across the emitter wires (I don't believe any HD2010's have come with any protector "gaskets".
What about the Small Sun ZY-T08? It's very comparable to the HD2010 and decent in stock form. Available from RMM too.
-Garry
Seen the Defiant on eBay $30 or so. Missed out on them at HD. Or I’d have several :-/
Thanks Garry I’ll check that out.
Got a lot of lights, but no dedicated thrower, and $50 burning a hole in my Paypal account.
At some point I’m going to have time to do some mods. Would t mind making a turbo head for my 2D Mag. Just looking for something to hold me over 
There 4 cases at one HD in my area, I could see 2 last time I was there a couple of weeks ago. They stacked stuff aside it so I can't see if the 2 in back are still there or how full the front ones still are as they're on a high shelf.
Remember the episode of 'Are You Being Served?' when the staff decides to 'not sell' in protest? I think HD uses that as a training film. 
The lights in this thread and this thread look promising. 74mm and 76mm heads.
Have a link? Is it called “Defiant Super Thrower” on the package?
I don’t believe they list DST’s at HD anymore. Last I checked they could still be searched for in their database at the store though.
Defiant tactical Super Thrower. I believe… Can’t recall the sku, but searching for tactical they found it in stock, 9 or so left way back when I checked.
At $17, a new xml2 U2 1a on noctigon, with a 5.8A driver, it’s probably my best flashlight. $34 total cost.
Cool thanks. I found a old picture someone posted in a old thread of the actual display and they are called that. Will make a HD trip and see if I have any luck. Pretty sure last time I was there they had 2 different models on clearance around $17ish.
That’s the thread that I found out about these Garry.
I’ll check out the other lights linked to here.
How does the DST rate? Worth the $30?
Or go with the Couri(sp), HD2010, Small sun?
The DST should be $17 if you find it at HD, but if you had to pay $30… I would still say yes.
It is a very nice large maglite 3D size flashlight.
Are you planning on keeping it stock or modding it?
Edit: Missed above. If you’re planning to mod in the future DST is a great candidate. Garry has some awesome pics demonstrating stock form.
The HD2010 can’t compete with the throw of this very large reflector. My HD2010 and DST both have the same emitter/star and the hotspot in the DST is about 20% smaller/more focused.
I don’t have the other two flashlights, but from comparisons I’ve read the Small Sun ZY-T08 is comparable to the HD2010, but can be tweaked a easier and is more stable at high amps with the 2 batteries instead of 1.
The Courui is supposed to be better than HD2010/ZY-T08 as far as throw is concerned, similar or better than DST though I haven’t seen a comparison directly between these two. Courui requires quite a bit of modding to get it right, and it doesn’t seem to be able to handle 5A+ as well as the DST.
Perhaps some beamshots will help. This is copied from post #237 from the original DST thread. It's the DST (unmodded, stock form) versus the Small Sun ZY-T08 (also in stock form). I give the edge to the Defiant for more throw.
***************Copied from Thread***************
Ok fellas, here are my beamshots (finally!!!). These were taken with my cheap point & shoot Nikon set to "Night Landscape" mode (white balance apparently gets locked on "auto" for this mode - I can't access it in the menu when I'm in this mode). I checked the EXIF data and there is one shot where the shutter speed changed from 1/2 sec to 1/3 sec. Other than that these came out at ISO 400, f/3.1, and 1/2 sec. Photos seem just a hair brighter than what I really saw, but not far off at all. I used the same location where I do a lot of beamshots such as in this thread here where I tested the Black Friday Defiant 3C. Camera was not zoomed at all. I was working quick to get done before sunrise and you can see the sky getting lighter as I get to the last photos. For this session of photos I only compared the Small Sun ZY-T08 (on 2 KeepPower Panasonic 3100's) and the Defiant 3C Super Thrower. If anyone wishes, I could post mouseover comparisons to the previous lights tested from my other beamshot threads (though they were taken at different times, slightly different camera angles, possibly different camera settings, and may not be an exact comparison). Photo descriptions are above the photo described.
First up, 785 feet (per Google Earth, and also verified by high-resolution ortho-rectified aerial imagery stated to have a 5 foot horizontal accuracy) to a garage door on the rear of a house:
Control:
Small Sun ZY-T08:
Defiant 3C Super Thrower:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08, mouse over = Defiant:
Approx. 100 to 150 feet to shed (sorry no control shot):
ZY-T08:
Defiant:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08, mouse over = Defiant:
250 feet to same shed:
Control:
ZY-T08;
Defiant:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08, mouse over = Defiant:
50 feet to building with gray aluminum siding:
Control:
ZY-T08:
***NOTE: This is the photo that the shutter speed changed to 1/3 sec.***
Defiant:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08 (1/3 sec shutter), mouse over = Defiant (1/2 sec shutter):
It does seem that the Defiant is slightly warmer tinted (it still seems cool white in real use). The ZY-T08 has a slightly wider spill, with the Defiant collecting more light into the hotspot. My ZY-T08 is not modded, and has been tested to pull 2.40A regularly (occasional "turbo" of 3.85A). It would be better to test against a good HD2010, but as I've stated before mine is dead.
********************************************
-Garry
This probably is not any help but there is pictures here of the DST and HD2010 both running the same 5 amp driver. Th HD2010 is running 2 x 26650 in series.
How did I miss that thread?!
Beautiful!
Stopped by my local HD, whole lotta nothing. After reading that last thread I think I’m gonna pull the trigger on one.
Then I’ll have to dust off my threading cycles.
That is beautiful knurling. What knurling tool do you use?
If there are any left they won't be on the sales floor, scan the overstock racks above the display area. Note what the cases look like in the photos above. Look near the flashlight display first but they could be anywhere.
Would these items in the overstock racks show up in their old dos database or w/e they use?
I go through the help tiers each time I go there. After about 30 minutes of walking around with no results; me : non quotes, them : quotes
Can you look something up for me? “Sure flashlights are there”… It’s not in the flashlight section I’ve checked, can you look it up?… “Sure”… It’s not on the website… “Well then we don’t have it in the store”… You probably do, have to check the old database… “What is that? Hey jimbo what is this database thing this customer is talking about?” “Talk to joe he knows how to use this thing”… “Alright what am I searching for?”… Tactical… That’s not how you spell tactical… “How do you spell tactical?”… T-a-c-t-i-c-a-l… There’s no ‘h’… There’s no ‘u’… You put another ‘h’ in there again… I’m pretty sure there’s no question mark in tactical…
Blam, then the stock numbers and item location pops up.
(Much more politeness, and less sarcasm used irl) 
Thanks. The knurling tool is nothing special. It pushes into the workpiece with the crossslide and self centres. It did break my toolpost of at one point. I use a g clamp on it now whenever I use it.
