I’m looking for bright, durable flashlight with internal chargers for construction company’s use. We are now having a hassle with normal AA-battery lights, since there are empty/half empty batteries all over and the lights are becoming a consumable, since they are not totally waterproof and opened when they are wet and dirty. Unfortunately taking lithium batteries off from the lights while charging is out of the question. I would not risk having those rolling around. So the light should be so that it does not need to be opened while charging.
Requirements for the new lights are:
-Waterproof
-As shock proof as possible
-Internal charger so that also the charging port is waterproof, durable and easy to use
-No strobe, Hi/Lo is enough. ON/OFF is ok as well.
-Brightness from 500 lumens up (I have some xm-l2 lights, they are just fine). Not a key factor.
-Neutral White, should be quite floody (used inside building and as a work light)
-size and battery type is not critical
Price… The cheaper the better. I do not expect these lights to last for years, since they will be ran over, forgotten or stolen anyway at some point. So, 15usd would be the best, 25usd good, 35 ok, 45 worth considering.
I think you will find most lights with built in charging are crap, well at least budget lights. I the cheapest one that I know is still a great and tough light is the olight s15r. There is a coupon code that will get in under your price point. I have a s30r and it is made very well.
If you are interested in it pm me and I’ll tell who to contact about it.
IMHO I would stay way from any “**fire” built in charging light. The charger and battery are going to be junk.
Edit:
I forgot about the Convoy BD04, it is cheaper and you would need to buy batteries for each light. I’ve not seen any reviews on it, but with protected cells I would use it.
even with cheap sanyo laptop pulls (the red ones I got from Hagg911 for like $.53 a pop [bulk buy]) I was able to use it for over 2~ hours on medium to light my engine bay in my truck while I worked on it…and it never dropped from full power [3 blue leds]
You don't know for sure if it uses intelligent charging, I just don't see why they would not have done that, the charging port is USB, the chip costs next to nothing and the circuitry is ready thought out and mainstream.
I was self-employed for decades (and a mechanic for over 3 decades) .... ie..I was the checkbook for needs of employees. I completely understand when inexpensive + quality + reliable + efficient have to come together.
Stating the above, and the fact that you seem to understand flashlights, I will give you my opinion:
A built in charger will only give you more headaches than anything else. The budget lights often have suspect circuitry, as well as the fact that micro usb ports and plugs are fragile (think cell phones)
Relying on a built in charger in an industrial application may seem convenient but that also means that the light will be out of commission during charging
A built in charger will only increase the cost of each light.
My current employer provides lights with built-in chargers (Streamlight Strions and now Fenix E40UE's) and they still do not have the flexibility my coworkers would prefer
My recommendation (based on my prior experience and that I currently use the same in my current capacity at work)
Convoy S2 (use code BLF for 8% off) - Reliable and tough...see Simon's video (the manufacturer)
Samsung 26F Protected batteries (use code BLF for 8% off)
Xtar MC1 micro-usb individual charger (if mechanical contractor and employees at multiple locations)
Enova 8-bay charger (if for use jobsite with trailer)
If you follow that recipe you should be right at $25 complete per person/light and should you "lose" a light to mishap or just misplacement than you are only out a minimal amount PLUS the benefit of when battery is exhausted you would just "change and go" ...the only time you would open the light.
thanks Bugsy, I understand your point and I have been considering option to use reliable, cheap and high quality 18650 lights. That is at least my personal choice. I have no problem using separate charger while being a bit cautious. But getting the guys to do the same isn’t that easy. One big here is the cold weather (north europe). That brings the safety concern and I’d not buy lights with a car charger since some would at least at some point try to charge it in –20C car. But a bigger problem would be that there would soon be uncontrollable amount of batteries all over since when someone has empty battery, they want a fully charged one and change it immediately. The empty one might end up in charger, table, floor, trash can, toilet… Now we have this problem with normal AA and AAA batteries. In addition, when they change new batteries, they might do it outside in rain or with wet gloves. It takes only a few days after the waterproof light is corroded from inside so that it doesn’t work.
I completely understand about the concern for the batteries. The only solution that I could offer, depending on your situation, would for someone to "control" the batteries where an employee does not get a replacement battery until he hands over the first one....if that is even feasible for you
In my experience the old MagChargers worked very well because you stored them in the charger. For the same reason GMRS radios used on site were always used with a charging cradle.
For under $40 per man, a decent 18650 with a 4 Bay charger or more may be the only way to go. My personal opinion is to go with an Olight Baton Rechargeable. They come with everything you need, you can swap batteries if necessary and the changing stand is dead simple. There are a few different models but they are all over your budget - unless you can get a deal or maybe something similar
One thing in which the Baton fails is that it is not a very heavy duty build. I would trust the Fenix UC40 UE better in that aspect (has twice the output as well :bigsmile: )
if your employees are that bad then lithium ion is out of the question.i'd supply them nothing and give them good access to good info and good stuff .if they pay for it themselves they will take better care of it . the reason it's in the toilet is they are disrespecting you and your business . if they treat their tools that poorly imagine how sloppily they perform the job for the customer .
Now the status quo is YOU trying to accomodate your bad employees instead of them becoming fully human.
Fire a few to wake the others up .
you are allowing them to do this
knowing that
avoiding your company altogether seems like a good idea
heh, Ice, cool down buddy. Flashlights probably mean all to you, but in my business I know that my guys are doing a great job and we pay a lot effort in quality. You may sleep with your flashlights, but for us in the end they are just tools. No feelings involved.
Nicely though that becoming fully human means that you learn to use flashlights. Tells a lot about your maturity.
How about trying to do some real work? Maybe then you’d know what we are dealing with here.
Looks like I have two good options. Either Olight, or Convoy. 26650 battery sounds great on Convoy, I just hope the build quality is good and it is resistant to water and corrosion. The charging system seems interesting, maybe better than micro usb. I think I’ll order one for testing purposes.
The link that I posted was to Simon’ store on Aliexpress. I believe that he gives quantity discounts and from what I have heard the BF0x is about as good as they get in China. Better buy a couple of spares though.
Wow talk about making assumptions about people and business’ Have you even had a job yet? The employee - employer relationship is complicated and a balancing act at the best of times making snap judgments and hard line decisions like you are would help no one and serve no positive purpose.
I do not know what kind of work you do but that Convoy BD04 looks good. Plus Simon also sells batteries. If a protected 3400B were to be able to fit you would have it made and still be close to budget. Email Simon and ask him what you need to know and ask him about quantity discounts. I am assuming that you will need several if not a couple dozen.
Just a note...the BD04 comes with a 7135*4 driver. You could up the driver but if you are indoors it would probably be better to stick with the 4 chips and get lots of run time...that way the guys are not charging as often. The quality will be there with the BD01 also but I hate it when "tools" get heavy when they do not need to - unless you really want the 26650 batteries but why have the extra expense (maybe $10 per light).
