sigh… that awkward moment when China makes better products than you can buy from the US… anyway thanks guys, i think my Grandmother has a paypal account. Ill see if she will order. Looks like both places ship pretty quickly, hopefully if i order tomorrow both things will be here before Dec 6
I’d try and look into getting a PP acct yourself. If things go pear-shaped you will want control of things on your end. I speak from experience when saying that having other people order stuff for you from China does not work out.
Like I said originally, you can go to Costco and usually find some decent offerings. Someone else, earlier in the thread, suggested the Defiant 1000-lumen 3D light that the Home Despot offers. (they’re in the holiday specials section at mine). Order some good NiMH D-cells from online and you’re golden.
Welcome to BLF, Jake!
- What place were you in that has panthers?!!
- Maglights & Surefires can’t keep up with the China alternatives that BLFers can show you!
- Better value for money flashlights are recommended here on BLF than at the “Church of Pricey Flashlights”!
So how would said Defiant 1000 lumen 3D compare to the Trustfire TR-3T6? Sorry again for asking so many questions, but i dont want to make another $50 mistake.
And to answer your question i live in the south west part of North Carolina, a while back there was a overage of deer in the area so instead of bumping the hunting season a little bit sooner, the brilliant people at the wildlife office decided to release a male and female black panther into the wild… since then they have multiplied and so… yeah.
It’s no problem. 
The Defiant 1000-lumen 3D uses 3 D-cell batteries instead of Li-ions. As such it’s a little shorter but also heavier and fatter. Instead of having 3 XM-L emitters it uses XP-G emitters, so they put out less light for a given amount of current, but the light is still ANSI rated for 1000 lumens. It draws 4 amps, so it will murder any Alkaline cells you put in it, but if you can get good NiMH cells it will run for a couple hours, easily. Because it uses smaller emitters, and has a deeper reflector than the 3T6, it will throw much farther.
Technically the Defiant is not worth $30 as the finish, threading, and lens are all of inferior quality to the 3T6, but you are circumventing the issues with buying from China, and at least the lens is easily replaced with glass.
How would 3 of these be
With this charger
http://www.amazon.com/Maximal-FC999-Universal-Alkaline-Batteries/dp/B008467K1E/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1384222430&sr=1-3&keywords=battery+charger
IF you know of any other good brands for batteries and chargers let me know. And thanks for all the help so far!!!
I own both the tr-3t6 and the 1000lm 3d defiant and I’d take the tr over the defiant any day, but for $30 at a brick and mortar store it’s not too bad. Battery life is pretty terrible and its big and heavy (especially compared to using 2 18500s in the TR), but if you need something in a hurry its not a bad choice, just don’t expect to be blown away by the quality.
Yeah, i was afraid of that, but at least now i have options… how often do people have trouble with the Chinese sites, if its like a 50/50 shot i wouldnt even consider it. But if the problems are few and far between i may just go for it
.
I hope you enjoy your stay & keep coming back, osawaab!
There’s a section of the forum dedicated to that.
And the market for rechargable C and D cells is really pathetic. Tenergy seems to be at the top and they’re not bad quality. Be aware they usually test around 9000mAh, but you’ll still get two hours of battery life out of it*.
And while technically you can recharge alkalines, it’s a very…esoteric thing to do, and for a mfg to put that claim on a product has me leery. The Tenergy charger is a few dollars more, and given the rep their batteries have I’d trust it a bit more.
*Theoretically. The Defiant’s driver has no mechanism for boosting output voltage which means when the batteries collectively drop below about 3 volts the LED’s won’t light anymore.
Hi Osawaab. Thanks for joining BLF forum.
I would recommend Skyray King U2:
1. Claimed 2500 lumens, true 2100 lumens OTF on high, 300 otf on low.
2. Holds 4 x 18650 batteries, monster runtime.
3. Lots of flood, good throw.
4. Has three modes, high, low, hidden strobe, no memory (always starts on high).
5. I haven’t went swimming with it but my friends 3 year old daughter tried to flush it down the toilet where a) it was turned on low when flushed and b) took 3 hours to extract (including having to remove the toilet from the floor), was still turned on and working fine.
Skyray King (legit XML U2 version): http://www.fasttech.com/product/1234001
Batteries (needs four, they come as pair, so order two of these): http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001980/1345500-panasonic-ncr18650b-18650-3-7v-3400mah
Charger: http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002304/1450105-xtar-sp2-dual-channels-intelligent-li-ion-battery
Holster (if required): http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1328
-Jamie M.
^ Jamie, would that make the SRK rated IPX…2? 0:)
Rated IPX POO maybe 
-Jamie M.
I hope you have fun here.
Regarding chinese vendors: Its not a 50/50 thing with issues. Its more like a 1 in 10 thing. Maybe less.
And I won't even get into advising anything because you already have so many choices offered that I suspect it all seems a bit much right now. Just relax and have some fun.
@ Toysareforboys: Ref. #5: LMAO :-)
Watch carefully if you buy an i4 charger, some include the DC cord, others don't. It's about $5.50 separately.
The 18650's in the Amazon link say 2 in the package, if I'm seeing the same deal. Sometimes Amazon redirects you, though. The page I was on also listed the combo with the i4 for $15.05 more under 'Frequently bought together', no DC cord (separate i4 link):
http://www.amazon.com/Nitecore-IntelliCharger-i4-Battery-Charger/dp/B005UAI372/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_y
Some good US sellers:
http://www.e2fieldgear.com/panasonic-ncr18650b-3400-mah-protected-li-ion-battery-single-cell/ (Use code BLF)
http://www.e2fieldgear.com/keeppower-3400mah-li-ion-protected-18650-battery/ (Use code KEEPPOWER for 20% off)
RMM's sales thread:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/22440
If you go with Tenergy, get the Premium or Centura rather than the green 'economy' cells.
If you don't mind the length, the TR 3T6 runs great on 8 AA NiMH's with 3 extra extender tubes available from Banggood, cut a sleeve from .5 inch electrical conduit to prevent rattling, cover with heat-shrink or a couple of pieces of tape on the ends.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_72711-1792-101543_0__?productId=3129551
or
http://www.lowes.com/pd_118909-1792-807256_0__?productId=3127645 (fits in car)
hello and welcome.
to bad airsoft consider illegal at my place because several moron use it for crime |(
I would recommend a single Li-ion configuration, you won’t have to worry about anything going bad with mismatched voltage on the cells, also I think it will give you plenty of light in a pretty small form.
Have you looked at the Convoy lights yet? They’re much smaller and lots of reviews say they’re good quality, the ones from IlluminationSupply.com come with an XM-L2 driven at 2.8A so you can expect around 800lm. Price is $25-30, plus its in the US so fast shipping.
Convoy at Illumination Supply
Another one they have is the Armytek Viking V2 on clearance, this will be definitely waterproof and very tough. If I hadn’t gone for the SN6X-2X group buy I think I would have bought the Viking V2
Viking V2 clearance
I also recommend the Nitecore i2 or i4 charger, has been a good one for me and I also recharge my NiMH cells on it too.
So this would be around 800 lumens? And what batteries would you suggest with it? Has anyone else had experience with these?