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.
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.
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.
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):
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.
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.
I just noticed that the Convoys at IS don’t have the strobe you mentioned, don’t know if that’s a deal breaker for you though, fasttech has the 5 mode version. M1 review XM-L2 emitter results
I usually estimate a 20% loss through reflector and lens when looking at the emitter results vs flashlight lumens
I think the Panasonic NCR18650B (protected, button top) that RMM has for sale look good, they are on the long side so you might want to see of anyone has fitment issues with long cells in the Convoy lights.
Also, if you want to replace the driver the Qlite is a really good one (also at RMM’s store), no visible PWM flickering or hum, and you can solder the second star for strobe and a beacon (5-mode). I use it in an L2T with a warm XM-L2 and am very happy with it.
The Convoy lights are sized to work with unprotected cells only, but for a single-cell light the protection circuit is a non-issue. The drivers that IS use also cut the power down to low and flash when voltage drops to 3v so you have protection anyway. Those NCR18650B’s I linked to, that banggood sell, if you’re committed to li-ions those are the best way to go and not a bad price. The IS drivers draw 2.8A, so you’ll get about…an hour and a half out of the cells. (current draw decreases as voltage drops).
Incidentally, you should actually be getting almost 800 lumens out of the Convoy lights IS sell. Theoretically a XM-L2 will produce just under 1000 lumens @ 2.8A, factor in reflector losses and you’re pretty good.
Just curious, what is the disadvantage of using Ni-hm batteries vs Li-ion. I know quality is everything but if you theoretically got the same quality of Li-ion and Ni-hm how would they compare. Also im probably just going to get the trustfire tr-3t6, however is their any place i can buy batteries and a charger in the US. I really dont want the risk of $20 batteries being taken by customs. As ive been looking at reviews for this light ive noticed many people saying the battery life is really bad using high. Like 20 minutes bad… anyway im guessing this is beacause its just so bright and the 3 leds. So is this true? IF so are their anyone 1 led lights that are still over 800 lumens and good quality. One last question. I would also like to have a pocket light around 200 lumens or so. Just something cheap but good. Any suggestions?
PS : The difference between NiMh and Li-ion is the internal chemistry. Both are rechargeable. But the result is higher voltage from Li-ion. Eg an AA sized NiMh batt is 1.2v whereas the voltage from a 14500 (AA size) Li-ion is 3.6-3.7v but fully charged is 4.2v.
Hows this for the little flashlight. And the topic of a 1 bulb light and the battery life issue is still up for grabs :D. Im so glad i joined, i see why Joe like you all. Ive learned so much already.
Hmm…I suppose for fulfilled by Amazon it doesn’t look bad. The battery will be mediocre at best, Illumination Supply sell good 14500’s. I’m just worried that it’s only single mode as they don’t promote the modes.
For pocket lights, like I said, Costco have 3-packs of good 3AAA lights for cheap.
That is a single mode flashlight, look for the 3 mode version.
The battery that comes in that kit will last 1 minute and 8 seconds with that flashlight (on high, its only mode). And when you recharge the battery you roll the dice on burning your house down. Don’t risk it.
And that light is just for a pocket light, I still want a biger more powerful light. I may still get the 3 bulb one, I’m just weighing my options. Again so any suggestions fore a 800+ lumen that has a one bulb.
