Help me choose a light

It’s a minor variation of the same issue. Instead of some half clicks to change output you click and wait for something to happen and then the modes quickly change. If you want to see if you like the brightness you stop and check before waiting again to go to the next level. Go too far? Then either press and wait again to repeat the cycle with a long pause at maximum output and try for a better outcome or hope you can click twice and get the cycle to repeat in the opposite direction.

It’s not that he can’t handle Anduril it sounds like the appeal of adding something unnecessarily complex to what should and could easily be a simple situation isn’t there. Especially given the limited feedback from Anduril when people have followed the directions and it’s still not working.

Anduril does offer one benefit to him with the charge indicator. That was the one benefit I got out of the one light I have with Anduril before I quit using it.

I have had a bad experience with a Lumintop FWAA that had Anduril, it seemed to have a mind of its own. After that I didn’t want any lights with Anduril. The problem could have been the light itself but it really did seem like a software problem.
Also knowing voltage is better then nothing but that doesn’t tell you the runtime. First you need to calculate the battery precentage and then remember how long you used the light for and calculate how long you have left. With defined levels from the manufacturure you know the runtime for every level

2 Thanks

Do you have tape over the fuel gauge in your car and just work with the odometer to figure out when it’s time to put fuel in?
I think part of your problem stems from using 14500 lights. Move to a larger battery size and if that’s not enough then carry a spare light. If you insist then one of the lights can use a 14500. And plan on charging all of your lights when the battery is at 3.6/7 . There is nothing to be gained by drawing them down to 3.5 or less volts. I carry two on my person every day. And I never leave the house with a battery that’s at less than 3.8v.

1 Thank

3.7V—>2.9V is like…35% of the full capacity, lol. That’s quite a bit of runtime on sustainable modes. Hypothetically, you might be able to “trick” Anduril 2 into going even lower on the cell by raising the calibration threshhold, but I wouldn’t advise that unless you had protected cells with their own safety cutoff.

So would you advise people with battery anxiety or any people to plan to run their battery down to the last 5% of capacity while they’re out on a walk at night with only one flashlight?
If people insist on that behavior while they’re in their house and they have ready access to other batteries and flashlights then I guess it’s not a big problem but it’s still pointless.

1 Thank

I would advise people to behave as safely as possible, and try not to go out with less than 80% charge on the cells. For me, as long as my primary light can maintain at least 50 lumens for around 12 hours and has around 2k-3kcd at those levels, (a.k.a. 600 lumenhours), I’m good to go, accompanied by the backup (which is usually a D3aa).

**Sometimes, life throws you curveballs, and what you expected to be a 12 hour shift becomes 16, 18, even 20 hours. That extra power from 2.7V-3.7V could make all the difference in those cases, particularly if you’re like me and don’t carry spare 16650/18650’s.

Things can get hwierd with different discharge curves, though.

Bad enough a 14500 is anæmic to begin with, but I could have 3.6V in my TS10, ramp up a bit, and it’ll start stepping down to lower and lower levels until it’s almost moonlight in just a few minutes.

Off then blinking out a voltage might be 2.9V immediately, then start climbing to 3.2V or so.

Voltage changes under load vs no load, plus it “recovers” slightly when resting.


I got a cat toy that jiggles a string every hour or so, or when triggered with the remote. It “beacons” green blips when in standby, but once it starts up, starts flashing red and stops jiggling. A few seconds later, more green blips like voltage is okay.

I just ignore it and recharge every 2nd day or so.

1 Thank

Yeah…higher modes on lower charges does tend to be more taxing on the cells. I typically try to have SOME form of LVP on either the cells or the lights, and don’t really exceed 300ish lumens in my usage.

I have the simplest solution for you, chris. Get a p60 capable host, and a Malkoff m61L variant. It will get you a solid 5 hours continuous, and only runs one mode.

If you want a lower mode, get an mdc2 with the high/low ring in the head. You’ll know it’s time to swap batteries when the direct drive starts to dim.

1 Thank

Size and battery doesn’t really matter too much for me since i mainly want to use it for a walk in the dunes so not edc.
But I think I found the “perfect” light for my needs. I got the ledlenser MT14 on sale for only 40$ and I tried it earlier while going for a walk and its great.
The max mode is 1000 lumen and in that mode the battery lasts 9 hours, longer then i’d ever walk for :joy:
It’s a pretty chunky light for only a 1000 lumen but that does come with the positive that it stays very cold and won’t step down for thermals.
I dont think I’d pay a 100$ for it which is normally the price but for 40$ its great. The focus function seems nice but for walk I only really use the hotspot mode

Olight?

I meant ledlenser, I have been looking at so many lights that im starting to mix up the brands
its the ledlenser mt14

1 Thank

That’s great you found something that works for you!

Enjoy your new light!

(Guys, stop arguing, OP is happy).

1 Thank

So you’re saying we shouldn’t tell him?

1 Thank

Nah, he’ll figure it out lol. We all did at some point

1 Thank

now im curious, what is it?

Don’t trust everything you see written down, lol

Just use it for a while, if it fits the bill, it fits the bill. I’m not going to go into it any further, because I personally have no first hand experience with the MT14

1 Thank

Please continue with the petty bickering. I find it most intriguing.

yea 9 hours on a 1000 lumen does seem very long but thats fine my requirement is a minimum of 2 hours which it will definetly do
If I go on longer walks I’d also bring a backup light, even if the battery is perfect there is of course always a chance that a light just stops working

2 Thanks