I EDC your basic 501B, with a NW XM-L and a 2.8A Nanjg-105C with the 3rd star soldered for L/M/H. The one thing that gets it into my pocket is the momentary-ON switch. I opted for the camo, but it’s frail and I don’t recommend it.
I occasionally need significant area illumination at work. This one does that. On High it pours out lovely buckets of light, M and L are available if the need for “less light” (whatever THAT is!) ever arises. I don’t even care about throw, but this light will throw light farther than I can throw this light. For me, that works out to “the yard and enough of the woods”…
For EDC, I wish it were significantly smaller. SWMBO kindly sewed a stitch in the RH front pockets of my work pants so it will “tailstand” in there & not bash my hand as I walk (a lot) each day. That’s all good and I don’t care, as “it gives a lovely Light”!!
BTW, I also ONLY use scrounged laptop batteries. Obviously not everyone has enjoyed the success I have. Every single 18650 I have scrounged has either NOT worked from the first try, or it is still working either for me or for one of my friends who also like “buckets of light”. Usually (YMMV) the laptop packs fail in the control circuit, and the 18650s I get are usually quite nice: Since the manufacturers get to order monstrous lots, not only do they tend to get the “cream of the crop”, they get batches of it, and not “minimum order quantity” size batches!! I’ve even found sequential serial numbers in a couple of packs. They work really well for me, anyway. And they do require the (+) spring!!
My friends and I also like the “C8” style. We call them “FatHeads”. They are very nice, if you can carry them. They make a better “overall” outdoor light than a 501B, but only because they give a little more “throw”. IFF you need to see anything “out yonder”… IMNERHO the C8 is ludicrous for EDC.
If you can mount one piece of a two-piece scope mount — anywhere — you can easily mount either a 501B or a C8 on it. The 501B probably wouldn’t be AS useful on anything larger than a pellet gun, a .22 or a pistol-caliber rifle. I’d include a slug-rigged shotgun in that list. I’d guess that would help with shot-shells as well, but I only shoot those for effect. That “throw” from the C8 would be reasonably well matched to a .308-class MPBR, but only with a good scope, and only over ground you know is clear of “friendlies” (all cats coyotes are grey in the dark…). That’s what I think, anyway. Look around for the “momentary” switches on cords for the 501B. You can swap the guts into the C8’s switch body and go shooting. Then you’ll likely learn to hate “modes” and “mode memory” at the same time, when the recoil causes the battery to bounce away from one of its springs or your finger bounces on the switch…
That’s it for me. I hope this helps some.
You’re in the Right Place for questions like yours, that’s for sure!
Dim
