How should a beginner spend $300?

T18 · January 29, 2018, 7:07pm

I would think that the light would have reverse protection so glad to know that, the spring was in perfect condition, so I am stumped, but it really did a number on that driver, completely melted together and stunk bad, that was what got my attention was the smell, but I can assure you this won’t prevent me from getting a new one, looking for some codes right now and thinking of buying new 14500 cells since it very well could have been a cell just went bad as you mentioned and just vented beats me, the light is one of my favorites.

Tender · January 29, 2018, 7:25pm

Yeah, from your above description I was thinking that your cell may have gone bad. It could have shorted as well and took time to heat up. Very strange situation.

mikeymikey · January 29, 2018, 8:08pm

Lightbringer:

liteyear:

With $300 to start, which lights (& tints), batteries & charger(s) should be first? I live in a large, metro area and don’t hunt, night-fish or crawl through pipelines with headlights on. Rather, I might have to change a tire in the dark, find some stuff in a couple of poorly lit attics and/or search a couple of acres for “what’s making that noise.” Again, car & home applications.

I’ve seen the recs for things like the Q8 and such, but for a good light for a “beginner”, I can recommend a few things.

Boruit RJ02 headlamp — Hands-down the most useful light I have for “doing stuff”, whether it’s grubbling around in bags or a cabinet, when you don’t give much thought to holding the light with one hand and grubbling around one-handed with the other. Having both hands free is a breath of freedom you can’t appreciate until you experience it, and then you’ll NEVER want to go back. They’re <10bux each, so get 4-5 of ’em. Seriously. Built-in charger, so all you need is a usb cable and you’ll never even have to open it up.

Convoy S2+ tubelight — General purpose almost-do-anything light. Get some 20mm TIR lenses which’ll just drop-in and replace the reflector, no soldering or anything needed, and you’ll be able to go from spot to flood in whatever increments you want. Get a few of those to play with, a 6×7135 and the LED with the 4C tint. You’ll thank me later.

Convoy C8 or variant, eg, the Sofirn C8F — No collection is complete without a mini-thrower like the C8, period. All the C8 variants, that’s a thread in itself. The new Sofirn I mentioned with the side-switch kicks ass.

Jetbeam Jet-I, Sofirn SP10B, for AA/14500 lights — if you want a pockettable EDC light, either of these will do nicely, a twisty like the Jetbeam or side-clicky like the Sofirn. The Jetbeam automatically locks out when you untwist it (duh), and the Sofirn has an electronic lockout, or just untwist the end-cap a half-turn or so.

I happen to EDC a nice simple 1-mode ’502 (Ultrafire WF-502B), a dinosaur in today’s flashlight world, but I like drop-ins and being able to throw a new one together in one sitting if I want to. Forgot where I left off trying to use a 26mm TIR lens instead of a reflector, but that would be awesome…

Then, after all that, yeah, if you want to piss away some bux, get gee-whizzums lights like the Q8 and such. Nothing wrong with Q8s, as I got 2 of ’em, but they’re Special Purpose lights that’ll otherwise end up being shelf-queens like my L2s and such. You’re not gonna carry one around in your bag, let alone on your person, so… why?

One of my faves, ’though of course no longer available, is the Sofirn SF31W, in warrrrrrm-white. Wonnnnnnderful. Beautiful beam, great color, nice UI, quickly became my go-to light at home, especially at night.

liteyear:

$300 isn’t firm if $150 will do or $500 would be more fun. I’ve got a short list from some others here, but anybody else got suggestions for how to spend my money?

Gimme. :smiling_imp:

Any particular reason to chose 6x7135 over 8x7135?

Persechini · January 29, 2018, 8:45pm

*6 would have a lower high mode than *8. If you don’t plan on using 100% on *8, 100% on a *6 might suit you better, plus moonlight mode will be a bit dimmer. Since I don’t need a super low moonlight, I’d keep using the *8 and, if it’s a biscotti driver, set it to one of the group modes that goes up to 50% of max current for high, so you still can access the 100% one day, if you feel like it

mikeymikey · January 29, 2018, 8:49pm

thx.
Learning a lot from reading these forums.
Are Astrolux C8 and Convoy C8 the same thing? Looks like I should go with XP-L Hi version for a thrower?
How do these compare to Sorfirn C8T?

Persechini · January 29, 2018, 8:57pm

The design is pretty similar among them, and for throw you should definitely go with the XP-L HI

Convoy has a linear driver that maxes at 2.8 amp. The Astrolux and the Sofirn use FET drivers, so they can potentially be brighter (reaching from 4 to 6 amp I think), and the Sofirn has different knurling on the tube and different tail design

Convoy has it available in more colors also

Lightbringer · January 29, 2018, 10:04pm

Maybe that’s the protection: short out and fry the cell to protect the driver. :smiling_imp:

Lightbringer · January 29, 2018, 10:07pm

I ran the numbers from the stock-lights’ spex, and going from 6 to 8 is gaining only something like 10–12 more light at the expense of 33% more current.

Ie, you’re killing your runtime a bit and just generating more heat than light.

Tender · January 29, 2018, 10:16pm

Genius! Who would have thunk

Illumenated · February 20, 2018, 10:08pm

Hey, what did you end up buying so far? Just curious as I enjoyed this post and hearing everyone’s suggestions. Have you done your first group buy or flash sale yet?