Hello everybody! I hope you are all fine. I will buy my first rechargeable torch and headlamp!
I am writing you to ask some questions.
I need a powerful torch which is very floody but also has a powerful throw.
I need a headlamp which is very floody.
I like mountain and forest exploring at night as well as hunting. I will use my headlamp for the walk and support it with a powerful torch when necessary. I want to illuminate at least the nearest 100-150 m in very detail (not with a narrow focus, but with large illumination). I want the torch and headlamp keep the brightness over 2000 and 1000 lumens, respectively, until the battery runs out, without getting dimmer?
I found that Convoy C8+ ( with XHP 70.3 hi R70 6500 Kelvin) and Convoy L21A or L21B (with SBT 90.2 5700 Kelvin) can be nice throwers with close range floody light. For the headlamp Convoy H4 (with XHP 50.3 hi R70 6500 Kelvin).
Question:
Are the products and configurations I choose suitable for my needs (very bright) ? Or can you recommend me better alternatives?
My recommendations would be:
Torch: Convoy 3x21D with buck driver.
Headlamp: Armytek Wizard C2 pro Max.
None of lights you said will sustain the amount of light you want.
The 3x21D will throw very far, but if you need more side spill at close range, I would pick a Convoy l21A with XHP 70.3 and a 48w driver.
If you need a budget headlamp, the Wurkkos HD50 is a good choice.
If you need a more compact torch, there are good options like Sofirn C8L or SK40…but they will sustain about 1100 lumens.
C8 with XHP70.3 or Convoy L21A with an SBT90.2 will give you a lot of light for a few Minutes before getting too hot to hold. You need a bigger host for something like that, like the 3x21D that Lumenizator suggested.
I think you would be better off with 3 lights, a headlamp, for example the Sofirn HS20, a floodier light and a throwier light.
The L21A with a SFT-25R in 5000K is a very nice thrower - I have the older L2 with 26650 here like that, just a thrower beast with a very nice light color.
Are you set on using 18650 for both headlamp and flashlight?
21700s have better capacity per volume. If you like the C8+, you could take a look at the M21A which is essentially same light but takes 21700s.
Where did you get the number of lumens you “need” from? They’re quite high for walking even in uneven terrain. At 150lm/watt, you’ll be using c.14watts per hour for the 2000lm which is about one 21700. That’s a lot of cells to carry for a eg. 4 hour walk.
I think that part of the problem is a lot of review videos show 10 seconds at a time of turbo or still shots of turbo. They really should at some point during each review show what the light will sustain and make that clear that this is the sustainable level for whatever rough time period that will be. And if it’s not a constant current driver then they need to point out that even that level won’t be sustained.
I know it is easy for me to say this because I’m not out there making videos.
Also, flood and throw and spill are not well defined. So when new people come along and start using those terms, they don’t know what they mean and we don’t know what they think they mean, and not everybody here agrees with what they mean.
Not my favorite flashlight, but a nice mix of flood and throw: Klarus XT21X (newer one is the Pro, probably a little better).
I don’t know about keeping the same brightness until battery is dead.
If you are OK with a 2 battery setup, the Streamlight HL6 (if anything like the HL5) should have a wide hotspot with good run time. I have the HL5 and HL4, but the HL6’s low is just too bright for me unless I was only using it for an outdoor search light.
The HS20 is slightly dated. The HS21 will be a better choice because of
Better driver with higher sustained output (2x-3x higher).
Quick changing between beam shapes, using the rotaritary ring.
Shines a bit wider in the “wide beam” mode.
An additional decent red light build-in
I tested and measured both. For a detailed direct comparison (beamshots, runtimes, measurments), check out my site:
This headlamp would fit OP well, the floody mode is very floody (very low cd/lm ratio), pretty much lights up your entire field of view. Alternatively something like a Armytek Wizard C2 Pro would perhaps be floody enough (?). I don’t believe they’d want a MULE/COB headlamp.
Thanks for joining the gang, unimportant!
For simultaneous flood and throw, I recommend the SFT70 emitter.
Pair that with a relatively large reflector, and that’s my current favorite combo.
This is my EDC, though there are other options, of course.
Thank you everyone. I appreciate your support on the issue.
I also asked Simon from Convoy about the torches and headlamp.
He suggested me to use L21A with SFT40 as thrower
M21H as flooder for closer illumination
H3 or H4 for the headlamp.
Take care you all!
