The title kinda says it all. I’m in need of a bright light with a lot of throw.
I have a Trustfire TR-J12 right now and while it’s plenty bright, the beam is too floody for my application (which is exploring abandoned mines). Our previous “bright” light was a Trustfire SSC-P7 and it had a similar beam pattern. I’m looking for something as cheap as possible because the environment chews up flashlights (and other electronics) pretty quickly.
One of our team members has a Front Gate branded 3 LED CR123 light he got as a present from his in-laws (which they massively overpaid for but what can you do) and it has a great spot beam. If I could find the same head on an 18650 body that would probably do the trick (although something brighter would be nice too).
These are the sorts of places these lights will be used…
Fenix TK51 comes to mind… you’ll get the best combination of throw and flood… not really a budget but a nice one
Or if it’s budget light you looking for I guess T20 zoomies with BLF driver should do just
Do the light have to use “two” 18650’s ? There are quite a few lower-cost lights in that class, ( also in the three-18650 class that can fit your requirement. )
if it has to be two, and you want to keep the cost down, a SmallSun ZY-T08 may work. it has a great run time, ( paralell-18650s) large reflector and has good throw and good flood. ) if you can mod, you can step it up to a MT-G2 and modded 105C driver for twice more flood and reasonable throw.
There are many more expensive dual-18650 lights, including the Fenix TK35 series., also as mentioned above the Maxtoch M24 Sniper is another good 2-18650 light.
Two 18650’s are preferred but not required. Something around the size and price of the TR-J12 ($70 or so) is okay but cheaper would be nice too. My biggest concern is the throw and brightness though… it’s 900 to the bottom of the shaft in the first picture and 475’ to the bottom of the second. Those are the kinds of distances we’re dealing with. Light scatter from dust is a big problem so a lot of spill isn’t desirable either.
You may want to get a light with a Neutral White or even a warmer white emitter if dust in the air is a problem. The Cooler whites tend to cause a lot of glare-back from dusty hazy air.
^ My T4 C7 tinted lights really cut through the fog, I can see clearly with them even when the fog is heavy and my bright lights reflect back all over the place and are better at blinding me than showing me much.
The dust doesn’t reflect nearly as bad as fog but I understand what you guys are saying. It’s also worth mentioning that it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll have the time to be modding lights. I’m looking for an off the shelf solution.
The JAX is interesting. Do they have an 18650 tube for it?
For an unmodded long distance thrower take the Maxtoch 2X.
120kcd standard which will light up 900 ft shafts very brightly. Alot more output than the crelant which is about 60-70k lux. Lightweight Maxtoch M24 is 82k, and M24S is about 95k - and as noted both would also do this job easily. But in this instance for sheer throw power the 2X is the one. Especially at $75US.
The Maxtochs are class leaders for XML throw in the sub $100 range. Very well made too - lots of happy customers on blf.
Yezl Y3 and Small sun V good lights but not comparable for output. Aspherics limited use - you would not pick out details in mine shafts with the narrow pencil beams. Maxtoch XMLs will do both beam width plus v long range. 2X is 700m stock.
As wight and others pointed out, zoomies/aspherics, like the Jax may suffer shortened lives or more frequent maintenance to keep them working optimally. I hadn’t considered that variable the first time around. Also, the added weight of the lens may be a turn off.
If you say you want the best off the shelf performer then there is no competition… Maxtoch all the way. Mountain Electronics has the M24 Sniper, which is lighweight and a powerhouse in stock form. There is also a slightly “upgraded” model, the M24S, with different anodizing and higher advertised output.
Sounds like I’m focusing in on MAXTOCH. The 2X seems to be the one but the size is a bit much. The M24 is about the same size as the TR-J12 (but with a thinner barrel) and would be ideal but…
