So I was working on a water tower site today, and dropped my beloved Hugsby P2 down in a flooded valve vault. I’ve never been closer to crying over a lost flashlight in my life.
So now I’m on the hunt for a replacement. I like the compact 14500 form factor, but anything in that general size range is fine. Lots are USB rechargeable these days, and I’m okay with that.
My main requirement is simple operation (prefer 2 mode hi/low if possible) and a tight, thrower beam. I use these mainly for looking down into vaults and manholes, so a tight beam is far more useful than a flood.
Decent water resistance would be nice as well. I do not want a zoom head. The beam pattern is generally terrible on those.
Sorry to hear about your P2. I still have mine but don’t use it much as it’s so under powered compared to other lights.
I recently bought one of these, sofirn SC28 (for about $21), and it is a flooder with a useful bright spot for typical valve boots, sansew/storm drain manholes and vault inspections. It has a great grip and it’s USB rechargeable but compact enough. I always add lanyards, typically by Atwood https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61CqXAP7bpS.AC_SL1200.jpg so I won’t loose it.
GTmicro. Single 14500, hella bright, incredibly tight beam for great throw. It’s even got momentary mode which I find reeeeeeally handy.
You ain’t gonna get any better.
Invest in a tether. It can go through the lanyard hole with a little ring, but isn’t tied to your wrist and getting in the way, and instead, you can anchor the other end to a belt, etc. Excess length can be stuffed in a pocket along with the light.
Or maybe one of those retractable thingies like for keys.
Are you referring to this one?
A quick search didn’t come up with any available sources, and the reviews I did find weren’t stellar. Maybe I have the wrong light. That head is also a big larger than I’d like. I really love how compact my P2 was.
I assume you mean this?
That’s not bad, but with so many modes, it gets “busy” when I’m jugging other tools, paperwork, etc… and just trying to throw some light down a hole. I have a couple lights with 3 million modes, and I don’t use them for work for just that reason. I really want one that just has an ON/OFF, and maybe a HI/LOW option. I realize this is rare, so I’m okay with multi-mode, as long as the ‘normal’ modes are easy to access, and do not require that I cycle through strobes and other stuff to get back to high. I work with someone who has a low flicker-tolerance, so we try to be careful not to use anything flashing or blinking around him.
Also, that price is a little higher that I was hoping, but tolerable if it’s a super great light. I think I paid like $9 for my P2. lol
That’s it. It does have memory so it’ll always come on in the last used. One mode set has no flashy options. I was actually thinking of what @Lightbringer suggested but I don’t have one. The price did go up so that stinks. I uploaded a photo in earlier response.
You know, that is just about exactly what I’m looking for! On reading reviews, I ran across a mention of the ThruNiteArcher Pro V2 (won’t let me post Amz link for some reason?). Any thoughts on that one? I like that it’s more water-tight than the Acebeam, and has a better charging setup. I’m not wild about that exposed tailswitch, or the stepless dimmer, though.
Oh man, now I’m spoiled for choice! All of the suggestions you folks have given are great, for different reasons.
I really like the compactness and protected switch of the Acebeam.
The Wuben E6 looks generally well made, I like the side switch, and that it uses a regular 14500, but it’s coming up like $38 on Amz right now, which is a little more than I’d like to spend.
The TS12 has a great throw, from the shots I saw in some video review, but the head is a little larger than I’d prefer, and that UI is a bit…much. lol I do like the magnetic tail, though. Where did you find that price?! I’m seeing ~$25 on Amz with discounts.
I guess I’m just spoiled, since I haven’t been in the flashlight game for a while, and I’m used to ~300lm being “a lot”. I do have a couple lights that are more powerful than that, but my little Hugsby, which I think was realistically probably 200lm on a good day, just worked perfectly for my needs. It was small, had a simple UI, projected a beam like a frickin’ laser, and would run on just about any cell I could stuff in there. RIP, little bro.
In any case, I just need to figure out which of these will last be another 10 years, and pull the trigger, I guess.
When the sun is out nothing beats looking into manholes and wells and such than a mirror directing the sunlight into the depths of darkness, everything is lit up as clear as day.
Oh! Yeah, I’ve done that, but I’m generally carrying plans and a MS Surface tablet to take field notes. Someone else is carrying most of the tools. I just have a pocket light for those times when I need to get a look at an invert or whatever. I don’t want to carry too much extra gear, or they will start expecting me to “work”.
That’s the one. Odd, as while it’s an oldie, it was just available a few months back (maybe from a 3rd party reseller, not sure).
I get it, but if you want throwy, you want a big reflector-to-emitter ratio. You can get a fairly throwy tubelight in 18650 just fine, but in a 14500, a teenytiny reflector will end up being more spill than hotspot, and you’ll have to blast it just to get any “reach”.
I wouldn’t trust those 1-star reviews, as most of them sound like the reviewer can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. Ie, could stick in an alkaleak then claim it “doesn’t work”. Frankly, that’s Lumintop’s fault for not force-selling the cell along with the light as a bundle.
Have you ever seen the Hugsby P2? That little monster had a head maybe 1.25" in diameter, and threw a beam like a dang laser. lol
I’m not too worried about the idiot reviews. Amazon reviews have gotten far less reliable since they started this Vine Voice nonsense. Plus, like you said, some folks just have no business operating equipment more complicated than a pencil.
