Hi everybody.
I just found this forum so I tought i would give it a try to get some help.
I work as a police officer and I am looking for a not too bad light that I wont mind loosing when chasing a guy or breaking when I catch him and go into a rumble with.
It’s a backup light that I have notched up on my vest. It canot be over 30mm in Width, and lenght I would like to keep as short as possible. Has to have a clip also.
I currently have a Ultrafire (A1 i think) on my vest. It’s alright but sometimes it start’s to flash for no reasons (seems like the internals are not well held together)
I have looked on Ebay, Amazon and Dx.com (dealextrem). But just cannot make a pick. It’s hard to look on Amazon or Ebay when you do not know what you are looking for.
Also need it to be CR123a since this is what my department carries for our main lights.
Here are a couple examples of what i have found so far:
ohaya, good to know it is bright. That’s the 5-mode version of the one I linked.
Not sure about a 5-mode twisty. Does it have mode memory of any kind?
Also, can it be one-hand operated? It looks like it should be easy to do, but better to confirm with an owner.
I still consider myself to kind of new (despite # of posts :)), so don’t usually care much about memory (or tint), but I just tested the one I have, and it looks like it has NEXT mode memory, i.e., I turned it off when in high mode, and waited, and when I turned it on again, it came on in medium mode.
I’m probably not the best person to ask about one-handed operation (bad hands :(), but the light is rather wide (stubby) so a person with “normal” hands could operate it one-handed. I can do it, but not too easily. However, I’d note that the one I have, from FT, has very little knurling on it…. only a small strip kind of at the middle of the body.
The head has concentric grooves around it, probably to try to improve dissipating heat (ala “fins”), which is counter-productive from a grip/one-handed standpoint.
I am a newbie for the west coast. I would suggest you look at lights with 18650 batteries (eqivalent to two 123a batteries). There are more options in lights for you and within the $20 range.
As far as Lumens go; one says 205 and the other 600. Is a the second one boosted on the numbers ? Doest the quality of the light affect those numbers ? Meaning if the first one is better quality , will the 205 seem to be as good as the 600 ?
The SWM R10R is probably right on with the lumens, it might even do better than that.
The UltraFire is probably between 400 and 500 lumens. The 600 number is likely an inflated ‘emitter lumens’ number, and doesn’t factor in losses.
I think one of the last two are good fits. The Crelant should be good, but you might be right about the clip, doesn’t wrap around too far. Might just be the angle though.
Edit: the SWM clip doesn’t look overly secure either. The UF clip seems to wrap around the most.
Lumens can be a little misleading, a bit like torque is with cars.
As the general rule more is better, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
The Sunwayman uses an XP-G2 emitter, this is a small emitter and will offer relatively good throw for a small reflector.
The other light uses an XM-L emitter, this is physically much larger than an XP-G2, so it put out more light, but it will generally throw less far for the same size reflector.
So the extra lumens of the XM-L mean it’ll have a bigger hot spot and brighter spill rather than a massively more intensive output, i.e. it’ll illuminate with wider area brighter.
Something else to consider is many budget brands lie about output, I suspect (but don’t know for sure) that the Ultrafire is lieing about it’s output and is probably nearer 400 lumens than 600.
Ordered the last 2. Will report when I get the order.
Might also need to check for a main light because the one my departmenr issues is really crapy( pelican m6) If you guys have a suggestion to replace that I would also be interested (if possible similar size or one with a belt holster around the same size)
This is what we have. Kind of pricy for the poor light it has. I’ve seen some collegues with 10$ lights with twice the punch in them. But I have to admit it’s prety sturdy to abuse.
Yes sory I tought I mentionned that we only have cr123a batteries available from the department in my first post but I forgot to add that info on my last post. Also a clicky is a must (when using firearm etc…)
You can get a forward clicky switch (some come with them, some with a reverse clicky) if you need momentary. And it’s easy to swap on a new tailcap & switch. You can also buy clips if you need one.
The biggest advantage of this system is the “drop-in” LED module. The metal torch is just a tube and you buy the LED to drop into it. It’s very easy and quick. This means you can upgrade easily, or indeed if you fried the drop in you could even carry a spare drop in with you.