I have been using a cheap torch for work and have recently had a problem.
Its an Ultrafire C10. Has been working flawlessly until recently. Now for some reason it will not turn on when I press the tail clicky the first time. I have to push it twice for it to turn on.
Any suggestions on what I need to do to fix this ? Other than just buying a new one.
Secondly, I need a torch with a very good throw. The Ultrafire C10 I have seems to throw nicely but are there other budget lights that will throw further ?
I also have a number of C8’s and a Uniquefire HS802 which also throws quite far but the size doesnt compare to the C10. The C10 fits nicely on my belt.
I need a reliable battery for work also, I have a variety of 18650s (ultrafire, trust fire, panasonic). Would spending big dollars on a battery improve the light ? or just run time ?
There are lots of lights that will throw well, depends on budget and your definition of good throw. It's mostly determined by the size and design of the reflector. For the same emitter and driver, a larger reflector will throw better than a smaller one. The depth and finish of the reflector also matters. A deeper reflector that is smooth (no orange peel) will usually have better throw.
A light that draws a lot of current will be improved by a quality LMR or a Panasonic PD, but many lower powered lights will not be improved significantly by spending more on the battery. Larger capacity usually means more run time, but many chinese cells are vastly over rated in terms of capacity.
I would recommend checking and cleaning the contacts first. Its quick and easy and a common cause for problems like this.
However it might be the Tailcap. Ive had a similar problem happen before where the tailcap poops out and becomes really unreliable. I can’t think of a good way to get a new one other than buying a new light unfortunately.
I thought a C10 was a C8 with a deeper reflector. Unsure how it work be more compact or fit better?
As for batteries, some are certainly better than others. However, I wouldn’t expect huge gains to be had here. Maybe +/- 20%? You can do some searches for “18650 best” and probably find a lot of info.
I would recommend a flood to throw XM-L light, if you can find someone to customize it for you. Most of them are lousy because they are underdriven. If you can put a good driver into an XM-L with the modes you want, then it should work pretty well.
Your flood will look brighter because you won’t have a glaring hotspot…I way prefer this for working or lighting up an area because its even lighting.
You can adjust to throw and it still works decently.
Thanks heaps for the replies guys !
Before I go any further, I must admit that I am a total flashlight noob and all this “LMR’ , ”PD” and driver talk means nothing to me. I have no idea about the internal parts of the light.
I want something that can throw as far as possible. not too worried about flood. In my line of work, I need a light to beable to throw as far as possible. And it DEFINITELY needs to turn on the first time I press the button…
The C10 and C8 are very similar. The head on the C8 just seems to be a bit longer and doesnt fit into the pouch on my belt as well as the C10 does.
The C10 also has a brighter spot at a further distance…which is why I chose the C10 over the C8.
Can you guys also please check out my thread in the general section on converting 5 mode to 1 mode. I have the med,low,SOS and strobe functions.
If small head diameter/length is important then Joe's suggestion of a zoomie might be a good one. Instead of a large reflector a zoomie or flood-to-throw has an convex lense that focuses the light from a wide beam to a narrow one that reaches further. Something like this will give you an idea what it can look like. If you're a LEO, or have similar requirements of a light, you would probably want a higher quality one.
I don't know if the better zoomies avoid that problem. More powerful ones such as the Xsearcher have larger heads too. But the DBS-T is similar to a C8 in size but has much better throw.