Hello. I just joined this great group having found it doing a Google search on flash lights reviews.
I just ordered my first high power light, the TrustFire TR J18. Should have in two weeks. I also ordered with the TrustFire three TrustFire 26650 5000ma batteries and charger. Reason why I bought it was the other night we heard a noise from our back yard (1 acre) and I took out my two “biggest” lights, a Duracell Daylite (D size) and a 4 cell non-Led Maglight. Both were painfully inadequate to survey my back yard.
The Durcell is rated at 160 lumen. Does anyone know what the 4 cell non-LED Maglight is rated as? Also, I couldn’t find here any reviews on the TR J18, like its actuall lumens and battery life on 26650x3. Any insite on this? thanks.
Your TR-J18 is a heck of a light and will knock your socks off! You got yours with decent cells, too. While I can't help with actual runtime, I can tell you that the J18 has been tested at closer to 3000 lumens OTF (out the front). If you are handy at soldering you might consider a driver swap down the line for around 4800 OTF lumens.
First, welcome to BLF! Search, read up, and learn.
Maglite 4D non-LED is rated 72 lumens and probably looks darn close to the 2D incandescent in my old beamshots thread (you can compare with others there). With that TR-J18, I hope you've studied up on Lithium Ions and understand the dangers of Lithium Ions in series and proper care for them with a DMM. If not, read up immediately.
Don't get caught up in looking for more lumens. You can have a light that throws further and puts out far less lumens versus a light which puts out a ton of lumens and hardly throws at all. You have to look at beam profile and what kind of area you want to light up. I own a 1 acre lot and can get by scanning the lot with a 150 to 250 lumen thrower (spot beam) or I can use a 800+ lumen XM-L "flooder" and light up most of the backyard (although it's tough to see stuff in the distance when you are lighting up everything in front of you. My fake Solarforce L2 with Manafont Ultrafire 3 mode XM-L drop-in or my KD-C8 XM-L is plenty enough to search my yard. The L2 compared with the KD-C8 can be compared in this beamshot thread.
Welcome to BLF!! I was checking out the light you ordered, very cool! Yet another pending expense, till the funds come availible.My method of checking the yard is old school… I turn the dogs loose
I would have a dog if it wasn’t for my wife. But then again it is just as well as we live in the deer tick captial of the world and a dog would probaly pick up many of them.
72 lumens? Wow, thats funny. And at one time I thought that was a bright light. At least I can still use it as a weapon.
My 4D Maglight appears about as bright as the Daylite, probably because I can focus the Maglight down to a small beam. So I understand the beam thing. That is why in another post I was wondering who made focus lights at high power. My next mission is to find a nice pocket size 1000 lum light with focus. That would be cool.
Regarding the li-ion batteries, I use to fly electric RC helicopters and I know the dangers of them in RC stuff because they can crash and burn. And I had a balanced cell charger for the RC stuff. But with the 26650s I bought a dual charger designed for them. What other precautions does one have to take when using them in a flashlight??
I use my 4 d mag light as a weapon. It’s taped to a old mule eared stagecoach double barrel. It’s ‘throwing’ 2 dozen OOO. Very effective lighting things up at short ranges… Lol :cowboy_hat_face:
Did you buy the Trustfire TR-006 dual slot charger? That one has had quite a number of reports of being received D.O.A. (some discussion here). The single bay TR-005 has had good reviews (and charges faster).
I have a Maglite 4D incandescent and love to use it to show off my high-powered LED lights. Show them the Mag 4D which they probably think is a bright powerful light and then show them the real lights! I bought the 4D years ago as a teenager to own own big bright light.
If you want a bright flood to throw XM-L light I can vouch for the Poppas W-878 (now called Poppas S7). Seems to be direct-drive on high so it'll put out a ton of light on a good fresh cell, runs 26650's, 18650's or even 3AAA's (at reduced output of course). In flood mode it's really really wide. It's not much of a thrower, but XM-L flood-to-throw's typically aren't. It throws a wide beam (still with no spill like the rest of the F-T-T's). It's not a high quality light, but I like it's output and the sliding of the head is nice and smooth and stiff enough not to slide accidentally. Only $16.33 at Manafont. I just used mine the other night to scan my yard for a toy my daughter left outside and didn't tell me about until dark (which was ok with me cuz I like opportunities to use my lights).
Oh, no! I did order the TR-006 charger. Now I am worried. 8-(
I got my 4D Maglight for free from Duracell as I had a 5D Maglight and the batteries leaked and ruined the light. Duracell replaced it. (It was the strangest thing I had ever seen. The batteries were stuck in the light at the base of the bulb and no matter what, I could not remove them. I ended up destroying the light and I still couldn’t get the batteries out. I shipped it to Duracell and they sent me money to buy a new one)
I have found this light, I wonder if it is any good?
Welcome to BLF, Joe. Sorry it took so long, I should have been the 4th greeter, but I noticed Dale’s Avatar and have been day dreaming ever since. If it wasn’t for the dinner bell, I’d still be in LA LA land.
Hi Joe!I grew up in upstate NY…the Fingerlakes region.I have a TRJ-12 that I use at my camp in WVA.It will easily light up several hundred feet, even in the woods, like daylight! I’m sure that your light will do even better!Have fun here and start saving your money!It’s only the lights that are budget…your spending budget is about to go way up!Peace be with you-Rick!
I am from the Utica area but now live in Dutchess County.
I justed ordered the UF-T20! I did alot of reading and it seems like a good light. I wanted something to go along with the TR J18. I figured the J18 will be my monster light for serious light needs and the UF-T20 will be my small pocket size light for small jobs. The only thing I don’t like about the UF-T20 is it lacks a belt clip.
So to sum up I have ordered the TR J18, the UF-T20 , 3 26650 and 4 18650 batteries. I hope I get this stuff soon. I hate ordering from China because it takes so long and I am concerned about the batteries going through Customs.
I also saw some posts about getting cells from laptop batteries. Where I work they sometimes throw out laptop batteries so I will keep an eye out for them and see if I can tear them apart and salvage some cells from them. I’ve read where they are 18650s.
