I am from Himalayan region of India, we often see weather related blackouts here and recently my city witnessed a heavy snowfall that cut us off for almost three days. It happened after a decade so it did catch us off guard.
I have two flashlights that I randomly bought via ebay couple of years ago.back then I only knew that Cree LEDs were one of the best. I am not even sure if these truely are cree or not because , ebay. But these were a pleanty of help.
Anyway, I have ultrafire’s sk68 and another 3aaa powered t6. And I am looking for better options.
I want to buy two lanterns and two flashlights and my budget is restrictive. Also will be buying nitecore 2600mah 18650s and nitecore’s four battery charger.
I will not comment on your lights, but it might be a good idea to read up on batteries.
The best batteries you can get today are 18650 cells, they have a lifetime of about 5 years (Depends on a lot of factors).
The next best is eneloop (or other batteries based on them), they have a longer lifetime, but less capacity.
All LiIon batteries can be charged with just about any LiIon charger. There is some current limits and there is some bad charges, read my reviews for more information.
I use a few Convoy S2s. They are quite good as a starting light. I suggest you build one with a XP-L HI and a smooth reflector from Simon to get the maximum throw from such a small diameter reflector. Otherwise they are quite floody. Convoy C8 is an amazing light for the price, I would still suggest building the XP-L HI version for the best throw. I have a few pocket rockets I can sell off at the cost I paid. These are built using Copper MCPCBs, BLF Drivers etc. PM me if you are interested.
I beleive the Nightcore batteries should work in these bodies. It might be thicker by may be a mm and longer by about 5mm
But if you are looking for a stock one, then banggood/gearbest would be the cheapest for you.
About the battery charger’s I suggest the OPUS. I had a nightcore D4 which I later sold and got myself an OPUS. It also has discharging options which will be useful for refreshing NIMH cells. . OPUS @Gearbest . That said, you might also consider a charger that can take the new 20(1)700 batteries as well, that way you will be future proof. Please checkout HKJ’s charger reviews, there is a boatload of very useful information there.
There is a Blitzwolf lantern thats making waves these days, check that out as well. Blitzwolf Lantern @ Banggood
About batteries why dont you start off with laptop battery pulls. While they dont work that well with FET drivers they should be okay with regulated drivers that S2+ and C8 Comes with when you buy a built one. Be sure to get the ones with the new UI. The software is created by our own ToyKeeper!
Both “Nitecore” and budget in the same sentence? LoL!
So there I go, make a local search on some popular retailer by the term “nitecore”. And all I can see is stuff ranging from overpriced to waste of money. Of course, this is just my opinion.
Go look for a LiitoKala charger, best bang for the buck. Even the Lii-100 is quite fine, and cheeeap.
You may want to try Aliexpress for the batteries, there are some nice retailers which may ship to your country. If in doubt ask first, then pull the trigger.
I am def. going for 18650s and considering AAA eneloops for my cordless phones, will add AA to that as they are just $12 for a set of 4. I am in process of reading up on about LiIon batteries, chargers and how to care for them. Will surely check your reviews before I pull the trigger. Thanks.
Right now I am def. not looking at modding, maybe sometime in future. I am only looking for stock flashlights and lanterns. After posting this I did stumble upon BW Lantern lt5 pro, looks amazing for the price and comes with battery and USB recharging, it’s perfect for me. I think I will get BW LT5 Pro and a LT3 go along. Which looks like a steal at half the price of LT5 pro (Not WR, which I dont need) (It’s not available in stock, sorry)
I don’t really have a laptop battery to pull from and my family will be using these so I am def. going for protected batteries irrespective of the protection in flashlights and charger.
Haha, I know Nitecore isn’t exactly the cheapest option but it (and Fenix) are the only ones that I can buy here in India (amongst the reliable batteries from reliable sources). No online retailer based in China (or elsewhere) ships batteries to India sadly.
Ronin42, not bashing Nitecore's overall product quality, to me it has more to do with their product policies. They're mod unfriendly, don't even know how to make a freakin' battery charger (tad sarcastic of course) and, if you find one of their products on sale its price will just be 0K. Not my cup of tea.
Due to the charging circuit in cordless phones they are rather hard on the batteries. Eneloop lite is supposed to handle that much better than regular eneloop.
