Buy a light you like the looks of as long as no one is warning you of some serious problem. Your first reaction to a light is probably correct. here's a few lights I like ... The convoy c8+ It has a matte finish that looks and feels great /comes in colors and has many emitter options to vary the amount of throw you want .
I like the sofirn IF22A as well . It looks cool it has an excellent UI /21700 battery /with the tir and sft40 has lots of throw without having a bigger head . I'd avoid the silver version as it makes the light look much cheaper . silver in some cases looks great .. just not the way they did it .
That is a mega thrower - way beyond my needs. 5” startup and 4 batteries - that’s serious.
I was really keen on the if22a except for the heat. I’m not concerned for the emitter itself, but the electronics (driver?) and battery. I’d rather just find something that isn’t on the pointy end of performance.
That dude who measured the amps got me thinking that I just need to find an emitter that doesn’t draw big amperage. This is still my ignorance talking. The same guy tested a Cree XHP50.3-HI and it draws a lot less but puts out high lumens. It is more of a flooder though, or in between a flood and throw.
That’s the same emitter that’s used in the sofirn c8L. Previously I thought because of the high lumens that it was using more juice. I’m going to check that one out again. Piercing the darkness did try to point me in this direction.
The IF22 was discontinued awhile ago, no interest. May have been a different story if they had sent reviews both versions instead of just the IF22A. The IF22 lasted quite a lot longer on turbo due to the extra mass.
Less amps because it’s operating at a higher voltage, so you can’t compare a 3v led with 6v. He also only ceiling bounces the light to estimate lumens which isn’t going to be super accurate, he then uses the 2200 spec to rate the SST40 and 2400 for the SFT40. He should have tested it himself, even though the difference in beam profile will be hard to directly compare.
He doesn’t mention the driver used in the SST40/SFT40. If it’s the standard 5A used in the C8+ then he’ll be getting closer to 1800 lumens for both. The 5A driver is actually running at 5.7A.
Okay, so how much range do you need to be able to see something at, like good lighting, not just faintly making out an object? I think it’s best we go from there
I’ve just been watching piercing the darkness’s videos again, and quite a few from Weerapat Kiatdumrong and throw hound. Also reading through the comments of those videos; the c8l is looking good, especially @ 1,000 lumens or less it seems pretty stable. I’m sure I’d be more than happy with around 500 to 1000 lumens as suggested by raccoon city (thankyou).
There’s a bit of a sale @ aliexpress starting from 1200 22 Aug when it will be $52 Australian (without battery).
In answer to funtastic - I have no idea re range. This is all new to me. I imagine whatever I get will be amazing compared to what I now have. I can just imagine the benefits though especially bushwalking - all those times I’ve been going up or down a reentrant and wondering whether the track goes up the saddle or backtracks on the other side. It would have been nice to be able to blast the other side to see if the track went there. It will be a novelty to eyeball all those nocturnal animals too, especially bandicoots.
Just note that half of the rated FL1 range is what you’ll be getting as good usable lighting. If you need 250m, you’ll require 500m.
The C8L gets 344m (my measurement) on High, so you’ll get 172m, on turbo you’ll get 259m. It’s a great all round model, but if throw at greater than 259m is needed, you’ll want something else.
Ah, for bush walking the wider beam on the C8L will definitely be what you need, I’d personally find the IF22A a bit too narrow. I just purchased the C8L for my brother in Perth, I skipped over the IF22A since the C8L felt more useful.
Just looking out the window now, I think 150m is stacks really. My eyesight is probably the limiting factor here Just bought out my range finder to get an idea of distance.
It looks a good light, and gets great reviews from you (just realised you’re piercing the darkness) and others. It is a bit off track to what I started thinking, but I’ve also learnt a fair bit since then too. I also have to acknowledge what many are saying about useful light - that beams can be too small to be that useful.
Gee, looking at the times for the C8L vs the C8G is interesting. I'd seen charts by reviewers for the C8L but not for the C8G. The C8L looks very impressive considering is has a much larger beam. It means a lot to me that @ 500 lumens (in reality about 360 lumens from memory?) I have over 6hrs. In the past I've been happy with 5 lumens on well trodden single track. With 100 lumens I reckon I could follow faint track with some hunting around here and there. The stated lumens for both lights are very exaggerated. The posted times for the C8L seem fairly close to what I've read from other testers. Ahh, just realised different batteries used for each; still it's good, my batteries are bigger again.
Just bought out my range finder to get an idea of distance.