Old flashaholic! Someone give me a rundown on the new flashlight technology and must haves!

edc · September 5, 2011, 6:00am

Welcome back! You really need to try an xml. Xeno eo3 will surprise you but there are many budget options around too.

agenthex · September 5, 2011, 9:23am

dorpmuller:

Welcome aboard! No censoring and petty rules here... AWR was the scammer, AW sells the batteries. The AW batteries are good-not like the junk China 18650's that used to fail after a month. Easy to confuse them. I'm richpalm on CPF/CPFM since 2003, but I'm enjoying it here much more-it's much looser and laid back. Last year I just got back into it after a 3-4 years' absence.

To get you started: Cree XM-L is the newest rage, XP-G is the closest runner-up, good dealers are Shiningbeam, Lighthound, Illumination Supply, Battery Junction, LED Supply (all U.S.), and Manafont (China)

Solarforce is the best P60 host that won't bankrupt you... look into the L2P. Most Solarforce can be gotten at Lighthound, so you don't wait forever from China.

Many to most of us do our own dropins-between the dealers I listed, you can get all the parts and Lighthound has AW's.

AW's are overpriced. For someone who doesn't mind the cost, there's a member here who sells cutting edge panasonic cells for the same amount.

df2dot · September 5, 2011, 5:37pm

@agenthex-"AW's are overpriced. For someone who doesn't mind the cost, there's a member here who sells cutting edge panasonic cells for the same amount."

MY QUESTION - are these unprotected only ? who is the person , PM me if you like, thx ! i need some decent 18650s

chiefinspectorfinch · September 5, 2011, 5:58pm

Hi and welcome to BLF.

For start I would recommend UltraFire/Sky Ray P10 flashlight. It's absolutely perfect EDC flashlight (from my perspective at least) and meets all of your wishes.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ultrafire-p10-r5-cree-xr-g-r5-5-mode-350-lumen-memory-led-flashlight-1-18650-42972

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/sky-ray-p10-cree-xpe-r5-350lumen-5mode-memory-led-flashlight-18650-p-6379

No worries emitter is XP-G R5 despite description.

Paired with xtar 2600 batteries and MP1 charger makes really affordable package.

stevetexas · September 5, 2011, 6:52pm

Hey Oldtimer

I was in the same boat you are. I had lost touch with the flashlight world for about 5 years.

Based on posts here I have bought 7 new flashlights. The first one is the Ultrafire WF-502B. It has the new hot ticket in LEDs, the Cree XM-L.

Manafont has a great deal on the 502B @ $15.50

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/ultrafire-wf502b-t6-5mode-led-flashlight-118650-black-p-7640

The 501b is even cheaper @ $13.99

http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/ultrafire-wf501b-t6-5mode-led-flashlight-118650-black-p-7639

There are lots of threads and posts about these.

CEHepp · September 6, 2011, 1:08am

The battery thread is here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/2647

The 3100mAh batteries can be had in both protected and unprotected. I believe your light must not have a voltage cutoff greater than 2.5 volts to utilize the full potential of these cells.

I paid over 20USD with shipping for my AW2900. Yes, they are expensive but at the time it was about the best battery I could get. Now that I have the CK batteries at nearly half the price for a newer Panasonic cell, I will pick up a couple of those for my EDC.