Shall I get a flood or throw? Newbie who does not know the real difference.....

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Well I know what flood and thow means but how big is the difference? Can it be measured in meter?
I started a thread with some general falshlight questions since lights are all new to me apart from my two Maglights that probably does not impress anyone here :slight_smile:

This question is a bit more specific.
“Everyone” likes powerfull lights I assume but I understand there is a difference.
I have been looking at either the Sky Ray King or the Apex 5T6. Ma8inly becuase of the small size and that they will be “easy” to carry along with you.
What “worries” me that they do not go that far but are more flood (which is of course cool).
I do not really have a specific purpose for the lights.
I live in the middle of nowhere and would like to cover quite long distances with the light as well.
Since I have no references at all I do not know what to expect.

Shall I go for two lights maybe?
I would like one that is handy to take with you (=King or Apex maybe?)
But I would alos like to have one that covers long distances on some occasions.

Confused………

1. Is there any moddle way.
2. For Flood and size would you go for the Apex, King or something else.
3. For distance what would you go for and why? The further it stretches the better :slight_smile: We’ll maybe not but I think you know what I mean…

Budget is about $60 per light or something like that.

2

Flood and throw really are things only you can answer.

The way I look at it is, if you image a hose with water pouring out of it. A big bore hose will not project the water very far, but will cover a wide area in front of you. If you keep the water flow rate constant but add a nozzle it’ll turn it into a jet of water and project it much further, but very little will land in front of you.

I think that is the difference between flood and throw. Although there is another dimension to it.

If you increase the flow rate of the water then in both instances above the water would project further, without altering the overall characteristics of the flow.

In flashlight terms this means ‘lumens’ is like the water flow rate. The more lumens the more the light will be projected, this gives you Beam Distance. So you can have both a floody light and a throwy light with equal beam distance. In fact you can even have a more floody light with better beam distance than a thrower if it has sufficient lumens.

Lux is a rating of beam intensity, so a higher lux will normally mean more throw. But I think it’s a little more complex than that.

If you assume all 3 of these lights produced the same/similar lumen rating. This is just an example of what the beams might be like:

If you upped the lumen rating on all of them, then they’d simply be brighter, but remain the same beam type.

Smaller shallower reflectors, especially in relation to the size of the LED will be more floody. Orange peel texture will help smooth the beam out, but will affect beam distance. Such lights will have a wider less defined hot spot and much brighter spill.

Smooth deep reflectors will throw much further as they will concentrate more of the light in a tighter focus. The spill will likely be smaller (relative to reflector diameter) and dimmer. Smooth reflectors can produce ringy beams and more artifacts, but not always.

Aspheric lenses are quite specialist and focus almost all of the light into a compact beam. This make them very laser like with huge throw, but very little spill.

3

Thank you for a very informative and detailed answer.
So if I take the two lights I was initially into, the King and the Apex, I understand they are both really powerfull right?
This would mean they should have a quite good throw as well?
And size wise they are right up my alley….
I do not really want a huge light (powerfull throwers seems so big but I might be wrong) since I suspect it would risk being a shelf warmer…….

4

Two lights.
A King with 4 good Panasonic NCR18650 based 3100 or 3400 MaH batteries; and an HD2010 with a King Kong 26650 battery, and a charger that can handle both sizes is a good start.

Or maybe an Skyray STL V2 for throw.

(Neither are great for yard work, you need to get a UF2200 for that, and that’s no good for EDC, so you also need a UF2100 or E03, and you then need a XinTD v3 C8 NW for it’s awesome tint and build quality, then you need a couple of keychain lights, say a Tank007 E09 and A Trustfire Mini, and maybe a DQG AA as a spare. You probably need a Solarforce L2 with a P60 dropin as an all rounder as well, and another C8 for the car, and a diving light for your tropical holiday next year. If you only want one light get a good C8.)

5

Multi emitter lights, are dipically floody, as all the reflectors are small. Where as a single emitter with a large reflector can out throw something with 10x the lumens.
If I were you I’d get the Apex for a floody powerhouse, and something like the HD2010 or the New light coming out from SBFlashlights by jake25, which will have 90k lux

6

I will only use it for outdoor purposes lighting up the road as I walk up to my post box, spotting for wild animals in our premises/pen (where we have our horses).
Tricky this……
How “throwy” is an Apex or King really compared to a simliar strenght thrower?
Whatever I get will of course be a real improvement from my 3D cell maglite I assume….

7

Do yourself a personal favor and listen to me and buy the FandyFire STL-V6 from Deal Xtreme for around $45 shipped to your door. You won’t find a better all around flashlight in my opinion. It will do it all for most folks. Great thrower out to 350yds or so and nice beam with some decent spill.

And while you are at it, you might as well order the Jacob A60 for about $15 shipped. There you will have 2 lights for your $60. It’s a super $15 thrower that no other light I know of will touch for even close to the price.

8

If you want to give your 3D Mag a make over get one of these: http://www.thetorchsite.co.uk/TTS-3WCR90_CNC_XPG-R5_LED.html

Cheap as chips and will transform it. The Mag with it’s fairly large and deep smooth reflector is quite a good thrower. These TTS drop ins massively improve performance and offer up a nice usable spill while remaining monster throw.

This is my Mag with one of those drop ins:

slightly over exposed:

@ 105 feet:

@ 189 feet:

9

Actually this shows up the flood/throw thing quite nicely.

This is my EagleTac, it massively out lumens my Maglite, but it’s a compact pocket torch. It’s quite throwy for it’s size, but as you can in this pic is also offers up a huge amount of bright spill.

Where as the Mag is offering up less spill (in real life there was more, especially closer to the torch, but it was a lot less bright than the EagleTac). But look at the light concentration on the barn. The difference is the EagleTac won’t light much up past this distance, while the Mag will still put a beam on an object at about double the distance.


PS - sorry I can’t help further with the lights you’ve mentioned, but I don’t have either so can’t really comment on them.

:slight_smile:

10

If you listen to everyone who advises you to buy "that specific light", you will end up ordering 20 lights.

This seems like a good alternative to King and Apex: http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1739

Just wait for a review and if it performs as expected, buy the one you like best.

FandyFire STL-V6 and HD2010 are very throwy lights. I prefer something like the UF980L because its small enough to carry it in your pocket. But that depends on what you prefer.

Jacobs A60.. seems to be a great thrower. I like the Small Sun ZY-C10, its small and produces a laser like beam. Useful? Not really, but fun to play with.

11

Order the Xin C8 and see if that suits your needs well. This is a awesome light and would be good enough for %99.9 percent of the people out there. It was for me for about a week until I wanted just a little more throw. Then I wanted to throw to the moon. Then I wanted to light up a little more area. I wonder what would light up my entire yard? That’s it. I was bitten by the flash bug and it’s been an interesting ride! You might say this is all I need and why in the world would anyone need more. Most don’t, but you are talking to a forum full of those who do. The C8 is an absolutely awesome light and still impresses me with it’s all around performance especially for the cost. It floods nicely, throws well, has a pleasant tint, carries in a big pocket or jacket very well. It throws as well as these flooders and floods as well as these throwers. It could be all you need and save you some coin.

If after you receive it and you think you need more throw then an HD-2010/STL V2 should be your next purchase. If you need more throw after that then you’ll need to up your budget.

If you feel you need more flood then a Sky Ray King/Apex should be your next move. If you still need more flood then once again you need to up your budget.

Order the C8, a couple of good quality 18650s and a good charger. Analyze what you like and don’t about it and come back. If it’s not enough flood or throw then throw it in your car for an excellent car light and buy a dedicated thrower and/or flood light like the ones I/you mentioned earlier.

One more thing to take a look at, and is IMHO the most important light, is an EDC. I use a Fenix PD-32 only because I hadn’t found this forum yet, if so, it would have been one of Eric’s mods. I use this light more than all of my others combined because it’s always there and most tasks don’t require a million lumens or a mile of throw. Just food for thought.

12

Well said! Very well, indeed.

Welcome to BLF lintonindy! You'll love being here! :)

13

+1, a good c8 is a hell of a package, and a damm good benchmark for what you “need” next. :stuck_out_tongue:

14

I would get these. They pair well !
!!

15

Another good bang for the buck is this Keygos M10
http://www.ebay.com/itm/26650-18650-1600Lm-CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-Flashlight-Torch-MA10-/110832073236?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item19ce1b3a14
It’s pocket friendly, battery flexible, has a good balance of flood and throw.
At that price you can’t go wrong.

16

+1
Nice torch …… Here is a beam shot against an SST-90 light ……
!!

SST on left and M10 on right and welcome to BLF !

17

I was trying not to be an m10 shill, but you can get the light, cells and charger for not much, all are pretty good, it is my go to light, I like it so much, I want an e1320 driver and u2 emitter for it. It also blow lamps well into a nice fade.

<a href=Photo Storage target=_blank><img src=http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x48/gords1001/IMAG0379-1.jpg border=0 alt=>

It’s resting on a c8 for size comparison. :bigsmile:

18

19

If you are going to get a light to use outdoors, IMHO, you should get the throwiest light you can. Why? Simple: you can diffuse a throwy beam to make it floody, but, I have yet to find someone or some way to collimate a floody beam into a thrower. There are diffusing films, diffusers, sprays, etc, for diffusing a throwy beam that are easily purchased for this purpose. You can even get a small light with a thrower head on it and diffuse it for indoor use as long as it has multiple modes so that you don’t blind yourself. A Solarforce L2 with their M3 head would be a good example of this.

20

The Skyray King is a good all around light. The flood will light up 50 to 60 yards in front of you like daylight and the throw can reach up to around 150 yards depending on available surrounding light. It’s small enough to side carry in a holster and it uses 4x 18650 cells. The 2300 lumens coming out of that small light is amazing ! It’s such an amazing light that the new Darth, the black shadow, the apex, and so on were designed thanks to the King. This torch should be in every flashaholic’s collection……… On low mode 230 lumens and (4) 18650 it can run non stop for up to 10 hours