So my good friend turned me onto this forum a few days ago. Now I find my self overwhelmed in the flashlight industry. This looks like cool and expensive hobby as I am already into firearms and other fun toys. I am fairly handy and can handle modding some of my own lights I believe. Is there a thread for total newbies that I can review as far as what should or could be bought to start? What soldering gun and other equipment I might need to get started? Just the basics not looking into testing specs and lumens and everything at this point.
I also don’t know much about amps or current and what pieces or drivers work with different led’s. Which I am sure I can get answers to relatively quick in the forums. I would like to start with a few different throwers. My friend has recommended a few but I also am looking for outside opinions.
So what would be the first 3 lights you would buy and mod? What would be the mod’s? Keep in mind I am a beginner. I have been reading up on Drivers and LED’s over the past few days but I am still lost. I do have some money to purchase some different hosts for lights. Not looking to spend $1000.00 off the bat but a few hundred is okay.
I have looked at different lights that are modded already to gather some information on specs and have looked at mtn electronics at a lot of different parts. There is just so many different drivers and MCPCB and different configs of adding and subtracting.
There’s so much variety right now, modding is more of a “I like to tinker” thing than a necessity. But if you enjoy tinkering, that’s fine. I think you should buy a handful of nice lights first, though, and as you figure out what you like/don’t like/would change, you will come to know what mods you would want to make and can start to look for the right host.
My favorite lights right now:
Emisar D4V2 for a handy, pocketable light with a short blast of floody, bright light (3000 lumens or more).
Noctigon K1 thrower for a tight, concentrated beam to see distant objects.
BLF Q8 is not so pocketable but will sustain brightness longer (better heat dissipation) and has good runtime.
BLF LT1 Lantern - the best lantern money can buy.
Sofirn CO1S is the light so small you can put it in your pocket or on your keychain and forget about it; it will be with you everywhere.
Appreciate the feedback so far. I have ordered a few lights from links I found here on the site from people’s stores. I probably paid more than what I could have modded them myself. I can also get more familiar with them and compare them. Different lites with different LEDS. I don’t want anything to terribly big. Just standard hand held flashlights.
I am interested now in getting some micro flashlights like key ring size and or fit in my palm. So information on those would be great also.
