I strongly recommend the olight m3x, its high quality and light weight. It well out throw any flashlight except for the bigger more expensive lights that cost $300 plus. I got a great deal over at ebay for 100 bux free expedited shipping. PM me if anyone wants the link to seller.
also love this forum!
It's good to have you here, Ubehebe!
I would suggest that you look into the Jacob A60 XR-E light that dealextreme carries. It uses the best throwing emitter ( XR-E) in a big reflector. Big reflector or big aspheric lense is the way to go. No exceptions. It comes highly recommended from some of the other thrower lovers on this site and is reviewed/talked about in several threads.
The cost of 15 usd should be appealing too because then you can buy 3. One for your missus, one for you and one for the backpack, just in case. And leaves you with enough money to buy a good charger and 6 or more good batteries. I would suggest the Sysnax intellicharge V2 that Dinodirect offers for 20 USD and for batteries I would suggest that you buy panasonic 3100 mah. You probably wont find many recommendations of cheap xxxxxfire batteries because it seems it is always a crap shoot and in your situation it seems to me (and I could be totally wrong, AGAIN 
) that you would rather pay a little more from a respected vendor like HKequipment.net and start using the lights than you would risk getting some poor or DOA cells that you have to wait several more weeks to replace.
I hope you find the site as entertaining as i do. Have fun.
Someone knows Death Valley … Well, it’s my namesake Big Ubehebe Crater!
Have to agree with the comments about single vs. multiple T6. My single TF T6 with 2 cells and ~50mm lens is plenty of light with long run time. I live in a very rural and fairly natural area as well; and find too much bounce from very strong spill interferes with night vision. Also found I quite like an aspheric which has almost none (Thanks TheShadow!).
If you aren’t sure about whether you want strong spill or a very tight beam, I’d suggest considering a very inexpensive flood to throw style light with an aspheric to experiment.
Still very inexpensive there is a thread on the different sipiks you can get (larger or smaller lens). Or I might look at Poppas versions for something only slightly more expensive.
Back to the single XMLs, I’d give serious look to the Crelant 7G5. It’s pricey, but the upgrade option of a 7G5 with huge collimator head is pretty awesome; very useful in areas where you can opt up the power to very long distances, so I am now going to watch prices on those.
Thanks to everyone for answering …… I didn’t expect answers to be so quick.
>>>>>>>>>>I’d suggest the Crelant 7G9. The Thrunite TN31
I will check them out. Thank you!!!
>>>>>>What kind of throw do you want?
That’s a great question that I should have thought more about before posting my original parameters. What I’m looking for is something along the lines of a high-beam headlight, and of equal brightness (which I know is probably not possible). When my truck is parked at an overlook, the high beams provide just what we’re looking for. Not a pinpoint of bright light like a W-C11 XPG-R5 but more like the pix I have seen of the X6 beam pattern. MUCH brighter in the center with some slight spill. Actually a zoomie would be best, but I know that won’t happen with a SST-90 and certainly not with multiple T6s.
>>>>>Or do you want something that will reach way out, yet still open up enough to allow your eyes to scan a far off area?
Yes, exactly. But huge brightness are the watchwords here. The brighter the better because the farther it will go, although I have noticed substantial light loss because of the substantial amount of dust suspended in the air. It’s not enough to interfere with daylight acuity, but it sure subtracts from flashlight beam efficiency.
>>>>>>You will need to stick with lights like the HD2010
GREAT!!! I just ordered one of those, so I may already have the answer in hand.
>>>>>>Trustfire TR-J10
Didn’t even know they made that one. I will have to compare it and the X6. thanks.
>>>>>>>>>You could spend more within your $150 ceiling, but you’re not going to get THAT much more lux from a single XML.
EXCELLENT POINT!!! That’s why I wanted to perhaps go with multi T6s, but what I’m picking up is not much of a spotlight effect with multi T6s.
>>>>>I would suggest the Fenix TK41.
Looks like I have more research to do. Thanks. Yes, I have ye olde eneloop charger so that would make it a no brainer if it’s what I want.
I will have to try and do a night pic to see if I can capture just how far a beam will go up here …. In a couple months. We bail from up there during the summer. Too hot. I may be crazy but I’m not nuts.
>>>>>>>I strongly recommend the olight m3x,
Another one to look at. SOOPER.
>>>>>>>>>>>Jacob A60 XR-E light that dealextreme carries.
I have my homework cut out for me.
>>>>>Big reflector or big aspheric lense is the way to go. No exceptions.
Oakey doakey. That’ll help narrow down the finalists.
>>>>>The cost of 15 usd should be appealing too because then you can buy 3.
That’s a no brainer! I’ll be ordering one of those today!!! Man, that’s what I love about budget lights …. No remorse on individual purchases (but when the paypal bill comes for the the whole month, now that’s a different story.)
>>>>>>>>>>>suggest that you buy panasonic 3100 mah. You probably wont find many recommendations of cheap xxxxxfire batteries because it seems it is always a crap shoot
I have some of the panasonic and sanyos, but I thought that there seems to be a consensus for using protected cells in multi-cell lights, although the A60 you recommend is not a multi cell.
I didn’t include all the suggestions in this reply, but I have written them all down and am off to research them now.
*If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. To refine the parameters: Ridiculous lumens (more the merrier) with a high-beam center-weighted throw …. The purpose of this light is not so much to find our way but to see what the heck is that all the way over there? Hoping for something in the 2000 lumen range, but perhaps that is ridiculous thinking.
Size is not too much of a concern (x6 is okay) but one of those 8 gazillion candlepower walmart specials is way too big.*
Thanks again everyone!!
Welcome to BLF!
Why not two lights?
For $150 you can get the best budget thrower Fandyfire STL-V6 and a very good high lumen multi emitter light Skyray King and versatile and reliable charger Sysmax Intellicharge i4 V2 and you still have some money for batteries as well..
Man, that is going into my sig line right now! You nailed it!
The TN31 is double the lux of the STL-V2. This guy has an actual need for the light, so I would spring for it. You could also go HID but I have no advice on those.
@ Tecmo
I thought about that one too but refrained from recommending it for 2 reasons although I believe it is a VERY nice light.
First reason is that it would go above his intended budget and I dont want to give recommendations outside the budget frame he has set. (At least with batteries and charger it would)
The second reason is that the OP mentions dust in the air. I too live in a rural area and even a little dust or mist in the air will cut down the usable distance of my best thrower (~ 75 - 85 kcd) to 300 meters or less. So although it is wonderful the few nights when no mist/dust is in the air it does nothing a ~50 kcd thrower wont do 85% of the time.
@OP: You certainly have your work cut out for you with all these proposals for your need. I for one would like to hear about your decisions and what you think of the lights when you get them/it. Have fun.
+1 for Ledsmoke. My thoughts, exactly.
Not shure if anyone mentioned that lithium batteries for multi-cell lights need additional attention (i.e. balance checking).
I'm a two-lights fan. A semi-flooder on medium in my hand to illuminate the path ahead and a thrower in my backpocket for occasional spotting. Each in 1x18650 configuration. This way I get the following benefits:
- 2x18650 energy available, without the need for balancing
- backup in case of flashlight breakdown
- each light chosen to best accomplish one task only, no multi-purpose tools for me.
I love my Jacob A60 (the thrower), I use it daily. But without a backup, I'd not recommend it for wilderness at this moment. It has been around only a couple of months now, and we don't know yet how well it stands those 2.0-2.2A it's XR-E is driven at. That's the reason why I bought a spare one, I'd really miss it if it went poof.
+1 M3X is one of the best!!!
+1 the Jacob A60 is the best thrower for the money.
A hearty round of applause to those who posted more answers after the second batch.
I don’t have the suggestion list in front of me …. Partly because it would show me how much money I have spent on flashlights in the last couple days :–0 But I have taken many of the suggestions to heart and ordered 7-8 lights. I am PSYCHED!!!
>>>>>the Jacob A60 is the best thrower for the money
Definitely ordered that one. Thanks!
I’m thinking that a single Q5 may not be what I’m looking for in a long-distance thrower. I should have been more speciific in my original post.
I have about 30 budgie lights so far, mostly Q5s and T6s, running on 18650s and 14500s. The 2x18650 T6s and a 5 q5 2x18650 (spillee) Trustfire are close to what I need but just aren’t bright enough to cover the distance. The 2x18650s (one a zoomie) are ALMOST useful for about a mile, but just fall a few lumens short. I can see the beams (even on some of the smaller single 18650 T6s) hit a landmark exactly one mile from my deck, but the light isn’t bright enough to see much at that distance — except for burro, coyote and other critter eyes which light up like fireballs even a mile away in the deep black moonless desert (not with a moon though). So that’s why I was interested in the x6 or multi T6s.
Soooooooooooo …… If this batch of recommended throwers can’t project far enough, I’ll have to go for the big guns.
My main fear of ordering a x6 is getting a bad one and having to return in, turning a $150 order into a bottomless money abysss. There are a couple U.S. sellers for a few bucks more, so I’ll probably go with one of them. But then on the other hand, I’m thinking the higher-volume Chinese sellers might be turning over their stock frequently enough to get the newest and greatest revisions on the x6 as trustfire (maybe) tweaks specs for the best. Then again, even my smaller chinese lights come through mostly unbroken but looking like they were thrown from a fighter jet at 50,000 feet, so who knows how anything like a large x6 will fare.
I had thought that a less-expesnive but brighter multi-t6 might be a better solution, but most everyone seems to say they are not really spotlights or throwers.
So I anxiously wait for the next 3-4 weeks to fly past to see if any of my new purchases will fit the bill. Plus I still have MORE research from the first batch or suggestions and now this go around.
Thanks again everyone. I never could have found the actual hands-on light experience between different models that has been so kindly offered by everyone here.
I am very happy to have found BLF. I hope I am able to give back as much as you all have given to me so far.
65/48/30W 6000Lumen HID Xenon 6600mAh
$135
Obviously it would be a beast to carry. But at least it comes with a carry strap. Around 15” long, 3” for the bulb holder and 2” for the battery holder. The weight is right at 3 lbs. I have a feeling it overheats. It says Max Head temp is 176 degrees F. As an overheat protection, it says it changes to 45 watts when it reaches 113 degrees F.
65W HID rechargeable Torch
Power output 65W/48W/30W/SOS (4 Modes)
Brightness 2700LM(30W) 4800LM(48W) 6000LM(65W)
Color temperature 6000K
Optical efficiency 80LM/W
Bulb life span 3500hrs
Battery 6600mAh
Irradiation range over 1.6 km
Continual illuminate time 150mins (30w) 120mins (48w) 100mins (65W)
Length 385mm
Diameter of bulb holder 80mm
Diameter of holder 50mm
Material Aerospace-Grade Aluminum alloy (6061-T6)
Surface treatment Flat Silver Type III Hard Anodized Finish
Reflector High efficiency, Aluminum alloy
Glass lens High temp toughened quartz glass lens
Battery life ≥500 times
Battery charger voltage 12.6 v
Charging time About 5 hours
Backup light 1W LED bulit-in battery pack
Ballast input voltage 9 ~ 16V
Working current 5.4 A
Head running temperature 80°C max
Color Black
Weight （including battery) 1350g(6600mAh battery）
Weight (including battery and with suitcase) 2.75kg
Wow!! That sucker is big!!! But bright. Now we need someone other than me to buy it and review it to see if it’s any good. ;) ;)
The temperature could be a problem. Then in survival situations, you could cook on the bezel!
You could even start a fire with it if you carried a magnifying glass with you! How is that for survival?
Check out this Youtube link on Flashlight Starts Fire
Pretty funny! 
Enjoy your stay here, Tom Smith!
