Nice pic dchomak. That defiant has quite a big spill compared with the HD2010
I finally got one!!! After looking in five HD’s I find one that actually has them in stock. The other four don’t have a clue where they are. I really like the color of the beam; it’s a little warmer/softer than my other flashlights but I’m a newbie so I might be wrong.
That was my thinking too but everyone around me has 35 per the inventory checker. The weird thing is that at the stores I went the stock shows as 36. LOL Something is messed up.
(grumble, grumble…) After 2 HD visits, I’ve given up my will to live. The HD staff are generally well intentioned, but the big box holding these flashlights has flown into the upper reaches of the warehouse, possibly never to be found again. How can they lose stuff like that?
I know, inventory checker shows 35, HD says 36 (they corrected me too), display says $22.98 but they ring up at $22.97. On top of all of that, no one at HD knows anything about them - until we mention them. All this just adds to the mystique and desire to own one. All I can say is when you finally get one you will not be disappointed.
Ok fellas, here are my beamshots (finally!!!). These were taken with my cheap point & shoot Nikon set to "Night Landscape" mode (white balance apparently gets locked on "auto" for this mode - I can't access it in the menu when I'm in this mode). I checked the EXIF data and there is one shot where the shutter speed changed from 1/2 sec to 1/3 sec. Other than that these came out at ISO 400, f/3.1, and 1/2 sec. Photos seem just a hair brighter than what I really saw, but not far off at all. I used the same location where I do a lot of beamshots such as in this thread here where I tested the Black Friday Defiant 3C. Camera was not zoomed at all. I was working quick to get done before sunrise and you can see the sky getting lighter as I get to the last photos. For this session of photos I only compared the Small Sun ZY-T08 (on 2 KeepPower Panasonic 3100's) and the Defiant 3C Super Thrower. If anyone wishes, I could post mouseover comparisons to the previous lights tested from my other beamshot threads (though they were taken at different times, slightly different camera angles, possibly different camera settings, and may not be an exact comparison). Photo descriptions are above the photo described.
First up, 785 feet (per Google Earth, and also verified by high-resolution ortho-rectified aerial imagery stated to have a 5 foot horizontal accuracy) to a garage door on the rear of a house:
Control:
Small Sun ZY-T08:
Defiant 3C Super Thrower:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08, mouse over = Defiant:
Approx. 100 to 150 feet to shed (sorry no control shot):
ZY-T08:
Defiant:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08, mouse over = Defiant:
250 feet to same shed:
Control:
ZY-T08;
Defiant:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08, mouse over = Defiant:
50 feet to building with gray aluminum siding:
Control:
ZY-T08:
***NOTE: This is the photo that the shutter speed changed to 1/3 sec.***
Defiant:
Mouse over of the above two photos, mouse out = ZY-T08 (1/3 sec shutter), mouse over = Defiant (1/2 sec shutter):
It does seem that the Defiant is slightly warmer tinted (it still seems cool white in real use). The ZY-T08 has a slightly wider spill, with the Defiant collecting more light into the hotspot. My ZY-T08 is not modded, and has been tested to pull 2.40A regularly (occasional "turbo" of 3.85A). It would be better to test against a good HD2010, but as I've stated before mine is dead.
-Garry
Great beam shots! Looks very promising. I will be in the US soon, and will be scouting for one or two of these. 
Great beamshots garrybunk thanks for the info!
Inventory checker shows 34 in stock at my local HD (one less than yesterday). I'm assuming the display must have finally 'rolled-out'. I'll see if I can pick one up today.
Garry, once again you have proven to be among the MOST VALUABLE resources of information on anything LED flashlights, on any forum, for those who seek to get an idea of what the real world performance of any particular flashlight is.
Your beam shot photos are the best. You take time to provide context in terms of distance, shutter speed, ambient light conditions, control shots, etc.
The mouse over and mouse out comparisons that you provide are as good a resource/tool as ANY I’ve found anywhere that help me educated myself about that which I could only have speculated about if not for your posting them.
Thanks.
+1 on the mouse overs, they're awesome! Someday, I'll have to learn how to do that.
Well I appreciate your compliments. My beamshots are nothing spectacular. I try the best I can with the equipment I have at hand, but there are others far better at it than I. For one thing I need a better camera!
-Garry
See this awesome tutorial JohnnyMac created. You have to use the "Advanced Post Editor" which I do at all times. Mouse overs are awesome!
-Garry
Great effort with the beam shots! Thank you, young man.
Super Awesome pics Garry!
Finally got one. I used the trick that someone suggested about looking for a store that had less than 35 lights. Went to one that had 26 this morning. Three hours later when I went to leave, they only had five left. When I got there and found the display by the front door, they only had three. I have a feeling these will fly off the shelves if this mysterious sale ever takes place. The store was in Westminster, Calif.
And I gotta say, I can’t wait to try this thing tonight. Man, this looks like a thrower, and it should be, considering its size!!! Might need to rent a trailer just to bring this thing on vacation with you. Most certainly would need a trailer if you took two. But the throw. WOW!!! Tain’t dark yet here, but it kills my venerable ke-5 and HD-2010 when doing some quick white-wall hunting tests. I’ll have to get a hand cart to take it out tonight for a test. Or hire a shirpa.
What made it worth my while was also scoring a Ryobi li-ion tool pack and a Dell pack from the HD recycled battery bin!!! Ryobi batts were red sanyos but all below 1 volt. 
BUT the dell pack had 8 blue LGs, all with an exact reading of 3.94 volts. I have seen my share of packs, but this one looked positively unused. Not a scratch on the exterior. But what’s the Mah on these blue LGs? It’s a conundrum. Seller on ebay says 3000; but others say 2200. Probably 2200. But LG also has tan 2200s? Why the color change? Different model???
Off topic, but I find some tool packs with dead batts, but rarely dead computer packs. Why do people throw em away? Got me. Especially when ALL the cells are A-OK like this Dell pack. I can see one low or dead cell shutting the pack down from charging, but why throw away a brand new pack? Dead computer?
At least they’re not the gray Samsung 2400 mah cells. Beem running into those a lot lately. By and large, they’re woofers. They’ll charge fine but won’t hold a solid 4.2 charge for more than a few days.
Thank you Garry.
I just did some testing on some blue LG’s for a surplus dealer that was looking at buying some packs that had three in them. The packs were marked 2200 mAh and the cells tested at 2000 mAh under load. Unfortunately their internal resistance was around 100 milliohms… not good for heavy flashlight loads.
>>>>>Unfortunately their internal resistance was around 100 milliohms… not good for heavy flashlight loads.
I have used about 25-30 2000 and 2200 mah LG 18650s (and 10 lime green Panasonics) for quite some time (the LG tan ones) for general LED flashlight use and they worked fine. Never had a problem. Didn’t even get slightly warm in use or while charging. Might last a bit less than a 2600 but no noticeable difference in brightness. In fact, some of them are the best charge-holders I have. I had some still show a solid 4.2 volts after sitting on a shelf for 2 months.
Is this resistance because the ones you had were old and worn out? Or is there something different about the blue LGs that make them usuitable?? …. way off topic here. Sorry.
Well as some have said, 26650s ain’t gonna go in that tube. Even some thin-wrapped Moli 26650s I have. Not gonna happen without boring out the Defiant tube.
So, I use eneloops for all my nicd uses. What can we use for rechargeables in this beast? Will 3 eneloops in c adaptors be noticeably dimmer than 3 alkaline Cs? Are there any NiCd Cs that are any good that would work in this thing? I believe the Intellicharger will do NiCds. I probably won’t be using this thing 24/7, but I really don’t want to go back to alkalines.
I could try the eneloop c adapters myself but of course I only have two. Won’t three AAs be much longer than 3 Cs, or am I asking something incredibly dumb here? (Which wouldn’t be the first time.)
I found 35 here in Boise. The manager got all the way up the ladder, found the box above the flashlight aisle and said: “nope, can’t sell you one ’till the fourth. See, it’s written right here.” There was a hand-written note on the side of the box that said hold until Feb 4th sale.
Then he said: “What’s so special about those lights?” “You are about the fifth guy today asking about these”.
His Partner said “must be one of those new Florescent’s”