A while back I was wanting a bright light, one that I could take hog hunting with me or see all of my back yard with ease, which is 50 yards long by 30 yards wide and I have a side yard that is bigger than that. So a few members suggested I get an nicely made XinTD and I did. It’s a nice light for sure and it is bright, but what if I wanted something that was a bit brighter and had a longer throw? I’d like to stay under $70 or so, preferably lower than that. I really like the name of this place….BUDGETlightforum!!
So, what would you suggest I get? What have you found to work really well for you and that you feel is a bargain? Am I going to have to go with one of the “pop can” style lights?
Also, the 1900 lumen JM35 Shadow is a candidate. Not particularly throwy though. Probably could reach the end of your property by sheer overwhelming light output, lighting up the entire yard in the process.
$30 for the single cell version, $31 for long-running double cell version.
Nitecore EC4S with XHP50 is the nicest light I ever saw for $60 after coupon
I wish I had lined my holster with aluminum foil.
The tint is really nice. I don’t see any blue at all.
But nowhere near 3C.
The JM35 has similar output and beam profile. And (IMO) the MT-G2 version has a nicer tint than the EC4S. At about half the price of the EC4S, I think the JM35 is a bargain.
Of course, if the OP likes “bells and whistles”, then the EC4S has the advantage of being a much fancier platform to operate.
I have both the JM35 (MT-G2, 2x26650 version) and the EC4S. I find that I grab the JM35 most of the time, using it for everything that I used to use my old 2D MagLite. It’s my workhorse. And I use the EC4S for very specific things, like whenever I need the ultra-low output level or where pocketability is a factor.
The reality is, in this size package, you’ll struggle to better a stock XinTD, be it an XM-L2 one or an XP-G2.
What does matter is a trade off between output (which really translates to how wide an area is lit up and how well) vs throw (being how far away you can light something up).
“soda can” lights with multi emitters put out a lot of lumens. But they use small reflectors, so they are typically more floody and will light up a wider area rather than things further away.
To light stuff up further away you really need a larger reflector. But this will generally make the hot spot smaller, so it will light up a slightly narrower area.
If you have an XP-G2 now, then this is already a good compact thrower.
You could look at de-doming the emitter if you fancy modding. This will make the hot spot smaller, but more focused, so it will throw further. But it won’t light up such a wide area as well as is does now. And with an XP-G2 it might be a bit too much of a pencil like beam.
Again, if you are into modding, then you could look at upping the amp draw of the driver. There are direct drive drivers, which with a good INR/IMR battery will deliver the most you can get from an 18650 battery.
But you may have issues with heat for extended use and runtime will be quite a bit lower.
A de-domed direct drive XM-L2 is likely to throw as well as a domed XP-G2 @ 3amp in a C8 sized light, but with a bigger hot spot and brighter spill beam, so it will light up more too. But you’ll have to mod a C8 to get this, hence why the XP-G2 is a nice compromise from XinTD.
To really improve throw you simply need a bigger reflector. The Olight Javelot MX3S is one of the best on the market, it uses a de-domed LED as standard and is driven hard (although uses 2 x li-ion to improve runtime).
There really aren’t many things off the shelf that will get close to the same amount of throw and none in this size. And you’ll have to do quite a lot of modding to get a budget light to the same level.
But being a thrower, it still doesn’t light up a very wide area, just a long distance.
In terms of other emitters. The MT-G2 and XHP50 are big LEDs. In something XinTD C8 sized they will be floody however. Lots of lumens and will light up a wide area well, but they won’t likely throw as far as XinTD does now, in fact I’d bet that they won’t.
Put these LED’s or the bigger XHP70 in a larger torch and with multiple batteries run it at a good level and you’ll easily get it lighting up a big area and a good distance. But budget will likely be an issue.
I can’t really recommend that many lights for you as I haven’t kept my finger on the pulse so much recently. I can however say the JM35 mentioned earlier is unlikely to do what you want. And as cool as the group buy D80 is likely to be, I also don’t think this will be quite the thing you are after, it’ll be bright, but it won’t have the throw to light stuff up further away.
I can give some examples of different lights however, which might help guide you while you look to buy something.
The 3 highlighted. From the left are:
–4x XM-L2 SkyRay King, pulls over 7amp at the tailcap (stock)
-Olight SR52 XM-L2 (stock)
-Convoy C8 with a neutral white XP-G2 on copper with a 3.04A Qlite driver (built by me)
I suspect my Convoy C8 is very similar to your XinTD, just maybe a different tint. But beam and output very similar.
This is what the C8 XP-G2 beam looks like:
Pretty good for such a small light. But the spill beam is not overly bright, but it throws much better than an XM-L2 C8 does.
This is the SR52:
This has a bigger brighter hotspot, and brighter spill beam. But the increased reflector allows it throw even further. This is the trade off, more throw, but a much bigger light physically and as it uses 3x18650, much heavier too. It is not pocket friendly, while a C8 is.
The Skyray King:
Loads and loads of light, look how even it lights up the foreground and over a much wider area. But it doesn’t throw anywhere near as well as the XP-G2 C8 does. Although probably almost matches a stock XM-L2 C8 for throw.
As far as picking up anything significantly brighter or with a longer throw, you just missed the group buy for the BLF TE M24 Sniper. And the Olight M3XS-UT (which goes on sale every now and then for about $90) is over your budget. If you’re not doing any mods, that doesn’t leave many choices.
There are brighter, floodier lights under $70 - but all with much less throw than your XinTD. For example, the $54 Supfire M6, Option 1 (3000 lumens) puts out a wall of brightness. I own one of these - and my guess is that its range is maybe 300 meters.
Xhp50 has a nice tint. Not blue at all. It has a big spot and throws. I have the mtg2 in the shadow also, and it is all flood with no spot and no throw. The ec4s xhp50 is smaller than a C8. The shadow takes two 26650s and so I never carry it
Funny, the beam patterns of my JM35 and EC4S are quite different than yours. The center spot of my JM35 is tighter and brighter than the EC4S, consequently the JM35 throws farther. The EC4S has a brighter spill, albeit narrower (about 60 degree spread) than the JM35’s spill (about 100 degree spread).
Note: The above shots were taken with an iPhone 6-Plus on automatic exposure mode, so the color rendition is not accurate. Subjectively, the EC4S’ tint appears to be a clean white to me (not bluish as shown in the picture) and the JM35’s tint appears to be white with a hint of golden sunrise (not rosey as shown in the picture).
And I wouldn’t say the EC4S is smaller than a C8, I’d say that they are comparable in size.
However, I can understand why you would prefer to carry the EC4S over the JM35 (2x26650 version). The JM35 is a substantially larger and heavier flashlight. I kind of like it because it reminds me of my old 2D Maglite. I find the heft to be reassuring. I guess I’m just old-fahioned. 0:)
If you really want a significant improvement over your XinTD, I’d suggest that you consider this one:
Or post a request in the Want to Buy forum for a BLF Thrower Edition M24 Sniper. It’s Christmas, maybe one of the members who purchased multiple lights might be willing to let one of them go for cost.
