I currently have two Maglite torches (Mini, Solitaire and one of the big old beasts) with cheap LED conversion kits that I bought from e-bay several years ago. The trouble is that they are too temperamental and the wife is complaining at me about them, so I’m thinking it’s time to replace them.
My last LED purchase was a LED LENSER Police Tech Focus LED Torch 7438 which was discovered from several hours of googling.
Now having spent several hours browsing threads here I’m even more confused and am hoping for some pointers for purchasing some new torches? Ideally over time I need to pick up (and perhaps for xmas presents)
1. Keychain torch for the wife (has to withstand a real battering as she doesn’t take care of stuff)
2. Couple of torches for the garden/garage - not too fussed about size as they will sit in a cupboard somewhere.
3. A decent torch to keep by the front door if we go out at night (firework displays, walks down unlit alleys to the local shops)
I’m not looking to spend a fortune on these, but I want pay for something that will last. Ideally going to power them with Eneloops (or the 7DayShop equivalents)
What should I be looking for, I’m a complete numpty when it comes to the different led types so ideally would love some pointers of what to look out for, and what to avoid. I’ve been ‘burnt’ before on Banggood etc where stuff has turned out to be a bit cheap and nasty
SingFire 348 is a stainless steel 1 x AAA light that is strong and simple: http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_131992.html?wid=21
Or look for BLF 348, which will be available soon, which has a Nichia LED with nice colour light (high CRI neutral / warm light):
The Jetbeam Jet-u is a great flashlight if you are looking for multiple light levels (twist on for low, twist off then on again for medium, …
If she just wants twist on, twist off with one light level (90 lumens) I’d suggest the Olight i3E EOS. I’ve had one on my keychain since February and it still works after being dropped a few times. Runs about a half hour on a fresh aaa.
There are a couple popular choices for AAA lights, the stainless blf-348 and olight i3e for a single mode
And if you want three modes there are jetbeam jet-μ, astrolux a01, lumintop worm / tool, thorfire pf-03...These are all good buys for around $10-$15, you don't need to spend more. Have a look around the forum for discussion threads and reviews to see what you might like. When it comes to a larger light there are a lot more possibilities
Olight i3s, had one on my key ring for the last couple of years, use it almost every day and lost count of the times I’ve dropped it.
Comes in a range of colours too
Jetbeam Jet-1, ~13bux @ Gearbest
Twisty with memory, alkie or 14500, 3 modes, quite solid.
XTAR WK50, <8bux on Amazon (amazing dealer, AllmaybeDirect)
Forward-clicky tail, 4 modes, alkie/NiMH only, weird tailswitch but unbeatable price.
15min “match mod” on your unloved MiniMags. Turn those MMs into something Space Age with an 800mA boost driver from Fasttech, a standard P90 pill, and something like an XM-L2 for efficiency. My own preference is a TIR lens instead of the stock reflector. Even people who are familiar with MMs will see the TIR, give it a twist, and be amazed. All you need is a 20mm drill bit to open up the head for the P90 pill. Fun ensues.
My first “mods” were to a Taskforce 2×AA rubberised incandescent light, which I modded to take a LED replacement Maglite bulb (toss the retaining cap, shave out the hole somewhat with an Xacto knife to press-fit the new bulb). I got one, the gf got the other. She loves it. Big and easy to hold, nice and grippy with the rubber “armor”. 4× the batt life compared to incan PR-2. Funny thing is, the head of this big donk will fit a P90 reflector perfectly!
Trick here is to squat here on BLF for a couple months and watch what comes up on sale . Then after reading a bit ask a few members that you trust what they think of lights you’re considering .make sure to look for codes for lights on sale / flash sales etc . With a little patience great lights will find their way to you . Buy some eneloops a decent charger that will do both li-ion and nimh rechargables. Newer chargers are great these days and pretty cheap ./very cheap .
olight 1-3’s are nice keychain lights
lumintop tool is a great AAA light if you don’t plan on putting it on a keychain
Lumintop ED25 is a deal if you PM freeme for a coupon code …best 2xAA you’ll find at that price
////and like it or not you have to go lithium ion to really get real power from lights …Anymore there are really few reasons not to do so
I’ve got a few Olight torches (S1, S1R, S1A and S15R), all of which I rate really highly and which can, model dependant, put out an incredible amount of light considering how small they are.
I’ve got a Thorfire C8 off Amazon (they are about £15) which is a cracking torch for the money.
The Olights/Thorfire use Lithium Ion batteries (the S1A can also run on AA’s as I recall?). Around that time, I’d just bought a load of Eneloops too so I thought why not spend a few quid on a decent intelligent charger to get the best out of the Eneloops. I got an Xtar VC4 for about £20 - that does NiMh as well as Li-Ion’s. I soon migrated from AA/AAA’s onto Li-Ion for my serious torches.
I also have a Thrunite TN4A off Amazon for about £40 - that uses 4 x AA’s (hence the Eneloops) and is generally used as a “moonlight” nightlight in the babies room. But, if you need it, the turbo is 1150 lumens. Wowser.
I also have a few of the smaller torches which use AA/AAA’s such as the cheaper Hugsby torches (I have a few) and also the BLF-348 and Astrolux A01 which use AAA’s.
For AAA I like the Tank 007 E09 but it does have some PWM, and the BLF 348 is a simple single-mode winner. Both can use 10440 but the 348 gets very arm very fast with them.
Keychain light: Fenix E01. That’s a tried and true model, extremely robust and long-lasting. And let’s face it, you’re not gonna use more than its 13 lumens in a situation where you’d pull out your keychain torch. Plus, in real use you are NOT gonna notice the purple tint or imperfect beam.
Garage light: Thrunite Archer 2A. Good mode selection, nice beam for utility work, and takes 2 AA’s.
Torch for going out at night: this time I’m gonna rec a li-ion torch for the sheer practicality, and that is the Convoy S2+. Runs great and long on lower modes, and if you just have to reach out and light up something, you have lumens in the quadruple digits. With a Samsung NCR18650b, all is good in the hood.
For all of these, you just need a certified 2-bay charger like Xtar makes, and you’re set.
My recommendation for your garden/garage lights is the Thrunite T10. It is also small enough that it works great as an EDC pocket light. It also gets ~250 lumens, so it is plenty powerful to be your going-out light as well. I rarely use more power than 200 lumens in public because it is annoying to others around you. It took me a little while to get adjusted to the idea that after all these years of trying to get as much light as I can out of big, multi-cell incandescent lights, now a single battery, pocked-sized light can give me more light than I need.
One note about 4x AA lights is that due to their large size (a.k.a. the “beercan” form factor), they are typically built as “throwers,” with a small, bright hotspot thanks to their large, deep reflectors. Floody lights (like most of the 1x AA lights with their small, shallow reflectors) give you a much more even beam with a larger hotspot that will be much more useful around the house or garden. I don’t bring out my thrower unless I need to clearly see something more than 50 meters away.
And then a year later wonder why your wallet is empty and you have 15 new lights that all do slightly different things, but are all really cool and you don’t want to get rid of any of them and you have your eye on another one.
You got any more specific details on the Maglite mods as the above advice is completely lost on me! Seems a waste to bin them if I can mod them properly!
You can’t also forget keychain lights with built in batteries / chargers like
- the Nitecore Tip / Nitecore Tube / Astrolux M02.
These can be had for quite good prices on banggood via coupon codes if you write to freeme or m4dm4x on this forum.
- They are tiny but quite bright
you don’t need to worry about separate batteries / apparatus for charging as all of these charge through usb right on the lights
You need to populate a P90 pill with the emitter and driver. For 2×AA, use https://www.fasttech.com/p/1127402 for the driver, and your choice of emitter (recommend XM-L2 for efficiency and fitting to a TIR lens). Speaking of TIR lenses, Amazon.com is a nice 15° TIR with a shoe that fits XM-sized emitters perfectly and is 21mm for the perfect MiniMag fit.
Get a 20mm drill-bit to drill out the head somewhat (see the above thread), to fit the pill+lens (or reflector, if you choose), and you’re pretty much done.
The shoe for the TIR lens also fits other 20mm TIRs, from 5° to 120°, so they’re easily swappable whether you want flood or throw or something between.
Be aware, bare TIRs without that shoe will flop around in the retaining ring and NOT be properly spaced or centered atop the LED.
Or you can drill, sand, and otherwise fold/spindle/mutilate the come-with reflector for use with the LED, your choice.
This week ordered a couple of Eagle Eye X2R’s for me and the wife
Now considering another rechargeable for the main torch - the Eagle Eye X5R seems to get good press on here, but was considering bumping up to the X6R?
Thought I’d ask if there was anything to be wary of? Also they only seem to be available on Aliexpress so any suggestions for a suitable battery at the same time?
