Flashlight

misterman · May 18, 2018

So I am looking for a very bright and durable flashlight 80 usd or less and would like 1500 lumens or more.

Real_PhillBert · May 18, 2018

Yeah... You're not going to get a durable well made flashlight with 1500 lumens or better for $80.

The streamlight protac HLX is probably the best fit at $75 with 1000 lumens.

Or you could go to the new Surefire Fury DF with 1500 lumens but those are in the $180 range.

EPENEX · May 18, 2018

I'm not really into flashlights, but this is the one that I own. It's not very bright though.

https://www.amazon.com/Maglite-Incandescent-2-Cell-Flashlight-Combo/dp/B0000AS1G5

Dash Lambda · May 18, 2018

I have a Fenix PD35. Built like a tank, very bright, and ~$70.

Looks like there's a 2018 version now with 1000 lumens (my version is 960, I believe) and a metal side-switch (mine has a rubber switch). Mmm...

DarkEnergy · May 19, 2018

I have a Thrunite tn4a, about 1100 lumens. Here's the thing, only get a thrower if you're outside in the middle of the night. Around the house, a thrower is just a pain in the ass as the middle of the beam is blinding and the outside is meh.

You might have better luck on candlepowerforums

Dash Lambda · May 19, 2018

11 hours ago, DarkEnergy said:

Around the house, a thrower is just a pain in the ass as the middle of the beam is blinding and the outside is meh.

indoors, I use mine for indirect lighting. Reflecting off the ceiling, it's usually just like if normal lights were on.

JokerProduction · May 19, 2018

I'm a huge flashlight nerd and been a member on Budgetlightforums and candlepowerforums for years. I've probably built over 500 different flashlights now. (I buy the parts in bulk)

I highly recommend building your own. Just like a self built PC your going to end up with something that performs much better for cheaper than any of the prebuilts out there. Getting to choose you battery type, Drive current, Modes, colour temp+tint and form factor. Even with the pre-builts I have I usually end up modding them with upgraded AR glass and replacing the wire with some nice thick silicone insulated wires.

Its pretty hard to recommend a flashlight without being more specific as to what you actually want. To get 1500 actual lumens you are most definatly in the area where you are going to be on lithium batteries and require at least a XM-L2 on a copper base, 3x XP-G or XP-E, or a godly MT-G2 emitter. 1500 Lumens is do-able with a single 18650 but you wont find many pre-builts that can achieve it.

Here are just a few of My p60 drop ins that I made showing off the different temps and tints among the same family of chips. (these are all XML or XM-L2 @ 2.8A on aluminum with the exception of the coloured which are XPE @ 1.7A) P60 being a standard which Means I can take the light assembly out and put it in any of the other bodies.

While not quite what you are looking for a Highly Recommend everyone to pick up a trustfire F23 It was one of my first flashlights and I still carry it with me everyday and ordered more to keep one in each of my vehicles. Its tiny not much bigger than an AAA battery and outputs an impressive amount of light. It can run on either AAA or a lithium 10440. (it is brighter on lithium batteries but last longer on AAA) Waterproof and stainless steel body. Mine has been through the washing machine at least a dozen times now and still functions. It comes in with either a 5mode or 3mode driver and is available with XM-E, XM-G, OR XM-G2 emitters. And comes with glow in the dark orings and tailcap which is now a must have mod for me on all my flashlights.

https://www.amazon.ca/TrustFire-F23-Stainless-0-8V-4-2V-Flashlight/dp/B00ZZG8R0O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526760910&sr=8-1&keywords=trustfire+F23

It can also be had on aliexpress for 10-15$.

Fasttech and kaidomain are good places to source individual parts if you decide to go the custom route.

Dash Lambda · May 20, 2018

3 hours ago, JokerProduction said:

-snip-

What do you use for housings? I wanted to get into custom lights before, but getting a really well-made housing seemed like such an endeavor.

Also, have you ever made a UV light? That's actually one of the biggest reasons I wanna do a custom one, it's so hard to find well-made UV flashlights.

JokerProduction · May 20, 2018

1 hour ago, Dash Lambda said:

What do you use for housings? I wanted to get into custom lights before, but getting a really well-made housing seemed like such an endeavor.

Also, have you ever made a UV light? That's actually one of the biggest reasons I wanna do a custom one, it's so hard to find well-made UV flashlights.

Hard to recommend without knowing what your looking for but a few that I really like.

Convoy S2 (compact single 18650 flood)

Convoy C8 (crazy throw)

Solarforce L2 (for P60)

Ultrafire 501b (budget P60 option but gets the job done)

Solarfoce L2T Stainless (blingy polished stainless steel P60 that's heavy AF)

Trustfire Z3 (not available as a host but it cheap and easy to rebuild into a beast aspherical lens thrower)

As for UV's the only one I have is that XP-E P60 dropin I made that is shown in the top picture on the end. Of course that camera doesn't pick up much of the UV wavelength. P60 probably wasnt the best format for a UV light though as P60 is a good compromise between flood and throw but i think UV is better suited for a flooder or even a wide angle aspherical. When I built them the XPE was the best offering for colored emmiters but I see that XML are available now which are almost double the wattage of the XPE so I may have to try one of those out for my next build.

If you really want to get into getting the most out of your flashlight going to a copper base is required to push past 3A. Not all copper bases are the same and the gold standard is either noctigon or sinkpad. Flowing the emmiters onto the bases is something I wouldn't recommend trying yourself at home. Its easy to mess up and the soldier paste has a very short shelf life so its best to flow a bunch in a big batch. I've bought emitters pre mounted on noctigons from https://intl-outdoor.com/led-c-107.html. The owner is/was pretty active on BLF and I've always gotten what I've ordered from him.

Heres a good chart to show the gains going to a quality copper star.