Flash Light Geeks: What kind of flashlights do you use most often?
08-18-2009, 11:32 PM
#1
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Flash Light Geeks: What kind of flashlights do you use most often?
I know we have a lot of flashlight geeks on board, and I'm def one of them and was curious to see what kind of lights you guys use as your daily/common lights? From your smallest to largest, dimmest to brightest, list off your common torches!
I'll start from my smallest and go to my largest:
Everyday:
1. Inova T1 Tactical LED, 100 lumen. This thing is super small and super bright for how small it is. It's solid aluminum so it's super rugged. It takes 2 123A lithium batteries so the batteries last forever. It's not adjustable and throws a nice solid beam. I use this light for every day type things since I can carry it anywhere and it's bright enough for almost anything. I have the bigger 250 lumen version of this guy which also has a strobe mode, but I prefer to carry the T1 due to it's size and performance. Here's a picture:
(Pressure switch on end cap, clicks on/off, or pressure)
Car:
2. Lenser P14 LED fully adjustable focus 170 lumen. There are brighter lights out there, yes, but the reason I keep this in my car is due to it's unique focus adjustable head. You know how on a maglight when you adjust the focus to a wide beam, part of the beam is dark and part of it is bright? This light's reflector allows it to bright evenly throughout the entire beam, so if you have it spread wide, the entire beam will be lit evenly, or you can adjust it to be super focused and it will stay evenly lit as well. It's great for the car since you never know what you'll need it for, and it's a great size where you can keep it in your glove box and powerful enough to throw down a lot of light! Just to give you an idea, a 4D cell maglight with brand new batteries is around 110lumen, and this little thing which is less then half the size is 170! Here's a picture:
Assault/search & rescue
3. Black Bear Borealis 1050,rechargable & 1050lumen!
This is a custom made light created by Black Bear Flashlights, they are a small company of experts who make ridiculous custom lights for you. The light I bought from them is called the "Borealis 1050", it uses a 3D maglight body, but that's the only thing it shares with maglight. All of the internals from the lens, reflector, bulb, wiring, and battery pack are all super high end custom parts. The reason they use a maglight body is so that if you screw up the body of the light you can just replace the maglight body and be good to go, and they are really rugged and easy to use. Don't let the looks fool you though, this light is no joke and should NOT be used by kids! The reason is because it catches things on fire, including human flesh! The light is so intense that if you aim it at someone skin from about 5 inches away, it will burn them almost instantly! In fact, it's so intense that if you use the focused spot light beam pattern and crumple up some newspaper and aim the light directly at it, it will catch the paper on fire!
Here's video to prove how powerful it is:
^^^^^
In that video they use the flashlight to catch the paper on fire!!!
As you can see, the light looks very tame, but don't let it's looks fool you! This is no mere light, it's a weapon!!!
(Seen with it's nihm batter pack)
I have plenty of other flashlights of all different brands and types, but these are the 3 that I use most often as they are purpose lights. I know a lot of people think surefire lights are the best, but they are not the best. They are great lights, but are also very expensive, and a lot of that cost is due to the name. I have found that streamlight, Inova, and other higher end lights are just as good or if not better then their surefire competition, and for much less $$.
I want to invest in some HID lights since they are so cheap now thanks to the automotive industry (
). HID lights about 6 years ago would sell no less then $2,000, and some as much as $10,000!!! Now you can get a very decent HID torch with 3,000 lumen (yes, 3,000!!!) for around $400-600 depending. I have one right now and it's AMAZING, but it's in Germany at the moment so eventually I'll get another one, a smaller 3,000 lumen version! The only downside to HID is that they take a moment to fully illuminate and aren't as rugged as LEDs. However, you can't beat the amount of light that they produce... The borealis 1050 is 1,050 lumen, and thats so bright that its ridiculous, so imagine 3,000! The thing about the Borealis is that it uses a standard xenon bulb and it's far more intense then an HID light could ever hope to be. Its kinda hard to explain, you'd have to see them side to side to understand.
So what's BAIC carrying?
I'll start from my smallest and go to my largest:
Everyday:
1. Inova T1 Tactical LED, 100 lumen. This thing is super small and super bright for how small it is. It's solid aluminum so it's super rugged. It takes 2 123A lithium batteries so the batteries last forever. It's not adjustable and throws a nice solid beam. I use this light for every day type things since I can carry it anywhere and it's bright enough for almost anything. I have the bigger 250 lumen version of this guy which also has a strobe mode, but I prefer to carry the T1 due to it's size and performance. Here's a picture:
(Pressure switch on end cap, clicks on/off, or pressure)
Car:
2. Lenser P14 LED fully adjustable focus 170 lumen. There are brighter lights out there, yes, but the reason I keep this in my car is due to it's unique focus adjustable head. You know how on a maglight when you adjust the focus to a wide beam, part of the beam is dark and part of it is bright? This light's reflector allows it to bright evenly throughout the entire beam, so if you have it spread wide, the entire beam will be lit evenly, or you can adjust it to be super focused and it will stay evenly lit as well. It's great for the car since you never know what you'll need it for, and it's a great size where you can keep it in your glove box and powerful enough to throw down a lot of light! Just to give you an idea, a 4D cell maglight with brand new batteries is around 110lumen, and this little thing which is less then half the size is 170! Here's a picture:
Assault/search & rescue
3. Black Bear Borealis 1050,rechargable & 1050lumen!
This is a custom made light created by Black Bear Flashlights, they are a small company of experts who make ridiculous custom lights for you. The light I bought from them is called the "Borealis 1050", it uses a 3D maglight body, but that's the only thing it shares with maglight. All of the internals from the lens, reflector, bulb, wiring, and battery pack are all super high end custom parts. The reason they use a maglight body is so that if you screw up the body of the light you can just replace the maglight body and be good to go, and they are really rugged and easy to use. Don't let the looks fool you though, this light is no joke and should NOT be used by kids! The reason is because it catches things on fire, including human flesh! The light is so intense that if you aim it at someone skin from about 5 inches away, it will burn them almost instantly! In fact, it's so intense that if you use the focused spot light beam pattern and crumple up some newspaper and aim the light directly at it, it will catch the paper on fire! Here's video to prove how powerful it is:
^^^^^
In that video they use the flashlight to catch the paper on fire!!!
As you can see, the light looks very tame, but don't let it's looks fool you! This is no mere light, it's a weapon!!!
(Seen with it's nihm batter pack)
I have plenty of other flashlights of all different brands and types, but these are the 3 that I use most often as they are purpose lights. I know a lot of people think surefire lights are the best, but they are not the best. They are great lights, but are also very expensive, and a lot of that cost is due to the name. I have found that streamlight, Inova, and other higher end lights are just as good or if not better then their surefire competition, and for much less $$.
I want to invest in some HID lights since they are so cheap now thanks to the automotive industry (
). HID lights about 6 years ago would sell no less then $2,000, and some as much as $10,000!!! Now you can get a very decent HID torch with 3,000 lumen (yes, 3,000!!!) for around $400-600 depending. I have one right now and it's AMAZING, but it's in Germany at the moment so eventually I'll get another one, a smaller 3,000 lumen version! The only downside to HID is that they take a moment to fully illuminate and aren't as rugged as LEDs. However, you can't beat the amount of light that they produce... The borealis 1050 is 1,050 lumen, and thats so bright that its ridiculous, so imagine 3,000! The thing about the Borealis is that it uses a standard xenon bulb and it's far more intense then an HID light could ever hope to be. Its kinda hard to explain, you'd have to see them side to side to understand. So what's BAIC carrying?
08-18-2009, 11:45 PM
#6
I want this one. Used by Special Forces!
Last edited by Subyusmcguy; 08-18-2009 at 11:48 PM.
08-18-2009, 11:48 PM
#7
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Thank you so much for you service, without people like you we wouldn't have this wonderful country or land to call our own. *toasts beer to Subyusmcguy*
08-18-2009, 11:49 PM
#8
Cheers!!
08-18-2009, 11:53 PM
#11
08-19-2009, 12:06 AM
#12
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EDIT: That's not an LED! It's an HID! I was gonna say, I didnt know you could even have a 50watt LED!
HID makes a lot more sense! lol!
08-19-2009, 12:07 AM
#13
08-19-2009, 12:28 AM
#14
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Dude, this picture says it all! This is a regular 3,000 lumen HID spotlight VS the 50watt 5,200 lumen PH50 that you posted:
Sorry for the big pic! Scroll all the way to the right to see both beams!
Keep in mind that the light on the left is an already SUPER bright 3,000 lumen HID light that makes other flash lights look like candles, but the PH50 is so bright that it makes the 3,000 lumen HID spotlight look like crap! DUDE! Not only is it brighter then anything else, but it comes in a tiny package which is SUPER important!
It is def the worlds brightest flashlight... and then some!
Sorry for the big pic! Scroll all the way to the right to see both beams!
Keep in mind that the light on the left is an already SUPER bright 3,000 lumen HID light that makes other flash lights look like candles, but the PH50 is so bright that it makes the 3,000 lumen HID spotlight look like crap! DUDE! Not only is it brighter then anything else, but it comes in a tiny package which is SUPER important!
It is def the worlds brightest flashlight... and then some!
08-19-2009, 12:30 AM
#15
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Holy crap i though it was some photoshop art with a day and night photo until i saw the flashlight!
I think i need to buy one since my cheap 5$ Walmart one sucks!
I think i need to buy one since my cheap 5$ Walmart one sucks!