Better Flashlights

[Stormin Mormon]

Find an item lighting. The flashlight in your hand, looking for something.

Friend or foe lighting. When you need to see what's that noise in the pasture. Or in the first floor at 3 AM.

Work lighting. The headlamp strapped on your head. So you can see what you're doing while you fix something.

Walk around lighting. Most ceiling lights and lights in parking lot are walk around lights.

Reading lights. Nice to have a good book to read. Or you have to do your paper work for your employment.

Information lighting. Indicator panels, television, weapons fire, etc.

Route lighting. Street lights, airport runway lighting, hallway lighting.

Supernatural lighting. Orbs, ghosts, ball lightning, UFOs, etc.

Decorative lighting. Christmas lights, fireworks, lava lamp, stage effects, etc.

Sign lighting. Street signs, billboards.

Security lighting. Electric eye, infrared motion detectors, lighting for security cameras, etc.

Scientific lighting. Light outside the normal visual spectrum artificially observed and/or artificially produced for forensics, night vision, scientific inquiry, etc.

[Stormin Mormon]

Please be sure to add any I missed.

Photon squeeze light. Carry on keyring for occasional light needs. Like when I dropped my mini mag last week outdoors at night.

Mag or Garrity 3 or 4 D cell light. Slice the night. Read house numbers. Beat off muggers and burglars. See what is that noise in your chicken coop.

Tactical Xenon light. Expensive light with expensive bulbs and expensive batteries. But it does a terrific job of lighting house numbers for night service calls. Also good for spotting racoon in trees. Actually small enough to put in pocket.

Closet light. Runs on D cells, some run on AA cells. Can be fluorescent, filament bulb, or LED. Stationary applications, for short term light. Many closet lights are bright enough to light up an entire room enough to walk around.

Camping lantern. Mine is fluorescent and runs on D cells. Some have LED, and some have filament bulbs. I suspect LED are less light, and filament bulbs are more light.

Dorcy single AAA LED light. Fits nicely in the coat pocket, and provides light when everything else is broken.

Spotlight that plugs into the lighter socket. Light up the entire side of the house. Make burglars go into V-fib. Spook the horses. Signal alien space ships, and confuse airplane pilots. A bit too bright, some of them. And plenty fun to play with.

Mini Mag light. My daily work horse. Use it several times a day, every day. Nite Ize and Terralux conversions are an excellent idea.

Headlamp. Used when working, so as to keep both hands free.

I'm Christopher Young and I approved this message. . .

[N8N]

The ones I have have a 3W Cree LED, supposedly better than Luxeon, although if the Luxeon are cheaper and you don't need the extra light output, they still may be a good deal

nate

[N8N]

I have both a 4-D LED Mag-Lite and the aforementioned Task Force 3W Crees, just on brightness and beam pattern alone I far prefer the Task Force. Only downside is it is not focusable like the Mag-Lite.

nate

[notbob]

Probably cuz you don't have much trust in your fellow man. Sounds like a personal problem.

I've only ever bought two, a 5 cell and a 2 cell (D). The rest were promotional items or gifts. I used to get mini-mags free with a 2-paks of Camel cigarettes. Every single one of them eventually quit working. The D cell switches failed and the minis all would get poor connectivity from their small two pronged light bulbs. All it took was removing the reflector and moving the bulb pins in and out a couple times to get 'em working again. but that's still after they stopped working. Not my definition of reliable. I tossed 'em all.

My mom just ask me fix her 3 D cell maglite that didn't work. I replaced the batteries and the connectivity is intermittent. Screw the bottom cap in part way and it works. Screw the bottom cap all the way and it doesn't. Another failure in my book and I'm not gonna hassle trying to figure out why and fix it.

No other brand of flashlight has consistently failed like maglites. Even the cheapest Chinese plastic junkers are more reliable. I'm talking 100% failure, here. If you like them, keep giving them your money. They'll get no more of mine. If you still think I'm not telling the truth, that's your privilege. I couldn't care less. ;)

nb

[willshak]

Stormin Mormon wrote the following:

Re-read his last sentence slowly..

I've had a three cell Maglite for about 20 years. I also have 2 of the mini maglites. I wouldn't buy any other brand.

[Jim Yanik]

willshak wrote in news:iNKdnROEGLlxegrWnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

My fav flashlight is a 1W 2AA LED made by Rayovac,bought at WalMart for

18.00USD. It's very bright,heavy anodized aluminum body,tailcap button for momentary-ON,screw in the cap for full-ON.

Next is a 2 AAA River Rock 0.5W LED penlight from Target for $10USD.

then there's my mini-Maglite with 3 LED conversion and tailcap from Nite- ize.

[DemoDisk]

And again, wow! More answers and opinions than I could have hoped for!

Thanks to all for your recommendations and links.

Jm

[Stormin Mormon]

For black anodized tactical "kewl" that eat batteries, log onto

and type in Xenon light.... plenty to choose from.

[Stormin Mormon]

I, however, possessed with intelligence, have not bought 23 more mini mags after deciding that my first one was crap.

[Stormin Mormon]

The one time I remember destroying a mag lite, was a 4D. I used it underwater in the swimming pool. Turned it on and off zillion times. The next day it was full of water, and the switch stopped working. I sent it to the mag people. They wrote back that they replaced the switch and for two bucks postage they would send it back. Of course, this was in about 1975, and postage has gone up. The light served me well, for many years. Until Canadian Customs searched my van, and the Mag wasn't there when they finished.

[notbob]

...but, apparently are too stupid to realize not one participant in this thread has claimed to have "bought 23 more mini-mags".

nb

[Stormin Mormon]

And, you aren't the brightest flashlight in the basket, having failed to notice that you're making a false accusation.

[DemoDisk]

Oookay. The Radio Shack flashlight wasn't particularly 'handy,' being 11 inches tall, but it cast a strong beam 2 3/4" wide. Surprising for such a lowly flashlight! Now that it's gone, raccoons and burglars have a new lease on life. ; )

But it also helped out during storms and, like me, it was cheap. So I'm leaning toward replacements that cast a strong, wide beam, don't cost nuthin' (y'know sorta) and won't crap out after a few moderate bumps. Forget about $30 per flashlight; that should buy four plus batteries for each. Is that doable?

If the reflector on the Radio Shack C-cell had even been *tin* I wouldn't be asking here. A penny or two per unit would have made it a truly Golden Giveaway.

Thanks for your help, Jm

[DemoDisk]

Cosmic, man!

[DemoDisk]

Are you dissing my house?

That's an interesting light!

Perfect. Need at least one.

Yeah -- got one, but never use it.

Now you're dissing my neighborhood!

Thanks for your input, Christopher Jm

[Rob]

I wasn't here for your original question, but I trust that some recommended looking for lights that use Cree LED's. They're usually much brighter than any off the shelf flashlights, including those that have a zillion LEDs.

Here's an example of one that uses a Cree Q5:

I have one of those. Compared it with the 'tactical' flashlight of a friend on the police dept (xenon bulb). Mine won. Also checked it against one of those large-headed commercial flashlights with about 20 LEDs. The Cree light killed it. Really surprising projection.

The vendor above is pretty reliable, and known well among the laser/flashlight hotrodders (yes, they exist), but they're in China, so expect shipping time. Sometimes they get here quick... other times a few weeks. If you search the site, you'll find a lot of other models and brands that use high-efficiency LEDs.

Or you could search Ebay for "Cree" and hope they're not fake (most probably are OK).

Also be aware of the type of batteries used. Many (including my bud's tactical) use CR123's or 14500's which deliver current, but are expensive. The light above uses AA's.

Also, some have various switching schemes, like alternating between high, medium, low brightness and a couple blink patterns. I never had much use for that, so I look for just on-off.

And...if you are using AA cells and want rechargeables, Sanyo Eneloops are known for maintaining charge over very long shelf times. Good for when you want to stash the flashlights for emergencies. Then again, you may want to go with regular alkalines if you want max shelf life and they're not being used much.

[notbob]

I'll hafta check it out. I know LED technology is making huge leaps in progress. I also like the fact it's reasonably priced, not a total rip-off like those ridiculous tactical LED flashlights that cost in the hundreds of dollars. They're just flashlights, ferchrysakes.

nb

[Thomas]

=A0They're just flashlights, ferchrysakes. =A0

Do a search for The Torch+Flashlight. That puppy is a heck of a light. CY should buy one to test out. (I'm at work, can't remember link)

[Stormin Mormon]

They made 5D givaway flash lights for years. The early ones were grey, with red screw on end, and the later ones were black with yellow. They had some which were blue, and four C cells, I may still have one of those. Sadly, I've not known of RS to do give away flash lights recently.

The closest I can reccomend, is that Harbor Freight has twin pack, 3d and 2 AA which you can get on sale for ten bucks. Includes first set of cheap batteries. Metal lights, in case you want to bop a racoon.