My new torch

[LordHaveMurci]

RizzoTheRat said:

Not quite the same league as some kit on here, but I bought a Cateye Volt 800 to go on the pushbike the other day. Made one hell of a difference to my ride home last night, and I felt I ought to switch it to a lower power mode when I got to the road to avoid blinding car drivers

I bought a 700 recently, not been used in anger yet but seems like a cracking bit of kit, only cost me £80 too

[Kaj91]

Outbid on an X21R.2 with 2 seconds left on the auction.

[leglessAlex]

Kaj91 said:

Outbid on an X21R.2 with 2 seconds left on the auction.

I know I mentioned it in my post of suggestions, but all the same are you sure about going Lenser? They are quality items and the focusing does give them something extra but the X21 is an expensive item and there's a lot of choice out there. I have to admit, I'd be looking really hard at the TK75 if it was me, but each to their own.

[Complex]

Winter is here and although I spend approximately no time in places where there isn't access to light, I want to buy another torch.

Frustratingly I lost my Nitecore MH2C which was a pretty great all-rounder with the benefit of being USB rechargable (I do not own any 18650s or chargers).

I have an £8 3xAA Chinese torch which is fine for country walking.

Requirements are:

- Slim enough to permanently live in the inside pocket of an overcoat without causing discomfort.

- Able to sit for long periods without a battery change/recharge

- Does not need high adjustability or lots of fiddly features, nor does it need to be exceptionally bright at the cost of battery life.

I'm not sure whether a £5 ebay job with loads of li-ion eneloops stocked in the car would do the trick as much as something more expensive and the associated battery/charger costs. As much as I loved my Nitecore, it was certainly overkill for my tame usage but open to recommendations if anyone has any?

[defblade]

Complex said:

Winter is here and although I spend approximately no time in places where there isn't access to light, I want to buy another torch.

Frustratingly I lost my Nitecore MH2C which was a pretty great all-rounder with the benefit of being USB rechargable (I do not own any 18650s or chargers).

I have an £8 3xAA Chinese torch which is fine for country walking.

Requirements are:

- Slim enough to permanently live in the inside pocket of an overcoat without causing discomfort.

- Able to sit for long periods without a battery change/recharge

- Does not need high adjustability or lots of fiddly features, nor does it need to be exceptionally bright at the cost of battery life.

I'm not sure whether a £5 ebay job with loads of li-ion eneloops stocked in the car would do the trick as much as something more expensive and the associated battery/charger costs. As much as I loved my Nitecore, it was certainly overkill for my tame usage but open to recommendations if anyone has any?

I'd recommend a single CR123 battery light - plenty of lumens for the (small) size, usually little/no UI beyond on-off; lithium primary cell will hold charge for about 10 years. Many flavours available from your favourite Chinese website. Just order some batteries while you're there as they're about a $ each from China, or £5 each here (although 7dayshop often has good prices).

[tenohfive]

Complex said:

Winter is here and although I spend approximately no time in places where there isn't access to light, I want to buy another torch.

Frustratingly I lost my Nitecore MH2C which was a pretty great all-rounder with the benefit of being USB rechargable (I do not own any 18650s or chargers).

I have an £8 3xAA Chinese torch which is fine for country walking.

Requirements are:

- Slim enough to permanently live in the inside pocket of an overcoat without causing discomfort.

- Able to sit for long periods without a battery change/recharge

- Does not need high adjustability or lots of fiddly features, nor does it need to be exceptionally bright at the cost of battery life.

I'm not sure whether a £5 ebay job with loads of li-ion eneloops stocked in the car would do the trick as much as something more expensive and the associated battery/charger costs. As much as I loved my Nitecore, it was certainly overkill for my tame usage but open to recommendations if anyone has any?

My day to day torch for the winter months is a Nitecore MT10C, picked up on a whim as it was cheap. It'll run off a CR123A (although I use rechargeable 18350's) and has a fairly balanced light - less throwy than some of the other Nitecore lights I own, but it'll hold it's own. Really simple in use, 3 buttons - tail clicky (on/off), more light and less light. As usual with NC lights there are hidden modes but for most use it's simple (memory mode helps.) And it's very small. And easily blows away the xxxxfire 18650 powered cheapies I own.

What sort of budget are you looking? I know of a deal on the MH10 (microUSB rechargeable, 1000 lumens) if you're set on being able to recharge it easily.

[RizzoTheRat]

If you're happy with your cheap Chinese triple AA, then take a look at the cheap Q3 clones on ebay. Cheap enough to be considered disposable, decent light output and a standard AA battery so you can keep a spare in the car. Having bought one last year I bought another couple to keep in the cars in case of emergency. Original one's seen a reasonable amount of use and is still on its first battery.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SK68-Cree-XPE-Q3-3W-150L...SQAAOSwrklVZE0q

[tenohfive]

Funnily enough I've got about 5 of those SK68's sitting in front of me - at less than £1.50 each it seemed silly not to order a few. They're nothing to write home about on a AA but I'm waiting on some spare 14500's to turn up - I suspect they'll change things significantly. As a reference point an EA11 will do 200 lumens on an AA - or 900 on 14500's. Not expecting similar performance, but hopefully a good jump upwards.

Pretty sure the batteries cost more than the lights, but hey ho...

[Complex]

Thanks for the comments. I understand I should be going for a good quality charger and protected batteries but outside that I've pretty much got free reign?

Edit - budget looking at £30 all in which is why I'm more drawn toward Chinese cheapies, considering the tooling up cost of chargers and batteries.

Thanks again

Edited by Complex on Thursday 26th November 22:20

[StressedEric]

Got one of these the other day.

Thrunite Ti3.

Takes one AAA battery so it's tiny and fits on your key ring.

Made from Titanium alloy.

162 lumens for a key ring torch is pretty impressive.

It also has 'Firefly' mode at 0.5 lumens which I find handy for when you don't want to wake people up with a million lumen torch.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ThruNite%C2%AE-Ti-Key-ring...

[LordHaveMurci]

Question for the clever bods on here, would I see any advantage on my Led Lenser P7's & P14 by switching to 18500's over Eneloop Pro AA & AAA's?

I have a Foxnovo 4S charger that will charge them apparently.

[FiF]

Isn't the voltage wrong? 18500 are 3.7v but Eneloop compatible with disposable AAA 1.5 / 1.2V?

Incidentally I use 4xAAA Eneloops in a Lenser P7.2, and have the feeling it's not as good as when used with disposables. But charged twice a week and it's fine.

Incidentally we were looking for somebody last night and the brightness of the TK51 on turbo got a FFS! from someone across the field and the other side of the river trying to have a quick kneetrembler. Oops!

Edited by FiF on Friday 27th November 11:45

[robbocop33]

Only us men could keep a thread about torches going for 79 pages!!It really is a wonderful thing to behold!

[bigbob77]

Any recommendations for a low-budget torch that takes 4 or 8 AA batteries and has a VERY long running time (for example, a 2-5 lumen low mode)

I have a Fenix LD40 which is almost perfect - takes 4xAA and on low mode (4 lumens) it'll run for 10 days.

But I need a couple more, and the Fenix is too expensive. Plus it can't stand upright on its tail which is very annoying.

[Yabu]

bigbob77 said:

Any recommendations for a low-budget torch that takes 4 or 8 AA batteries and has a VERY long running time (for example, a 2-5 lumen low mode)

I have a Fenix LD40 which is almost perfect - takes 4xAA and on low mode (4 lumens) it'll run for 10 days.

But I need a couple more, and the Fenix is too expensive. Plus it can't stand upright on its tail which is very annoying.

Only 1xAA, low lumen output is low but how low a lumen output do you want!? 32hrs run time per AA on lowest

Any reason for going AA over 18650?

Eta linky
[url]
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_79491.h...

Edited by Yabu on Friday 27th November 16:32

[FiF]

One thing that puzzles me is mAH ratings. In one torch I have 3*3400 mAH 18650, yet the laptop has a socking great battery pack that's only 5400 mAH.

Ok the laptop battery is higher voltage so that's part of the explanation on size. But considering the laptop runs for several hours with screen, fan doing imitation of a hoover, and chucking out a fair bit of heat, it makes me wonder how much power these torches consume.

[tenohfive]

Complex said:

Thanks for the comments. I understand I should be going for a good quality charger and protected batteries but outside that I've pretty much got free reign?

Edit - budget looking at £30 all in which is why I'm more drawn toward Chinese cheapies, considering the tooling up cost of chargers and batteries.

Thanks again

I have something in mind but long story short it can't be explained in this thread. May be of use though, if you'll PM me I'll explain (sorry to sound cryptic.)

[5678]

Whats the consensus on Gearbest then? 6% back on Quidco and I've got a TK51, batteries and charger waiting to be bought!

Timely delivery?
Customs charges?

[tenohfive]

Anecdotally I hear that some people experience bits occasionally going missing - which without a tracking number (£1 or so) presents an issue.

Touch wood I've had no issues with 4-6 orders from them though, and if I saw a decent deal on there I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

[V8RX7]

300bhp/ton said:

Most torches don't focus or zoom.

Uniquefire are a budget brand, but quite ok quality. They do a range of larger zoomy lights:
http://www.banggood.com/UniqueFire-UF-1405-Cree-XM...

Following your recommendation I bought one and it's now arrived.

I'm very impressed with it - huge variation between flood and zoom, I can't see why 99% of people would want anything better.

Thanks