Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on October 04, 2020, 09:50:33 AM
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So over in Hawkmoons Maglight thread, Regolith mentioned this light:
https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-tk26r-tactical-flashlight-1500-lumens/
Got me to thinking I want a powerful light for around the farm. Right now my biggest light is 800 lumens - it's an offbrand light that looks like a Maglite, but skinnier C-cell tube, uses 5 batts (I use rechargeables in it). It's a pretty good light and lets me check things out easily within 50-75 yards, which works well when I'm letting the dog out to do his business before bed (or at 0200 - damn you Steve!). It throws light a might further, but it gets harder to see details.
I have further distances I'd like to be able to illuminate, both for wildlife curiosity and security. One thing I like about Regolith's light is the red/green option. I use those colors a lot with a smaller light I have to preserve my night vision. Size is not an issue for this light. The 1500 lumens would likely do the trick, but I was also looking at higher lumen lights. Fenix makes a 9000 lumen light that reviews said "wow!" about, both from brightness and the fact that it gets so hot you can't hold it very long at the high setting. That got me to thinking about practical upper limits on the lumens.
Any of you have super duper lumen lights? Again, with the color options, Regolith's Fenix might be just right for me, but without a real size limitation for this light, maybe there are bigger lights that throw further for me to consider.
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I've got an Olight Seeker 2. They claim 3000 lumens, and it uses a single 21700 battery. It's more of a flood than a spot, and I can tell you it lights up the orchard behind my house pretty good. Much more than my Streamlight 2LX, similar in size, but just a little bigger diameter. It does get warm, 2-3 minutes on the highest setting is about my limit. Lower settings can go until you run out of battery.
https://www.olightstore.com/seeker-2-black.html
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It's more of a flood than a spot, a
Oh, that's another thing - I wouldn't mind a light that can go from flood to spot. I find that handy in my smaller lights.
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I have a small yard and I don't need a uber bright light. I like the bright lights, I have the idea that maybe I could blind somebody who is trying to shoot me. :laugh:
But I hate these output options where you click it once for a solid beam, another time for a strobe, another time for SOS, etc. At least one of my flashlights is smart enough to remember the setting I had it on last. I do like the mechanical sleeve that lets you focus or widen the beam.
Several years ago I bought a cabinet light from Harbor Freight (<sigh>), designed to install inside my garage cabinet. And IT had the flash cycle where you turned it on with a click, clicked again for a strobe, etc. :lol: Apparently they repurposed the mechanisms sold for flashlights.
I mostly use this very cheap flashlight that comes $20 for 18 of them, with battery:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CTX742M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CTX742M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I keep one of those in several rooms in the house, a couple in each car, etc. They're thin, they're not the miniature tanks that some of the more expensive flashlights I have are (and I like the robust feeling of the more expensive flashlights, these feel really cheap by comparison) but for me a flashlight is a commodity item, buy cheap and replace as necessary out of the box. And I don't have to worry about how do I change the beam setting, there's only one. I just have to worry about what color to use. =D
What I really like with the new flashlights is they're LED. To me that's a 400% improvement over the incandescents, in terms of battery life and smaller form factor.
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The Fenix PD35TAC is $72 and kicks out 1000 lumens, which says it's good for 200 yards.
Not bad at all.
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The last time I saw 200 yards was when I was sighting in my rifle in Phoenix. :lol:
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So over in Hawkmoons Maglight thread, Regolith mentioned this light:
https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-tk26r-tactical-flashlight-1500-lumens/
Got me to thinking I want a powerful light for around the farm. Right now my biggest light is 800 lumens - it's an offbrand light that looks like a Maglite, but skinnier C-cell tube, uses 5 batts (I use rechargeables in it). It's a pretty good light and lets me check things out easily within 50-75 yards, which works well when I'm letting the dog out to do his business before bed (or at 0200 - damn you Steve!). It throws light a might further, but it gets harder to see details.
I have further distances I'd like to be able to illuminate, both for wildlife curiosity and security. One thing I like about Regolith's light is the red/green option. I use those colors a lot with a smaller light I have to preserve my night vision. Size is not an issue for this light. The 1500 lumens would likely do the trick, but I was also looking at higher lumen lights. Fenix makes a 9000 lumen light that reviews said "wow!" about, both from brightness and the fact that it gets so hot you can't hold it very long at the high setting. That got me to thinking about practical upper limits on the lumens.
Any of you have super duper lumen lights? Again, with the color options, Regolith's Fenix might be just right for me, but without a real size limitation for this light, maybe there are bigger lights that throw further for me to consider.
An observation on the color options. I have a couple lights that have them. Most require cycling through other colors/brightness. That may or may not be an issue. I normally use mine for nighttime dog walking or checking on or locking up ducks/chickens at night. I often go to full brightness and scan the yard/field. Then go to blue/green color for night-vision preservation and not blind me or the dog. I find the blue or green is easier for me to see versus red and doesn’t kill my night-vision.
All that said though, if you were looking for tactical/defense reasons and this is what bothers me. I’d rather have the color options not require cycling. I haven’t found a good inexpensive light except a head lamp that has a switch for that. For example I might want low power blue or red and not have to cycle brightness or onto white light. Or go full on 1000 lumens without cycling through 3 or 4 brightness levels. Haven’t really found that yet.
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Understood on the color. I do have a low power streamlight tactical that does white/blue/red/IR and it has a rotary dial that goes in either direction, so as long as you remember which way to turn it, you can keep from having white come on. I haven't found anything yet that says how that Fenix I linked to switches color.
I'm not super worried on the tactical/security side for the big light. If I actually hear a close concerning bump in the night, I'm more inclined to grab the pistol or AR and use the weapon light, or else put my NVG on. "Security" for the big light is more being able to do a long range perimeter sweep in the fields surrounding my house or else shine it down my entrance road.
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I threw a circuit breaker last night. I used the darkness to compare my $1.00 flashlight with my ~$20.00 flashlight beam brightness. It was like ... night and day. :laugh:
But the $1.00 is plenty good enough to help me find a breaker or a light switch.
Kind of like the point of a handgun is so you can fight your way back to your rifle. In this case, have a $1.00 flashlight in every room so you can find your way back to your good flashlight.
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Question about the OLights. Amazon has a Prime Day special on a Seeker 2 Pro package with a spare battery and the wall bracket: https://www.amazon.com/OLIGHT-Rechargeable-Tactical-Flashlight-Battery/dp/B07S93M81Z/ref=sr_1_33?dchild=1&keywords=olight&qid=1602701497&sr=8-33
How does the mode switch work on these? I hate having to toggle through 5 modes to get to the one I want whenever I turn on a flashlight; that's why my favorites both just have 2 modes, ON and OFF. But if I can set a default mode and it just switches on and off from that until I change it, I might grab one today.
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Question about the OLights. Amazon has a Prime Day special on a Seeker 2 Pro package with a spare battery and the wall bracket: https://www.amazon.com/OLIGHT-Rechargeable-Tactical-Flashlight-Battery/dp/B07S93M81Z/ref=sr_1_33?dchild=1&keywords=olight&qid=1602701497&sr=8-33
How does the mode switch work on these? I hate having to toggle through 5 modes to get to the one I want whenever I turn on a flashlight; that's why my favorites both just have 2 modes, ON and OFF. But if I can set a default mode and it just switches on and off from that until I change it, I might grab one today.
They have 5 levels of brightness.
If you just click the switch, it comes on in the last brightness you had.
Double click the switch to get the brightest setting.
If you push and hold, it comes on at the lowest level.
Once it's on, you push and hold and it will scroll through the brightness levels.
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"I mostly use this very cheap flashlight that comes $20 for 18 of them, with battery:"
I kept a small light like that clipped to my soft briefcase/messenger bag when I was commuting on the DC Metro. I figured if we had to abandon a train underground it would be a good idea to have a good light, at least something better than my cell phone.
Come to think of it, I don't think that I have a flashlight in the Forester right now. I need to do something about that.
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Question about the OLights. Amazon has a Prime Day special on a Seeker 2 Pro package with a spare battery and the wall bracket: https://www.amazon.com/OLIGHT-Rechargeable-Tactical-Flashlight-Battery/dp/B07S93M81Z/ref=sr_1_33?dchild=1&keywords=olight&qid=1602701497&sr=8-33
How does the mode switch work on these? I hate having to toggle through 5 modes to get to the one I want whenever I turn on a flashlight; that's why my favorites both just have 2 modes, ON and OFF. But if I can set a default mode and it just switches on and off from that until I change it, I might grab one today.
Not familiar with this particular model but I bought an Olight for my wife and insisted she carry it in her bag on a trip to south america. Its a very well made quality flashlight.
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Don't get too hung up on advertised lumen output. Beam pattern and color temp play just as much a role, often more, than luminance value.
The cheapy flashlights I got for my museum security crews was indeed the 300 lumens it claimed, but only when measured dead center of the pattern with the beam focused all the way down. My Fenix UC35 on the 150 lumen setting gave more and better light in a much more useful pattern.
But, hey... if you gotta have bragging rights...
Thrunite TN50 (16,340 lumens)
https://thrunite.com/tn50/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUQJN4K-ZgI
Brad
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Don't get too hung up on advertised lumen output. Beam pattern and color temp play just as much a role, often more, than luminance value.
As an example, I went ahead and ordered the 1500 lumen Fenix in the OP, which arrived yesterday. The day before that, Costco had a 2000 lumen Duracell on sale for like 15 bucks, and I figured, what the hell, maybe keep it in the shop or in the Polaris.
I compared the two last night. The 1500 lumen Fenix throws a brighter beam at least twice as far as the Duracell. The Duracell throws a very wide beam over a shorter distance. It's actually not bad for lighting up a large area close up. It illuminated a good portion of my 1/2 acre backyard, but I couldn't see much of anything past 75 yards or so. The Fenix illuminated trees several hundred yards away.
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I compared the two last night. The 1500 lumen Fenix throws a brighter beam at least twice as far as the Duracell. The Duracell throws a very wide beam over a shorter distance. It's actually not bad for lighting up a large area close up. It illuminated a good portion of my 1/2 acre backyard, but I couldn't see much of anything past 75 yards or so. The Fenix illuminated trees several hundred yards away.
Your neighbors are going to think aliens are landing on your property.
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Your neighbors are going to think aliens are landing on your property.
They already think an alien lives here. :laugh:
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I'm surprised you didn't just spring for a tiki torch, you proud boy, you... :rofl:
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I'm surprised you didn't just spring for a tiki torch, you proud boy, you... :rofl:
That's a great idea! =D