After A Torch

I got an LED lensor p7 brilliant little compact torch. It serves its purpose for me and packs an incredible punch for such a small torch. Dont buy cheapo batteries for it though it seriously affects its performance and chews through them in a matter of a few hours. Maglites are behind the times now in my opinion!

buckshot said:

looking at one of these meself

4000Lm SKYRAY 3x CREE XM-L XML T6 LED Flashlight Torch Lamp 5-Mode 18650 Battery | eBay

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I don't have this one, but I have two very similar, one with a T6 'bulb' and for the money you (in my humble opinion) cannot touch them!

These are seriously bright, seemingly well made and so cheap it is hard to see 'you get what you pay for'!

I expect this particular torch will be as bright or brighter as one of those (and I've owned a couple) 5 million candle jobbies which go flat in 25 minutes and are the size of a football!

On the headtorch front I adore my Petzel Tikka XP's and wouldn't hesitate buying another.

Tom

GINGE said:

I have one of THESE about £35. Not gonna give you mega spot power like Stenovas effort but its great for camping, closing gates during night landing, going for a slash at night.

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it's only really good for checking tyres on police cars when you get pulled at night

headtorch wise I have one of these


I also like the one that came with my audi,

I have a zebralight h600. It's not cheap but it's a decent torch.

It does use 18650 batteries though, but I use them for other stuff as well.

What I really like about it isn't the stupidly bright setting but the really low one(0.1Lm) or teh next one up (2.8). It's bright enough to get about in teh middle of the night but not bright enough to wake the other half.

I got one of these they are ridiculously bright , and come with head mount and are rechargeable (included batt pack) long battery life .
CREE XM-L T6 LED Cycling Bike Bicycle Head Light HeadLamp HeadLight+rear light | eBay

I git a tourch with a Cree led last winter from china came with an 18650 battery and charger and still going strong and very bright.

I Aldo have a classic mag lite 2x aa size with a led upgrade off eBay its loads brighter and battery's last loads longer.

My personal choice is a 5D Maglite with side handle. I also have a decent LED head torch, and a couple of compact LED hand torches. The problem with LED's is that the light they give off has a very short wavelength, which means that the light they emit can be very intense, but it scatters very quickly. This is great for illuminating things that are quite close, but they don't illuminate much beyond 30ft or so, whereas my Maglite can easily reach 10 times that.

i have this as my everyday carry
Fenix LD10 R5 LED Torch | FenixTorch.co.uk

i have this as my headtorch for underground stuff though
StenLight advanced LED caving lamps - lightweight LED caving lamp

cannot recommend the fenix enough, i broke mine by abusing it and they replaced it no questions. Its waaay brighter than a 5d maglite. The only way i would carry something as heavy as that is if i needed to defend myself against pikeys

flat said:

i have this as my everyday carry
Fenix LD10 R5 LED Torch | FenixTorch.co.uk

i have this as my headtorch for underground stuff though
StenLight advanced LED caving lamps - lightweight LED caving lamp

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I use a Sten too for exploring old mines ....top quality bit of kit (Even at the price)

Have a couple of these too ....



Big one uses 3x 18650 ...bright as anything BUT not too tighter beam ...bit bulky for underground BUT handy in a big slate mine chamber as slate sucks the light lite mad .

martin1512 said:

My personal choice is a 5D Maglite with side handle. I also have a decent LED head torch, and a couple of compact LED hand torches. The problem with LED's is that the light they give off has a very short wavelength, which means that the light they emit can be very intense, but it scatters very quickly. This is great for illuminating things that are quite close, but they don't illuminate much beyond 30ft or so, whereas my Maglite can easily reach 10 times that.

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Try a maglite with an aftermarket led massive diffrence on mine, same distance, much brighter hot spot and battery lasts way longer

mistericeman said:

I use a Sten too for exploring old mines ....top quality bit of kit (Even at the price)

Have a couple of these too ....



Big one uses 3x 18650 ...bright as anything BUT not too tighter beam ...bit bulky for underground BUT handy in a big slate mine chamber as slate sucks the light lite mad .

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yes you know your in a big void when you have a 1000+ lumens beaming out the front and it doesnt actually make any difference to the dark. croesor (or however you spell it, you know that fecking massive slate mine in wales) comes to mind.

I actually do mine exploration but people look confused when i say that so have got in the habit of saying caving as people know what that is. Its like when i tell people about SRT they go blank so i just tell them its like climbing but without the wall.

caves suck, i prefer mines.

flat said:

yes you know your in a big void when you have a 1000+ lumens beaming out the front and it doesnt actually make any difference to the dark. croesor (or however you spell it, you know that fecking massive slate mine in wales) comes to mind.

I actually do mine exploration but people look confused when i say that so have got in the habit of saying caving as people know what that is. Its like when i tell people about SRT they go blank so i just tell them its like climbing but without the wall.

caves suck, i prefer mines.

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Actually Caves are where Elton John hangs out of Barrmores arse lol ...Cwmorthin is fun to explore And some of the lead mines near to me in Derbyshire are worth looking at too .

yeah never made it to derbyshire, must make more effort although i am waaaay not cave fit and wont be for a good while as i have broken my leg. Thats 2 for 2 now lol

Another shout for LED Lenser.

Got one free the other day thrown in with a deal and it's great.

It's the P5E which is the cheapo 40 lumen version of the 100 lumen P5

Anyway the principle is great and it's ideal on the belt next to the leatherman.

Well chuffed cos they've shown me the light with next gen torches, problem is now I want a bigger one too!

I too agree with the Petzl comments. I've used them for 16 years in my job and only ever replaced them when I've proper trashed them or dropped them into a powerpack compartment. For working at night in engine bays or just tinkering in the dark they are worth there money.

The range does have some expensive options but depends what you want to spend, I never spend more than 40 quid and canna grumble.

For hand held torches i'm afraid the old Maglite has had its day. I used to swear by them but just to bulky (unless yur ****ing a scrout wea one) and the technology regards light has changed.

I,m now a LED Lensor convert. I have the P7 and 2 of the smaller torches. The P7 I use mostly for walking the dogs at night as once there in the woods its nightmare to see them. Range is good and the brightness is outstanding for a small torch. As mentioned though they require good batteries as the do eat them with prolonged use.

My last holiday to the sandy place I used my P7 to help me identify disturbed ground before I drove/approached it, from over 100 meters away clearly. Good torches worth there weight again.

I don't think you'll find one torch to do fill all your requiements, but these might gea yu ideas.

This is the smaller of the two I have, and my favourite by a margin. The T6 lamp is so bright it astonishes people and just makes those big old million candle watt torches look daft!

1800 Lumen Zoomable CREE XML-T6 LED 18650 Torch Zoom Lamp Flashligh Light New | eBay

The ability to push the head of the torch forward an inch with your thumb in and instant and turn a huge, bright flooding light into a focused beam that will reach 200m across a field (and find the dog!) is why i love it so much.

It also has rechargeable lithium batteries, made from ally and - well how can you fault it?

I don't understand how you can buy and get one delivered for a little over a tenner!?

Tom

LRD90tdi said:

This is the smaller of the two I have, and my favourite by a margin. The T6 lamp is so bright it astonishes people and just makes those big old million candle watt torches look daft!

1800 Lumen Zoomable CREE XML-T6 LED 18650 Torch Zoom Lamp Flashligh Light New | eBay

The ability to push the head of the torch forward an inch with your thumb in and instant and turn a huge, bright flooding light into a focused beam that will reach 200m across a field (and find the dog!) is why i love it so much.

It also has rechargeable lithium batteries, made from ally and - well how can you fault it?

I don't understand how you can buy and get one delivered for a little over a tenner!?

Tom

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Yeah I bought one of these

I know everyone slags off the cheap chinese stuff, but its really bloody brilliant! Takes 3AAA batteries & bright as anything! Also fits nicely in a bicycle pump holder that Ive used as a mounting point for it in the landy so I aint fumbling around trying to find it when I need it Fully adjustable beam too.

Maybe Im just a cheapskate! I do miss my old maglite though, had a 3D Cell maglite, but I bloody left it in the glovebox of one of my old cars when I sold it!

You see I hate buying batteries - just a pet hate - so the fact mine came with the lithium jobbies out of the box made it - though I'm now toying with buying a 'silly one' with 6 x T6 leds as I can use the batteries I have already!

Perhaps the circuits inside is cheap - I don't know, but mine haven't overheated or failed yet and as it is just a torch it is a) easy to fix and b) cheap to buy another for a tenner!

Tom

Id like to get a rechargeable one I can just leave in the car charging away happily so never gotta buy batteries or worry about it being flat when I need it, but those tend to be silly expensive.