Muh flashlights are pretty. Show me your flashlights. NiteCore EX10 Quark 123^2 Turbo Tactical Quark 123 Fenix L2D
I'm on the look out for a smallish, powerful yet fairly cheap torch to keep in my car. Any suggestions?
What kind of battery and how much you want to spend? Quark Mini AA $40 Low: 2.7 OTF lumens, 60 hours Medium: 25 OTF lumens, 8 hours High: 90 OTF lumens, 1.3 hours Special (hidden) modes: Strobe 4 hours SOS 12 hours Beacon (Hi) 20 hours Beacon (Lo) 100 hours http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=297_355&products_id=2044 Fenix E01 1 AAA $15 10 lumens for 11 hours http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=435 Fenix E05 1 AAA $21.95 27 lumens http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=2470
Does the flashlight app for my nexus one count? It comes in really handy, surprising how much light the little LED that provides my phones flash can give out.
I'm not that clued up on lumens. What's 27 compared to 10 like? I've got a few LED torches at the moment which seem to Be pathetically low powered compared to this tiny one I keep on my keys. As for battery types, I think I'd prefer AA or AAA to keep thongs simple, don't really fancy te idea of having to charge a torch.
For reference the original mini Maglite had 15.6 lumens. That's about right for reading a map. The 2D cell maglite had 36.5 lumens and the 3D cell had 76.8 lumens.
Surefire AZ2 Tactical Flashlight It mounts pretty well to most rifles/carbines, and works well with AR15's. I think you could get it to mount of some longer barrel handguns like the 1911.
This is the flashlight to end all flashlights. A 1050 Lumen home made one called Borealis http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220352 Check out post #12, #21, & #31 for greatness! I considered one when I was obsessed with flashlights a few years ago. But I've moved on to richer endeavors.
90 lumens would light up a room just fine. But it's not all about the brightness. You might also want to consider brightness modes. 90 lumens is too bright to read a map. It's nice to have at least 2 different brightness levels. A moonlight mode is very popular. That's where the light is just bright enough to spot in a dark room but it can run for days like that. Efficiency is also important and Fenix lights are always good at that. Also consider some Ni-MH batteries for the flashlight. They hold 75% of their charge for 3 years. Perfect for the flashlight that gets tossed in a drawer. http://www.amazon.com/SANYO-eneloop-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B004UG41W8 Surefires are insanely expensive but most say they are worth it. If my life depended on a flashlight I'd probably get one. I've been interested in this new Zebra light. 750 lumens for 5 minutes. Special batteries needed. http://www.zebralight.com/SC600-Cree-XM-L-750Lm-Flashlight-18650_p_55.html
Well, I only telly need a torch to look for things I've dropped in the dark, so low lumina aren't a huge factor for me. A ni-mh battery powered one might be a good idea but I'm not keen on spending too much on a torch.