Flashlights!

[rexfan10]

Hiya everybody

Was a little bit bored so i thought id start a thread on flashlights. If you have any interesting experiences, bargains, cool flashlights or anything else then please do share I would also be interested to hear peoples experiences with uses flashlights on there airsoft guns

I'll start off with what i think is a relatively cool flashlight This is my Highly modifed supbeam k40 flashlight

Please excuse the horrible photo, however it gives a rough idea of what the range of the beam is like. The ridge of the hills that you can just make out it lighting up are approx 450 meters although in person you can see the ridge lit up a lot brighter :

It is a clone of a thrunite tn31, which retails for aound £160 in great britain, however i purchased this highly upgraded clone from a man in america for £120 (new) and it has been modified to throw its beam even further! ( roughly 800 meters although i can make out houses at 1km )

The thing i like about this flashlight is that it is relatively compact, albeit bulky, and is something you can easily carry around on your belt at night without really knowing it is there It runs on 18650 batteries, so i purchased some 3400mah panasonic cells for around £15 each. Despite what you may have seen these are the highest capacity cells you can purchase. Yes there are ultrafire/****fire batteries that claim to have 5000mah, although in reality they are nowhere near that. The flashlight has 6 brightness settings and strobe. Its max lumen output is something along the lines of 1160 lumens, which is insanely bright. I once had a zoomie lens cree xml t6 from ebay that claimed to be 1600 lumen, and whilst it was bright, it cant have been anywhere near that considering this torch at 1160 is literally blindingly bright :blink: Its lowest mode is something like 1 or 2 lumens, which despite being very dim, the deign of the torch reflector/lens/de-domed led means this dim light still shines 20 feet, making it more than useful.

Next on my list to buy is another cree xml-t6, simply because these cheap cree lights are amazing flood lights. Thanks to the lack of reflector they have perfectly round smooth walls of light which are very handy. Sadly there are times when 1200lm of focused light isnt neccesary

Hopefully that was of some interest to some if you, and if you have an interest in purchasing one of these modded supbeam k40's, head over to candlepower forums market place called cpf market place and send a pm to a guy named vinh. If you dont want a modded one you can buy a boring old stock one which should still shine a good 4 or 500m and they are only $70 if i can remeber correctly, which is a bargain for the amount of flashlight you get for the price

Rex

PS.

My old cree xml-t6 zoomie ( before i sold it for a profit )

PPS. I wouldnt reccomend purchasing the batteries shown in the picture below, the torch is great, however i wouldnt exactly call the batteries... safe

 

[TacMaster]

Hah, my collection is really mediocre compared to yours

Left to right: Cree Q5 torch with zooming lens. Runs off 1x AA battery and has 3 modes; dim, bright and strobe.

Kathmandu survival torch, runs off 1x AA and also has 3 modes; dim, bright and flashes SOS in morse code

Pro-Force Red Cobra 9 LED red light torch, uses 3x AAA batteries and only has 1 mode

 

[rexfan10]

Hah, my collection is really mediocre compared to yours

Left to right: Cree Q5 torch with zooming lens. Runs off 1x AA battery and has 3 modes; dim, bright and strobe.

Kathmandu survival torch, runs off 1x AA and also has 3 modes; dim, bright and flashes SOS in morse code

Pro-Force Red Cobra 9 LED red light torch, uses 3x AAA batteries and only has 1 mode

haha cant beat the Q5's! I just bought 3 of them as they are so small and handy to have lying about the house They are so small yet bright, i always get great reactions when i tell people with old maglites you can get them for £3 from hong-kong

 

[TacMaster]

haha cant beat the Q5's! I just bought 3 of them as they are so small and handy to have lying about the house They are so small yet bright, i always get great reactions when i tell people with old maglites you can get them for £3 from hong-kong

I found mine in an issued bergen in february, I was very happy

 

[Ian_Gere]

I have an Ultrafire C8, which is bright enough for woodland night skirmishing, but not hedgerow to hedgerow or real battlefield signalling like that monster in the OP. It uses a CREE XML T6. The strobe on it is more than enough to disorient opponents at close quarters though. Also it does work with a pressure pad mouse tail, which is very handy.

The main problem with it is that it doesn't remember the last mode it was used on, so you have to cycle through full power, half power, dim, to get to strobe which, unless you can do it somewhere say pre-room breach, completely out of sight, and then get in through the doorway quickly enough that the approaching strobe light can't be seen in time to get ppl shooting in advance of your obvious point of entry... Plus the glass 'lens' is pretty fragile seeming. It hasn't been shot out yet, but it's only a matter of time. I use bits of clear plastic taped on to protect it, but so far i haven't found any free which actually withstand BB's, so they need replacing after any outing.

I have 2 other XML T6 torches too, both zoomable, a short one runs 3xAAA's or 1x18650 and a long one runs 2 - this long one is bright enough for hedgerow to hedgerow, but again nothing like the OP's. The smaller one puts out less light than the C8, probably due to the latter's larger reflector, and it doesn't take a mouse tail, which is a ball ache, but it does remember last mode and the push button has soft press to advance the modes rather than having to full click off and on again. Like a dick I managed to get some black Krylon on the lens when I sprayed the chrome bezel (it was only going cheap in that style and yas know me, if it can be cheapskated, I'll be cheapskating it), and I've scratched it getting most of it back off again. The plastic lens is BB proof however, and also on the longer one.

The longer one is new and I was in love with it at first, but wanted a divorce when it's modes stopped working after 2hrs mucking about with it. I mean, wtf? The seller was cool with instant refund mind, so fuck it, I bought another: 1st one cost $11, 2nd $9.51 ~ also on the cheapskate front, I use Ultrafire 18650's and I've had no problems with them. I wouldn't be surprised if Panasonic ones are better, but with the corporation going bust I'll bet there are gazillions of fake ones as whomever would usually be on that will have bigger fish to fry. I never risk over charging them though, when I was using a simple trickle charger I got for something like a quid fifty I plugged it into a £3 timer plug, but then I made this:

...surprise surprise, for pence, so I can use my Turnigy charger on 2 at once.

This is a comparison between the 2 zoomable ones:

But the ambient light has confuddlicated my phone camera b/c they both are way brighter than that porch lamp across the road.

I also use a little Warrior 9 LED 3xAAA jobby for CQB / dim-ish light wanted which was surprisingly expensive, for what it is, @ about a tenner and when you consider that I also have a 9 UV LED torch the same style which only cost me £1.29, a tenner is pure skankery. Anyway, the UV one is for the stock of my G36, to point down and remains hidden, for night games where i need to fiddle with something but don't want to give my position away. Oh aye, and I also have one of those 3-in-1 laser, UV and white LED keyring efforts which I have wrapped in multi-core cable outer insulation to stop the buttons getting pressed in my pocket and running the batteries down... kinda the opposite end of the spectrum (see that? didja? eh? eh?) from the OP's... :lol:

This has been on my horizon for a while:

I spose it's the clone version of the OP's pocket star. May well not be as good, but I'll bet it bubbles paint at 10m :lol: Something I was shocked to discover when I was researching torches a while back is that there is no internationally agreed standard test to arrive at the Lumen figure manufacturers quote, but those Chinese XML T6 torches which say 1600lm are quoting Cree's figure, which is the maximum it can put out in some unknown test, not necessarily what any torch using them can work up. Trouble with this bugger and the OP's is that there isn't currently a 20mm rail mount for them, so it'll take something like the rail clamp sawn off another mount and bolted to a Jubilee Clip to put it on a gun, and probably some gaffer tape to be sure... and, whereas I live in hope that a little extension ring I bought:

for 99p​

...may allow me to fit a mouse tail on my long zoomer, these fat bastards are never going to have a pressure pad option unless we drill a hole in them and bodge it directly into the circuit ourselves, which would not be anywhere near as easy as typing that sentence :lol:

I like the look of these too:

7x XML T6 / comes configured for 2x18650's but an extension tube will let it run 3 and it may take a mouse tail.​

A while back I ordered one of those little book clamp goose neck 1xLED reading lights, but the poxy post lost it somewhere between Shenzen and here so I'm waiting on another. My plan is to swap out the LED for a UV one I bought for the job, so I can attach it to molle or whatever webbing I'm going with for usable light that doesn't show at a distance.

 

[TacMaster]

I like the book torch idea ian- last combat excersize I was on, the yoke on the webbing I was issued had horizontal straps. I used these for my Cree torch posted above as it has a belt clip on it- worked very well for finding my way about the harbor area before we went into tactical.

I may have to steal your book torch idea for the next I'm on

 

[rexfan10]

Wow, what a great read Ian!

The sky ray flashlight you posted with tons of xml's looks a lot like the thrunite tm11

But to be fair , the tm11 looks like a lot of other flashlights lol

Ive been wanting to go on a spending spree and buy loads of these flashlights for ages ( the ones with all the led's and funky reflectors ) however i can never justify the cost lol

To be honest, ive got a pretty good spotlight, and ive got plenty little portable cree Q5's, so what i need next is a really good floodlight. There is a light alot like the one i have, same company and same body, however it has 3 led's and is more designed for flooding. If you search thrunite tn30 in google images you get some pretty awesome pictures, although its hard to tell wether or not they are over exposed.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338390-Thrunite-TN30-Review-%283xXM-L-3x18650%29-RUNTIMES-VIDEO-OUTDOOR-BEAMSHOTS-and-more! < That is a review of the thrunite tn30 by "Selfbuilt" . His reviews are insanely thourghour(?) with loads of pictures,tables,gif's and they are usually pretty interesting to read, even if your not interested in the parcticular light

Apprently there is a pulmbing clamp/joint that fits my torch perfectly and allows it to be attatched to bicycle handle bars, so im sure it wouldnt be too hard to modify the clamp so it could clamp on to the barrel of my jg bar10 when i evetnually get one

<quote> . kinda the opposite end of the spectrum (see that? didja? eh? eh?) from the OP's... :lol: </quote>

Im afraid i didna see what ya did

I really like your gooseneck uv light clippy thing idea, would make it a lot easier than fumbling about with mags and speed loaders in the dark!

Have you ever looked into handheld HID lights?

The cheaper ones seem to go for around £50 and they claim to be rated at 5000lumen or something ridiculous like that, the only problem is that they take a few seconds to heat/light up, meaning no strobe I mean what use is 5000lumens if you cant strobe somebody with it? lol, Oh yeh they are also the size of your arm and weigh a large amount, meaning they come with a sling too lol!

Just found out they only have a bulb life of 3000 hours aswell! I cant remeber how they work but i think i read is like an arc of electricity jumping from one contact to another which heats up the gasses creating a super bright plasma or something? ( i could be herrondously wrong though )

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Camping-35w-HID-Xenon-Torch-Flashlight-Spotlight-3000Lumens-5200mAh-5Modes-/181215334577?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item2a314690b1

*edit* apparently that HID has a flashing mode ^^ although i dont know how quickly it flashes.... i was sure i read they cant be turned on and off quickly

I also somehow came accross this whilst looking at HID lights, I've already ordered one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classical-Rubber-Band-Launcher-Wooden-Wood-Hand-Pistol-Gun-Shooting-Toy-Gifts-/271314731953?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f2b9e43b1%C2'>

i love ebay!

Rex

Ps, sorry for all the lol's, apprently I exceeded the maximum amount of emoticons allowed in 1 post : (

 

[Ian_Gere]

Apprently there is a pulmbing clamp/joint that fits my torch perfectly and allows it to be attatched to bicycle handle bars, so im sure it wouldnt be too hard to modify the clamp so it could clamp on to the barrel of my jg bar10 when i evetnually get one

Well, all I can do is wish you good luck with your search. I mean, this would fit the torch:

...but it's a bit... i dunno... i want to say 'crap' and describe it with my hands - clunky, maybe...? Would it even work without tape?​

​

<quote> . kinda the opposite end of the spectrum (see that? didja? eh? eh?) from the OP's... :lol: </quote>

Im afraid i didna see what ya did

This being t'internet I'm going to take that at face value, since it may very well not be sarcasm: we're on about light throwing devices, I said "opposite end of the spectrum" as a similie, oh what wit, what glorious repartee

I really like your gooseneck uv light clippy thing idea, would make it a lot easier than fumbling about with mags and speed loaders in the dark!

Exactly!

Have you ever looked into handheld HID lights?

No.

The cheaper ones seem to go for around £50 and they claim to be rated at 5000lumen or something ridiculous like that, the only problem is that they take a few seconds to heat/light up, meaning no strobe I mean what use is 5000lumens if you cant strobe somebody with it? lol,

A man after my own heart. I forget the book exactly, I think it may have been one of Alistair MacLain's, but there was a torch in it which they called a lucifer and was basically a fat accumulator with carbon contacts and an arc between them - 19th century device I think :lol:

Anyway, as into torches as I am, I'm afraid that if you could knock a bull out with it, it's too big. And 3000hrs...? That's my arse, innit? Really?

 

[TacMaster]

@ian get yourself a Q5, pressure switches are very easy to come by: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultrafire-CREE-C8-Q5-C8-R5-C8-T6-LED-Torch-Flashlight-Remote-Pressure-Switch-/220943050202?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item33713b65da

You could probably find it for cheaper using your ebay ninja skills