The Flashlight Thread

[F51]

I love the old MAG incandescent 2 and 3 D-cell lights. Was really stoked when they started putting LED heads on those. Whatta lotta light and still a very fine self defense weapon. However---after about 6 mos the switches start to go erratic and they were nearly useless. It happened not once, but four different times, so I'm no fan of the MAG LED units now. I still have several of the incandescent jobs that work well, but--you know--not much light. Not one of my MAG LED units is functional now. I figured they used the same switch, so why do they all go bad? I'm also surprised that so far in this thread, no one else has mentioned it. Maybe its just me and my bad karma.

[hellosailor]

F51-
Most magLites in the US have a limited lifetime warranty. You might try contacting them, I'd bet you get new flashlights.

Delancey-
"If not for the advent of petroleum we wouldn't have any whales left. "
Nah, they'd have been farmed and milked and a real big attraction at the Coastal Dude Ranch. Saddle up, ride the big doggies!

Spraying batteries, won't contain leaks. Greasing the tops and bottoms, helps make sure the contacts get greased and protected somewhat when they do leak.

Both big companies have made a point lately about new batteries that are more leak resistant. they say. I like to think I've helped change their point of view from "more powerful" to "leaks less" because every time I get a leaker, I call or email and complain about it. I've told all three of the big companies, I don't need more power. I need less mess when I go to take the flashlight out of the closet.

WRT the Wiki:
"Lumen (unit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Did you mean: Lumen (unit)
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Lumen (unit in Wikipedia to check for alternative titles or spellings. "

You must have a better Wiki than I do. Mine won't shed any light on this topic. (G)

Oh, wait...A paren got lost! Tricky Wiki.

[Delancey]

Every now and then riding the subway you get these guys walking through the cars trying to sell packs of batteries, specifically the copper top kind and they are always packaged with the Chinese version of the brand and labeling. I have seen them in the delis and come to think of it have a set of AA's sitting in a laser level at work. Have to take a picture tomorrow.

[hellosailor]

Subway, heheh. Lots of counterfeit in that business, and a lot of junk as well. Consumer Reports does battery tests from time to time, cheap is often cheap and bought dearly.

If you buy anything on the subway, take a line that goes out of Manhattan. "Five dollah, five dollah" becomes "three dollah! three dollah!" as soon as you hit the outer boroughs.(G)

Even the Rolexes get cheaper!

[Delancey]

I avoid china products as much as possible but was on the job and when I needed them and that's what the deli had, so that's what I got. Proof pictures tomorrow for those who want to see them.

One other thing I thought I would mention, for those who are into that sort of thing, is that you can get red acetate and other colored gels at either arts and crafts stores or theatrical lighting companies.

Also a lithographer's masking material called Rubylith works well and has an adhesive face. I have even used nail polish with good results.

I could be wrong but I think research has shown that the other end of the spectrum is better for preserving night vision, but let's face it, but red looks cool.

That said, regardless of color (could be green) I think the most important thing is that it whatever lighting is dim (one of the reasons I prefer a narrow focus on my torch, less collateral illumination).

With the colored gels you can take any light and make it dimmer by filtering the available spectrum down to a single color. So red still works even if it's not the best.

P.S. For what it's worth, I usually find that with Chinese vendors the phrase "best price" gets the point across most efficiently.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Delancey

I could be wrong but I think research has shown that the other end of the spectrum is better for preserving night vision, but let's face it, but red looks cool.

That said, regardless of color (could be green) I think the most important thing is that it whatever lighting is dim...

Red is better, but only by a razor thin margin. As you say, the most important thing is a dim light. So a dim, white light is better than a brighter, red light. In general, if you have to pay more than a few pennies extra to get a red light, then it's not worth it. Just use the dimmest light that will allow you to see what you need to see.

[goboatingnow]

Led lenser , "there is no substitute "

Rolls about the place of course

PS why do they call them flashlights when they don't flash !

Round here they're torches !!!

Dave

[Delancey]

Fun fact for you Etymologists out there - the term flashlight refers to the fact that early torches relied on a battery type that could only provide intermittent power output, hence a light that flashes.

Never fails, two cultures divided by a common language!

[hellosailor]

Actually, Dave, a lot of the new ones do flash. In both one and three flash pattern, and true SOS pattern.

Why do you still call them torches, when there's no combustion going on? I even retired off the old carbide lantern in favor of LEDs, no torches left around here.

[Nicholson58]

Last November, Leisure Pro ran a bunch of irresistible offers on LED dive lights. We now have several. Totally waterproof to well deeper than I will ever go. I loaded them with re-chargables. I also have an LED/solar charged light about mini-mag size. I keep it in a port light so its always charged. We also have a solar re-charge anchor light with auto on/off.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Led lenser , "there is no substitute "

Rolls about the place of course

PS why do they call them flashlights when they don't flash !

Round here they're torches !!!

Dave

Same reason that "over there" they call a car part a wing even though it won't fly.

[darylat8750]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

F51-
Most magLites in the US have a limited lifetime warranty. You might try contacting them, I'd bet you get new flashlights.
i.

I have a half dozen Mag Lites 5 to 30+ years old on the mountain property (house, barn, tractor, truck ect) and a couple on the boat. I've had two switch failures. MagLite replaced the switches. I had to pay shipping.

[HansSolo]

How about this one? The Torch - World's Brightest Flashlight | Wicked Lasers
At 4100 lumens it could do double work as a backup stove!

[Delancey]

Well my Pelicans arrived from Amazon. Unfortunately, they sent me the wrong ones.

I ordered the ones specifically without the glow-in-the-dark shroud. Personally, I find this to be a distraction and a bit gimmicky. Perhaps they will get the e-tape treatment.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Same basic design as my Hubbell with the non-roll hexagonal shaft. I like the belt clip for attaching to a harness and it also has a pretty substantial lanyard ring.

One significant difference is that the Pelican features a removable battery carrier which you can see in the photo. I'm very pleased with this detail.

The light is very bright. It's difficult to stare at directly it and I would have to say that it is brighter than my original Hubbell with a xenon bulb. We'll see how they work out, if the suck for some reason I will let you know.

[Cormorant]

I keep one of these on my keychain. Very bright for its size, and waterproof. I find I use it two or three times a day to see stuff in dark corners. Very handy to have one on you at all times everywhere.

BTW, sold on Ebay for about $7.
Search for "1800 LM Cree XM-L T6 LED Keychain Flashlight"