I Got On a Flashlight Kick

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Jul 8, 2012
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Location
Dickson, TN.
Somehow I’ve gotten on a flashlight kick.

As an aircraft mechanic working night shift, I often have the need for a good flashlight. A lot of the guys at work have Streamlights that they bought from the Snap-On tool truck guy, but I always knew they paid about $120 for them, and, while they’re very reliable, durable flashlights, I never could bring myself to pay that much for one, and I’ve used the typical hardware store flashlights that use disposable alkaline batteries (Rayovac, Coast, Energizer, etc). And, while they’ve served their purpose (especially since the company provides batteries), I decided I was ready to upgrade to something brighter and higher quality, especially since the aforementioned cheaply-made alkaline battery lights always seem to eventually start flickering or stop working altogether.

Through watching a lot of gun review videos on YouTube, I heard about a Chinese company called Olight, and got interested in them. A lot of people really talked them up, so I ordered a couple of them as Christmas gifts for family members (Warrior Mini 2). I tried them out, and was impressed. These are small form-factor lights (easily fit in a pocket) that are very bright (1700 lumens), and run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Through doing some research, I discovered that there are MANY Chinese companies making these powerful LED lithium-ion flashlights, and that Olight is actually one of the more expensive brands, and use proprietary batteries and a magnetic charging system that, while novel, is also proprietary (not really a good thing).

I like getting a lot for my $$$, so naturally I discovered that there are a few companies that make very good quality flashlights for not a lot of money (3 of them are Sofirn, Wurkkos, and Convoy). Apparently Sofirn and Wurkkos are affiliated, somehow.

I’d gotten some gift cards for Christmas, and kinda went crazy once I found out how relatively cheap these things are.

So far I’ve bought 3 Sofirn lights:

- SP35 (will be my primary work light. Has a constant-current buck driver for high efficiency)
- IF25A (really cool pocket floodlight with high CRI 4000K color temperature and sophisticated Anduril 2 user interface)
- HS40 (2000-lumen headlamp, on order, currently on its way, but it’s on the slow boat from China)

1 Wurkkos light:

- FC12 (pocket tactical spotlight with high-performance SFT40 diode, in purple, for the wife)

D65A5F0F-768D-4C23-9695-222184C291E7.jpeg


A few spare batteries:

- 2 Molicell P26A high discharge current 18650s
- 1 Samsung 40T high discharge current 21700
- 1 Molicell P42A high discharge current 21700

And a battery charger:

- Vapcell S4+

It’s really amazing how cheap all this stuff is. You can get these lights on Amazon, but they’re quite a bit cheaper if you order them directly from China, if you don’t mind waiting. And these lights are so bright! It’s amazing to me, as a kid who grew up in the 80s, fascinated by Maglites and Black & Decker rechargeable flashlights from K-Mart that never worked like they were supposed to. The technology that makes these lights possible is pretty amazing.

My next purchase will probably be a Convoy brand light. Most likely an S2+ or an S21, with a warm color temperature, high-CRI diode, because I have really enjoyed my Sofirn IF25A in 4000K.

The wife thinks I’m crazy. But I know im
not the only one. I’ve done some searching, and there are a couple of good flashlight threads here.

This one is 23 pages long!

And here is a more recent one.

If you’re still using your old Rayovac or 100-lumen, 5-pound Maglite, I encourage you to look around and do some research. There are some amazing flashlights available for CHEAP in 2022!

Life’s too short for crappy, dim flashlights!
 
I have an awesomely bright Petzl headlamp that allows me to see for about 70ft in the dark. Its awesome watching the animals eyes reflect even from super far away. A lot more critters than I knew were out there.. I love this light, fits great, tilts well, has a near dimish setting, and a super bright solid beam setting.. My problem is, its dims after about a week, about a total of ten mins of solid use. I mean it dims down to the point where I may as well have my older single bulb Petzl headlamp. I use the highest quality batteries I can find, and I just feel like the peak brightness should last longer than say 20 mins. And then it gets so dim its kinda worthless in the woods (taking dog for poops). I know for a fact my 10 year old Petzl is kinda bright, and stays that way for over at a minimum of 30 mins. I've used it night hiking / partying plenty of times.

Any suggestions for the longevity of the lamp? All the contacts are mint, batteries are brand new (been through at least five sets in three months), its super bright when bats are first installed, I'm just both disappointed and frustrated at the design. Yeah, awesome, its got a high lumen rating, yeah its SUPER bright, you can see very far away, but god ****, its only bright for 10 mins? Really?

Do you think its a defective unit, or just par for the course these days.. Like I said my 10 year old headlamp lasts for three hours at a decent amount of brightness, brighter than the new one when it dims after about 10 mins. Bummed out.
 
Not trying to highjack the metallic machined sexy lights thread, but I was pumped up because I was just experiencing this issue about an hour ago. I was bitching and talking to my dog.. I talk to my dog way too much. Great listener though.
 
I’m similar, love flashlights (don’t know why), well probably because I use them everyday and need a good one...and I’m also similar in the thought process that I like to get a lot out of my money. So, thank you for being a flashlight fanatic. Haha.

For me it was the same thing...saw people I worked with buying expensive lights, instead tried all these cheap brands. None worked more than a few months, except one that lasted almost 7 months. Then I broke down and bought the Streamlight. I’m going on 8 years now (I think) with that thing. Love it. Just yesterday I dropped it on a concrete floor from 10 feet up. It flickered a couple times and I thought...that’s it, it’s done. Continued to flicker and became very dim. I thought the LED bulb was done, it decided to just change the battery, and that was it! Back to brand new. Amazed.

I will definitely check out the Sofirn lights, as I always could use another light, plus my coworker‘s light just gave out...think it’s a Molar or something like that.

This is someone I know trying to be a flash light expert. 🤣🤣

 
The wife thinks I’m crazy. But I know im not the only one.
All things considering, this is probably one of the cheapest hobbies one can have these days, so why not. :)

The flashlight bug hit me hard a few years ago. It has subsided now, but every now and then, I still pick up another light here and there. Because we go camping, it has made me get a lot of lanterns and headlamps, too.

Are you actively posting on BLF now too? :)
 
The WORST flashlight I've (and I had two) were the Mini MagLights. One w/incandescent, the other LED. It was ealy in the LED introduction, so maybe they are better now.
Oh, yeah, and those stubby multi LED things from the register isle at the hardware store. Junk
 
I bought one of the MicroStream Streamlights and I love it. I plan on getting the pocket size mini one too I know I can get them other places too but if you buy it through Snap-on you get a lifetime warranty. It seems every week someone is getting one replaced because they dropped them lol. Best flashlight ever for sure. My Milwaukee penlight does fine too I just want a Streamlight lol. I also really like the Mini Maglite too they are good heavy duty lights to have at your side. I also have some Prime Light ones from Napa they aren’t pocket lights though they are regular work lights that work awesome and are very bright.
 
I think you were referring to the SST-40 earlier. The XHP50.2 I think is actually a bit brighter. Most lights can be bought from China through Aliexpress for less than you find them for on Amazon but China typically shuts down for a couple of weeks during New Years so especially now, shipping is delayed even more than normal. I normally just stick with 18650, got a decent collection of good batteries and a charger and the current charger that I have won't go with the bigger 21700 out there.

I'm also annoyed with all the different modes out there, lots of times you find 5 but now there's even more. I just really need 3, low, medium and high. Never used sos or the flashing mode with those 5 mode lights and it's just two wasted modes you have to cycle through to get what you want.

 
I was always interested in making flashlights here myself. Thought about it for decades.

The joke is that I have always had a serious problem with anodizing companies doing lousy work. The machine work wasn't an issue.

Anodizing companies are scum..lol
I export worldwide and all my peers have the same exact issue...nuts...

The best anodizers I know of are paintball manufacturers but they only do their own parts.
 
I have an awesomely bright Petzl headlamp that allows me to see for about 70ft in the dark. Its awesome watching the animals eyes reflect even from super far away. A lot more critters than I knew were out there.. I love this light, fits great, tilts well, has a near dimish setting, and a super bright solid beam setting.. My problem is, its dims after about a week, about a total of ten mins of solid use. I mean it dims down to the point where I may as well have my older single bulb Petzl headlamp. I use the highest quality batteries I can find, and I just feel like the peak brightness should last longer than say 20 mins. And then it gets so dim its kinda worthless in the woods (taking dog for poops). I know for a fact my 10 year old Petzl is kinda bright, and stays that way for over at a minimum of 30 mins. I've used it night hiking / partying plenty of times.

Any suggestions for the longevity of the lamp? All the contacts are mint, batteries are brand new (been through at least five sets in three months), its super bright when bats are first installed, I'm just both disappointed and frustrated at the design. Yeah, awesome, its got a high lumen rating, yeah its SUPER bright, you can see very far away, but god ****, its only bright for 10 mins? Really?

Do you think its a defective unit, or just par for the course these days.. Like I said my 10 year old headlamp lasts for three hours at a decent amount of brightness, brighter than the new one when it dims after about 10 mins. Bummed out.
Yeah! My suggestion is to do what I did and order a Sofirn HS40 (18650 lithium batt powered, 2000 lumens, Luminus SST-40 emitter, USB-C built-in charging, multiple modes).

Not sure what model Petzl headlamp you have, but I doubt it approaches 2000lm, and won’t have nearly the runtime of an 18650-powered light.

$29 shipped.
 
I think you were referring to the SST-40 earlier.
If you were referencing the Wurkkos FC12 I got for my wife (the purple one), no, it does have a Luminus SFT-40 diode, which is a ”de-domed” version of the SST-40. It’s brighter with more throw. (My SP35 has the SST40.)
 
I've got a few of these Zanflare lanterns that I like - simple ramping UI for output as well as color temperature adjustment (from cool to warm), 18650-based.

I also always bring my trusty Convoy S2+ with me.

41961458924_5df359ca79_o.jpg
Cool! What’s the runtime on those? Pretty bright?

A Convoy S2+ (or possibly more than 1) is definitely on my radar. Definitely want to try it out in one of the high-CRI LED choices. Maybe in 2700K.

Just waiting for the Chinese New Year to be over, so that their site on AliExpress goes live again.
 
I am on the same page in the flashlight kick department, but more so headlamps than handheld.

Late 90's I had a dual AA halogen petzl headlamp with rotate to focus beam. Tons of use and traveled the globe with me, and found its final home In Baja, with a farmer who helped me to drop my fuel tank and replace the the pump. I had a 4 d cell maglight from this era, and 2007 ish put an led bulb in it, but a Mexican friend borrowed it and magically, it was stolen from him.....

After this I was mainly using a blue harbor freight triple aaa led headlamp, which needed electrical tape to hold it together, because if dropped, the batteries would fly every which way. Still have this light, but recently ziptied a 18650 holder to it.

A turning point in my flashlight experience, was the first 18650 headlamp, a Nitecore HC50. I used it so much the headstrap wore out and I had to use binder clips to shorten it. One day it decided to drop to its 30 lumen setting and almost never higher, at which point I ordered the Olight H2R, which I also used so much I wore out the headstrap and ordered a second headstrap.

One thing I noticed in the H2R phase, Is I also made a bunch of workbench lights, homemade C channels with rows of LED strip lights powered through voltage buckers as dimmers. With these held below eye level, just above the work, I still preferred my Olight H2R headlamp, for almost every task.
I got as LUx app for my smartphone and my one 8 foot long homemade C channel mulitrow warm LED strip light, made as much light as dual 8 foot fluorescent lights, which I never used again. 103 watts vs ~27.

My H2R warm version, failed in last month. I was very bummed. I am not sure why it did so, but it did so shortly after using the magentic tailcap to hold it to something. could be related, or not.

Desperately needing a headlamp quickly, I ziptied the 18650 holder to the 2007 era tripe aaa harbor fright led headlamps, and the magnetic Olight headstrap held it in place.

I ordered the Armytek wizard C2 Pro Max warm, perhaps a bit prematurely. The Olight Perun2 was the other I was considering but it did not have a warm version and the proprietary battery to use tailcap charging is not desirable to me.

I had the armytek sent to the other side of the country and met it there a few days after it arrived.
The armytek on turbo2 claims 3720 lumens. Very even but floody light. it can use an 18650 cell with the adapter they provide, and it will charge any cell inside of it, unlike the Olight whose proprietary batteries have a (-) ring around the (+) button and can easily be shorted out. Care must be used in using this Olight 18650 cell in other devices, so it can not short out these contacts.

One thing I love about these style headlamps, is walking my dog at night, I can position them so that the light body itself blocks car headlamps from my eyes. I only really need to turn the light on dog walking, when it is time to plastic bag one's hand, but often with so many glaring led dropins to halogen reflector/projectors on the road, I will return their glare. The armytek will be more punishing than the Olight in this regard, and the larger body should shade my pupils better than the Olight h2r. The h2r turbo setting only ever worked with a newish and fully charged battery.

The Olight's moonlight setting was too dim to read by, the armytek has to moonlight settings and the second is perfect. Figuring out the armyteks full functionality takes a bit of practice, when wanting to access this firefly 2 mode or turbo 1 vs turbo2.

My experience when the Olight failed, and having at first holding a sipik sk68 clone in my mouth, then ziptieing the 18650 holder to the HF light, told me I needed a back up headlamp, and I ordered the Sofirn HS40. I sent it to my normal mailing address despite being 2600 miles away. No idea when it arrives there.

Vikas linked the PeetPen L21 as a respectable handheld light in the other flashlight thread, especially @ $9.19. I ordered 3, and agree.

I also ordered some 2 for 10$ headlamps( link in other thread) , with dual emitters, one COB, one reflector style. They have a built in 18650 and charge via micro USB.
These are Ok for their $, but their included 18650s are of very little capacity. From hot off the charger to dim uselessness, then recharge back to full via the micro USB, they never take more than 700mah, and I get about 3 hours total from max brightness to dim uselessness and each progressive cycle seems worse than the last, in runtime.

I've not measured cell voltage at dim uselessness, yet, but it cell measures 4.12v after it stops charging. It would not be hard to replace the cell with one with actual usable capacity, and I might even do so, at some point. This 2 for 10$ cheapo is far far better than the triple aaa harbor fright lamp even with the cheezy 18650s they provide, and with 2 of them one can be fully recharged before the other one has dimmed to uselessness.

While I understand lights built around alkaline AA or AAA platforms have gotten a lot better than my experiences with such lights in the past, I think those holding onto the disposable battery mindset, are not doing themselves any favors, unless that nod to nostalgia is what floats their boat.

When my HC50 failed I kind of scoffed at the tailcap chargng of the Olight H2r, but after using it, realized how much nicer it is in actual use, to not have to swap out batteries, or have a separate charger, much less having to go to the store and buy disposable alkaline batteries like I grew up with.
 
While I understand lights built around alkaline AA or AAA platforms have gotten a lot better than my experiences with such lights in the past, I think those holding onto the disposable battery mindset, are not doing themselves any favors, unless that nod to nostalgia is what floats their boat.
While most of my lights run on 18650 Li-Ion cells, I do own a few AA ones, too. I usually run them on Eneloops or similar NiMH rechargeable cells. Some of these lights like UltraTac A1 are dual rated: can run on AA/NiMH or 14500/Li-Ion. The smaller form factor is useful to keep in the car, kitchen drawer, or backpack or to give to a kid without having to worry that he'll blind himself. On evening walks, I usually carry something larger though.
 
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