Upgrading Flashlights to High Lumen

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Re: Upgrading Flashlights to High Lumen

Postby Rich » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:41 pm

H3-ING wrote:I imagine 10 hours on full power would be a stretch but maybe???


Oh I could almost guarantee it is. Thats nothing new though. I'd be shocked if you showed me a flashlight at any price that held up to it's claims in that arena. You might get half of that if you used lithium batteries though.

Non-rechargeable is a deal breaker for me. Fine for a person who doesn't use a flashlight daily in their profession but I can't be bothered with keeping batteries on hand and in my case rechargeable will re-coup the $150 I paid for the light in pretty short order.

Someday I'll charge and test how long I get full brightness on a charge. The streamlight LEDs are single diode (bulb) so I might be surprised. I know this, I charge mine once a week and have yet to see any dimming with extensive use. My non LED lights I had to pretty much keep on the charger when not in use.
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Re: Upgrading Flashlights to High Lumen

Postby dailydriver » Tue Dec 15, 2009 1:04 pm

Rich wrote:
H3-ING wrote:I imagine 10 hours on full power would be a stretch but maybe???


I'd be shocked if you showed me a flashlight at any price that held up to it's claims in that arena. .

Surefire claims that you get a whopping 20 minutes of power with the upgraded bulb on the M3. I'd say they are pretty accurate lol.
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Re: Upgrading Flashlights to High Lumen

Postby Rich » Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:00 pm

dailydriver wrote:Surefire claims that you get a whopping 20 minutes of power with the upgraded bulb on the M3. I'd say they are pretty accurate lol.


I bet you get 10 then. :lol: Not familiar with the M3. What does it use for a battery?

I have one surefire light. It's a single diode that takes a single AAA and the light itself isn't much bigger than the battery. Of all the micro lights I own (and I own a lot - sorta collect the upper end ones) that little surefire is not only the smallest - it's the brightest. I've had it like 2 years and I don't remember every changing the battery. :duh: Still bright as ever.
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Re: Upgrading Flashlights to High Lumen

Postby Rich » Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:09 pm

Rich wrote:I have one surefire light. It's a single diode that takes a single AAA and the light itself isn't much bigger than the battery. Of all the micro lights I own (and I own a lot - sorta collect the upper end ones) that little surefire is not only the smallest - it's the brightest. I've had it like 2 years and I don't remember every changing the battery. :duh: Still bright as ever.


Actually I take that back. I don't own a surefire unless one of my snap-on branded lights is surefire. The light I was reffering to is a streamlight "microstream".
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Re: Upgrading Flashlights to High Lumen

Postby dailydriver » Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:34 pm

It takes three 123A lithium batteries. Buying energizer or whatever name brand batteries from the store costs about 10 bucks for a package of 2. Surefire has them on their web site as a box of 12 for 21 bucks! It really does get about 20 minutes of life. Obviously I won't even pull it out if I know I am going to need light for an extended time (night time repairs). But it throws out so much light it is useful to use for the initial "what the hell is wrong now" phase. After that I'll switch to the A2 or the L4. The A2 on LED (low lumen) mode lasts forever. I think in 3 years of ownership I have only replaced the 2 123A batteries once. The L4 is a single diode led that puts out blinding light in a small area. It is claimed to last 60 minutes and really does last that long. The claims Surefire has made on the expectancy of the batteries is very accurate. Then again they better be if they claim 20 minutes.
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