Coworker bought $200 flashlight. WTF? (Update it was 160 not 200)

[IronWing]

Bought one of these at $150 for work. Worth every penny.

 

[Mo0o]

$200 is too much for me but that's just because I'm always broke. I use a $70 3 CR123A 200 lumen tactical on on the side of my airsoft AR and I love the thing. When I finally build my actual AR it will go into that but for now it's hooked to a pressure sensitive pad on the side of my front grip. The thing is awesome in the woods at night and for blinding those shooting at you.

Shouldn't you work on being less broke before you spend $70 on a flashlight for your toy gun?

 

[IronWing]

I keep a $200 torch in my backpack. Have one on my 870HD as well.

You have a flashlight on your video card? Dang, that's mannerdly!

 

[0roo0roo]

seriously, if you go there, they are serious.

sorry but AT is just not even a serious group for computer stuff. compare flashlight junkies to people on XtremeSystems.

yup go on there and you realize how behind the times stuff like maglite are.

this stuff only costs a lot if you buy a premade one, the newest emitters aren't all that expensive if you can handle modding them into something else. stuff like maglite rely on years old emitter tech

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Surefires are overpriced for the output.
They are really nice and high quality, but you can get almost as good quality and better output for around $20.
dealextreme and kaidomain

It's all about the lithiums baby.

You are really paying for reputation and reliability. When I am out hiking/camping I have *one* flashlight (plus extra batteries), and that flashlight damn well better work every time. If I did not have an expensive one that I was sure of I would be forced to carry two or more, and when you start doing that with all of your equipment you are adding a lot of mass.

 

[SonnyDaze]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3flYZ6LOsw

 

[IronWing]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3flYZ6LOsw

I bet if the Valar had just had that song to play that things would have turned out differently.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

not everybody has to worry about money, just the middle class.

 

[alkemyst]

scary that $200 of disposable income is that focused on.

 

[FallenHero]

My life might depend on a seatbelt, but that doesn't mean it needs to cost $200 if a $30 one works just fine.

Tell me that when you are doing a building search at 2am and your 30 dollar flashlight fails because its been in the rain after directing traffic at an accident.

 

[Locut0s]

Tell me that when you are doing a building search at 2am and your 30 dollar flashlight fails because its been in the rain after directing traffic at an accident.

The guy who bought this in my OP just has it as a toy and for nothing else.

 

[alkemyst]

The guy who bought this in my OP just has it as a toy and for nothing else.

fuck son...better call the national guard, you gots an uppity man der.

 

[Locut0s]

fuck son...better call the national guard, you gots an uppity man der.

Wat? You really are looking for things to troll about now. You will see in my OP that I have absolutely nothing against him spending the money on it. Like I was saying I spent over $3000 on my computer and I make <30k per year. If he had spent $6000 on a camera I would have understood perfectly. I just don't see the value in a 200 buck flashlight. Hay power to him like I was saying, it just seems strange to me.

 

[lokiju]

Surefire is shit. They don't have the circuitry to keep the light from dimming as the battery drains. Fenix is where it's at. I'd spend that much on some of the newer models from fenix. Cannot express how nice it is to have my current fenix when going caving. Lights up the whole damn place when I want it to.

 

[CRXican]

Surefires are badass

I have a 6P LED

 

[CRXican]

Surefire is shit. They don't have the circuitry to keep the light from dimming as the battery drains. Fenix is where it's at. I'd spend that much on some of the newer models from fenix. Cannot express how nice it is to have my current fenix when going caving. Lights up the whole damn place when I want it to.

ha, good one

Fenix does have some newer stuff as seen here:
http://www.lapolicegear.com/fenix-light-flashlights.html

Fenix quality was suspect in the past though and they had shitty customer service

 

[Locut0s]

Are these actually useful as a defensive tool in an encounter, blinding your opponent?

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

p7 or CREE?

 

[thebestMAX]

2 Surefires here and 4 Ultrafires with CREEs from Dealextreme that I find are great for the price if you are willing to do a little modding and understand what you are getting..

Modded both of my older Surefires with CREEs and havent looked back. Runtime, Baby.

A good flashlight is a big must in places I travel to where I cant bring my gun also.

For a while there I was worried about flying as I heard they were confiscating CR23 batteries but I never had a problem.

"You pays your money and you takes your choices" or something like that.

 

[HeavyD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3flYZ6LOsw

:thumbsup:

 

[DrPizza]

D:


Most of us will never need to go out on the lake at night to ditch bodies ()

But some of us enjoy going out for a cruise at night, and maybe doing a little fishing. But, gotta watch out for those shoals around some of the islands.

 

[alkemyst]

Are these actually useful as a defensive tool in an encounter, blinding your opponent?

hmmm, it's more or less bashing them in the face with it.

Flashlights are still one of the few 'self-defence' tools you can pretty much carry anywhere.

Even my little swiss army knife can't be brought on a plane or into a federal building.

 

[Cerb]

Surefire is shit. They don't have the circuitry to keep the light from dimming as the battery drains. Fenix is where it's at. I'd spend that much on some of the newer models from fenix. Cannot express how nice it is to have my current fenix when going caving. Lights up the whole damn place when I want it to.

...and what happens when your battery runs out of juice? Yeah, it might not even turn back on. SF could stand to have more efficient regulation in some of their models, but dimming over time is not necessarily a bad thing. For my own part, I'm not buying another flashlight that doesn't dim or otherwise give warning, about the state of the battery (if Fenix would implement a new circuit that acted like the old L1P as the battery drained, I'd buy it). It always goes out at the worst times, and I'd rather know it's somewhat out of juice and drop the output.

 

[Locut0s]

Yeah the torch this guy bought also uses CR123s. I know nothing about batteries. What's different about these?

 

[Cerb]

Yeah the torch this guy bought also uses CR123s. I know nothing about batteries. What's different about these?

Lithium primaries are nominally 3 volts, usually 2-2.5 under load. They perform well under heavy load, in cold weather, and are short and light. Like coin cells, do not buy these at any B&M retail store. They range from 1/10 to 1/3 the cost online, and you can even get US-made ones for $1-1.50/each in bulk. If you can justify having 4 or more, it's cheaper to get 8+ shipped to you.

However, alkalines are bad in cold weather (even in the southern US, it gets cold enough outside for them to be a problem), alkalines leak, and alkalines perform very poorly under high current loads. So, many higher-end makers go with Lithiums just to not have to deal with people using alkaline batteries and having problems with them, and dirt cheap ones do it so they can use cheaper/easier circuits.

Many flashlights support rechargeable Lithium Ion type batteries, too (nominally 3.7 volts). It seems that while they won't officially sanction its use, even SF is making a few more models here and there with slightly wider tubes (the + contact is added, a vent, and a protection circuit, then held on with a casing, making it slightly wider in diameter than a primary), and using circuits with a bit higher max voltage. Unprotected cells may have more capacity, but they might go BOOM. Some that don't actually need any protection features, yet also have decent capacity, are finally coming out, though (Google "AW IMR").

If you have alkaline-supporting AA or AAA flashlight, and you either can't keep it going high for long, or go through a decent amount of batteries, you may want to look into getting LSD (low self-discharge) NIMHs (Eneloops being the first and best, but others are good, too). NIMH perform well under heavy loads (AAs can take an amp or more before nearing 1V), can be recharged, and have decent capacity (typically 70-80&#37; of AA Lithiums). Also, unlike traditional rechargables, they lose very little capacity over time, so they don't constantly need to be recharged (<20%/yr). Rayovac Hybrid and Duracell Precharged are common retail brands of these.