what are the brightest torches people here use ?

L

laz

Guest
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site

laz
 
laz wrote:
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking
the dogs at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good
Click to expand...
I got one of them 1,000,000 candle power things from Jaycar - bright as
buggery, weighs quite a bit from the 6v gell cell and lasts about 15 minutes
before it starts to dim.

Mighty bright tho.

Russ.
 
"laz" <xmen@invalid> wrote in message news:410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au...
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the
dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site
Click to expand...
**250,000 Candlepower, rechargeable from Super Cheap Auto. Bloody excellent
and 8 Bucks. BTW: I have a range of LED and Luxeon emitters. Put 'em beside
a decent halogen and they look pretty piss-weak. LEDs are reasonably
efficient, however. You want bright (and cheap)? You need incandescent.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
 
the ultimate torch is the one the US millitary use, they use HID technology
and at peak brightness last 5 minutes, and can blind a person even with
their eyelids closed. They are around $500US and completly bullet proof :)

"laz" <xmen@invalid> wrote in message news:410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au...
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the
dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site

laz
Click to expand...
 
In article <2n6e0fFtdlnrU1@uni-berlin.de>, nomail@hotmail.com says...
laz wrote:
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking
the dogs at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

I got one of them 1,000,000 candle power things from Jaycar - bright as
buggery, weighs quite a bit from the 6v gell cell and lasts about 15 minutes
before it starts to dim.
Click to expand...
More useful if you replace the original bulb with a 25W one, which almost
triples the charge life. These bulbs are still available from Jaycar but
they are a limited stock item, being phased out.
 
"laz" <xmen@invalid> wrote in message news:410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au...
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the
dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site

laz


Camping and dog walking are best served by LED's. Since they are more
Click to expand...
efficient usage of the battery versus light output.

--
Regards ........... Rheilly Phoull
 
"laz" <xmen@invalid> wrote in message news:<410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au>...
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site

laz
Click to expand...
Why do you need ultra-bright for camping and walking the dog? They are
traditional uses for a medium or low brighness headlamp. In these
sorts of applications I would rate battery life, weight and
convieniece (headlamp for instance) well above brightness.
A 5 or 7 LED headlamp would be plenty. They are cheap and the
batteries will last for ages compared to a 1W, 3W or 5W Luxeon. Jaycar
now have a 1W Luxeon headlamp but with the AAA batteries they don't
last that long, an hour or so on full brightness. Even on the lowest
setting (25%) you only get 4 or 5 hours.
I just picked up an 8 LED AA diving headlamp (for canyoning) on eBay
for under $20, and there are even cheaper smaller and lighter 5 LED
versions on eBay shops too for under $10. Would be silly to pay 10
times that for an ultra-bright luxeon torch for these applications.

Regards
Dave :)
 
Trevor Wilson wrote:
"laz" <xmen@invalid> wrote in message news:410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au...

hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the

dogs

at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site


**250,000 Candlepower, rechargeable from Super Cheap Auto. Bloody excellent
and 8 Bucks. BTW: I have a range of LED and Luxeon emitters. Put 'em beside
a decent halogen and they look pretty piss-weak. LEDs are reasonably
efficient, however. You want bright (and cheap)? You need incandescent.
Click to expand...
Rubbish, check out Surefire, but more than that think about it. 90%+ of
the energy in an incandescent simply makes unwanted heat. We just
shipped a Luxeon 5W based torch to replace an existing 50W halogen
design. The LED is far brighter. It's all in the design.

Al
 
David L. Jones wrote:

"laz" <xmen@invalid> wrote in message news:<410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au>...

hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!


http://www.surefire.com/ make nice tactital torches
but not cheap !!!

http://flashlightreviews4.home.att.net/ is also an interesting site

laz


Why do you need ultra-bright for camping and walking the dog? They are
traditional uses for a medium or low brighness headlamp. In these
sorts of applications I would rate battery life, weight and
convieniece (headlamp for instance) well above brightness.
A 5 or 7 LED headlamp would be plenty. They are cheap and the
batteries will last for ages compared to a 1W, 3W or 5W Luxeon. Jaycar
now have a 1W Luxeon headlamp but with the AAA batteries they don't
last that long, an hour or so on full brightness. Even on the lowest
setting (25%) you only get 4 or 5 hours.
Click to expand...
Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


I just picked up an 8 LED AA diving headlamp (for canyoning) on eBay
for under $20, and there are even cheaper smaller and lighter 5 LED
versions on eBay shops too for under $10. Would be silly to pay 10
times that for an ultra-bright luxeon torch for these applications.

Regards
Dave :)
Click to expand...
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"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al
Click to expand...
How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only equivalent to
about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty

--
Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net
Click to expand...
 
Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only equivalent to
about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty
Click to expand...
One. It's all about design.

Al
 
Marty what voltage/current/control do you use?

Al

Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only equivalent to
about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty


--

Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net
Click to expand...
--
Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net
 
"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:7fQRc.43128$K53.9770@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
Marty what voltage/current/control do you use?
Click to expand...
I use the PowerPuck driver that the manufacturer sells.
http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=416&link_str=89&partno=02008A

Marty


Al

Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only
equivalent to
about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty


--

Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net





--
Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net
Click to expand...
 
"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:wcQRc.43127$K53.42852@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only
equivalent to
about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty

One. It's all about design.

Al
Click to expand...
Al I'd suggest that your 50 watt lamp design must be very poor if a 5 watt
LED can replace it.
I haven't found any data anywhere that indicates that an LED is 10 times
brighter than Halogen.

Marty
 
Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:7fQRc.43128$K53.9770@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

Marty what voltage/current/control do you use?


I use the PowerPuck driver that the manufacturer sells.
http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=416&link_str=89&partno=02008A
Click to expand...
Not the best option in my opinion. also expensive as all hell. We use a
custom PSU that is a fraction of this size, and just AUS$5 to build.

1.5 to 8V input
up to 1A loading
programmable constant current regulator
thermal compensation
colour compensation
Efficiency ~ 95%
We also use custom optics

Al


Marty



Al

Marty Wallace wrote:


"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...


David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only

equivalent to

about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty



--

Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net




--
Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net
Click to expand...
--
Please remove capitalised letters to reply
My apologies for the inconvenience
Blame it on the morons that spam the net
 
Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:wcQRc.43127$K53.42852@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

Marty Wallace wrote:


"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...


David L. Jones wrote:

Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al


How many Luxeons do you use?
I use a Luxeon 5 watt as a headlight for my bike and it's only

equivalent to

about a 10 watt halogen.

Marty

One. It's all about design.

Al



Al I'd suggest that your 50 watt lamp design must be very poor if a 5 watt
LED can replace it.
I haven't found any data anywhere that indicates that an LED is 10 times
brighter than Halogen.

Marty
Click to expand...
The 50W rating is not optical power, it is power consumption. Most of
that is heat, not light. The halogen module is a custom high power unit
with built in reflector and lens. VERY expensive, developed for the
military. About 45 minutes on 2 lithium photocells. We spent a long time
working on thermal issues, as well as lens and reflector designs.

Al
 
"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:ssWRc.43547$K53.28743@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
Marty Wallace wrote:


Al I'd suggest that your 50 watt lamp design must be very poor if a 5
watt
LED can replace it.
I haven't found any data anywhere that indicates that an LED is 10 times
brighter than Halogen.

Marty

The 50W rating is not optical power, it is power consumption. Most of
that is heat, not light. The halogen module is a custom high power unit
with built in reflector and lens. VERY expensive, developed for the
military. About 45 minutes on 2 lithium photocells. We spent a long time
working on thermal issues, as well as lens and reflector designs.

Al
Click to expand...
Are you sure it consumes 50 Watts?
50 Watts for 45 minutes sounds like a lot of power for photocells.
What type of batteries do you use and how many of them?
I'm looking for a new set of batteries to replace the gel cels I presently
use fom my 5 Watt Luxeon.

Marty
 
Marty Wallace wrote:

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:ssWRc.43547$K53.28743@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

Marty Wallace wrote:


Al I'd suggest that your 50 watt lamp design must be very poor if a 5

watt

LED can replace it.
I haven't found any data anywhere that indicates that an LED is 10 times
brighter than Halogen.

Marty

The 50W rating is not optical power, it is power consumption. Most of
that is heat, not light. The halogen module is a custom high power unit
with built in reflector and lens. VERY expensive, developed for the
military. About 45 minutes on 2 lithium photocells. We spent a long time
working on thermal issues, as well as lens and reflector designs.

Al



Are you sure it consumes 50 Watts?
50 Watts for 45 minutes sounds like a lot of power for photocells.
Click to expand...
Not Photocells, sorry, terminology, they are sold as 'camera' batteries,
I meant to write "photographic cells" but had a brain stumble, mixing up
the newest design, which uses a solar trickle charger. The old Halogen
design used 2 x Lithium Thionyl Chloride high power batteries. 3.7V
rated at 6.7Ah Ah Non-rechargable.

What type of batteries do you use and how many of them?
I'm looking for a new set of batteries to replace the gel cels I presently
use fom my 5 Watt Luxeon.
Click to expand...
The new design currently uses a pair of non-rechargable DL123 1.3Ah
duracells. We are limited by the clients insistence that we must use a
battery currently in use by the client. These give us 4-6 hours usage on
the new 'torch' depending upon circumstance. I've been trying to dig
our client out of their battery rut, as our own in-house design (my
personal weapon) uses a very light weight Li-poly cell rated at 3.3Ah
3.6V. It gives 5-8 hours operation on a full charge.

Al
 
hi al,

"onestone" <onestoneXYZ@ABCbigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:8_GRc.41924$K53.6576@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
David L. Jones wrote:


Hi Dave. It's all about design. You can't buy our torches, but our
client pays less than half the price of Surefire. We ship a Luxeon V
version that just replaced our old halogen 50W, as it's brighter. We run
off the same batteries (3V Li camera batteries) and get up to 6 hours at
full brightness. Beam can be shaped to spot, or wide beam.

Al
Click to expand...
why can't we buy your torches ?
i think sunfire are used by the military and police and people can buy them
?
laz
 
What kind of torches do the police use ?

I have seen one on when a policeman (Vic) came in the evening.
(summons for court witness)

The beam from it was very bright.
It looked like an aluminium job with maybe 3 "D" batteries in it.



laz wrote in message <410e002b@quokka.wn.com.au>...
hi,
i was looking at getting a bright torch to use for camping, walking the dogs
at night, etc
and a fun gadget :)

http://www.dansdata.com/ has lot of nice torches reviewed
the ones using the luxeon star 3W and 5W leds seem quite good

http://www.elektrolumens.com/index.html have some good led torches
the http://elektrolumens.com/Tri_Star_Phazer/Tri-Star-Phazer.html seems
very nice :)
this uses C cells so it will last a long time and 3 x 3W luxeon leds-very
bright !!!
Click to expand...
 
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