Reply With QuoteLook up the Bright Star range. Not cheap, but industrial range is much tougher and lighter than Maglite.
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I currently have a 4 D Cell Maglite, but it’s starting to play up now, I have to whack it to come on, not always successfully I might add. I drive a taxi at night and it’s a godsend for finding house numbers without having to get out of the car all the time and the design means it slips easily between the seat rail and the centre tunnel.
My thoughts were to just order a new one but thought I’d ask on here first for other recommendations. It needs to have a focused point of light though as a wide pattern beam wouldn’t pick up the house numbers.
Cheers.
Look up the Bright Star range. Not cheap, but industrial range is much tougher and lighter than Maglite.
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I have a few similar to this for camping and they are awesome and have an adjustable focus beam + normal or rechargeable 18650 batteries which last forever as its LED.Originally Posted by jaytip
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tactical-...UAAOSwdW9aLfXJ
But it's small...
Here might be your answer.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...-up-at-Maplins
That looks ideal, but unfortunately the only shop anywhere near me has no availability, and I can’t see an option to order it online.
I bought one of these a few weeks back, superb torch for the money .. super bright and it takes rechargeable 18650 batteries, highly recommended from me.
It's not a focused beam but it shines for a fair old distance!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/28271...662&rmvSB=true
Need to have one with a focused beam unfortunately.
Have a look at www.flashaholics.co.uk
If you can't find something give Anthony (Owner) a phone call and he will be happy to recommend a suitable torch (and maybe batteries and charger) from his stock.
Great guy and very good customer service.
Let us know how you get on.
Infinite choice on torches these days. For the sake of a cost of a Maglite, I would buy a couple of 18650 batteries, a charger for them, then take your pick of the thousands of decent quality and incredibly powerful CREE-led powered Chinese torches.
When I have bought them I have imported direct from China for the best price but you can get them through Amazon. Secondarily I would recommend something like a LED-Lenser on AAs and buy in a stack of Energizer lithium-ions.
For the use you're looking at pretty much any modern CREE with a bit of throw on the lens will be more than good enough.
That one seem to be cheaper on Amazon...link...and, if the OP wants something brighter, there is their LC90 (link). Here's a YouTube video about the latter...link...that, near the end, references an older Maglite (or, if you prefer someone from the UK, try this link).
Last edited by PickleB; 28th March 2018 at 15:47. Reason: add second YouTube link
Fair enough .... maybe illuminating the whole street wouldn't go down too well :)
Have a look at the Torch Direct website, lots of choice there.
I've bought a couple of cracking torches on that site. I'd have thought anything from this page would be along the right lines: https://www.torchdirect.co.uk/200-to-499-lumens.html
By coincidence just yesterday I replaced batteries in 2 Maglite's and my Fenix LED torch (which admittedly was a tad overkill when I bought it).
The maglite beams are feeble compared to modern LED versions. For comparison I have a Mag4C with Led and a Mag3D with standard bulb.
The LED Lensers always seemed very good. My other torch is a Fenix TK60, probably too big for what you're after unless you want something that doubles as a truncheon!
The performance on some of the modern LED torches is just staggering!
Thank you for all the replies so far folks. Plenty of options it seems.
Nitecore ea4 pioneer.
Or whatever the latest iteration is.
Runs on 4x AA batteries (eneloop recharge are great) so none of the hassle of 18650's
850+ lumens with a hot spot capable of picking out house numbers easily as far as you can read them, plus a nice amount of spill which will come in useful.
The ea41 may be the latest version
The 18650 battery doesn't have to be a hassle. Anker LC90 @ £25.99:
...recharge it like your phone, GPS etc...even in the car as far as the OP is concerned.
If you have a few spare £££ you could buy the Lumintop GT (Giga Thrower)
Will illuminate an object 1.2 Miles away. Currently the longest throwing production LED torch.
Mini Maglite for scale.
IMG_7633.JPG
IMG_7632.JPG
Now that’s a big torch
Dont get me wrong, I like 18650's and have a zebralite h600 MK2 that I use with them. I also use them to charge other devices while out hiking so I have plenty of spares.The 18650 battery doesn't have to be a hassle. Anker LC90 @ £25.99:
...recharge it like your phone, GPS etc...even in the car as far as the OP is concerned.
The hassle was thinking of was more along the lines that for most people they don't have many 18650 devices but everyone has a few aa's in a drawer and they can be bought easily. 18650's need careful handling and I would not ever leave one charging unattended. I only buy good quality 18650's but they are £10-13 each so having spares is an unnecessary expense for some people.
That said the Anker torch looks very good, mainly because I trust Anker to provide a decent safe charging system so it may be ideal for the OP. but whatever you do OP, don't buy cheap crappy 18650's, particularly not unprotected ones and certainly not ones with 'fire' in the brand name or you may find you get just that. Decent cells are expensive.
Could you not get some LED guts for your 4D mag lite ?
Thank you for all the help folks. I just clicked on PickleB’s post above and then spotted the LED Lenser P14, so I’ve just ordered that.
It’s damaged. I’ve had if for years and it’s served me well but it’s playing up now. The rubber on the no/off switch has come off and most of the time when I switch it on now it won’t come on. I have to give it a whack, which doesn’t always work.
Maglite sent me a new rubber switch cover for free when I needed one. Admittedly it was a while back but I was impressed with the customer service.
Maglite have a "Limited Lifetime Warranty" on their products - which means that they will repair or replace free of charge, any torch other than those damaged by battery leakage, modifications etc and excluding bulb failure.
UK Service centre is :
Maglite Repair Centers
Burton McCall
163 Parker Drive
Leicester LE4 0JP
England
United Kingdom
Telephone: 44-116-234-4600
Email: customerservices@burton-mccall.co.uk
Worth a try even if only to preserve the torch for nostalgic reasons :-)
Congrats on your chosen Lenser.
For future reference the torchdirect website has a great selection. I have tried a few Fenix torches. All been great quality and the modern LED bulbs are in a totally different league to Maglites of old.
Thank you for this, although the state on my phone, they will probably say it’s neglect.
I missed that post earlier today. That should do the job. Long may it last...
Don’t forget the 4D Maglite use for shining a light on undesirables in a law enforcement friendly manner...
That’s a great choice, I bought one for my mum for when she walks the dogs in the winter. She loves how bright it is, and it’s not a huge lump for her to carry either.
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Torch technology has really pushed on the last few years , driven by increase in efficency of the LED's and using the likes of 18650 batteries. Today a general purpose torch can have up to a 1000 lumens and some of the latest iterations are up to 20-50,000 lumens which is crazy and well OTT for general purpose use.
Several Chineese companies are making quality lights such as Nitecore, Fenix and Olight which IMO are far superior to the led lenser's and it's those manufacturers I'd be looking at if purchasing a torch.
Last edited by zippy; 29th March 2018 at 22:20.
I can't compare it to other torches, but my Olight Striker is fantastic. The rechargeable battery lasted for months before needing a top up and the four brightness settings cover a wide range of situations. All fits easily in my pocket. Very pleased with it.
Maglite's are designed to be repaired, the switch module can be removed and the contacts cleaned the all you need is a Cree replacement lamp unit, about £12 and you have another 10 years of use from it.
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Totally agree. I use a palm sized Ultrafire Cree 300 lumens jobby from China which is less than a tenner but (here's the important bit) also use Trustfire rechargeable 14500 (AA ish size but more juicy). This will see those door numbers and burn a whole through the front door! Lights up entire fields. Seriously, no need for big truncheon torches these days.
Which is the biggest advantage of modern torches. Smaller, lighter but doens't just outperform something like a maglite it annihilites it in the performance stakes.
I principally use a Nitecore MH20GT as my primary light , pumps up to 1000 lumens with various mode settings and will light up everything it comes across and importantly fits into the palm of my hand nicely. Not the cheapest option around but one that has served me well over the last winter.
For ultra small compact torches with decent performance, I'd highly recommend the Olight Smini series which are great little lights.
My old 2D cell maglite to be fair has lasted near 20 years but has now been relegated to a more back up *cough * 'home security' *cough* , option due to it's size, weight and limited performance.
Whilst not disagreeing with the recommendations for LED Lenser/Fenix/Nitecore et al torches, it should be pointed out that all the current range of Maglites have now converted to similar LED emitters in place of the earlier incandescent bulbs. Some of the range have outputs of around 1000 lumens and are therefore many many times brighter and more economical than the original Maglites with which we are all probably familiar.
I have no connection with any torch manufacturer but I noticed that several references are comparing old Maglites with new LED torches, when Maglite themselves have developed their products along similar lines and still offer great durability, quality of finish and rock-solid warranties, albeit at higher prices than the Chinese companies can achieve.
I bought a LED Lenser P7 a while ago with which I am very pleased. Pocket sized and powerful enough for my needs.
Now available for a limited time at Amazon (link) for £7.64.
I am looking for a mega torch, anyone know where I could buy one of these from? Can’t seem to find them.......
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Not available to the general public at this time. There’s a group buy which is closed , they still have to complete the remainder orders before going live.
You could try eBay as some early bird group buyers are cashing in an selling. Or join budgetlightforum and candlepowerforum and keep an eye on the sales.
I didn’t think Vn had any stock? There again he may have hoovered up some from eBay etc.
I’ve seen that he’s modded customers lights, with great results , where they have shipped their GT to him.
I will keep an eye out, thanks!
Is there anything readily available that would do the job? Looking for something high powered/flood light for the fields behind the house.
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The GT may not suit you then. It’s a search light, has a very focused pencil like beam. Known as a “Thrower”.
Yes there are some very powerful lights with more of a flood light effect.
Fenix TK75 might fit the bill?
https://www.heinnie.com/fenix-tk75-2018
Don’t forget to factor in the cost of batteries and charger if you don’t have them already.
There's the Imalent DX80 which throws out 32,000 lumens, which is practically searchlight territory for a handheld
https://www.heinnie.com/imalent-dx80
I'd check the various Youtube videos to see if it meets your criteria.
You should be able to pick it up cheaper if you use Chinese sites or ebay.
Last edited by zippy; 1st April 2018 at 10:39.
I had a Fenix TK75 and can recommend it.
Very impressive power, superbly built, but quite chunky in hand.
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Thanks for the replies chaps, didn’t realise they were so very expensive!
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I have the same torch myself. It's a fantastic torch.
Probably no need for most to spend as much as needed for the TK75.
I got rid of mine because it was extremely ott for walking the dog.
I also found the difference from 1000 lumens to 3000 lumens to be less significant in reality, than on paper.
If buying again I would be looking for a compact metal bodied LED torch of around 1000 lumens output. Which should be relatively affordable.
These days I just use my my bike lights which double up as great torches. (Exposure Diablo and Toro).
Like the convenience of the built in batteries as well but may prove more expensive in the long run when they inevitably give out.
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