Spec me an LED Torch

If you look into a CREE light or whatever, it does look like a circuit board. Its like a CPU that glows, Ive no idea if its similar but seems pretty techy to me.

Im more surprised ocuk doesnt do more pocket torches, its useful for fitting motherboards. I bought their little HIS Light/screwdriver which is pretty bright for its size
 
mrk said:
They must have sent ours at the same time :p



I'd go for the 2nd one as it has a few more features like tactical ring, clippy thingybob :p

As for the BC40... Had a play and it is indeed better build/feel quality pretty much everywhere compared to the SolarForce L2 and Ultrafire C8. It is quite light though minus batteries and probably about the same as the C8.

The screw feel is very smooth and everything feels solid, the housing has been machined nicely and the marketing blurb is pretty much 100% accurate from what I can see. It comes with spare orings and button, and a worldwide warranty too which is nice ]

The BC40 cost about 2.5x more than the C8 and I feel the build quality and performance is 2.5x the C8, I think the C8 does a superb job though and for what it costs it's easily a disposable weapon of choice for those looking for a torch that is bright, pocketable and has a long battery life, although it's not waterproofed or scratch proof. I can't seem to find a way to unscrew the head to get to the reflector though, might be very tight. It looks like the reflectors of the C8 are the same depth and size and I bet the BC40 would light even further with a smooth reflector as the C8 does...!
Click to expand...

I'm very impressed! Looks like I may have to dust off the debit card again. Before I do though, does anyone know of any other comparibly priced torches with roughly the same size and output? Would like to research the competition before hitting buy :)
 
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Reading the manual paper that comes with this is says to wipe and lubricate the threads every 6 months using silicon lubricant, any place to get this quickly/cheaply?

Bennie-Mac said:
I'm very impressed! Looks like I may have to dust off the debit card again. Before I do though, are there any other comparibly priced torches with roughly the same size and output? Would like to research the competition before hitting buy :)
Click to expand...

There are but they cost 2-3x more than the £41 the BC40 costs and the only thing I can see that they offer is varying numbers of power modes! Sounds like a case of paying the premium for the brand? :p

There are a few on eBay rated at things like 1300 lumens but I have no idea what they're going to be like, you could chance one I guess :p Within the same reflector size though I think only the UltraFire C8 style torches are the ones out there.
 
Sundance said:
Always wondered... what is with OcUK and this torch thread? I mean.. torches..? Seems pretty random :confused: :p Someone enlighten me. Are lots of you mountain rescue members or something?
Click to expand...

While i get your point, it's an overclocking community. We're supposed to be nerds (and i mean that affectionately :p). So i'd kind of expect something like this. Something like this on the other hand, caught me completely by surprise :D
 
mrk said:
Reading the manual paper that comes with this is says to wipe and lubricate the threads every 6 months using silicon lubricant, any place to get this quickly/cheaply?



There are but they cost 2-3x more than the £41 the BC40 costs and the only thing I can see that they offer is varying numbers of power modes! Sounds like a case of paying the premium for the brand? :p

There are a few on eBay rated at things like 1300 lumens but I have no idea what they're going to be like, you could chance one I guess :p Within the same reflector size though I think only the UltraFire C8 style torches are the ones out there.
Click to expand...

If you need silicone lubricant in a hurry you could always pop into you local Ann Summers :p any DIY store should sell it, but you can get some off amazon for under a fiver if you can't be bothered searching various shops.

I'm sorely tempted to get one, my TK21 hasn't even arrived yet! I'll probably hold fire until next month though, I don't really budget in torches for my monthly expenditures.
 
mrk said:
*points torch at your direction and turns it on*

Nailed it!







Lots of different uses from people in this thread, some bike, others walk at night with pets, some folks just like to shine torches and so on and so forth. I explore abandoned places. I have also been playing with torches since I was a kid :p
Click to expand...

I am grateful for this thread. I have a few things that I put in the boot in case of breakdown, first aid kit, high vis, 2L bottled of water, blankets etc but one thing missing is the torch and from looking around it is the most expensive part! I was looking at £30 Maglites?! and they are not that good really so I was going to ask here months ago but forgot until now (winter is coming is round the corner i guess).

Thanks to mrk, the torch i ended up with cost me £8 and is much better than I expected to ended up with for the same money from Halfords or anywhere.

:)
 
Only 13 pages for me ¬_¬

Raymond Lin said:
damn you mrk, now i want one of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UltraFire...lashlights&hash=item415dc911ae#ht_4757wt_1134

lol
Click to expand...

My C8 uses the Q5 and that's good for 180+ metres so I can only imagine how bright that XM-L C8 will be, it won't be 1300 lumens or even close to that but it will be very very bright that's for sure :p

I would bin the charger that comes with that though, 18650s need to be charged with respect! Aod will tell you why I'm sure!
 
Finally got this from DinoDirect :)

WPZ4d.jpg

http://www.dinodirect.com/led-flashlight-1000lm-3mode-cree-t6-super-bright.html

When I bought it it was at the bargain price of £9.97 with a coupon code

With a cheapy Ultrafire 18650 @4.2v in it I get these results at the tailcap

High - 3.0A
Low - 0.1A (like a maglite :D)
Strobe - 1.4A (full brightness)

If you overcharge the battery (by accident) it'll drive it at 3.3A :eek:

The beam is very wide with a bright hotspot, it's far brighter than my old Romisen Cree RC-N3. It gets hot, but on a cold day that's a bonus, I can hold it on my nose without discomfort. It tailstands too.
Strangely the spring is on the driver end and not the tailcap, but the batteries still go in+ first.


I can't believe I got this amazing light for under a tenner, so I'm really glad I ordered two :cool:

I picked up the deal info from budgetlightforum.com,
you have to watch yourself on that candlepower forum, their mod "DM51" is a total nutcase Nazi, but it's run-for-profit forum so they ban anyone that isn't a yes man with money to burn on branded lights :rolleyes:


edit.
not sure of the state of charge (only on for an hour) but I'm getting 45min on high before signs of dimming, cell down to 2.7v
 
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It's arrived!

IMG_1844.jpg


It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen - don't tell the wife!

bitslice said:
you have to watch yourself on that candlepower forum, their mod "DM51" is a total nutcase Nazi, but it's run-for-profit forum so they ban anyone that isn't a yes man with money to burn on branded lights :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

What a crock of ****. CPF has a very active budget section with dealers klike ShiningBeam regulary posting in the marketplace.
 
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amigafan2003 said:
What a crock of ****. CPF has a very active budget section with dealers klike ShiningBeam regulary posting in the marketplace.
Click to expand...

It's not just me saying it mate, go look for some threads, DM51 has a really ****** reputation amongst a lot of people.
They hide the budget light section so you have to log on to view it and if anyone says anything negative about one of their sacred advertisers $$$ lights then they get banned pronto.
Honestly I didn't see it at first either and thought it was just a one off, but that CP site is bent, sorry if you want to disagree but that's my opinion of the place. It's a shame because otherwise it's a great forum.

Oh, v.nice light btw :)
 
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lewis2701 said:
Just got my self this http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/The_Torch-74-41.html
watch the 4 videos and the bottom of the page, brightest torch iv'e ever owned or seen.
Click to expand...

Aww man why? the Wicked Lasers "the torch" is yes, an impressive technical toy but as far as actually using a torch is concerned? its completely useless :(

It's also not the brightest torch in the world, although it's incredibly bright for the price.

Raymond Lin said:
I am grateful for this thread. I have a few things that I put in the boot in case of breakdown, first aid kit, high vis, 2L bottled of water, blankets etc but one thing missing is the torch and from looking around it is the most expensive part! I was looking at £30 Maglites?! and they are not that good really so I was going to ask here months ago but forgot until now (winter is coming is round the corner i guess).

Thanks to mrk, the torch i ended up with cost me £8 and is much better than I expected to ended up with for the same money from Halfords or anywhere.

:)
Click to expand...

Hey Raymond Lin, sorry I missed your posts earlier. i'd like to say that for an emergency kit you want to stay away from Alkalines, NiMH rechargeables and Li-Ion rechargeables (in ascending order of worst to least bad) Alkalines are hopeless over long periods of time, and in emergency situations (or when it's cold) they're pretty unable to deliver what you need in terms of runtime or current, and they can ruin other supplies or the torch itself if they leak.

NiMH rechargeables self discharge. regular NiMH AA's will be flat in a year. Low-Self-Discharge NiMH's are substantially better but still not fantastic.

Li-Ion rechargeables are strange, basically, they don't self-discharge, but if stored fully charged they break-down internally quite fast, especially they cheap/old ones.

Unfortunately, that leaves us with only one option for an emergency/backup light; Lithium-primary (non rechargeable) batteries.
You can get CR123A batteries which are 3v nominal and have a minimum shelf life of ten years, and there are also Lithium AAs and AAAs, made by Energizer, which are 1.5v nominal and have a shelf life of up to fifteen years.

For an emergency kit, there's nothing better.
 
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Aod said:
Unfortunately, that leaves us with only one option for an emergency/backup light; Lithium-primary (non rechargeable) batteries.
Click to expand...
Yup, it's a shame there are no 18650 primary cells available (AFAIK) because that would widen the range to include all the high power lights.
CR123A primary batteries are a reasonable compromise though, I don't really want a big fat torch in my glove box.
 
yeah. At least CR123A's can be had for very reasonable prices online.
I buy mine from here:
http://www.component-shop.co.uk/html/lithium_camera.html

I bought 100 the last time i bought some, still have most of them :D (Also, that photo of the Panasonic 123 was mine :))
stupid quantities aside, £13 for ten? i challenge anyone to beat that (for brand-name cells that won't explode!) outside of the US.

Remember, most of the CR123A's on ebay are either fake (and very dangerous) or not fake, much cheaper and equally as dangerous
Lithium CR123As fail... violently.

For anyone who would like an affordable CR123A light for emergency use, these are my recommendations:
brightest
Neutral-white version of above, for better colour rendition
Completely different torch, but IP68 rated and very very reliable and simple
 
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mrk said:
They must have sent ours at the same time :p



I'd go for the 2nd one as it has a few more features like tactical ring, clippy thingybob :p

As for the BC40... Had a play and it is indeed better build/feel quality pretty much everywhere compared to the SolarForce L2 and Ultrafire C8. It is quite light though minus batteries and probably about the same as the C8.

The screw feel is very smooth and everything feels solid, the housing has been machined nicely and the marketing blurb is pretty much 100% accurate from what I can see. It comes with spare orings and button, and a worldwide warranty too which is nice !

Saving the best until last.... Beam shot! Can you guess which one is the BC40 and which is the C8? :P
bc40_beamsup.jpg


The BC40 cost about 2.5x more than the C8 and I feel the build quality and performance is 2.5x the C8, I think the C8 does a superb job though and for what it costs it's easily a disposable weapon of choice for those looking for a torch that is bright, pocketable and has a long battery life, although it's not waterproofed or scratch proof. I can't seem to find a way to unscrew the head to get to the reflector though, might be very tight. It looks like the reflectors of the C8 are the same depth and size and I bet the BC40 would light even further with a smooth reflector as the C8 does...!
Click to expand...

great review mrk. love your beam shot :cool:

the bc40 really is a quality piece of kit for the money.

I particularly like the switch system for the 2 modes and how solid this torch feels in hand. The holster and strap are particularly well designed.

great features including waterproof to 2m, mineral glass scratch resistant lens.

very happy with mine

for silicon grease i have ordered a pot of this

1.59 delivered
 
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