The key criteria I look for when choosing a flashlight, does NOT include how powerful it is, because THE most powerful (in terms of lumens or lux or whatever one wants to use to define the brightness perceived by the human eye); goes immediately into the bin if the product can not suitably resist water ingression other than rain!
Why? Because THE MOST expensive and powerful flashlight/torch will be ruined instantly if one drops it in the water. And you can not truly have a flashlight labelled as "Tactical" if the damn thing isn't waterproof to at least IPX8 standards, for example: 1.5-2m for 30 minutes.
The next most important criteria I look for is "burn time" or "run time" whatever you want to call it. In other words how long will it run continuously at a given illumination that can be of practical use. How do I define "practical use"? Practical use means for me I can find my way out of a cave. To do this one needs at least 10Lm of lighting. 10 lumens will not be great whatsoever for some serious technical caving but it could in a pinch save your life. All of these cosmic blinding candle power lights are useless if they can only deliver for a few minutes without overheating and shutting down and they are really actually dangerous to use. In reality one doesn't need 1000 lumens continuously (unless filming maybe inside a cave or you actually want to blind an enemy and potentially leave them sightless).
Thirdly, how easy is it to carry
4) How easy is it to charge does not contain proprietary non replaceable batteries?).
5) Doesn't way a tonne!
Here are two models from XTAR which I believe satisfy these criteria of mine:
The PACER (Model WK18) and the slightly bigger B20 1200.
Let's look at them more closely but before that, something of great importance; how to charge your batteries?
XTAR, experts in the field of lithium Ion battery charging, are now making a 2A rapid charging module (SC1) capable of accepting the following batteries:
18650
18700
20700
21700
22650
25500
and
26650 Li-ion batteries!
The SC1 is supplied as standard with the B20 1200.
The B20 1200 has the following features:
A super long run time of 80 hours! at 30 lumens (remember what I said about caving!
Waterproof to IPX8 (1.5m for 30 minutes)
Lanyard hole (I don't want to lose it!)
Tail switch
Stainless steel (removable) clip
Tactical pouch
X2 spare O rings
Included 21700 battery
Durable enough (according to the manufacturer) to be used as a weapon (eg a sort of Kubotan -use some imagination and i don't need to elaborate on this issue).
Is it worthy of taking caving??? I think so and I will indeed be doing this shortly.
I'm not going to rehash the specs, they are great IMHO and you can see them below in some images of the packaging. I'm more interested in field testing this B20 1200 in the real world.
XTAR list some of the suggested uses of this flashlight on the side of the box. One would have to jury rig some sort of bracket for the bicycle but other than that, I'd say they all look legit to me!
The supplied tactical pouch look well-made to me. I call it tactical because it can be attached to a belt and or any sort of straps and has a plastic "D" ring also sewn into its construction. Made from rot resistance ballistic Nylon.Now for the "Business end" of things, we have a CREE XP-L V6 LED (https://cree-led.com/media/documents/ds-XPL.pdf) capable of producing 1200 lm continuously for 3.5 hours with the supplied battery (21700 protected Li-ion battery). Its impact resistance is rated at 1.2 m. What does this mean in reality??? Well on all LEDS there are some very small wires and these wires are not indestructible, nor is the glass front port and or mechanical tail switch. Suffice it to say the light can undergo a drop of 1.2m and hence gravity actuated fall and still operate.Stainless steel pocket/belt whatever clip (removable).Just incase, big big cooling fins and a little reminder with the LASER engraved text.Mmmmm? What could be done with this end????
Large parabolic reflector will provide a good beam.
B20 1200 easily stands on it's head LOL!The B20 1200 came with 2 spare O-rings and a lanyard
Now to the PACER (this is an old model apparently).
The key features of this light are the following;
It looks to me as if it is really the upgraded version of the now discontinued Venus. (my words not theirs).
A single 18650 battery or 2 16340's (rechargeable version of the NON-rechargeable CR123A) or 2 CR123A compatible light. that's a fairly good range of batteries. CR123A batteries came out like yonks ago but are still widely available worldwide. 18650 batteries can go the distance as far as providing a good run time and low weight.
The package includes a spare O-ring and a backend metal pocket clip, plus lanyard. (no battery included).Note the long burn time of 47 ays at 1Lm!! Ok this is enough to read a book by in total darkness or find something inside your tent in the middle of the night.
However, a good honest 60Lm for 28 hours and waterproof to IPX8 1.5m for 30minutes, well this is good enough to take caving.
A good quality "orange peel" reflectorAnd a quality CREE XM-L2U3 LEDThe PACER easily fits in the palm of your hand.
Good sized lanyard holes in tail capNote the 28 hours run time at 60Lm! I can use this for general caving and as a backup light.
Detail of head construction, note there is a thin air gap under this head piece, maybe for better cooling???
The PACER will do 1000 lumens for 3 hr but i reckon not continuously otherwise it would just get way too hot, so this spec is really saying, ok you can get 3 hours battery life at 1000 lumens setting in total. in reality 1000 lumens is deadly bright.
I won't rehash the secs, here they are for you to read yourself.
Now time to field test the both of these lights on BCT!
Large parabolic reflector will provide a good beam.
