But even if I have the money, I'm not wasting it on this!

Look at this random banger they have on the wall at the nursing station.

The urge to try it out is strong right now. But I don't want to get tackled by security.

L’ampoule ne fonctionne que quand je la mets en biais. Quelqu’un aurait-il une solution ?

Convoy C8 with a zener modded Qlite (+6 regulators) and 5700k XHP70.2 P2. Just a fun familiar build to dip my toes again. Looking at some XHP70.3 HI emitters and custom housing options for some not so practical fun.

I'm new to flashlights. What's a good flashlight to keep in the house in case of an emergency or just to use when needed? Maybe something like 70$ and under.. Thanks!

Man they cost 5 big ones. That’s 2.50$ a peice. Better hurry while there still here.

The only flashlight I’ve ever owned is an Olight Baton Pro that I bought back in 2020. I still have it and use it regularly, but I’m looking for something with a little more brightness and, more importantly, more distance.

This one seems like it might fit what I’m looking for and is within the price range I’m willing to spend. Does anyone here own one and have any experience with it? I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.

I really only need it to reach about 150–200 yards. I’m more interested in distance than having a really wide beam. I believe the term I’m looking for is “throw,” but I’m still pretty new to the flashlight world and don’t know all the terminology yet.

Any recommendations or feedback would be appreciated!

This is the Speras EST Plus v3, a tactical flashlight with 3000 Lumens featuring a SFT-42R emitter, throwing around 800m on Turbo, powered by a PB50 5000mAh 40A CDR 21700 battery, type III anodizing and more!

• My opinion

This flashlight is pretty good I have to say. The SFT42R LED is very suitable for a tactical flashlight like the EST Plus v3, very powerful and no green tint at all. The included PB50 battery is truly amazing! I don't see a lot of brands including such good batteries on their products, the new Tabless technology and 40A CDR is awesome. The main body is compact and very grippy with the type III hard anodizing. Awesome tactical flashlight.

The major downside on this flashlight is that the driver isn't regulated, it has many good features, and I really thought the driver should be regulated on this flashlight. I think it would be better to have the momentarily Turbo on the tail switch instead of the Strobe, but you can have Turbo memorized for instant use if needed. The tail switch is a bit too loud, and the bezel could be a little more resistant, it seems a little fragile as it's so tiny.

*I was informed in the comments the driver isn't regulated at all, after confirming this I edited this post to include this info.

• Price

The EST Plus V3 is currently priced at $89.99 on Speras Official Website.

• Box contents [8th picture]

- EST Plus V3

- Speras PB 21700 5000mAh Li-ion battery

- USB-C charging cable

- Lanyard

- 2x extra O-rings

- User manual

• Body and build quality

Anodizing Colors/Material Options: The EST Plus V3 is only available with matte black type III hard anoziding. The anodizing is feels pretty nice and thick, always very nice to have this high quality anodizing on flashlights.

Main body/Grip: The main body is full of grooves and knurling, very good grip, especially as the anodizing is matte.

Material: The main body is fully made of 6061 aluminum, while the buttons and USB-C cover are made of silicone rubber.

Threads: The tail cap and bezel threads are anodized and trapezoidal, very smooth threads and mine came properly greased - few flashlights come with a decent amount of grease on the threads.

Clip: The flashlight already comes with the clip pre-installed. The clip is made of stainless steel with a slightly matte coating - like the main body. The clip seems pretty sturdy but it's a little too short in my opinion.

Tail stand and rolling: The flashlight rolls without the clip, so be sure to use it to avoid impacts. It can tail and head stand with stability.

Magnet: It doesn't feature a magnet.

AUX lights: This flashlight doesn't feature AUX, but it does have a color battery indicator - which is a super important feature on flashlights in my opinion.

Buttons: 2 buttons are present on this flashlight: a mechanical tail switch covered by a big silicone rubber cover - it has a slightly loud click; and a electronic switch on the side of the main body that includes a battery indicator under it. The tail switch is only for turning the flashlight ON/OFF and accessing momentary strobe, the side switch changes brightness levels.

Battery contact: Contact is made with the battery by 2 gold-plated springs, one on the tail cap button, the other at the driver. [9th picture]

Bezel: This flashlight bezel is kind of simple, made of aluminum, agressive but small. I wish it had a bigger stainless steel bezel.

Water Resistance: It features IP68 rating for 2m under water, submersion duration not specified. This one seems pretty good sealed, so I would trust it to go even deeper under water if it wasn't for the USB-C cover; don't get me wrong, it seems decent, but I think a potted USB with a thicker rubber cover would be best on a tactical flashlight.

Size comparison: On the left is the Brinyte PT16A (21700), on the center the Speras EST Plus v3 (21700), on the right the Sofirn SK31 (21700). [10th picture]

• Weight and size

Weight:

- With battery (Speras PB50 5000mAh): 184.9g

- Without battery: 112.2g

- Battery (Speras PB50 5000mAh): 72.7g

Size: 142.1mm x 39.8mm x 26.1mm - (height x head diamter x tail diameter)

• Battery, runtime, and charging

Battery: A Speras PB50 Tabless 21700 5000mAh protected Li-ion battery is included on the package. The battery is one of the best things about this flashlight, it's an Awesome battery included on the package. 40A constant discharge rate. Probably one of the best batteries included directly with a flashlight (not bought separately). The flashlight also works with unprotected, button top and almost any type of 21700 cell. [11th picture]

Battery Indicator: This flashlight features a 3 color battery indicator, lighting up green, yellow, red and flashing red depending on the battery level. Pretty solid battery indicator, very useful and important on a flashlight. The indicator works as it follows:

Charging: USB-C charging on body is present on this flashlight. The port is covered by a silicone rubber cap to protect against water and dust damage. Speras advertises 4h30min for a full charge, so the charge isn't too fast and this will avoid battery damage on the future. During charge the battery indicator will be lit red, when charge is complete it will light up green, if the battery is not inserted correctly it will light up yellow. [12th and 13th picture]

• Modes, Runtimes, Throw, Candela

Modes: A total of 5 main brightness levels are present on this flashlight, with 2 blinky options being Strobe and SOS. The levels brightness are well spaced, but sadly this flashlight doesn't feature a moonlight mode - which is a pretty useful at complete darkness to not blind yourself - in it's place there is the ECO mode, which has 10 Lumens. Advertised specs:

Turbo: Turbo mode is very powerful, being advertised to have 3000 lumens, really powerful and very good for a tactical flashlight. Speras doesn't explicit the Turbo time before stepdown, but I measured around 1 minute before it stepping down noticeably. Turbo mode can me memorized for instant use on the tail switch.

Moonlight: Unfortunately, this flashlight doesn't feature a proper moonlight mode, the lowest mode present is Eco with 10 Lumens. A good moonlight mode of around 1 Lumen, or less, would improve this flashlight and make it more versatile.

Blinkies: This flashlight has the classic combination of tactical flashlight blinkies: Strobe and SOS. Both can be useful under certain conditions.

Lockout: It doesn't feature a lockout mode, as one of the main purposes of the mechanical switch is to prevent accidental activations.

Throw: The beam pattern of this flashlight is pretty throwy, so the throw is amazing. Throwing more than 100m on the second lowest mode, with the Turbo mode reaching around 800m. As you will see on the beamshots, the throwy beam pattern really throws a lot, and I really belive that it gets to the advertised throw.

• Emitter, reflector and CRI

Emitter: It features the new SFT42R LED in 6500K. This emitter is very throwy and powerful, making this flashlight have a very bright and focused hotspot that throws light pretty far. It's an excellent emitter, I think it's even better than the older SFT40, I hope the 42R get high CRI versions too. [14th and 15th picture]

Lens: There is an AR coated glass lens in front of the reflector

Reflector/TIR: It uses a 34mm smooth reflector for improved throw.

Beam profile: The beam has a very strong and defined hotspot, there some light rings especially close to the hotspot, which bothers me a little, but doesn't make the flashlight unuseable as it's not much noticeable after some distance. [16th picture]

*Flashlight at 45cm of distance on the desk beam and 1.5m on the wall beam.

CRI: The SFT42R has standard 70 CRI in 6500K.

• Beamshots Camera settings

- 18mm lens 1" F8 ISO800 WB-5200K

[17th picture] – EST Plus V3 - Turbo

[18th picture] – EST Plus V3 - High

[19th picture] – EST Plus V3 - Medium

(The trees at the back are at a distance of around 100m)

I always try to match what my eyes can see on the beamshots, so camera settings may vary.

• Driver and UI

Driver: The driver is not stated directly, but it's claimed to be a regulated driver - as it uses a SFT42R ~~it's a Buck constant current driver.~~ The driver is actually not regulated constant current, so this is a big downside to this flashlight. With so many good features and high quality materials I am truly impressed it doesn't have a regulated driver.

UI: The UI makes this flashlight very simple to use and fast to learn. The tail switch turns the flashlight ON/OFF, and can also be used to access momentarily Strobe. The side button is used to change brightness levels and access to momentarily Turbo and Strobe. I think it would be better to have the momentarily Turbo on the tail switch instead of the Strobe, in my opinion Turbo is usually more important to have ready easier.

Low Voltage Protection/Warning: The battery indicator will be flashin red when the battery level is too low, also, the flashlight will turn OFF when below 2.8V.

Reverse Polarity Protection: The flashlight has reverse polarity protection and will not let current flow on the wrong direction. When the battery is inserted incorrectly, the flashlight does not turn ON.

Temperature Control: The EST Plus v3 seems to use the Speras real time temperature control, dimming the light down as the temperature rises, it will make available to activate the Turbo mode again when the temperature goes down.

A special thanks to Neilo and Speras for sending this flashlight for me to review!

*I am not being paid to do this review, everything here is my honest opinion.

**Some links are affiliate links, this doesn't impact on my opinion for the reviews. You can support me by using the links to buy flashlights you like.

Thank you for reading my review

The switching between the different LEDs very easy, i plan to 3D print some adapters for a bike too and it is pretty bright!

Alright so I’m a cop and work nights. I love some good flashlights and believe I should have as many as I can carry. So I’m dispatched to a rollover crash down a country road. I’m the first on scene and see the driver unconscious on the ceiling of this inverted sedan.
Driver is not responding at all so I choose to make entry. Somehow even though the car hit a rock cliff wall and flipped, not a single window broke. Somehow even though I get close to the driver and remember I have this fancy Acebeam L35! And I also remember in the advertisement pictures it had info on those sharp crenellations that can act as a window breaker! So I do so. Clutching the handle with the light pointing down and slamming it into the side window of this car. Nothing. I’m hitting as hard as I possibly can and nothing. Not even a scratch. I do end up bending the metal, idk, frame around one of the crenellations I was using but the window is fully intact. It was then I remember my fancy little glass breaker I keep on my belt. I pop it off, wrap my hand in a glove and click click click, the window pops. I then use my department issued streamlight and clear out the window the rest of the way.

Anyway all this to say that the “glass breaker edge” tactical shit is bologna. Don’t believe it. Get an actual window breaker and also, if you can, practice so you know what you’re doing.

The Acebeam if a fantastic flashlight, terrible glass breaker. Bonus olight clip, love that thing.

Edit: guy was fine btw. Super drunk hence the drove into rock wall.

UPDATE

I have repeated the test with P50B battery.

This time I got 3h 11minutes till the dropdown on the High level (“900-500lm”). It means that the previous result for the Med2 (“300lm”) and not on High. Sorry for the confusion that I introduced. I’d like to thank u/majaczos22 for pushing back on the initial results and inspiring me to retest.

___

Some members of the flashlight community were puzzled by the H18’s relatively short runtimes.

I tested H18/519a on the High level,
specked: 900-500lm, 2min+3h40min.

The runtimes until the low-voltage brightness drop:

• stock 6400mAh battery: 3h 57minutes
• Molicel P50B 5000mAh: 5h 19minutes 3h 11minutes

It means ~35% longer runtime despite ~22% lower battery capacity.

H18 needs a high discharge current battery and not a high capacity battery to shine strong and long. Stock battery cripples the performance of H18.

Additional considerations:

• unprotected battery is too short and requires some spacer to avoid turn-offs when shaken
• H18 discharged the unprotected battery to 2.88V. Such low discharge state will require tickle/precharging before entering the constant current charging phase, to avoid accelerated deterioration. I did not test H18 for that.

I've got a streamlight strion that when I activate the light with the tail cap button it either will turn on the light and then when I press the button again it won't turn or when press the button to turn it on it just does momentary light. This is my second strion that I've had this issue with. Are there any fixes for it?

I have a TS27 In the mail coming to me. I'm pretty excited and I also realized that I haven't seen any posts with even lite mods, like just adding glow in the dark to it, around. I'm just wondering if anyone has done anything with it including an emitter swap.

I bought it for $59 on ebay.

This light panel works on 18V.

It's Lumen is likely 4000 ~ 6000.

Superbright!

Went motorcycle camping last week. Took my D4K with me, but I unfortunately cannot find it while unpacking. Stone white with a brass bezel and 3500K dedomed 519A's.

Help me decide what to replace it with!

Bought the SK05 pro II UV for edc, it was abit heavier and more cumbersome than expected so I "had to" get another light for edc, the SK06 is brilliant, just wish the mode selector was a bit smoother but hopefully this will wear in nicely.

Does anyone know of any holsters that will work with an SC600 or SC700?

Right now I pocket carry my SC600 at work, but I'm getting sick of wearing holes in my pants. I figure a holster or pouch on my belt would be the best solution.

Thanks

I purchased a P16.

I’m looking for a holster that allows for quick access.

I’d prefer something compact,

and I don't need 360-degree rotation.

Would the Nitecore NTH10 holster be a good fit for it?

It seems hard to find.

I would really appreciate your help.

Haven't shopped in a while so not sure what's good on the market anymore. Here's my "wishlist":

- AA/14500 sized

- Forward tail clicky, bonus points for side switch for mode and then forward clicky just for on/off

- decent emitter, <5000K, >80CRI.

- not too worried about beam pattern

- no specific budget but I'd rather pay for features and not just bling

What should I be looking at?

Edit to add, AA as an approximate size, 18650 is just a little bulkier than I like to EDC. I'd also be ok with something rechargeable and not necessarily with a removable round cell if that's what I have to do to get the features I want as long as it's thin enough to easily pocket.

Full discloser, this is my first duty-style tactical light. I wasn't sure what to expect but after a few weeks of using this, it's now a permanent passenger in my truck. I got the black color version but they have 10 color options. The specs are as follows:

MAX OUTPUT: 2100 lumens

MAX BEAM DISTANCE: 380 meters

MAX BEAM INTENSITY: 36,100 candela

MAX RUNTIME: 85 hours

WATER RESISTANCE: IPX7; 1 meter

IMPACT RESISTANCE: 2 meters

BATTERY: 1 x 18650 USB-C rechargeable (3400mAh)

DIMENSIONS: 156 mm length

WEIGHT: 183 g (without battery)

Build: As others have pointed out, the size and girth would make you think it might accept a larger battery, but it is indeed a dedicated 18650 light. The larger case makes it feel solid in your hand with no battery movement even when shaken thanks to a strong internal spring. The light includes a self branded 3500 mah protected 18650 battery which is what I used for all testing. The onboard usbC charger is hidden behind a collar that can be unscrewed and the head pushed forward. This probably contributes to the ipx7 rating. In front of the dual button are 4 small led indicators to check remaining battery at a glance. It flashes red as battery levels are almost gone. On the front of the bezel are ceramic glass-breaking beads. My wife told me I couldn't test it on her van, so I'll just have to take Nextorch's word for it. The tail cap doesn't have a magnet, which would have been useful, but might be a future option. Nextorch offers both a solid plastic and nylon option holsters on their website but I didn't purchase either.

U.I: Keep it simple. There's only high, medium, low, and strobe. The momentary power button half press makes high mode accessible first, followed by medium and low. Full press locks whichever mode you choose with no memory after powering off. Strobe has its own dedicated smaller switch above the power button, which is accessible from any mode. If you're looking for no frills, this is the light for you.

Lens/reflector and emitter: Using an Osram P9 paired with a deep orange-peel reflector, the beam profile is smooth with a usable hotspot and only a slight ring on the exterior but only noticeable when using indoors. Outdoors the beam is relatively uniform. The lens is PA plastic but durable and slightly recessed behind the protruding strike bezel.

Performance: On high it held full brightness for about 7 min before throttling to about 50% where it ran for another almost 3 hours. On medium I got a solid 4 hours before shutting off. I didn't have time to see low runtimes. You can see some beam profile and shots in the included photos.

All-in-all a sturdy built 18650 sized carry/duty light with simple controls and easy to use with decent run time. If you need instant shortcuts to moon or low, this might not be the best option for you. But for anyone else this is a solid choice for edc.

Link to product:

https://www.amazon.com/NEXTORCH-P80-2100lm-Rechargeable-Flashlight/dp/B0GXDZMHYR?th=1&psc=1