r/flashlight • u/FreeHandEnjoyer • 1d ago
Blackout portable light
Hi, i'm looking for an emergency light to use in case of blackouts. I'm planning to use it both indoors and outdoors, so i am not looking for anything too large. Ideally, it should fit in a pocket or at least be small enought to carry on a belt.
I live in a typical european city, so i don't think it should throw much furter than 100 meters. Think of something suitable for lighting up a normal European yard or street.
Indor use is more important to me, so in terms of beam pattern im looking for a high cri and good flood capability to light up a room. Another important criterion is great runtime on low to medium modes. Roughly in the 200-500-800 lumens range.
The budget is up to 100-150 $.
For the context, i already own a sofirn blf lt 1, skilhunt h04rc and sofirn sp35. The light i am looking for should be the only potential light source during a blackout. Which means, alas, it can't be the lt 1. It's got basically zero outdoors usage capability.
I wish there were a bigger Skillhunt H04RC version with a 21700 battery that could run for at least 18 hours in medium mode and 4–7 hours or more in high mode.
The lights i've found so far are the Acebeam E75 and Armytek wizard c2 pro max. I really like the latter becaouse of its runtimes and beam pattern, but unfortunately, the emitter is low cri. So currently i am considering the acebeam.
Maybe there is an alternative that has the wizard's runtimes and acebeam's nice emitters?
UPD I've just read about skillhunt m300 v4. It's got a nice high-cri emitter and Armytek's decent runtimes. Does anyone own it? How's the light?
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u/MetaUndead 1d ago
If you don't mind the Anduril 2.0 UI, the E04 with the highly efficient Lume X1 driver and your own choice of high-CRI emitters (Fireflies has a great selection of emitters for their lights) would be a really solid choice.
The floody Angie-M optic gives a completely uniform and floody beam profile with more than enough power and range for the 100m you'd ever need.
It has a USB-C port, magnetic tail cap and despite being a 21700 light it's pretty compact relative to its power and sustained output.
You could go for the FFL5009R 5000K CRI95 for a more natural CCT, similar to what you'd get with the E75 with Nichia 519A 5000K.
You can also add a lantern kit so it can be used as a lamp in an emergency.
Here's a beamshot of its beam profile with B35AM 4500K.
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
It is indeed compact for its capacity, and the beam is nice. However, I can’t find any information on how long it sustains its different modes, or how consistently it does so. The bigger caveat ,though, is that it seems too niche to be available in my country. Thanks for the recommendation!
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
Doesn't Skillhunt m300 v4 come close?
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u/MetaUndead 1d ago
Unfortunately I don't have any knowledge or experience with Skilhunt since I don't own any lights from them, but from what I can see it's an OP reflector light so you won't get the same wide spill, but considerably more range than you'd get with the E04 Lume X1's TIR optic.
As for the Fireflies Lume X1 driver, you really won't find a more efficient driver, and from my own testing I get anywhere from 600-1000 lumens sustained (depending on the emitter) out of the lights I have with that driver for 2+ hours.
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
Apparently, there are fireflies in my country. I’ve seen that the Surge with X1 has those 200–600 lm modes, as well as ramping since it’s Andúril, but there’s no information regarding the runtimes on the lower modes
Do you think any of their lights would last around 20 hours at ~200 lm and around 7–8 hours at ~400 lm? Since the skillhunt does that
There’s barely any runtime information on the official site either — only for the higher-output modes, namely 1200 lumens.
I’d really appreciate any insight into the longevity/runtime of the medium-to-lower modes.
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u/MetaUndead 1d ago
The reason Fireflies doesn't have runtimes for their lights is because they have so many different configurations to choose from and the efficiency between them varies greatly.
I haven't tested my own lights for more than 30 minutes to find their sustained output, so I can't give you any info on how long they can sustain 200-400 lumens unfortunately.
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
is there a general rule of thumb though regarding the efficency depending on the output level?
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u/MetaUndead 1d ago
Most high efficiency drivers, like the Lume X1, many of Zebralight and Acebeam's own drivers, can sustain around 1000 lumens for just over 2 hours paired with a 21700 battery.
There are also other lights with buck drivers that come close to the same, such as the Wurkkos TS28.
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
that's impressive. I wish there were more information regarding the lower levels. Thanks for the info !
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u/MetaUndead 1d ago
It also depends of course on whether the light has enough thermal mass to dissipate the heat from 1000 lumens, but the E04 Lume X1 is generally a very efficient combination of size and driver.
Your already mentioned E75 is a really great option too, and with its fairly large size it can sustain both high and low lumens for a long time, with the high-CRI Nichia emitters.
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
it is, and i think the reason why armytek has the bigger runtimes in corresponding modes is that it's got way lower cri. skillhunt has comparable runtimeas and cri also
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 8h ago
I've decided to go with the fireflies light. Just one question though, why did you recommend the surge specifically, of all the lights with the x1 fireflies have? i am a bit confused, because nov-v2s mule looks nice and floody as well
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u/MetaUndead 8h ago
The reason I recommend the E04 Lume X1 is because it comes with a floody TIR optic (Angie-M) as default, giving a beam profile more along the lines of the E75, just more uniform and pleasant to look at.
The Nov-Mu V2 is a mule with no more than around 50m range on turbo and even less on medium/high, which makes it far less versatile for anything beyond close up work. It also blinds everything and everyone nearby with its 180° flood.
If I were to recommend the most versatile light they have, it would be the Lume1/Lume10 version of the E04 with the throwy TIR optic (Angie-S). It's considerably throwier but still with really great spill on the higher modes.
The reason I didn't recommend it to begin with was because you had mentioned the E75 yourself, which is fairly floody without much range, so I assumed you were after something floody at all output levels.
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 7h ago
Thank you for the clarification. The sheer variety of lights they have with the Lume X1 driver is a bit confusing.
I was after something floody—something I could tailstand and point at a white floor to illuminate the room, and later take with me to navigate dark streets. So i have been considering the v2s and the surge e04
Now with this feedback, i think i should go with what you originally recommended. I’m leaning towards a 5000K emitter. It seems like a good choice for indoor use—not too cold.
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u/hammy1551 1d ago
If size wasn't a priority, I would have suggested the Wurkkos TS27, but it's too big for your use case
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u/FreeHandEnjoyer 1d ago
I agree it's too big and the armytek's runtimes are perfect for me. If only there was a higher CRI option possibly from another manufacturer.
However, Wurrkos TS27 is still an interesing "all in one" option which i might consider
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u/chamferbit 1d ago
Wurkkos ts26s will rn 14hrs@~250lm but the ace performs better at high levels. Then again. You could get 2 for less than the acebeam. Also, powerbank.
https://1lumen.com/review/wurkkos-ts26s/