I'm a freaking nut for these modern lights. Like Steve, I'm also a fan of the imports, but love my Surefires! Has anyone seen the Stanley HID? Here's my response to a similar from another non-fishing forum:
I'm a flashlight nut as well. I own many high end LEDs including SureFire and Streamlight as well as many Chinese Cree and Seoul- powered LED's. Quality varies widely, but you can't beat SureFire quality. You will pay for it however. Streamlight and Fenix are also top notch. But...... nearly noone really needs 10/10ths out of a flashlight.
Take a tour over at DealExtreme.com- The Chinese MC-E and Seoul LED's are nearly as nice as the highest end lights- providing 8-9/10ths the quality of a SureFire at about 1/10th of the price. They also have blow-your-socks-off power and new LED's many months (or even years) before they show up in an American light. I don't know why it takes so long to bring these new technologies to the US market. The common solution is to retrofit the new emitters into an older model SureFire or similar. If you've never experienced the power and efficiency of these new LED technologies, it's truly a paradigm shift in what you think a handheld (mini-Maglite sized) light is capable of. My single battery (18650- looks like about 2 AA's morphed into 1 fatter, slightly longer batt), single LED CREE MC-E is rated at 700 lumens (more like 500), is computer regulated with 8 modes including seizure inducing strobe, SOS, etc., lasts about two days on a single charge, etc. was $40 from Deal Extreme. To put this into perspective, it's brighter than EIGHT standard 3 D-Cell Maglights put together, in a package that's smaller than a single 2AA Mini Mag light, with a lifetime "bulb" and it will run (on low) for days on a single charge. Incredible.
Now on to the Stanley HID-
I bought the Stanley on the recommendation of others at candlepowerforums.com. The thing is ridiculously bright. The guys on the forum do tests where they light up a barn at well over a mile. Supposedly you can't even buy the bulb for $70 wholesale, let alone assemble the transformer, shell, batteries and other bits necessary to get a light together. The nearest off the shelf HID is somewhere near $400. So, it's a tremendous value.
Pros: Value, insane power, well built feel, charger and accessories.
Cons: It's heavy as hell. The LEDs on top are useless, and it has no auxillary LED light for less intense lighting requirements. I bought it for use on the boat at night. I discovered that it's just overkill for my needs. Also, if you live in the South, the humidity makes it impossible to make use of the power. On less humid nights though, holy **** this thing is bright. On a comparo between another high powered spotlight and this HID 1000- I shined it at my house from about 1000 yards out. With the 1MM candlepower spotlight, you could clearly see that there was a house there. With the Stanley, it went through the window and lit up the entire house (from the inside). Just astoundingly powerful.
Do I use it? No, but I don't regret the purchase. It's worth $70 just to show it off. Or in the case that you find yourself needing to flag down an alien.
Edit: I accidentally left my Stanley in the boat. It is now holding about a quart of water. I don't expect it to recover....
Topic: Ok I'll admit it I'm a flash light junkie (Read 5112 times)