How much do you know about flashlights and what kind of flashlights are suitable for you? This article will provide a detailed introduction to the common sense of purchasing various functional flashlights, helping you accurately locate the flashlight you need.
Analysis of purchasing motivation
Before purchasing a flashlight, it is necessary to clarify the following six goals:
Usage: At the beginning of the purchase, you should understand the purpose of buying a flashlight? Hiking, exploring, cycling, hunting, or just playing?
Carrying: Do you need to carry a flashlight every day or only during use? The convenience of carrying will directly affect your senses in the future.
Brightness: You should determine your requirements for the brightness of the flashlight, whether it can be illuminated or must be particularly bright.
Environment: What is the environment where you use a flashlight, such as the Arctic, desert, or diving?
Frequency: Whether to use it daily or occasionally, the quality of the flashlight itself and the choice of battery will directly affect the lifespan and cost of the flashlight.
Budget: How much do you plan to spend on purchasing a flashlight.
If you understand everything above, then let's start the shopping journey below.
Daily use:
A flashlight with sufficient floodlight, moderate brightness, good color rendering, and a color temperature of 4000-6000K white light is generally required for daily lighting at home or just for walking.
1. Type of flashlight: You can use a 18650 rechargeable flashlight, choose the CREE XPE series light source (portable, high-power, high brightness, with a relay time of about 4 hours and stable quality, perhaps you will say, "I used it again ten years ago" in the future), or the 3 section 7-battery flashlight of the CREE XPE series light source (batteries are available everywhere, easy to carry, and a relay time of about 2 hours). If you feel that the battery life is not ideal, you can choose an additional battery or purchase a product that can adjust the light.
2. Required brightness: Walking on flat roads does not require high brightness. A 1W LED flashlight is sufficient. If using a rechargeable battery, use a higher power one. The current at the LED end can generally reach 350MA or above, and the LED consumes more than 1W of power. If you plan to use non rechargeable AA batteries all the time, use smaller ones, such as those with a battery terminal current of around 1A, which is better. The LED terminal current is generally below 300MA and the power is below 1W. If it's a dirt road in the countryside or a mountain road in the mountains, I don't recommend using a dry battery flashlight. It's best to use a 18650 tube, with a current of 750MA and an LED power consumption of about 3W (the brightness of a 1W LED is equivalent to the brightness of four iron flashlights used in childhood, isn't it really very bright).
3. The color of LED can be used with a color temperature of 4000-6000K on weekdays. The higher the color temperature, the brighter the flashlight (the higher the luminous efficiency per watt). If it is in mountainous areas or in frequent foggy conditions, it is best to use warm white or natural white LEDs to increase penetration. At the same time, high-power flashlights should be used for those with higher power efficiency.
4. The frequency of daily use should be high, so it is recommended to use rechargeable batteries, which not only saves costs but also protects the environment.
5. Dimming is more practical for daily use, as the usage environment is variable and dimming can meet various needs while saving electricity.
6. What reflective system to use: As it is commonly used in daily use and requires good flooding, it is recommended to use orange peel cups or shallow glossy cups. Of course, if there is a high requirement for the beam angle of a flashlight, then adjustable light can be selected, which can balance distance and distance.
7. Appearance treatment required: Depending on personal preferences, this is purely a matter of getting what you pay for, pursuing endless and moderate results.
8. Requirement for waterproof performance: It can withstand heavy rain.
9. Price: Based on personal economic strength, generally choosing a medium to low price barrel is sufficient.
Portable backup:
Carry a flashlight with you every day to prepare for unexpected needs, and the requirements for a flashlight are much higher than those for daily use.
1. Type of flashlight: As it is portable, portability is important. For this type of flashlight, it is preferred to choose a size 7 dry battery because it is compact, or choose a 18650 rechargeable flashlight. It is recommended to choose a lens type because its volume is smaller than that of a light cup.
2. Required brightness: Portable flashlights and daily flashlights have many similarities, but the difference is that they must be small enough for easy portability when achieving similar performance. So I personally believe that the requirement for carrying a flashlight is much higher than walking with a flashlight. Another characteristic of a portable flashlight is that it only needs to light up for a few seconds or minutes most of the time, without considering the heat generated when lit up for a long time. Therefore, a higher brightness CREE XPE light source can be chosen. Generally, when using lithium batteries, the current should reach 750MA, which is 3W; When using other ordinary batteries, the current must reach the maximum output that that type of battery can achieve.
3. LED color: White light is sufficient because white light has a higher brightness.
4. Battery: In pursuit of high brightness, use various types of lithium batteries. If the frequency of use is not particularly high, use dry batteries because lithium batteries will self discharge and forget to charge, which is also troublesome. Using dry batteries is a good solution, and they can be sold on the roadside.
5. Dimming: High, medium, low, burst, SOS, preferably grouped, but the most commonly used ones are still high, medium, and second gear. Actually, it can be done without dividing the gears.
6. What kind of optical cup to use: It is recommended to use a lens, which is smaller in size than the optical cup.
7. Appearance treatment required: It must be wear-resistant, such as stainless steel, titanium, and at the very least aluminum alloy with hard oxidation. It will only be 50% new in a few days.
8. Requirement for waterproof performance: It can withstand heavy rain.
9. Price: Based on personal economic strength, generally choose slightly more expensive ones, as they follow them all day and have a high utilization rate. Of course, they need to be used better.
Cycling:
Cycling can actually be divided into two types: professional cycling and daily cycling. Professional cycling requires high standards, and a flashlight that can meet the needs of professional cycling can definitely meet the needs of daily cycling. Therefore, this only explains professional cycling. In fact, the so-called professional cycling here is only in terms of speed and cycling time. Professional cycling students should be able to maintain a speed of 30km/h, equivalent to 8.4m/s. At this speed, they should choose a flashlight that can illuminate a distance of 30-50 meters, with a range of 2-3 hours. If a classmate says he can reach a top speed of 70km/h, is this flashlight not enough? We just want to say, classmates, it's better to slow down. Please cherish your life, it's not suitable for downhill on mountain roads at night.
1. Type of flashlight: Because it is a bicycle, it must be fixed first; Secondly, it should not be too long as it will affect cycling; Again, it's better to adjust the angle; Fourthly, it is necessary to be able to dim the light, as it is not necessary to be too bright in the urban area (specifically, headlights are required under the street lights in the urban area, as opposing cars cannot clearly see pedestrians riding on the roadside under the street lights, especially when there are shadows of shrubs, plants, or trees. At this time, turning on the lights is not to illuminate the road, but to make the driver see you); Fifth, sufficient battery life is required; Sixth, it is necessary to resist falling and not injure the rider, as there are very few people who frequently ride without falling. Given the above conditions, it is recommended to choose professional cycling lights, as ordinary flashlights cannot meet these many needs.
2. Required brightness: The cycling light must have sufficient brightness to ensure that the rider can see a distance of 30-50 meters ahead clearly. The beam angle should not be too narrow, as it will not be able to see the road near the front of the vehicle. It is recommended to choose CREE XPG R5 light source or CREE T6 light source series products.
3. LED color: It is recommended to choose products with a color temperature of 4000-5000K.
4. Battery: Pursuing high brightness and requiring long battery life, it is recommended to choose a 26650 rechargeable battery product. If the cycling time is more than 2 hours, choose an additional backup battery.
5. Dimming: High, medium, low, burst, SOS, burst is more useful in urban areas, allowing drivers to see you from a distance.
6. What kind of light cup to use: It is recommended to use a shallow glossy light cup because the light source power is high, so it is recommended to choose a metal light cup. Aluminum light cups cannot withstand high temperatures.
7. Appearance treatment required: Feel free to choose, as long as it meets the performance requirements and can be personalized.
8. Requirement for waterproof performance: It can withstand heavy rain.
9. Price: Based on personal economic strength, generally choose slightly more expensive ones, one penny, one penny. Believe this is the truth, cycling is a risky thing, and investment is necessary.
Search:
For outdoor search (hunting, etc., requiring high brightness and long-range shooting), generally speaking, low floodlight is required, and it is even better to have no floodlight when there are special requirements. The higher the brightness, the better. The color rendering is mainly determined by the weather and the target to be searched for. There is a high demand for flashlights.
1. Flashlight type: Must use 18650 or 26650 large head (high power, high brightness, capable of long-range shooting, relay time of 1.5 to 3 hours); If you don't need to have a good spot and avoid flooding, you can use a lens flashlight with a very small spot.
2. Required brightness: Many of them use LED overclocking, and the current often needs to reach the limit of LED usage. Q5 current reaching 1000MA is considered average, reaching 1200MA is considered the limit, T6 current reaching 2000MA is considered average, reaching 2800MA is considered the limit, because increasing the current will increase the luminous intensity very little, but the LED lifespan is greatly reduced, so it is not recommended to exceed the limit.
3. In humid environments, it is best to use a warm color LED, which is 3000K white. In dry conditions, it is best to use a white light LED because white light is brighter than warm color. In special circumstances, let me give you an example. You can draw inferences from one example to another. For example, when you are looking for a bird's belly with a slight yellow color among the leaves under a tree, you can use white light. The leaves have strong reflection, causing a large area of white shaking, causing eye pain, and the bird's belly is also white shaking, making it difficult to find. However, when using warm light, It was found that all the reddish light was absorbed by the green of the leaves (green leaves do not reflect red light, and if pure red light is used to illuminate them, it will be found that the very green leaves are black and the trunk is red), but the yellowish bird's belly is directly visible as white and shaky.
4. Battery: Pursuing high brightness and high-power light source, the battery must be strong enough. It is recommended to use two 26650 batteries, each with 4500 milliamperes, and two with 9000 milliamperes, which are sufficient for use for more than 4 hours.
5. What gear does the circuit need? High, medium, and low gears are the most reasonable. Never flash, as a flash will cause the animal to run away.
6. What kind of light cup to use: Because less floodlight is required, orange peel cups are definitely not needed. Generally, deep large caliber glossy cups are used. When there is no floodlight in extreme situations, black paper is usually used to surround the lamp head, allowing only the strong light in the center to go out and eliminate the floodlight on the black paper. An example of not using floodlights is also: when the bird you are looking for is a clever and extremely vigilant turtledove, as long as the floodlights sway towards a distant tree, half of the forest's turtledove will fly. You can only use the center of the light spot, tree forks to search past, and when it happens to hit the turtle's buttocks instead of its head, you are likely to appreciate it well.
7. Appearance treatment required: Generally, the package is required to be black. Professional evening travelers often wear black clothes and cut off reflective buttons, just to avoid being caught by opponents.
8. Requirement for waterproof performance: At least it can prevent heavy rain from washing, because sometimes it is necessary to wade in water, so the general requirement is to be able to soak in cold water when the tube is hot, which is fine.
9. Price range: It depends on the individual's desired long-range performance. In order to achieve high brightness and ultra strong long-range performance, mid to high priced flashlights are generally chosen.
Camping:
Camping flashlights must be able to meet the needs of travel lighting and tent lighting, therefore they must balance narrow and floodlight.
1. Type of flashlight: The demand for narrow light is similar to that of a household flashlight, which does not require too high brightness and can illuminate walking routes. Floodlight requires illumination of the tent and surrounding environment, but requires a longer battery life, so a dedicated flashlight is required.
2. Required brightness: The brightness requirement is not high, and the narrow beam CREE XPE light source can fully meet the requirements. Floodlight can use 6-9 patches or straw hat light sources, and patches are recommended because the brightness is higher at the same power.
3. The color of the LED is recommended to be white from 4000K to 5000K.
4. Battery: It is recommended to charge a battery with a capacity of 4000 mAh or above, or to equip one 18650 unit with a mobile power supply that can power other devices.
5. What gear is required for the circuit: high, medium, low, flashing.
6. What kind of light cup to use: Use a shallow light cup for narrow light, and use transmission lighting directly for flood light, without using a light cup or lens, to maintain a large angle.
7. Appearance treatment required: Camping flashlights have been with oneself for a long time, and the tent needs to meet the requirements of standing or hanging, so a special selection of appearance is required.
8. Requirement for waterproof performance: at least able to withstand heavy rain.
9. Price range: It is recommended to use mid to high end products, as they are functional products.
On board:
A flashlight that is always in the car and can be easily obtained when in use generally requires sufficient floodlight, moderate brightness, and good reliability after prolonged vibration.
1. Flashlight type: It is recommended to use a straight flashlight, which can be 18650. It has high power, high brightness, and a relay time of about 3 hours. Of course, it can also come with other functions, such as a life hammer, flashing warning red light, emergency battery, etc.
2. Required brightness: It is sufficient to meet the requirements of small-scale lighting. Of course, it is best to have long-lasting floodlighting, and the larger the range, the better.
3. The color of LED light, if sometimes used for walking or repairing cars, warm white is more suitable.
4. Battery: It is recommended to use a rechargeable battery, which is convenient to charge in conjunction with the vehicle.
5. What gear is required for the circuit: high, medium, low, flashing. Flashing is necessary, mainly for the purpose of reminding the rear car during car repair, but it cannot be a high-power white light flash. If it blinds others, it is more likely to collide.
6. What kind of light cup to use: Because the light is often at close range, if the light spot is too concentrated, it can be difficult to see clearly. Therefore, it is recommended to use a lighter orange noodle cup for excellent floodlight. The reason for using a shallower color not only refers to the relatively non condensing light of the shallower color, but also to the fact that more of the light emitted by LEDs can be directly emitted without being reflected by the reflective bowl.
7. Required appearance treatment: It must be wear-resistant, otherwise the car will vibrate continuously and the exterior coating will be polished in three days.
8. Requirement for waterproof performance: It can withstand heavy rain.
9. Price: Based on personal economic strength, generally choosing a medium price barrel is sufficient.
matters needing attention
The brighter the flashlight, the better it is - the brighter the flashlight, the higher the power, which means the duration of continuous illumination is shorter. Therefore, as long as the needs are met
A flashlight does not have a narrower beam angle, the better - the narrower the beam angle, the farther the illumination distance. However, when illuminated at close range, the illumination surface is too small, resulting in a smaller field of view and not suitable for daily use
The smaller the flashlight, the better - the smaller the flashlight, the smaller the surface area, which can easily lead to poor heat dissipation