How's this for a Great deal on a flashlight for your BOB

[NorthernRaider]

How's this for a Great deal on a flashlight for your BOB

by NorthernRaider » 31 Oct 2011 15:22

Just treated myself to a flashlight whilst I was out shopping, When I got home and put it to use in the left for 90 minutes as I tried to sort out my TV aerial I ended up massively delighted with my purchase and highly reccomend it to you folks.

Try this for size

A CREE LED ( thats good by the way) 100,000 hour life bulb
120 Lumens output
Acrylic lens that can be fully focused from flood to spot
All anodised alloy body
3 year guarentee
14 hour battery life when used on low setting
Water resistant to IPX4
Tactical switch with ON, OFF and MOMENTRY On setting
150 meter useful range
I noted the battery tube is beautifully machined and the batteries are a wonderfully close smooth fit
and it uses AA batteries not CR 123 or AAA batts.
Yes its Chinese made but actually most flashights are at least p[art sourced from China these days, but guys this little bugger is a doozy.

Its made by ACTIVE PRODUCTS AP Pro series
and the best bit is the price £19.95 inc vat at B & Q

[Skean Dhude]

Sounds good. I'm always on the look out for torches.

[NorthernRaider]

To be perfectly honest I like this light better than my Fenix L2D, Its easily of the same quality but the focused light is better on the cheap torch.

[JD1]

A decent flashlight is something I need to get. I have plenty of the cheap (but still fairly good) head torches in various bags but I need to get a decent flashlight.

£20 seems a good price as well, some of the money spent by people on a decent light is a bit extreme imo unless you have plenty of spare cash but £20 seems not bad at all

[Skvez]

Note:
If it’s the same as Amazon B00472SKM2 then it uses 2 * AA batteries.
Since 2*AA batteries don't product enough Voltage to power a white LED is comes equipped with a DC-DC Voltage booster.
This has the advantage that the light output doesn't fade as the batteries drain but has the disadvantage that you can't judge the light dimming as an indication of battery level (when the batteries get too low the torch may fail suddenly).
Also the DC-DC Voltage booster while not necessarily being particularly fragile is another thing to go wrong on a torch.

[NorthernRaider]

Here is my latest full appraisal of this flashlight.

Review
Active Products AP Pro-series 120 Lumen Flashlight

This is a modestly priced LED flashlight using a good quality Cree white LED and its light is focused using an adjustable clear lens (guessing its acrylic not glass at this price).

Its body is matt grey anodised aluminium alloy which is machined to accept two AA /MN1500 batteries. The batteries fit very snuggly and smoothly into the tube without rattling. The tube OD is 20mm if you want to fit it to a gun with a clamp.

The alloy end cap contains the recessed multi-function switch covered with an orange neoprene rubber switch cover. It also has a raised notched bevelled edge to prevent the flashlight from rolling on flat surfaces. The end cap is also drilled to allow the included lanyard to be fitted. I did find fitting the cord loop through the hole very fiddly and I ended up not bothering with it in the end, if I want to fit a lanyard I’ll fit a small split ring through the hole first and attach the lanyard with that.

The lens head is also grey anodised alloy with a knurled head containing the electronics, LED and adjustable lens, the adjustment is by twisting the head clockwise / anti clockwise as desired and is a smooth operation.

The AP120 is also water resistant to IPX4 whatever that means!!!

The LED is good for 100,000 hours (11 years) and the flashlight itself is guaranteed for 3 years so it’s worth hanging onto the receipt.

Battery operation is advertised as 14 hours on two good quality AA batteries and the blurb claims its good enough for a range of 150 meters, which with my old eyes probably equates in the real world to 75 meters at best. (I will admit the brilliant white light is indeed very powerful as I just accidentally flashed the 120 directly into my eyes and I had to stop typing for 10 minutes until the flash on my retinas subsided)

The light focuses from flood to spot and the illuminated area is very distinct being almost square on spot to a clearly defined round shape on flood. The switchgear allows for ON/OFF/FLASH operation only.

These 120 Lumen flash light are available from various outlets such as B & Q and Maplins as well as online sellers, mine was £20.48 at B & Q. I have EDC carried one now for a few weeks and am more than happy with it. I am fairly impressed with this mid-priced tool to a point I’m replacing the CRE123A powered Inova X 5s in my various kits with AP120s which will help in my efforts to standardise all my kit on one battery size ( AA /MN1500)

The only thing that could have improved its rating in my eye would have been if it had a militarised serrated bezel which would have made it an ideal improvised self-defence tool as well as a good flashlight.

[Skvez]

(1 December 2011, 12:12)NorthernRaider Wrote: The AP120 is also water resistant to IPX4 whatever that means!!!

IPAB is an international standard for Ingress Protection.
The first number (A) is protection against objects the X means it's not rated
The second number (B) is protection against water
4 is protection against water sprayed (low pressure) from any direction, limited ingress permitted.
It could also be called 'spash proof'. IPX4 is not water proof, don't drop it in a puddle but use it in heavy rain without concern.

[NorthernRaider]

That will be why its sold as water RESISTANT and not water PROOF then, same as my old maglites and bardics.

[Lincolnoldie]

I've given a fair bit of thought to flashlights since the popularity of the AA battery over the old D cell. i like the strength of light of a cree type bulb for emergency/important use, indeed I have one ofthe energizer hardcase jobs which fulfils my needs adeaqautely, But the need for higher power and electronic managemant whcih leaves batteris ineffectice after only part life (or so it seems to the non-technical ie me) means I am finding I am reverting to standard (multi) led as in maglite conversions for near and general work as these give longer use of the batteries. I too standardise all my small electrical gear on AA. Rechargeables do not seem to maintain a charge for any length of time so I presume it must be my fault???

[NorthernRaider]

I gave up on Ni Cad rechargables as they tened to be 1.2 volts and most LED torches like 1.5 volts so they would not last very long. Some folks have had more luck with Enerloop batterys. I use either Durcacell Ultra or Energiser Lithium now.