Best Handheld Spot?

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GHBAY

Seaman
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Jul 29, 2013
Messages
70
Looking for advice on an excellent handheld spotlight. Willing to pay for quality. There are so many of these things on the market these days, and not all are created equal. I am hoping for something relatively small in physical size with a nice tight, bright beam that shoots a good distance. I am often in fairly open water at night and having something I can pick bouys with from a distance is a great help on those no moon nights.

any advice
 
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bassman284

Commander
Joined
Jun 24, 2006
Messages
2,840
Re: Best Handheld Spot?

I really like this one. C&p from one of my earlier posts on the subject.

Here's my favorite:

Coleman CPX 6

I use it with the CPX cartridge using 4 D-cells. 50 hours runtime with one set of batteries, 275 lumens, gives a very nice spot about 1/4 mile out. $35.00 approximately. I love it.
 
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agallant80

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Oct 25, 2010
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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

I spent about $35 on mine at Home Depot. I have had it for two years and not one issue. Make sure what ever you get its LED
 
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bassman284

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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

It's a great light. More darn fun. It won't shoot a 1 mile beam like the multi-million candlepower jobs, but within 1/4 mile it will show most of what you need to see. Point it away from your face before you hit the switch. Never mind night vision, you'll lose day vision.
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
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Mar 5, 2006
Messages
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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

The lights for my bicycle are 2000 lumen. Maybe I should just bring those along.

I have seen some 4400 lumen LED flashlights. Wonder how they compare to the old 1 million candlepower spot lights. I know the measurement is completely different so it may be difficult unless you know the beam size.
 
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bassman284

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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

bruceb58 said:
Just came across this site. Bet there are answers in here:
CandlePowerForums
Click to expand...

I read through some of the stuff there and the general consensus seems to be that you can't really compare lumens and candlepower except that you can, sort of. I googled "lumens vs candlepower" and found this discussion (linked) on a forum called onlineconversion that ended up being quite informative, especially on the page linked below. Scroll down to post #66 and enjoy.

Comparing lumens and candlepower? - Page 7 - OnlineConversion Forums

Note: This forum allows guest posting so a number of the posts are by "Unregistered" including the one of interest.
 
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dingbat

dingbat

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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

gps is accurate to less than a meter and doesn't night blind myself or my fellow boaters.
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

dingbat said:
gps is accurate to less than a meter and doesn't night blind myself or my fellow boaters.
Click to expand...
I use a spotlight to get into the narrow channel that connects me to the lagoon where my Tahoe house is. If you don't come in just right, you can either hit rocks or hit shallow areas because its a dredged channel. My GPS gets me close but GPS doesn't help me in this instance. There are also buoys along the channels going to my house that I can hit if I don't have the spotlight out.

Sometimes a spotlight is necessary.
 
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G

GHBAY

Seaman
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Jul 29, 2013
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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

dingbat said:
gps is accurate to less than a meter and doesn't night blind myself or my fellow boaters.
Click to expand...


I do not trust gps to keep me within 1 meter, and where i boat (10,000 islands, 1 million shoals) there are many spots where if your off by a couple meters you are **** out of luck. I certainly appreciate the need to ensure you arent blinding other boaters, i cant stand having others kill my night vision with their lights, but having a spot onboard for those times its needed is just smart/safe boating imo
 
dingbat

dingbat

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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

Sounds like blind navigation is outside your comfort zone.

As with most things it a skill you aquire over time. I was way outside my comfort zone running under radar the first couple of times. Practiced running radar during the day to get comfortable with it. Running radar or gps is no different than playing a video game anymore. The hard part is remembering the tide stage. Your wiggle room goes away at low tide
 
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GHBAY

Seaman
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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

On open water, with margin of error, I would agree with you, but on the waters I boat in I am more often than not in unmarked channels where a few feet of my course puts me on shoals. In those circumstances, relying blindly on gps is absolutely reckless and unsafe. Having a spot to briefly mark hazards is just common sense.
 
dingbat

dingbat

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Re: Best Handheld Spot?

GHBAY said:
On open water, with margin of error, I would agree with you, but on the waters I boat in I am more often than not in unmarked channels where a few feet of my course puts me on shoals. In those circumstances, relying blindly on gps is absolutely reckless and unsafe. Having a spot to briefly mark hazards is just common sense.
Click to expand...
i take it you've not done much coastal boating......the open area only occurs after you navigate the miles of back water, shifting shoals, crab pots, and fish traps to get there.

Fog is a constant threat. A Flash light is not going to get you back to the dock when you can't even see past the bow. The ability to trust and navigate by gps is a necessity where I boat

If you feel more comfortable light go for. I will not be out there.....lol
 
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ondarvr

ondarvr

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Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Best Handheld Spot?

There is a place for radar, GPS and a spot light.

GPS has a slight lag before it shows your position, and last I looked it doesn't update the frequent (daily in some cases) changes in sand bars, logs and other hazards in some waterways. Rookies around here that depend on GPS to navigate the rivers tend to end up grounded on gravel bars.

I don't use a spot light very often, but when I need one there is no substitute.
 
dingbat

dingbat

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Messages
16,337
Re: Best Handheld Spot?

ondarvr said:
GPS has a slight lag before it shows your position,
Click to expand...
The GPS signal is updated thousands of times a second. The "lag" is a by-product of your units slow signal processor or video driver. The refresh rates for most of the newer / better units are seamless.
 
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cjjjdeck

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
165
Re: Best Handheld Spot?

Although I somewhat agree with the advantage of GPS at night, if I were boating in the 1000 Islands area at night, I would absolutely want a VERY reliable spotlight as well (only as necessary, of course, maintaining night vision is extremely important when boating), I get it (I try to be a "Be-Prepared" kinda guy, especially when it comes to boating).

There are a number of features in a marine environment spot light I considered when I was looking for one:

1. Waterproof preferred (IPX 7 or IPX 8)
2. Ability to operate and/or recharge from a 12 volt source
3. Wrist strap (hopefully so it doesn't fall into the water)
4. Floating (or make it to float)
5. LED preferred

Tough to find all these features in one unit, but you can get close. I'm a big fan of the quality and reliability of tactical and LED technology, the old flashlight became immediately obsolete. So I looked at what tactical flashlight manufacturers offered. I also preferred a pistol grip for this kind of light.

Here's a couple I would consider that come close to the features I wanted:

Streamlight Waypoint and Waypoint Rechargeable

The Waypoint is able to operate on regular "C" batteries OR a 12 volt source (a plus for operation). Slight downside is that it is water resistant (IPX 4) not water proof.

Waypoint link: WayPoint? Series - WayPoint? | Streamlight

The Waypoint Rechargeable can only be charged using 120v or 12v source. It is water proof (IPX 8) and it floats.

Waypoint Rechargeable: link: Waypoint? Rechargeable Series - Waypoint? Rechargeable | Streamlight

There are other "flashlight" designs that fit the features as well (like Olight, Streamlight, Fenix etc.)

I like this Fenix RC 15 model. I have a different Fenix model light that I have been very satisfied with.

Here's the link to the RC15:

Fenixlight Limited


Hope this helps.
 
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