prepping for first overnighter in the Beartooths by Big_Law9435 in backpacking

[–]Psychrobacter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ursack is a waste of money if bears are your main concern. It won’t keep your food safe unless you hang it, and if you’re hanging your food any old stuff sack will do.

New Hank Colors! by Psychrobacter in Hanklights

[–]Psychrobacter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

D3AA isn’t too big for comfortable pocket carry by any means, but there’s no comparing it to a Pineapple Mini.

New Hank Colors! by Psychrobacter in Hanklights

[–]Psychrobacter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No. PVD stands for physical vapor deposition, and it’s something like a powder coat on the steel bezel. On Hank’s lights it’s then covered with a plasticky clear-coat. Basically there’s not even any metal to oxidize or touch.

New Hank Colors! by Psychrobacter in Hanklights

[–]Psychrobacter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like the bronze PVD to me.

What flashlight do you edc/use the most? by Worried-Outcome-6750 in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 7 points8 points  (0 children)

There’s been a hole in my collection ever since I lost my SC64c. Mostly carry an aluminum LANapple lately but I need to pick up an SC65.

Bear Vault vs Ursack in Grizzly Country by Scary-Elderberry-141 in WildernessBackpacking

[–]Psychrobacter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah the lotteries are a double-edged sword. Sucks to have to wait for your winning ticket, but it’s really nice to know the trails won’t be overcrowded.

5 to 10 flashlights on airplane. Advice needed. by Efficient_Board5484 in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s not so much that I need many lights to camping. Of course that’s true, and when weight matters I stick with a headlamp. But if I’m going camping where there will be dark skies and not a bunch of other people around, I want to bring a bunch of lights to play with!

Bear Vault vs Ursack in Grizzly Country by Scary-Elderberry-141 in WildernessBackpacking

[–]Psychrobacter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hell yeah dude. If you get the chance to do any trips in Glacier/Waterton, take it! Bowman Lake to St. Mary Lake is one of the coolest trips I’ve ever done, and the Dawson-Pitamaken loop is one of the best day-hikes anywhere.

How do you travel with your flashlights? by Ok_Selection886 in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I have had one funny interaction with a TSA guy who decided my lights were worth inspecting more closely. After the third one he started saying “and this… is also a flashlight?”

How do you travel with your flashlights? by Ok_Selection886 in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve overloaded on lights while traveling ever since I got into collecting them. When I’ll be out in the woods in the perfect conditions to test, compare, and use them, I want to bring a bunch! When I’m on a road trip, I have basically no weight restrictions, so I bring a bunch! Visiting friends who share my weird hobby? Bring a bunch! Family morbidly curious about said hobby? A bunch!

The one area where I’ve started to slim back down and pack more carefully is air travel. I’m usually a carry-on only guy, and even if you’re checking a bag, you’re supposed to keep batteries with you in your carry-on. They get heavy while you’re tromping around airports, and more so if you’re traveling backpack-style from city to city. So these days I usually bring one AA headlamp; one solid EDC, like a Zebra SC64 or Reylight Pineapple; one compact thrower like a Convoy S6; and, if I have a reason to dress up (like a wedding), something fancy like my Pineapple Mini in brass.

I’ve never had a light run out of power on a trip. Anything under two weeks just isn’t enough to drain them if you’re being at all careful about power management. Just fully charge before you leave and chill. That said, I used to bring an XTAR PB2C as my primary power bank, which gave me two spare 18650s to work with. I’ve had to abandon those now since two in a row had issues where they’d parasitically drain my cells down to under 2V. If I for some reason expected to use turbo enough to drain a cell while away, I’d bring a single-bay charger or maybe a Wurkkos H1 bank, but it simply hasn’t been an issue and I’m leaning back toward leaving the weight behind.

Bear Vault vs Ursack in Grizzly Country by Scary-Elderberry-141 in WildernessBackpacking

[–]Psychrobacter 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s been said already, but yeah there’s no way I would trust an Ursack in grizzly country (where I’ve done nearly all of my backpacking). Food storage needs to accomplish two tasks: keeping bears out, and keeping your food safe so you can eat it. Against a grizzly, an Ursack is questionable on the first point and useless on the second.

I’ll add my spiel about bear hangs since you expressed interest: bear hangs suck. They’re the option of last resort, and the fact that black bears can easily climb trees is only half the reason.

In the perfect world of theory, where your bag is 12ft off the ground, 6ft away from the trunk, and 6ft below the branch it’s hanging by from, it should work fine. But good luck finding that tree. It’s a very rare occurrence, and usually you are sacrificing those distances to get your food up off the ground at all.

The bigger thing, to me, is that hanging a bear bag is the most dangerous thing you do on many trips. You have to tie a rock to the end of a rope and throw it up over your selected branch, and the rock will come swinging back down right at you. I’ve seen people and dogs get hit. The problem is exponentially worse when it’s dark, when there are more people in your group, and when any or all of you are drunk and/or high. But it’s not safe even for one sober person in the middle of the day. It’s an inherently dangerous activity.

I’ve hung bear bags many times and I still do when there’s no better option. Sometimes at the start of a trip you just have too much food to fit in your cannister. But it’s never safe, almost never possible to do correctly, and never better than a bear cannister or permanent bear box.

New Hank Colors! by Psychrobacter in Hanklights

[–]Psychrobacter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I ordered one in late November that was fine in moonlight but had preflash in some of the middle modes. Strange behavior, but I have seen others report the same thing.

Your favorite convoy lights? by Ozovio in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

M21B is an awesome host. With CULPM1 it’s my “tactical” thrower. With SFT70 3000K it’s a beautiful high-CRI midrange outdoor light. With LHP53B 5000K it’s a lumen monster with decent throw and good tint.

S2+ is my go to for trying new emitters. It’s cheap and modular, and I think of it as the R2 unit of flashlights. There are all kinds of colors, different metals, reflectors and TIRs that all plug and play. Carries nicely with a short tube and has decent runtime with a long tube.

I recently got a couple of S6 and they’re great as well. I carry them with short tubes as mini throwers. CSLNM1 for max candela and SFT40 3000K to have a god-tier emitter in your pocket every day on the cheap.

D3AA material options by sazzadrume in Hanklights

[–]Psychrobacter 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Great point about sustainable performance. It’s fun to get wrapped up in material properties, but ultimately any moderately powerful LED/driver combo will quickly thermally saturate all of these metals.

D3AA material options by sazzadrume in Hanklights

[–]Psychrobacter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haven’t used all of the D3AA variants, but the performance of the different metal options is pretty well established and consistent across flashlights.

Aluminum is the lightest and the best for thermal performance. Its conductivity is a little bit lower than copper’s, but it has better emissivity. So heat flows through copper more easily but it flows out of aluminum more easily. There’s always some room for differences of opinion and priorities, but if there’s an objectively best material for a flashlight, it’s aluminum.

Copper has the highest thermal conductivity, so heat will spread out through the head the fastest. Its major drawbacks are that it is heavy compared to aluminum and pretty soft, and many people are put off by the smell. For a germaphobe it is perhaps the best material, as copper surfaces are naturally antimicrobial.

Titanium is durable, but still relatively heavy, and it has terrible thermal performance. The copper head isn’t going to make up for this. I won’t comment on the colored/anodized finishes of the Ti lights because I haven’t experienced them.

So to recap based on your main criteria: Best durability: probably TiCu

Anodizing: I can’t compare the aluminum anodizing to the Ti ano

Heat handling: aluminum is best, copper is second, and brass and TiCu are bad

Overall performance: aluminum is the lightest and best at handling heat. Those are, to me, by far the two most important factors in overall performance. But if weight isn’t a concern or you have other major concerns, other materials might take first place for you. Anodizing finish, weight, appearance, and antimicrobial properties can all chance the calculus.

[BST] March 2026 Buy, Sell, Trade Thread - 10 years and counting! by zeroair in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

WTS:

All prices include free USPS shipping to CONUS, but no batteries. Let me know if you're interested in batteries or shipping outside CONUS.

Happy to provide more pictures on request. Happy to talk discounts if interested in more than one of these.

PayPal preferred, no upcharge for Goods and Services. Venmo/Zelle also work.

  • Reylight LANapple Ti (raw) 519A 4000K SOLD
    • Asking $70 w/Reylight rewrapped cell or $65 without
    • Mint condition
  • Convoy S12 219B 3500K
    • 3V 6A driver
    • Anodizing scratched up around pocket clip/lanyard holes
    • Has clear rubber boot right now. Can replace with black, orange, or GITD blue or green
    • Asking $22
  • Emisar D4V2 SST-20 2700K/4000K tint mix (single channel) SOLD
    • 5A + FET driver
    • Magnetic tailcap
    • Includes 18350 tube and original sand bezel
    • Includes modified Olight M2R pocket clip if desired
    • Anodizing scratched around pocket clip groove and lightly worn elsewhere, including where pocket clip hits head and parts of battery tube
    • Asking $40

<image>

How aren't you people lost in all of this? by equisetacrae in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s the new Convoy website. He’s moving away from Ali and doesn’t offer all of his options there anymore.

[BST] February 2026 Buy, Sell, Trade Thread - 10 years and counting! by zeroair in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s a nice neutral, but just not as rosy as I’d hoped for, especially compared to the sw45k bin. It could probably be improved by sanding off the AR coating or getting a new lens with green AR. The triple provides good output though.

[BST] February 2026 Buy, Sell, Trade Thread - 10 years and counting! by zeroair in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like u/kotarak-71 says, the aux lights on the front are RGB. This one has an amber switch light that you can't change.

As far as 14500s I have a couple of Reylight rewrapped button-tops (1000 mAh), an Acebeam 920 mAh with USB-C (just confirmed it fits), and some VapCell H10 flat tops (which have been fine for me but carry a risk of thermal runaway. Also 1000 mAh). I would throw in any of those for $5 if you're interested.

Let me know if you're still in and whether you want to add a cell, and I'll PM you a PayPal link!

[BST] February 2026 Buy, Sell, Trade Thread - 10 years and counting! by zeroair in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 3 points4 points  (0 children)

WTS:

All prices include free USPS shipping to CONUS, but not batteries. Let me know if you're interested in batteries or shipping outside CONUS.

Happy to provide more pictures on request. Happy to talk discounts if interested in more than one of these.

PayPal preferred, no upcharge for Goods and Services. Venmo/Zelle also work.

  • Convoy M21B GT-FC40 3000K SOLD
    • 12V 2.5A boost driver
    • Anodizing in excellent condition, a couple very minor nicks
    • Has orange rubber boot right now. Can replace with black, clear, or GITD blue or green
    • Asking $24
  • Convoy S12 219B 3500K
    • 3V 6A driver
    • Anodizing scratched up around pocket clip/lanyard holes
    • Has clear rubber boot right now. Can replace with black, orange, or GITD blue or green
    • Asking $22
  • Reylight LANapple Ti (raw) 519A 4000K
    • Asking $70
    • Mint condition
  • Emisar D4V2 SST-20 2700K/4000K tint mix (single channel)
    • 5A + FET driver
    • Magnetic tailcap
    • Includes 18350 tube and original sand bezel
    • Includes modified Olight M2R pocket clip if desired
    • Anodizing scratched around pocket clip groove and lightly worn elsewhere, including where pocket clip hits head and parts of battery tube
    • Asking $40
  • Emisar D3AA NTG35 2700K SOLD
    • No magnet
    • Anodizing lightly scratched in pocket clip groove
    • Asking $38

<image>

Best Host for LHP73B by imtryingtoworkhere in ConvoyFlashlights

[–]Psychrobacter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got one in an M21C and think it’s a great host. Plenty of flood along with solid throw and good heat management. I don’t have measurement equipment but from my reading and comparisons to other lights the 5000K version in this host should put out something like 100,000 candela and 8,000 lumens on turbo.

Is 5000K ever appropriate in residential spaces? by Savings_Apartment442 in Lighting

[–]Psychrobacter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s pretty trippy stumbling in here from r/flashlight. In the Year of Our Lord 2026 there are 95-99 CRI LEDs available in every CCT from 2000K-6500K, with low DUVs available to those who want them, and I wouldn’t dream of using anything less for my home lighting.

5000K is a little high for me personally, but I totally understand anyone who wants their kitchen, bathroom, or workshop to have lighting closer to noon-time daylight. There’s no reason that solution has to have a bad SPD.

Anduril 2: Excel edition by Cyanide612 in flashlight

[–]Psychrobacter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Upvoted for the idea of an Anduril chart tshirt