What light is on Jamies belt?

[Leatherman123]

On Jamie Hynemans belt he has a flashlight. I think it is a Inova X5 in the silver titanium finish? What do you guys think?

[NutSAK]

I can't tell from that picture...

[Leatherman123]

It has to be! The Inova sheaths look exactley like that! Or I was thinking it could indeed be a Coast! I saw him using an Inova X1 on the show a few days ago!

[Grant Lamontagne]

An excerpt from this month's issue of Popular Mechanics.

Def

[NutSAK]

I agree with his comment about the batteries.  I've sold off nearly every CR123a light I've owned, save the Fenix P2D and Lumapower M1 Tactical.  The P2D is part of the L1D/L2D combo set and, well, the Lumapower is just too sweet of a light to part with.  I run it on 18650 Li-Ion anyway.

That is definitely not a Fenix on Jamie's belt.

[GMArthur]

I pay $1.25 for a CR123 battery. What batteries is he talking about? We'll see how great his AA light is when a battery leaks and corrodes the insides.

I think he's starting a myth about $13 batteries. You'd think he would know better.

[Sea Monster]

CR123's are a bit tricky to find around here, though I'm not sure of the average price.

As for $13 Batteries, I've managed to pay in that realm for a pair of AAs (The whizbang rechargable kind) for my Digital Camera

[NutSAK]

I pay $1.25 for a CR123 battery. What batteries is he talking about? We'll see how great his AA light is when a battery leaks and corrodes the insides.

I think he's starting a myth about $13 batteries. You'd think he would know better.

You pay $1.25 in a store?  I see CR123a batteries for sale in stores everywhere for $10-$12 a pair.  What are you going to do when you're in a pinch and need a battery?  Are you going to pay $6 a piece for them in a store, or are you going to wait 2 days for your online order to arrive on your doorstep?

Not all AA's leak.  Have you ever had a NiMH or Lithium AA leak?

[NutSAK]

As for $13 Batteries, I've managed to pay in that realm for a pair of AAs (The whizbang rechargable kind) for my Digital Camera

The difference there is that you can recharge them 500 times.  500 uses for $13 doesn't so so expensive, does it?

[GMArthur]

I pay $1.25 for a CR123 battery. What batteries is he talking about? We'll see how great his AA light is when a battery leaks and corrodes the insides.

I think he's starting a myth about $13 batteries. You'd think he would know better.

You pay $1.25 in a store?  I see CR123a batteries for sale in stores everywhere for $10-$12 a pair.  What are you going to do when you're in a pinch and need a battery?  Are you going to pay $6 a piece for them in a store, or are you going to wait 2 days for your online order to arrive on your doorstep?

Not all AA's leak.  Have you ever had a NiMH or Lithium AA leak?

 My local Gander Mountain sells a box of 12 SF brand CR123 cells for $21.00 in a pinch. $13 a battery - not hardly.

 If all your going to buy is Lithium AA the price is comparable. NiMH What are you going to do in a pinch and need a battery, wait for one to charge? What if the power is out and your rechargeable is dead?

I'm not saying AA or AAA is bad. Just don't put 'em in a nice light.

[Spoonrobot]

Bass Pro Shop has Surefire batteries 6$ for two. 

CR123A batteries were an excellent form factor for early high-intensity pocket lights but are generally outmoded by modern NiMH AA batteries or Li-Ion cells.

I am slowly moving over to low-self-discharge NiMH cells for my AA lights and Li-Ion for all my other lights. CR123A is nice in certain limited situations (i.e. exploring and want to top off my lights without waiting to charge, long-term storage) but it surely not the best for all areas of use. Likewise with AA NiMH cells and Li-Ion, each has strengths and weaknesses.

 

I actually think the light on Jamie's belt is a AA Mini-Mag.

[Leatherman123]

But the mag sheaths don't have that cutout near the bottom right? My Inova X5 light has the same sheath as that!

[Spoonrobot]

Could be a Leatherman/Mag combo sheath, the Leatherman part being behind the light and obscured from view.

[NutSAK]

 My local Gander Mountain sells a box of 12 SF brand CR123 cells for $21.00 in a pinch. $13 a battery - not hardly.

 If all your going to buy is Lithium AA the price is comparable. NiMH What are you going to do in a pinch and need a battery, wait for one to charge? What if the power is out and your rechargeable is dead?

I'm not saying AA or AAA is bad. Just don't put 'em in a nice light.

You're lucky.  I live in a town that has a population of about 40,000, and you can't buy them here for less than $5-$6 apiece.  I agree that Jamie was exaggerating, but they're not cheap in some areas.  What will you do if you're in an area like this?

What am I going to do when I can't charge the NiMH?  Well, I'm going to go to the closest store, and I mean just about ANY store, whether it be the corner gas station or WalMart, and feed my AA flashlight with alkalines.  Cheap alkalines.  Not $6 lithium CR123a.

Tell me.  What makes your CR123a light nicer than my 2AA light?

I think you're going to have a pretty tough time explaining to me how CR123a lights can be anywhere near as cheap to operate as a 2AA light running Eneloops--or any other LSD NiMH battery.  Is that not the point that Jamie is trying to make?  True, he didn't say what he was using instead of $13 batteries, but he also didn't say he was paying $13 per battery.  Around here, if you have a light that requires 2xCR123a, you're going to pay $12 to feed it unless you order your batteries online.

[Leatherman123]

Spoon, but he has his Powerlock sheath in front of the light!

[Sea Monster]

I'm confused, are we arguing about Battery quality, battery price, Jamie's forked tongue, or Jamie's fashion choices?

[NutSAK]

I'm confused, are we arguing about Battery quality, battery price, Jamie's forked tongue, or Jamie's fashion choices?

    

[Spoonrobot]

Tell me.  What makes your CR123a light nicer than my 2AA light?

When my batteries fail they don't just start leaking in the battery tube all boringly, they blow the freakin' thing up like a bomb.

 

Oh, that and my light says Surefire on it. 

 

[NutSAK]

Tell me.  What makes your CR123a light nicer than my 2AA light?

When my batteries fail they don't just start leaking in the battery tube all boringly, they blow the freakin' thing up like a bomb.

 

Oh, that and my light says Surefire on it. 

 

  

 

[NutSAK]

Though I normally use NiMH, I've had very little troubles with alkaline batteries.  I pulled a "jam box" out of my attic a couple of months ago with 8 D coppertops that had an expiration date of 1998.  They were dead and none of them had leaked.  I've had good experience with Ray-O-Vac also.

I've experienced leaky Energizers, but that has been years ago and I don't buy them anymore.

[GMArthur]

 I wasn't trying to start a battery war.

 From my own experience I purchased a well known name brand AA light. I threw a regular AA alkaline battery in there and was not pleased with either brightness or runtime - it died in under a half an hour. This was my first "real" LED light and perhaps I was ignorant of the difference in AA battery types. I then tried a CR123 light, and no this one didn't say Surefire on it either, and was a lot happier with the runtime and light output.

 If AA lights float your boat that's fine. For me I have no problem finding cheap, reliable CR123 batteries- either online or locally. My point wasn't that CR123 lights are cheaper to operate than AA lights. My point wasn't that my CR123 light is better than your AA light (for the record I do have AA lights). My point was that Mr. Mythbuster has no clue about the price of batteries.

Now if you will allow me to bow out I'm going to go check my L2D and see if any of the batteries are leaking 

[NutSAK]

Yeah, sorry about that.  I agree that Jamie was exaggerating.  He could have, and should have, made his point without blowing it out of proportion.  I think his point was the difference in the economy of batteries, but that point was not well made.

Runtime is really lame using alkalines in any of the newer high-current LEDs like Crees and Seouls.  That's why I would only use them in an emergency situation, on the lower output levels.  If you expect a light such as the L2D to run a decent amount of time in turbo mode, you really are stuck with using NiMH or Lithium.

--Back on topic--

If I were to guess, I would say that's not an Inova on Jamie's belt but again, considering the resolution of the photo, I would only be guessing.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't think Jamie was exaggerating too much.  Radio Shack in Canada was bought by Circuit City and now up here is called the Source.  Pointless I know, but this is the local price for CR123 batteries at the Source, aka Radio Shack:

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Lithium+Batteries&product=2300155

They are $9.99 for those who don't want to bother with the link.  This is a price drop, because only a few months ago they were $12.99, which is the reason why I don't buy them.  Likely the price is dropping as demand for them increases.  Jamie's info may have been a few months out of date, but remember, this article was likely written about six months ago too.  As a result, it is very possible that he did see them listed at $13 somewhere and was disgusted enough to get something else.

Def

[Dtrain]

Def,you should send in an inquiry to MythBusters about their choices in Personal Lights and Multitools.

Dtrain

[Leatherman123]

At Rite Aid, WalMart, and Stop & Shop they are all about ten bucks for two!