r/flashlight•
EMQG

Need to buy a penlight with a very narrow beam

Hey!

I restore vintage fountain pens as a hobby/a few bucks on the side. Sometimes I encounter unexpected issues or filling systems that I'm unfamiliar with and aren't well documented. In those cases, I usually need to use a flashlight to see down the barrel of the pen.

I've only tried a few lights (ones laying around my house - I'm not a big EDC/flashlight guy in general), and the only one I can name is the flashlight on my HTC One M7 phone. The rest all cost less than $20 at various stores around town.

None of them do what I need them to do. They work fine for finding stuff in the dark during a power outage, but I need to be able to look down a 5" long cylinder that can sometimes be less than 1/4" in diameter.

So what I need is a small light (big is fine too, but I don't need a ton of power or durability. It's going to sit on a shelf in my garage, I'm not backpacking with it) that can throw down a 6"*1/4" cylinder and provide good visibility at the end of those 6".

Any suggestions? Ron Zorn (big name in pen repair) sells this one, anybody recognize it or know where else I can find them even cheaper?

I don't wanna spend a ton of money on this, but I'd be happy to spend up to $30 if I have to, for really great performance. If there's a $3 light that'll work fine for my needs, I have no problem with saving my money (to buy more pens with, of course!)

Thanks!

:EDIT: Fyi, I don't care about the color of the light it produces or anything like that. I need to see shapes, not so much colors.

:EDIT2: sigh Yeah, I need a penlight to light up my pens. I promise the pun was an accident!

Posted Oct 28, 2017, 7:42 AM UTC · edited

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