Swirl Finder Light

[AustrianOak82]

I'll start off by saying that I have read several of the swirl finder light threads and haven't quite found what I am looking for. I have a few questions about the whole process. I have a 1,500 square foot shop with several 8' fluorescent lights. I am looking for a lighting source to really help with paint correction. I have tried a 250W halogen standing light, an LED standing light, a Craftsman handheld LED light, my phone LED flashlight, and my Surefire E2DL LED flashlight (200 lumens I believe). To date, I haven't found anything that works. I was pretty sure my Surefire would nail it but I got subpar results.

My question is, what makes one light better than the other at finding swirls? What are the differences in the Rupes light vs. my Surefire that makes it "swirl specific"?

 

[medicscott]

So I have all of the above as well. And a flex handheld. The surefire is way too bright for such a close distance. The flex light is the right balance of brightness and beam focus that allows the paint to light up when held at an angle. I'm a fireman/paramedic and have every flashlight ever made for law enforcement, and smoke cutting and none of them worked perfect except the Flex handheld. Not sure what else there is to say other than it works!

 

[AustrianOak82]

Gotcha. I should add I have also tried a couple of cheap LED's I picked up at Lowes for my son to play with. In my frustration the other day I seriously thought about bringing my 18 million candlewatt Cyclops light to my shop. (Oh, no swirls huh? What about now?) - my thoughts. I have looked into the Flex and the Rupes. It looked like the Flex was better on black paint. Since we have two black vehicles, I was leaning toward the Flex (also due to price) but I wanted to find out what makes one better over the other and for what applications.

 

[medicscott]

Not sure about the Rupes but the flex has an adjustable beam that is awesome on black and red cars. On white and silver you might want that night sun light as nothing seems to work really well. Go with the flex. It's cheap.