Anyone into dive lights? I don't dive, but, these are some great, durable lights. I've got several Underwater Kinetics small eLED lights. Huge output for little weight and long burn.
two new arrivals Thrunite T10 and T3 The T3 is smaller than I'm used to so I carry it in my shirt pocket. 120 lumen. 3 power levels + strobe. AAA battery. twist head The T10 seems to fit my hand better and is a little easier to operate with a cap switch. AA battery. 169 lumen. 3 power levels Both are very nice , light weight and very reasonably priced at $20
My lovely bride got me an Elzetta alpha for Christmas. 415 lumens of night piercing led light. All I need now is a Charlie to complete my Elzetta collection.
It's all a compromise. I don't want to spend big bucks on a flashlight but I want a durable dependable flashlight. I am trying to find a happy medium.
Thanks to this thread I did some internet searching. I am going to get the led conversion for my mag lites and then buy a smaller flashlight. The mag lites are not small but they make a good light to carry in the truck.
Give me till the weekend and I'll give you a list of really good lights to check out. I have a friend that gets all kinds and models .
Hugsby Mini AAA Portable Clip LED Flashlight Penlight 13.3cm Torch US R4N7, I picked up 2 of these on ebay last week, received them the other day, seem to work well. 2 AAA batteries, about the size of a Sharpie marker, I keep it in my pocket like a pen. 2 of them for 11.77 free shipping. fits in my pocket and lights up the dark, if I need self defense I am going with SIG not a flashlight
If you have an uzi, and I'm sure we all do, then you REALLY need to get one of these. I have 2 on order right now. pretty sure its AA batterys, or at least convertible to AA. No sure about LED options yet. UZI Search Light
I like to keep flashlights available in various places in the home and at least two in the car. Grate advances have been made in them these past couple year. I look for function, cost and made in America. You don't have to overspend to get a decent light.
I've had a lot of lights in the $30 range over the years, most of them crap out after a year of use. Last year I bought a Fenix PD35, its easily the most expensive but it has amazing light output, it'll turn my yard into daylight. Hopefully it lasts me several years, I liked it enough that I bought one of their headlamps as well, an HL55. All my previous flashlights took AA's so I wasn't sure about switching to Li-ion, but the life seems longer and it's easy enough to always have a couple batteries charged and ready to go.
I'm thinking I'd like to try a USB rechargeable. For all out there thinking they'd like to try some of these high-powered "pocket rockets", AA and especially AAA cells just do not have the ability to power the higher power lights. I still run my StreamLight ProTac 2L as my everyday carry light but I sure am glad the company is buying those CR123s. With my usage, I get 2-3 weeks before it's time for new batteries, and no, an 18650 rechargeable will not fit unfortunately. Last time I bought a few of these for gifts, they were under $50 and make a terrific, durable (mine has been riding shotgun for 2+ years getting used several times a day.) light that performs very well, even against some newer and more expensive models. One thing that I'm somewhat picky about is optics on these pocket flashlights. In my line of work, being able to see details several feet back (tiny print on a wire label or IC, position of a set screw or bolt head while jogging a drive, etc.) is a huge advantage and one of the more subtle benefits of a quality light. I get someone who occasionally scoffs at my little light because theirs only cost $5 and is just as bright if not brighter. But the beam has more rings than Saturn and the light is an awful blue color that makes it hard to focus on detail, especially at night.
Like so many other things, think about what you want it to do. A light that is great for a walk out to the barn at night and lighting up things that go bump in the night may not be the best for working on something up close. I bought a fellow flashlight nerd a Fenix TK75 a couple years back and lemmetellyawhat, that mother has nothing to fear from the Sun itself. And while it does exactly what he wants it to (light up the whole backyard essentially) and it's relatively compact and lightweight, it's useless to me as an everyday tool. damm it's a cool light tho, .
I remember when I first started buying LED flashlights 15 years ago, I think they all had that blue hue. I don't miss those days!
I don't use flashlights much anymore, when I need a light I use a headlamp, I have several. I recently picked up this Coast HL7, Focusing Headlamp, 285 Lumens; low - 4 Lumens, two things I really like about it is that you can focus it down to a small beam or out to a nice flood, or anywhere in between, and the Variable Light Control Technology onboard you have the ability to adjust the light output with the control lever to any point between the lowest low and the highest high so you can have highly personalized output and runtime. This lets you conserve battery or turn the light down when you don't need a bright light, it's like a dimmer control. With the wide flood you could go out and split wood with just that headlight, I recently used it to snow blow the driveway in the dark and had plenty of light to get it filled up with gas and do the snow blowing. I liked it so much I decided to get the coast HL27 for longer battery life, with 3 AAs, RUNTIME (HIGH) 8H 30 min @330 lumens, it also has the variable light control and beam focusing. Focusing HL27 Focusing 330 Lumen LED Headlamp - - Amazon.com
