Any good flashlights out there?

[DWalt]

I converted two older 3-cell Maglites from incandescent to LED. Cheap to do and highly satisfactory. And I still have a pair of serious billy clubs if ever needed. I also have a couple of cheaper and smaller LED flashlights. All of them are completely satisfactory for my limited needs, mainly for fixing plumbing under the sink and taking the garbage cans out to the street at night. What good is a Lumen you don’t need?

My favorite and most used LED flashlight cost me $5 from the markdown area at WalMart. That was about 10 years ago. I have one small Surefire in my pickup, never needed it for anything yet but I do check the battery condition every year or so.

 

[Beemerguy53]

I always have my Surefire Titan with me, on a ring with my Swiss Army Manager knife. Checking online, I see that Surefire has a new Titan Plus model that's a little longer and much brighter. Surefire products are made in the USA, and while they're not cheap, you get what you pay for, in my opinion...

 

[raisedin99]

I bought one of these streamlight dualie 3AA 140-lumen dual nearly 4 years ago and carry it with me daily it's easy on batteries and light weight. Has a spot light as well as a walk light. This past fall I bought another just to have a spare. A great flashlight.

terry

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016P919RC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1[/ame]

 

[chief38]

I just got a Skilhunt M150 (up to 750 Lumens) for Christmas. Runs on a single rechargeable AA battery and is an excellent all around small and powerful flashlight. I got the warmer LED version and it is magnetically charged. So far I am very happy with it and it comes with a dual purpose clip too. You can clip it on an hat or any pocket. IMHO it is a step above the O light model of similar size and specs. Although it was a gift and I did not buy it, I believe you can get it for under $50 bucks on Amazon.

 

[JM4151]

STREAMLIGHT FLASHLIGHTS

Streamlights are still producing the SL 20 flashlight in the LED model. Great if you want to use it as a club or a defensive weapon. You get what you pay for and Streamlights makes some of the bests lights in my opinion. They last and last and if they should break, send them back to Streamlight in Norristown, Pa and they will repair it and and return it to you. Great company to deal with. I still have my SL 20 that I bought in the mid 1970's. I have a few other models too now.

 

[snubbyfan]

Streamlight Stylus Pro uses two double a batteries and I don't leave home without it. Push a button on one end and light comes out the other end.

 

[6string]

Most of my flashlights are custom built from parts sourced from mtnelectronics in Utah.
Batteries and chargers I get mostly from the 18650batterystore in Georgia

This is interesting to me! I found their website, and they have a lot of components.
Any suggestions?

 

[F4phantom]

I bought a Powertac M5 two years ago and really like it. It's about 4.8 inches long and about an inch in diameter. Brightness setting is over 1000 lumen. We use it at about 480 lumen. Not a bad flashlight for $79. They have others in the same price range.

Powertac | M5 - 1,300 Lumen EDC Flashlight – Powertac

 

[IronSkillet]

Because they have not been mentioned in the body of this thread,

Malkoff Devices, Made in USA. At one time or another probably

used all of the common brands for pocket sized flashlights, like my

pocket knives they seem to simply vanish. As previously

mentioned with the cost of batteries, have added flashlights that

work with my rechargeable tools (Makita-Milwaukee) amount of

light they put out is amazing and plenty of extra batteries if

needed.

 

[shovelmike]

BlueFire

I buy BlueFire, have them all over the house. $15 from Amazon, very bright LED, includes a holder to use three AAA penlight batteries or optionally a single 18650 rechargable.

 

[StakeOut]

A lot of people seem to be fixated on lumens but completely ignore throw.

Lumens = Light Output. In simple terms, Lumens (denoted by lm) are a measure of the total amount of visible light (to the human eye) from a lamp or light source. The higher the lumen rating the "brighter" the lamp will appear

A lot of very useful information and testing about flashlights can be found on the budgetlightforum

 

[oldbrownhat]

FWIW I just came across this review of some new Husky LED lights, including a Dual-Power LED flashlight on the Toolguyd website, which I visit often. $27.00 at the time of the review (last Nov.)

"The flashlight has a very solid feel to it, and I like that it has separate USB-C ports for both charging and use as a charger. The push-button control is comfortable and intuitive.
​

It has dual-power battery options, meaning it has a built-in rechargeable battery but can also be used with 6AA alkaline batteries if you’re in a bind and can’t get to an AC outlet.​

11-1/2″ long at its smallest. It comes with a tray that holds AA batteries in 2x rows of 3x end-to-end."

​

 

[6string]

I've got to add to my original post that Coast has been excellent with customer service.
They promptly honored their warranty when I last notified them of my most recent problem.
Separately, I had an email from them requesting a review for a recent purchase of a flashlight I bought for my wife. She really likes it (was offered in several color options!) but arrived with dead batteries (their own extra performance brand). I mentioned this just in passing in my review.
They spotted my comment and notified me they were sending fresh replacements.

They are also very friendly to deal with.
So, you gotta give great service credit when you're lucky enough to consistently get it!

 

[TX-Dennis]

These take triple A's, but have been good to me and just turn on and off. Great bang for the buck...

Amazon.com

I ordered a couple of these after looking at the link. Arrived today. I like them. Much more convenient to use than the others I have that have several settings to cycle through. These are plenty bright enough for most uses.

 

[KalamazooKid]

My “light storage unit” is 80% Olight stuff these days. Rechargeable and they just plain work.

 

[Vtgw938]

I've carried Streamlight's since the early 1980's. Now I buy their Poly-Tac 600 USB model. Just ordered a third one. Small and bright, they are powered by a USB ported re-chargeable battery. You can also use two CR123 batteries. It is a quality light for under $60.

Multiple programable settings. I have mine set for low/medium/high but you can also have it set for one button - full bright.