Favorite budget light 2020

[jrgold]

Convoy S2+, about $15. They come with lots of different emitter options, easy to swap parts, and they carry really nicely with 18350 tubes.


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[bykfixer]

I have a Brinkmann MaxFire on the shelf. A while ago I attempted to get as many non-metal P60 hosts as I could (easily...didn't really hunt for rare or expensive models). I haven't tried it yet with a dropin, but I like the incandescent it came with.

I like the bulb it came with as well. It must have been seen as bold back in the day.
It's why I kept it stock. But now that supplies have dried up it's why I stashed the original bulb assembly recently. The 25 or so lumen 4k drop in aint too far off from the stock look of the beam.

 

[bykfixer]

I ran across a little Husky 1x aaa light I had picked up at the big orange store prior to the big shut down. It's a bit of a Rayovac Indestructable in a smaller platform.
Nice throwey 50 lumens to out throw the Maglite solitaire but it's bigger due to a rubberized head being nearly as long as the body. The tailcap clicky is a lot like a Microstream if you are familiar with those. Finger tip press required. Being a forward clicky allows momentary activation. Button protrusion and short travel makes it more suitable for tool bag or box carry over trouser pocket carry due to potential unintended activation. No lockout feature.

It has double o'rings at both ends and both tail cap clicky and front engine can be removed. Cool white beam with a hint of yellow around the spot, yet not some fried egg looking beam. At $6 with an Energizer battery included it's been a nice addition to the world of 1x aaa lighting tools.

 

[jkqubrrppmwyuslhck]

I always keep a few $5 LED flashlights around the house. I'm not relying on them for anything serious, but in a pinch (or a power outage) I at least have a decent gap fill for the time being. Almost any of the back-button store brands that take AA or AAA will work for this!

 

[iamlucky13]

I've got a few nicer lights on the to-buy list, so to avoid irritating my wife with even more new lights, I'm not really dabbling in cheap lights right now.

However, back at Christmas I did grab a 5-pack for $5 of what was advertised as "Buck lights" (company logo is a deer). They're typical keychain lights with a 5mm emitter in them, but running on 3 alkaline button cells, instead of the normal lithium coin cells. This means less battery capacity, but higher output. On fresh batteries I measured around 100mA (more after the emitter swap).

I got these for my young kids because they are colorful, too big to be a choking hazard, appear to be secure (screwed together, so unlikely for them access the battery), and only have momentary on, so they can't waste batteries by leaving them on.

The very first thing I did was replace the standard cool white emitters with high CRI, warm Yuji emitters. Due to the low forward voltage, they actually seem brighter than with the stock LED, despite high CRI usually being less efficient.

 

[iamlucky13]

I ran across a little Husky 1x aaa light I had picked up at the big orange store prior to the big shut down. It's a bit of a Rayovac Indestructable in a smaller platform.
Nice throwey 50 lumens to out throw the Maglite solitaire but it's bigger due to a rubberized head being nearly as long as the body. The tailcap clicky is a lot like a Microstream if you are familiar with those. Finger tip press required. Being a forward clicky allows momentary activation. Button protrusion and short travel makes it more suitable for tool bag or box carry over trouser pocket carry due to potential unintended activation. No lockout feature.

It has double o'rings at both ends and both tail cap clicky and front engine can be removed. Cool white beam with a hint of yellow around the spot, yet not some fried egg looking beam. At $6 with an Energizer battery included it's been a nice addition to the world of 1x aaa lighting tools.

I just checked the HD website and don't see this.

50 lumens, single cell but not too small, rubber head, and a forward clicky sounds perfect for an upgrade for my older kid - still not responsible enough to have a brighter light, big enough to hold onto, won't damage our floors when he drops it, and forward clicky is slightly less likely to get left on than a reverse clicky. It would probably need the LED replaced, and I've got some 4000K and 3000K options in my box of parts.

 

[bykfixer]

I went to my local HD yesterday and there were none there either, nor even an empty slot for them.

 

[Buck91]

Budget lights? Easy.

1. Convoy S2+ SST-20/biscotti
2. Thrunite Ti3 NW

 

[flatline]

Budget lights? Easy.

1. Convoy S2+ SST-20/biscotti
2. Thrunite Ti3 NW

Where do you get the Convoy?

When I've looked at the S2+ in the past, I was never sure what firmware it came with...

--flatline

 

[Buck91]

Just go to the official Convoy store on AE. Simon is very responsive to questions and requested (ie: Can I order this red anodized body with the sst-20 and biscotti?).

 

[bykfixer]

I just checked the HD website and don't see this.

50 lumens, single cell but not too small, rubber head, and a forward clicky sounds perfect for an upgrade for my older kid - still not responsible enough to have a brighter light, big enough to hold onto, won't damage our floors when he drops it, and forward clicky is slightly less likely to get left on than a reverse clicky. It would probably need the LED replaced, and I've got some 4000K and 3000K options in my box of parts.

Went back to the Home Depot I bought the first one at and they had one left. They also had a 2 cell version that's 80 lumens. Very similar beam etc just 2 cell length.

Here it is versus a triple a minimag

 

[bykfixer]

The Husky aaa lights.
What the cat saw

The 50 lumen one aint bad at all at tossing a beam.

The 80 lumen one throws farther.
Much easier to see in real life than on camera.

 

[iamlucky13]

Thanks bykfixer. I'll just have to take a look the next time I'm at the local Home Depot.

 

[ubangi]

My favorite budget flashlight is the Convoy C8. For about $30 it is hard to beat the performance. ASFLASHLIGHTS has them in stock and local.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Depends on what you consider a budget light. Here are my top picks:
Flashlight: Bushnell 9 AA 1500 lumen 2 level flashlight ($20)
Lantern: Costco 8 D Enbrighten lantern ($10-$15)
Headlight: Nitecore HA23 headlight ($25)
Floodlight: Husky 1000 lumen 6AA floodlight ($15)

If we're talking really cheap like $5 and under:
Duracell 500 lumen flashlights and headlights from Costco (3 for $15 on sale)
Costco pack of 3AA 500 lumen 3 level (30 lumens warm white, 60, 500 lumens) Cascade Mountain Tech collapsible lanterns ($14 for 3 on sale now)

 

[bykfixer]

The Bushnell lights seem pretty rugged. I've never really put mine through the paces to know but they do feel pretty well built. I knew Bushnell binoculars won't bad at all so I bought some of their smaller flashlights a few years back.

Before joining here I thought of budget lights as the type of plactic cheapy type you tossed when the battery leaked or bulb blew. $8 or less. The Costco stuff you cite HoF is what I used to think of as a budget light. Those are the type I call "even bad lights aint bad these days" lights, but this thread en-lightened me of lights like Convoy, Sipik, Sofirm etc and with prices like they are even a few Maglite models.

 

[LanceMoreland]

I am not much on buying made in China products these days but I do carry the Ultrafire WB-501's (or the similar WB-502's) in our vehicles. They are pretty good P60 hosts and if someone breaks into the truck I am not out of the cost of a Surefire.

 

[richbuff]

Year 2020 has progressed enough to not be too premature for my vote. So far, Astrolux EC03 gets my vote. Price is practically free, mid size, tons of performance for its size class, attractive looks, plenty of both throw and power for its size, all combine to get my vote. Emisar, Lumintop, Noctigon, Astrolux/Mateminco and Nightwatch are among the areas that I have been concentrating on for the past six months. They have all come out with very attractive and affordable high quality budget class lights. Those five brands, plus Acebeam, Imalent and Nitecore, have been on top of the affordable performance light game.

 

[CSG]

The $17 Desert Tan Olight i3T (sale at Amazon) is at the top of my current list followed closely behind by the $10 Fenix E01 V2 (sale price).

 

[bykfixer]

The V2 is on my list of potential 2020 favorite budget lights.

Actually it is the only 2020 model light I've bought this year. Every other budget light I've bought this year was 019 or earlier model products.