Most Powerful Quality Budget Light

[Ghostfit]

...And I'm with you totally ! :buddies: ....I've learn to take these Chinese lumens claims and halved it ...the specs of Chinese Li-on 18650 batteries are even more exaggerated ...they'll have you believe that a 5400mAH 18650 exists ! oo:

 

[TEEJ]

For the "budget stuff", my main problem so far is EXTREME inconsistency in specs and quality.

If I get a surefire or a klarus of a particular model, and then get another one a few months later, etc...they will be about the same in performance and quality. They are consistent.

If I get a SRK, or a DRY, etc, and then get another one, every single part of it might be different. The specs for the earlier ones might be better, and then you get XML instead of XML2's later on, or thinner walls, or different drivers, and so forth, with no change in the published specs.

So I try experimenting with these in case I find ones that DON'T break if I drop them, etc. So far, they break if dropped...and my "good lights" don't break when dropped.

They can be fixed, reinforced, and or souped up typically though, so its sometimes worth a shot.

Vinh for example can take a crap light and replace the weak springs and thermal paths and so forth, and pot the electronics, swap in a real LED, etc...and make the el cheapo's actually useful in real life. As they come from the factory, most are mere toys. They do produce light, but, not according to any formula you can count on...and not after being dropped, etc.

If I USE a light, it has to be reliable and sturdy, AND produce light.

So, If you do mod a cheap/budget/value light to make it work for YOU, it can be rewarding. A little solder and some TLC can restore the VALUE part of the equation.

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

...If I USE a light, it has to be reliable and sturdy, AND produce light...[excerpted]

I agree with you.

Most of the low cost lights out there are "cheap" (= unreliable) junk. (Or perhaps, so poorly designed that they are also "ugly" junk.)

"Good" budget lights are not all that common. I am sure that there are more, but I can immediately think of two of my favorites:

- One is the Tank007 E09. Most likely a copy of some other "well-designed" flashlight, it is a nice reliable little AAA keychain light with 3 brightness levels and all the other features that I need/like. I not only use one on my own keychain, I give them away to friends on a regular basis. Price: around $13.00

- The other is the Sipik SK-68, and its many clones. I own better flashlights, so I only need 1 or 2 Sipiks for my own use. But, once again, I find myself giving them away on a regular basis. An excellent value (extremely low price), but reliable enough to be very useful. And the price can be so low these days (less than $4.00) that, if you want, you can "comfortably" give one away to anyone that looks like they need a flashlight (even if they are a strangers).

I think perhaps the most important reason for having this "Budget Light" section on CPF is to help us all share information and locate other, equally "good" budget lights, when we can. (The SkyRay King, for example, may very likely be one. But, I have never owned one, so I cannot say, one way or the other. I will have to rely on the opinions and experience of others, unless I take the leap and decide to buy one for myself.)

 

[dna89]

As far as budget lights go. I got schooled by a fellow from Croatia I believe it was. The post I had made was about anything under $50 being junk & you get what you pay for. He explained to me the average monthly income for his area was $300 a month. Why couldn't he expect to buy a light and have it work just like the more expensive lights as well. Which made total sense to me. Actually it's why I started messing around with lower end lights at all. That way I would have an idea of what is dependable & what isn't if someone asked me about them.

 

[roboegg]

As far as budget lights go. I got schooled by a fellow from Croatia I believe it was. The post I had made was about anything under $50 being junk & you get what you pay for. He explained to me the average monthly income for his area was $300 a month. Why couldn't he expect to buy a light and have it work just like the more expensive lights as well. Which made total sense to me. Actually it's why I started messing around with lower end lights at all. That way I would have an idea of what is dependable & what isn't if someone asked me about them.

My experience of budget lights is that they are well made. I've yet to have one fail. My most powerful light is a Trustfire 3T6. The new Trustfire TR-J20 looks very powerful.

 

[dna89]

My experience of budget lights is that they are well made. I've yet to have one fail. My most powerful light is a Trustfire 3T6. The new Trustfire TR-J20 looks very powerful.

+1 I have a 3T6 as well. Great little light.

 

[roboegg]

I have 7 budget lights. I have had one driver fail in an ultrafire C2. This was easy to fix.
The rest have been 100% reliable.

 

[Rosoku Chikara]

...Most of the low cost lights out there are "cheap" (= unreliable) junk..."Good" budget lights are not all that common....[excerpted]

Having read the recent comments, I feel like I should try to explain my above sentences bit further. First of all, I was referring to personal experience (which I admit is still limited). And, when I said "low cost lights" I was thinking in terms of some of the really low cost lights that you see for sale... $1-2.00 each.

So, others may be finding "good" budget lights to be much more common, than I indicated. And, this makes sense, especially since I have never tried any of the many low cost 18650 Li-Ion lights that are available. (So far, I have chosen not to use any Li-Ion.) And, the last thing I want to do is to discourage anyone from trying a low cost light (you will never know unless you try it).

I guess I really wanted to point out the Tank007 E09 and Sipik SK-68 as "great" budget lights. (They are entirely different, and fall in different price ranges, but still both are truly great lights, in their own way.)

You may find other good budget lights, but probably not that many great budget lights. But, if you have suggestions for other great budget lights, please post specific examples.

 

[waltsworld8]

Skyray King 3 LED (about 2 amps/T6 LED) or Kung 4 LED (about 1.5 amps/U2 LED) both about the size of a soda can, just a little thinner.

 

[CUL8R]

Has anyone had any experience with the UltraFire L-6XL2? I decided to order a couple for xmas presents from DX. Quoted lumens are 3600 and may actually be attainable, as each of the 6 XM-L2 leds would only need to be driven hard enough to put out 600 lumens to obtain that figure. That's opposed to 950 lumens that each of the four L2 leds in my TM26 are driven to to reach the max of 3800 lumens. The price with shipping is only $40, and seems pretty darn low. I know this should be basically a very floody light with 6 XM-L2 emitters in such shallow/small reflectors. But that much light, unless it has really serious artifacts, should be pretty spectacular for the price. This light seems to be built on a very common platform used by/shared by a lot of Chinese manufacturers. Typical 4 x 18650 layout used by SkyRay, etc. Any info or speculation? Thanks.

 

[rje58]

Any info or speculation? Thanks.

Speculation: you ordered multiples of the same light - one or more will have problems.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

 

[unknown001]

Defiant Super Thrower gets my vote as well.

Some HomeDepots still have them for $17, and if you're lucky $12.

For the ridiculously long time I've spent searching, I have yet to find a better large light in the price range. Convoy C8 is the closest but in a much smaller form factor.

 

[CUL8R]

Speculation: you ordered multiples of the same light - one or more will have problems.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

Finally received these lights from DX. No shipping damage, nothing is loose, and all 3 work properly in all 3 modes with no noise. All 6 XM-L2 emitters in each light function well. I'm currently working 12 hr nights, so won't get a chance to compare these to any of my good lights until early next week. First impression inside and during daylight is they are nowhere near as bright as my 3800 lumen TM26 or 3200 lumen ThruNite TN30 XM-L2. But that could be simply because the light emitted from the 6 XM-L2 emitters are in such small, shallow reflectors they don't make a bright hotspot at the 30' distance I tried them at, but more of a flood pattern that I can't see as well during daylight. Or maybe they really aren't very bright in comparison. Anyhow, I'll find out the "Rest of the story" early next week when I wring them out at night.

One side note: I normally purchase high quality (and price) lights such as my TM26, ThruNites, Nitecores, Olights, etc. But occasionally I'll order something from DX. I usually read nothing but negatives from people who talk about DX and other "budget" chinese providers. But in the 4 times I've ordered form DX ( 8 lights, 1 multimeter, a digital caliper, and some tweezers) every light and device I ordered made it all the way around the world to me, and all worked properly with no issues at all. And they still do. DX's lumen claims may have been inflated, but that was a known issue and I was aware of it before I ordered. So I guess I've either been very lucky, or others have been very unlucky. DX is not a bad place to buy if you are careful. Just be aware at that price, you aren't getting Olight or Nitecore quality. Just my opinion.

 

[TEEJ]

Its often about the amount of thread overlaps, and the quality of the solder job, etc...if its not dead in the box when it arrives. That means there's nothing wrong with it, until it stops working or catches fire.

Do most of them catch fire, etc? No, of course not, just like MOST people who smoke do NOT get cancer...they are simply statistically more LIKELY to.



That said, ALL of the Chinese makers started out with this impression of them, and, SOME climbed the ladder with track records that warranted it, and evolved into the "name brands".

That means that there are some screaming deals out there, but, its a crap shoot...you can buy a lot of guinea pigs before you find a Wilbur.

 

[GregP507]

Skyray has a new light with 6 xm-l rated to 6000 lumens (!!!) with 4 x 18650`s. Costs about 100 usd. I am really considering buying one

I bought one (no-name equivalent) from China for $35. It claims to use 6 CREE XML T6 LEDs, which I didn't believe until I got rid of the crap Ultrafire 18650s, and got some quality batteries. Now it appears to emit 6000 lumens, as claimed.

 

[Mass. Wine Guy]

I bought one (no-name equivalent) from China for $35. It claims to use 6 CREE XML T6 LEDs, which I didn't believe until I got rid of the crap Ultrafire 18650s, and got some quality batteries. Now it appears to emit 6000 lumens, as claimed.

Where did you buy that knock off?

 

[GregP507]

Where did you buy that knock off?

AliExpress

 

[Richwouldnt]

Not sure it qualifies as a budget light as I got it on sale from Illumination Supply in San Jose, CA ( a CPF Dealer member) for $85. I got the Black Shadow Terminator from them, the last they had in stock apparently. This is the older model, not the latest T70 version with the switch on the body. Very clean machining and excellent anodizing. A good solid light so far with excellent workmanship judged visually. True OTF Lumens I judge to be about in the 2500 to 2800 range as it is brighter than my two 2000 ANSI Lumens rated lights and dimmer than my Fenix RC40 which is rated as 3500 ANSI Lumens. I particularly like the handle arrangement on it that gives it more of the form factor of older lantern battery using flashlights. Three light output levels plus strobe rather than the two plus strobe of the Skyray King lights. The low is still too high IMO for every day use as just for walking and close up use I find 60 to 100 Lumens more than adequate and per the manual the low output on my light is a claimed 400 Lumens.

With batteries the weight is about 22 ounces so it is a solid little beast. All in all a fun light and IMO a good buy compared to many more well known lights out there. BTW as an indicator of genuineness the light came with instructions in Chinese and English with a warranty form and included a serial number on the light. The paperwork even included a manufacturers address!!! I understand the cheaper Chinese clones do not bother with any of this.

 

[Richwouldnt]

I just ordered a 3 LED Skyray King from an Amazon seller and I hope that I get the real thing. One thing that I find very annoying about the inexpensive Chinese manufacturers is that not only do they counterfeit decent stuff but even each other. I would love it if the owner or a manager from the maker of the genuine article Skyray lights joined CPF and provided a list of internet dealers who they know are offering the genuine article. As is, per my reading, the quality of lights being sold under the Skyray King name as an example varies from quite good to total junk.

BTW the one I ordered is from a vendor who is using Amazon as a warehouse and as I am a Prime member I should have the light in 2 days.

 

[TEEJ]

I just ordered a 3 LED Skyray King from an Amazon seller and I hope that I get the real thing. One thing that I find very annoying about the inexpensive Chinese manufacturers is that not only do they counterfeit decent stuff but even each other. I would love it if the owner or a manager from the maker of the genuine article Skyray lights joined CPF and provided a list of internet dealers who they know are offering the genuine article. As is, per my reading, the quality of lights being sold under the Skyray King name as an example varies from quite good to total junk.

BTW the one I ordered is from a vendor who is using Amazon as a warehouse and as I am a Prime member I should have the light in 2 days.

Lol

There is no such thing as a "real sky ray king".

They will always be different because they are simply churned out by the low cost factory du jour. .so the drivers led threads wall thickness switches wires soldering etc will be different. ..always. ...even if it is called the same thing and looks the same...it won't be.

It is whatever is delivered to you that day.



I ordered plenty. ..and...they vary all over the map in quality and features.

They can be good hosts though.