father-in-law called, wants help picking a led thrower from a store.

This past thanksgiving i went to tennessee and stayed with the inlaws in the tennessee mountains. I took my flashlights. Mainly my eagletac, which just blew away the fatherinlaw. He calls me tonight and wants to know the best led that he can go to the store and buy off of the shelf. He wants it to be fairly small and have good throw.

I told him to hang tight and i would point him in the right directions. So ofcourse i put the post in here. I may buy him an eagletac one of these days but he needs one fast. Something about coyotes and chickens.

the first thing that came to my mind was the husky 200 lumen from homedepot. but that thing is huge and he mentioned he wanted small. what do you guys think, he probably doesnt want to spend more than 30 bucks on it. and he is not a flashaholic. ?

I might can get him to wait and order online if i can point him at a good light in that price range. throw is what he needs .

The Task Force Cree at Lowes? (the 60x brighter one). Runs on 2xC's

You might want to suggest the Lowes Task Force 2C light. It's 30 bucks, available at a brick and mortar, and designed for throw. There's a very lengthy thread on this light so you can read all about it. I have one and love it, but recognize it's limitations.

There's also a Dorcy Rechargeable light that has a lot of throw. It has pretty short runtime though for the size. It should work from 150-maybe 250 yards(depending on how dark it is). Costs more then $30 though. He'll have to raise the price range.

A MagLED might work up to 100 yards.

IIRC the Taskforce has around 6000 lux at 1m. Can someone confirm or has more accurate numbers?

How much throw does he need?

Hey, I think your first idea was a very good one. It is small next to a 6D Maglite.
I would ask him if he intends to carry in a pocket daily or keep it in the house near the back door?
If it is not going to be an EDC on his person, go with the Husky 4W at Home Depot. It has a lot of +++'s for scanning the chicken coops.

Under $30,
tough and strong,
very bright and focused beam,
common alkaline D cells last many hours,
forward placement of clicky switch - and simple on/off,
can tail stand very well,
it will not roll off a table,
older hands can grip the tail cap securely for turning and changing batteries,
and it is available in locally.

Oh, and some might claim it is ugly enough to scare off coyotes! :devil: I own one and love it.

The eagletac will be great when the emergency is over, and the Husky is great to have at home or in the car for all of its many virtues.
(You may find that he is so happy with the Husky that you won't need to spend the bigger bucks after all).

Good luck.

One of those rebel 2D mag is probably as good as it gets for under $30 store bought thrower.

Gunner12 said:

There's also a Dorcy Rechargeable light that has a lot of throw. It has pretty short runtime though for the size. It should work from 150-maybe 250 yards(depending on how dark it is). Costs more then $30 though. He'll have to raise the price range.

Click to expand...

yeah.. ditto
i think it's $45?


or the husky spotlight, not small at all..but cheap with throw

Well... this is my first posting here.

I am in similiar situation. The difference is that I am thinking about giving him a light as his birthday gift. So, i have little more time.

The problem you got there is the fact that

- he don't know much about flashlight.
- He don't want to spend more than $30
- Yet, he want the best.
- And, he want it fast.

Actually I feel for you. My father in law sometimes does that too. That's why I never show him anything fancy. When I do, He want something similiar next day.

I mean, heck, I will grab it if I can find something like that in local. Your problems are gone by now. But you know that's not exactly easy and there's a catch too.

He will be disappointed if his light is not as bright as your eagletec, or looks not as cool as it, because that's the light you showed him, and that's where his expectation is at.

I think you should talk to him about what choice he got. He can go local and buy anything he think looks cool and use it for a while, or you're going to show him choices in the internet and let him choose one and wait for a while. If he don't know anything about internet order, you may need to ask what he want more specific, and buy something for him.

You should be polite and careful. He could be little irritated, because you haven't given him an answer for monthes sine last thanksgiving. You know what I mean, right?

Good luck.

For $30? I'd say get the Husky 4w from Home Depot. It isn't a small light though....being 2D in size.

For another $15, get the Dorcy 220 lumen from Sears. I believe it out throws the Husky.

bigfish5 said:

He wants it to be fairly small and have good throw.

Click to expand...

You know, he may be just describing your (eagletac) light in a round about way.

I would say, If you are really close with your father-in-law send him the one you have. It will also chalk up points with the wife if you tell her. "Honey, you know dad liked this light so much I'll think I'll just send it to him." You may not get that look from the wife when you get another to replace it.

I gave my father-in-law a Sure Fire L2 and he was one happy dude.



Bill

Braddah_Bill said:

You know, he may be just describing your (eagletac) light in a round about way.

I would say, If you are really close with your father-in-law send him the one you have. It will also chalk up points with the wife if you tell her. "Honey, you know dad liked this light so much I'll think I'll just send it to him." You may not get that look from the wife when you get another to replace it.

I gave my father-in-law a Sure Fire L2 and he was one happy dude.



Bill

Click to expand...

That is a very smart idea.

I also like the 2D Husky idea. Cheap to buy, simple to operate (D cells),readily available, and a real "man's" flashlight. Your father-in-law would be impressed to get so much for so little. If the Coyote has rabies, it could even be put down with a couple of swings of the thing.

As a side note, I was working to clear out the bathroom sink trap yesterday and had placed the Husky on top of the sink while I kinda crawled under it. Coming out from under the sink I put my hand up to help pull myself from underneath. I knocked the Husky over and it fell on my head as my head came out from under the sink. It only fell about a foot onto my head but I'm telling you I saw STARS! Hurt like hell too!

-Hitec-

+1 for the husky as a thrower

I think Bill gave the perfect answer with a perfect excuse to buy more expensive lights with no complaints from wife.

I think this Eagletac is way more than $30 though?

The Task Force 150 lumen 2C LED flashlight that Marduke and GPB recommend is probably the best choice. It fits all of the criteria you posted (small and pocketable, not more than $30, amazing throw for its size). I have found it to be a very reliable light and it has great runtime.

I also own the Husky 2D $25 from Home Depot and the Dorcy 220 lumen LED rechargeable flashlight $50 from Sears or bought online for less, and they both out throw the Task Force by an enormous amount, and are quite a bit brighter. The Dorcy rechargeable out throws the Husky 2D quite easily and is the most powerful flashlight style thrower I have ever held.

The Husky rechargeable LED spotlight $20 from Home Depot is also a great light. It easily out throws my Husky 2D, and is closer to the Dorcy rechargeable in throw. It is featherweight and easy to carry, but still the most bulky out of all these lights.

Overall I would go with the Task Force light Marduke recommends because it is very bright and a powerful thrower for being so compact.

From a B&M store probably the Taskforce 2C Cree.

A Mag 2C Rop using Li-Ions might do the trick but of course you'd need the Li-Ions and the charger for same....

It all depends on how your father in law is like. But somehow I think yours is like mine.

If my father in law told me today something like that after I showed him my flashlight few months ago, I would interpret it this way. "I want the light you showed me or something similiar of that quality. Don't you think $30 is cheap to make your daddy happy?"

As I told you before at the post above, his expectation is set at what he saw, which is yours. Some lights in local store may meet those requirements he said, but I am not sure if that's exactly what he meant or make him happy.

If that's the case, you may want to tell him like "Daddy, I got it from the internet store, spent $200. The closet thing in local at $30 is the light X by maker B. Will you check them out and tell me what you think?

You will see what exactly he wants by doing so. If he said he likes the light, that's good. If not, you tell him wait a week, and order a light (yours or something similar) for him at his address. And tell your wife, you sent him a gift because you care for him. That will work quite nicely in both ways.

The new Maglite 2D with Rebel LED is a little lighter and more streamlined than the Home Depot 2D Husky. I don't know how good its throw is, but its supposed to be a lot farther and brighter than the old Maglite LED and its construction is probably slightly higher quality than the HD Husky. Just look in the lense to see a "060" and you'll know you have the latest generation Maglite.

Rather than the Husky 2D Cree, why not try the smaller (as requested) Husky 3aaa Cree, which is a cut down version of the 2D? It is pretty bright, has very good throw (on par with the Task Force 2C Cree), solid built, forward clicky, and is about $23 (here on Maui). It is a little big for pants pocket EDC, but is still rather portable (jacket pocket, hand carry, etc.).

If you are considering the Maglite 2D Rebel, it has a hotspot similar in size and brightness as the Husky 2D Cree, and throw is almost identical. Difference with the Mag Rebel is that the spill beam around the hotspot is dimmer than the spill of the Husky. Lowes is selling them for 29.94 here; it appears the lower price was because they were trying to sell off their stock of older Lux3 models, but staff was including the newer Rebel models inadvertently, as both styles are mixed together on the shelves.

The Husky 3aaa Cree seems to fit your bill for the requested features, though.

My vote goes to the new Mag rebel 060 2D. I don't have one yet but from what I'm reading I'd trust Mag over Husky or Dorcy in quality and reputation. The new Mag seems it will be plenty bright and throw much greater than the old Lux III model and is still a great deal under $30 at Lowes.