First flashlight?

I have been a correctional officer for about 4 years now and am looking for a new flashlight. Cost is not an issue. I am looking for the strongest rechargeable flashlight I can get. It needs to be a reasonable size, but not too big as I need it to fit on my duty belt and not weigh me down too much. I do a lot of work looking in dark cells and sometimes work outside the facility on night shift. What recommendations can you guys offer me? The flashlights they have here for us are little stingers and no longer hold a charge......Thanks in advance for the help

:welcome:

You say cost is not an option now...wait till you find out that you can easily spend $500-$2000 on Customs around here. :devil:

What is popular now and may serve you well if you are looking for a rechargeable option and can spend a few bucks and don't mind building a light to get exactly what you want is combining a modular host with an LED dropin of your choice and running it on lithium ion batteries like the 18650. I don't know how much light you need or runtime or beam/tint preferences, but for example, a bored Surefire 6P with a Nailbender 3 mode XM-L LED dropin running on 18650 battery would be a super light. Does that sound interesting?

Otherwise, if you want turnkey solutions, there are many production lights nowadays from makers like Jetbeam, Sunwayman, ZebraLight, that are designed to run on li-ion batteries like the 18650, 17670, or 16340.

Check-out the Surefire R1 Lawman...and Welcome to CPF!

Do you mean actual plug in the flashlight rechargeable or uses rechargeable batteries?

youngbushcrafter said:

Do you mean actual plug in the flashlight rechargeable or uses rechargeable batteries?

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I like the plug in type (well at least I think so). Here at our facility, the stingers hang on chargers and have been used for probably 10 years.......they no longer hold a charge......I don't have a lot of experience in the way of flashlights. What is better in your opinion, the plug in type, or rechargeable batteries? I could see where rechargeable batteries would be a better option....I mean when the flashlight no longer is able to hold a charge, you would have to buy a new flashlight, but with the batteries, you would just have to replace the batteries once they no longer could hold a charge, am I right? I don't mind buying parts and putting together my own light, but have no idea where to go to buy the parts.....

I was thinking of something like this flashlight

Z2X CombatLight® Single-Output LED

LX2 LumaMax® Dual-Output LED

I was looking at surefire because I saw them on the list on this site of must have flashlights....seems like ok prices too.

How about a Malkoff MD-2 w/ a Malkoff M61 and hi/lo ring? Add some 3100 mAh AW 18650 cells and a good charger and you'l have a nearly bombproof light.

the streamlight strion led is a good choice because it can sit on its charging base 24 7 untill ready to use as well as when the battery eventually dies you can replace it yourself

cradlefan said:

I like the plug in type (well at least I think so). Here at our facility, the stingers hang on chargers and have been used for probably 10 years.......they no longer hold a charge......I don't have a lot of experience in the way of flashlights. What is better in your opinion, the plug in type, or rechargeable batteries? I could see where rechargeable batteries would be a better option....I mean when the flashlight no longer is able to hold a charge, you would have to buy a new flashlight, but with the batteries, you would just have to replace the batteries once they no longer could hold a charge, am I right? I don't mind buying parts and putting together my own light, but have no idea where to go to buy the parts.....

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In my opinion, lights with rechargeable batteries are superior to plug in ones for the reasons you expressed and there is a far larger range of flashlights that take batteries, in that case, take a look at the Fenix TK11/12/15/21 PD30/32, Klarus XT10/11 4sevens 123(squared) Turbo X, Those are some options (dont be limited to those) to check out but its your decision!

Thank you all for your responses, they are greatly appreciated. I will check out all the options and let you guys know what I chose. Thanks for the welcome!

I'd recommend the Klarus XT11 or the XT2C . For police/military personnel, I think the interface of the Klarus is hard to beat. Good luck with your hunt!


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I think I am torn between the Klarus XT11 and the Fenix TK21.........

cradlefan said:

I think I am torn between the Klarus XT11 and the Fenix TK21.........

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Between those, I believe the XT11 is far more popular for LEOs. The XT11 puts out about 500ish lumens on 1x18650. Its got more flood than the TK21, but it people say it is the perfect mix of flood and throw. It also has a fantastic runtime compared to other 18650s. Buy an 18650 charger for about $30, 3000mAh 18650s are about $15-$30 each so get two or more of those and you're set! Also a great one handed user interface.

Really can't get better unless you want extreme-throw or want to carry around a larger light.

cradlefan said:

I think I am torn between the Klarus XT11 and the Fenix TK21.........

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Klarus is brighter and the strobe can be accessed with a separate button, it also has a crenelated bezel which can be used to strike an attacker (in my experience this can be very effective!), For an officer, i would say the XT-11

I think I will go grab the XT-11 today. I like it. Thanks for all the help guys! There are so many choices out there, maybe I will just have to buy multiple one's and see which one I like the most?

cradlefan said:

I think I will go grab the XT-11 today. I like it. Thanks for all the help guys! There are so many choices out there, maybe I will just have to buy multiple one's and see which one I like the most?

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Yep, try out what you can and see what you like most. Check out the return policies but most are great and easy to do.

cradlefan said:

I think I will go grab the XT-11 today. I like it. Thanks for all the help guys! There are so many choices out there, maybe I will just have to buy multiple one's and see which one I like the most?

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Great choice! Btw, the xt11 is rated at 600lm on one 18650, 700lm on cr123a primaries and 750lm on rcr123's! . I haven't tried this out but the guys here that own one, even going gear, claim that it's true .

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HaileStorm said:

Great choice! Btw, the xt11 is rated at 600lm on one 18650, 700lm on cr123a primaries and 750lm on rcr123's! . I haven't tried this out but the guys here that own one, even going gear, claim that it's true .

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I am excited. I just ordered the XT11 today with my uniform allowance. I guess it will be 2 to 4 weeks before it comes in. The guy at the uniform shop said he couldn't believe the light was rated at 600lm. He told me he was going to check it out when it came in. I am not very knowledgeable on batteries, I am still learning about the new world of flashlights.....but I was under the impression the 18650's were the best? From what I am reading here though, the rcr123's are a better choice? Thanks for the help again everyone.

cradlefan said:

I am excited. I just ordered the XT11 today with my uniform allowance. I guess it will be 2 to 4 weeks before it comes in. The guy at the uniform shop said he couldn't believe the light was rated at 600lm. He told me he was going to check it out when it came in. I am not very knowledgeable on batteries, I am still learning about the new world of flashlights.....but I was under the impression the 18650's were the best? From what I am reading here though, the rcr123's are a better choice? Thanks for the help again everyone.

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RCR123s will get you around 700 lumens from the XT11. However, Klarus dosen't reccomend this battery type, and although it is brighter - your runtimes will be significantly decreased. (you're overclocking the LED a little)

1x18650 won't get you much more than 500 lumens, but awesome runtime.

rambo180 said:

RCR123s will get you around 700 lumens from the XT11. However, Klarus dosen't reccomend this battery type, and although it is brighter - your runtimes will be significantly decreased. (you're overclocking the LED a little)

1x18650 won't get you much more than 500 lumens, but awesome runtime.

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I think with the 1 18650, it gives you 600 lumens, not 500......right? The RCR123's aren't recommended, that sucks. Should I stick with the cr123's or go with 1 18650 though?