Noob wanting suggestions

I guess I am completely new when it comes to flashlights. I do a lot of hunting, but it's on my own small property so I don't usually even carry a flashlight. If I need a light to track a deer, I usually walk to the house and grab some kind of old plastic light. That being said, I like bows and knives etc. and over the years on those forums, I've noticed people posting pics of their gear and more and more they have some type of flashlight. A knife shop I go into has a carries a few Fenix lights ranging from $28-$60 dollars, I'm not sure of the model numbers, but they've peaked my interest. I've been looking a little online, but don't really know where to start or what I'm looking for. I'll try to post what I "think" I might be looking for.
I don't think I need anything real tactical and from what little I know on the subject, maybe 120-150 Lumens? Just something to track a deer at night. I "think" I might would like a Fenix, but I'm open to any good brand and maybe something that uses one AA battery and bulbs that are easy to find replacements for. Are there any that look better with age? I've noticed some guys posting pics of small copper lights and others that get worn and faded after being carried a lot in a pocket and I'd like something that looks better the older it gets.
Also, are there any that are considered a classic or iconic model? Something that has been made for years and are easy to find parts for and tinker with and refurbish. Something like the Buck 110 hunter knife of the flashlights. Price range maybe $75 and under. Also I'd prefer a pocket clip. Thanks in advance, I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions.
Hopefully I won't get banned before I get started. Trying to figure out this forum and probably posted this more than once and I the wrong place. Apologies.

:welcome:

No real need to worry about bulbs any more. The LEDs will last virtually a lifetime with todays electronic controls.

Copper you say? AA you say?
Check out the Maratac AA REV 2, you may be able to find it in Copper. Neat light

Fenix are nice lights. They would be a great way to start. I would suggest one that runs on a 18650 battery. Get that, two Fenix 18650 batteries, and something like a Nitecore charger and you would be good to go.
That is really the only way you can figure out what you want or don't want. I mean, use them and see what you like. Don't worry about the tactical too much. Just make sure that what ever light you choose can be turned on LOW mode first. For hunting this is important. You don't want HIGH first, it will trash your night vision.

Copper looks and feels and smells great. But, it can be heavy. So caution there.
Also some copper lights can cost a pretty penny. snicker snicker.
Here is a neat copper thread to view.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?338453-Show-off-your-copper

People must get sick of hearing me say it, but if I could only have one light, it would be the Fenix PD35. It's small enough, gives the choice of 18650 or CR123 batteries, and I really like the mode options and spacing. It's got a 960-lumen turbo mode that I never use, but it's nice to know it's there, and I'd think particularly so in the woods at night.

If you think the PD35 is more than you're interested in, check out the E25. 2xAA and that's an excellent light as well. The one feature of the PD35 that I miss on the E25 is momentary, which is not supported by the E25 side switch.

Another I forgot to mention is Bushnell? I came across these in the store and they looked about like something I might want, but other than looking like what I wanted, I know nothing of them. I think they are supposed to make some decent optics, but does anyone know anything about them as far as flashlights are concerned? Thanks,

Well, i did as Str8stroke suggested, I bought several lights from thrunite, nitecore and some chinese ones. Tried them in real-world conditions (private security) and chose what i like most. As time passed and experience piled up, I became pretty picky about everything: form of the light, UI and even the tint concerns me by now. Experience through try and error is everything that ever helped me. No Amazon reviews, not even reading through all of Selfbuilts tests! Only holding the light in my hands, using it at work ever helped me to understand which aspects are important for me or not.
One fateful day, by chance, I saw an older Surefire LX2 on sale and was able to get it for like 40 EUR. As soon as i had it in my hands, I was hooked...
It may sound cheesy, but there was a subtle beauty to it.
Someone once said, that if you remove all excessive things, only beauty remains. There is nothing excessive on the LX2. Cant put it any other way. I think, the Buck 110 is also like this.
The next step in my flashlight evolution are personally customized lights. And im proceeding the same way: got several parts, dropins, got in contact with wise men here on CPF. Gotta put some lights together, get some mods done - try them all in realistic conditions.
Its costly, yes, but im not a collector by any means. Everything I dont see a use for is going to be sold again.

As for recommending lights to start with... well, a Convoy S2+ from Fasttech has great value for money, runs on 18650. Be sure to get a red one with the steel switch. It comes in many tints and output levels. UI is not great (for me) but usable. My girlfriend uses mine.

Surefire lx2 - you could get a used one for like 60-70$, at least here in germany. Dont know bout USA. Its great imao. Ive sold all my edc-sized lights because if it! Runs on cr123 primaries. Virtually indestructable, but the switch contacts wear off after 2 years or so. Clip can break off. Both parts are covered by SF warranty. Can be modded by Tana here on CPF for like triple the output. But thats another story.

For a bigger light, I can recommend the Nitecore p36. My most used light at work, dual 18650, amazing UI, nice form. Sturdy, dropped mine from 2m on concrete once.
A bit pricey though, 130$, I think.

Compared to many here on CPF, im still completely ignorant, but i hope i could help you a little.

Edit: The S2+ ranges from 400-900 led lumens. Maybe 300-600 OTF. Rather floody.

LX2 is 250 OTF - thrower. Can be clipped to a baseball cap.

P36 is 1800 OTF. Good spill-throw balance. Nice tint on mine.


Excuse my typos, writing on the phone.

If you are tracking and cleaning deer, you might want to think about a small lantern. Either the Fenix CL25R (18650 battery) or the Streamlight Surge (either AA or D battery). Both have good light spacing, and will provide area light for tracking and field dressing deer.

Eagle

1DaveN said:

People must get sick of hearing me say it, but if I could only have one light, it would be the Fenix PD35. It's small enough, gives the choice of 18650 or CR123 batteries, and I really like the mode options and spacing. It's got a 960-lumen turbo mode that I never use, but it's nice to know it's there, and I'd think particularly so in the woods at night.

If you think the PD35 is more than you're interested in, check out the E25. 2xAA and that's an excellent light as well. The one feature of the PD35 that I miss on the E25 is momentary, which is not supported by the E25 side switch.

Click to expand...

The E25 is absolutely terrible. I got them for everyone at work (13 people) and only 3 are still working. I'm looking into our next lights now.

I lost all faith in Fenix after that.

Eagles1181 said:

If you are tracking and cleaning deer, you might want to think about a small lantern.

Click to expand...

Headlamp, Zebralight H502 series. AAx1. Light, compact. Comes with head strap. About $75. One of the best headlamps made, IMHO.

For an almost disposable aax1 light in the 100-200ish lumen range, Sipik 68. Can be had for as little as $3, aluminum body, adjustable focus from spot to flood. Cannot be beaten for the price. Buy 10 at a time, save on shipping. Give them away as stocking stuffers. Completely ignore what a seller says about lumens and runtimes, they are all lying. The number of modes may be correct. There are a million variants of this light.

For distance work, maybe consider the Black and Decker AAx4 spotlight, $20. They out throw a heck of a lot of more expensive lights and are one of the best "bang for buck" options in a thrower, IMHO.

Now buy AA Eneloop rechargeables and the Eneloop charger, you can get them as a bundle for not much. Best there is in NiMH aa.

If you want a basic, simple, inexpensive light that will do pretty darn well, check out a Klarus P1A. I've owned one for 2-3 years and it's been a great little bargain. I think I got mine for about $35. I sent it to a custom modder here on CPF and had him replace the cool tinted XPG with a neutral Nichia 219A LED, and it now renders color amazingly.

If you're not worried too much about color rendition, a stock Klarus P1A should suit you well. It takes 1xAA battery, has two modes (which are determined by whether the head of the light is tight, or loose), a forward click switch so you can use it as a momentary light/signaling device if needed, and it runs for either 1.5 hours at 150 lumens, or 28 hours at 11 lumens.

This includes a headband which might make skinning and tracking easier for you with your hands freed up. 1 AA, 6 settings, up to 370 lumens.
My coworker just got one and it has a really nice anodized finish and is a very solid little light. And it has a pocket clip.

http://www.illumn.com/flashlights/armytek-tiara-a1-pro-v2-370-lumens-headlamp-black-bezel.html

Good deal on this one right now:
http://www.illumn.com/jetbeam-dda20-xp-g2-285-lumens-2-x-aa.html

dirtykoala said:

The E25 is absolutely terrible. I got them for everyone at work (13 people) and only 3 are still working. I'm looking into our next lights now.

I lost all faith in Fenix after that.

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That's an astonishing failure rate, no question about it. Have you tried cleaning the threads? I have noticed that mine won't work with any noticeable amount of silicone grease on the threads at all. A very light layer like I use on my other lights has to be further wiped off with a rag before the E25 will come on.

1DaveN said:

That's an astonishing failure rate, no question about it. Have you tried cleaning the threads? I have noticed that mine won't work with any noticeable amount of silicone grease on the threads at all. A very light layer like I use on my other lights has to be further wiped off with a rag before the E25 will come on.

Click to expand...

Yeah, someone a little rough me thinks.
Didn't hear what replaced these failed lights?

I want to know what did??

As good as grease is, I've gone to mineral oil on my lights. May require more often replication but has yet to fail me and causes less continuity issues and is less messy.

1DaveN said:

That's an astonishing failure rate, no question about it. Have you tried cleaning the threads? I have noticed that mine won't work with any noticeable amount of silicone grease on the threads at all. A very light layer like I use on my other lights has to be further wiped off with a rag before the E25 will come on.

Click to expand...

One of the lights is seized/ We can't unscrew it to get to the batteries or threads. A few had their light switch button bulge out, some just stopped working. Most have been thrown away.

WarRaven said:

Yeah, someone a little rough me thinks.
Didn't hear what replaced these failed lights?

I want to know what did??

Click to expand...

Still looking at replacements.

dirtykoala said:

One of the lights is seized/ We can't unscrew it to get to the batteries or threads. A few had their light switch button bulge out, some just stopped working. Most have been thrown away.



Still looking at replacements.

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Sounds like Mixed capacity batteries, or solvents?

Threads, yeah, end user love shows.

Pelican or Princeton tek plastic lights might be a suggestion.

WarRaven said:

Sounds like Mixed capacity batteries, or solvents?

Threads, yeah, end user love shows.

Pelican or Princeton tek plastic lights might be a suggestion.

Click to expand...

We have a pretty much unlimited supply of AAs... I'd hope no one mixed them up with non fresh ones.

Solvents are possible in our line of work.

dirtykoala said:

We have a pretty much unlimited supply of AAs... I'd hope no one mixed them up with non fresh ones.

Solvents are possible in our line of work.

Click to expand...

I wanted to jump to batteries as the cause, but it seems unlikely with AAs, don't you think? The only problem I've ever heard of with AAs is leakage, which would be obvious. And presumably those same batteries go in some other product where issues would show up if they were the cause.

I've been so impressed with Fenix quality, I can't imagine one customer having 10 lights fail. If it were me, I'd have to figure it out or it would drive me crazy not knowing.

1DaveN said:

I wanted to jump to batteries as the cause, but it seems unlikely with AAs, don't you think? The only problem I've ever heard of with AAs is leakage, which would be obvious. And presumably those same batteries go in some other product where issues would show up if they were the cause.

I've been so impressed with Fenix quality, I can't imagine one customer having 10 lights fail. If it were me, I'd have to figure it out or it would drive me crazy not knowing.

Click to expand...

Company money... Don't care

I'm happy that I have justification to spend more this time around. You'd think they would learn by now. Started with AA Mag Lights. Those obviously didn't last long. Tried some intrinsically safe Pelicans - too dim and bulky. Tried the E25's, mostly failed...

This time around I'm looking for single 18650 lights so we can have rechargeable batteries. Or maybe we can just tell everyone to go spend $75 on a light but they don't get another if it breaks.

dirtykoala said:

Company money... Don't care [emoji14]

I'm happy that I have justification to spend more this time around. You'd think they would learn by now. Started with AA Mag Lights. Those obviously didn't last long. Tried some intrinsically safe Pelicans - too dim and bulky. Tried the E25's, mostly failed...

This time around I'm looking for single 18650 lights so we can have rechargeable batteries. Or maybe we can just tell everyone to go spend $75 on a light but they don't get another if it breaks.

Click to expand...

Yes 18650 sounds appropriate 🔋🔨🔨🎆😲🚨

I don't think any other light can take this level of abuse at that price point if MagLite failed, Fenix failed... It doesn't add up unless these are being handed to the Samsonite gorillas as chew toys.
That budget would have been 3-450$ for one batch, similar for other line of lights... Up the budget or stay with best bang for buck E25.
Though, my intuition tells me something funny here.

Edit, I think the next round of free lights given to employees should be the cheapest pieces of crap you can find.
Following issuance, I suspect would last a lot longer if all is above board.

WarRaven said:

Yes 18650 sounds appropriate 

I don't think any other light can take this level of abuse at that price point if MagLite failed, Fenix failed... It doesn't add up unless these are being handed to the Samsonite gorillas as chew toys.
That budget would have been 3-450$ for one batch, similar for other line of lights... Up the budget or stay with best bang for buck E25.
Though, my intuition tells me something funny here.

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I don't know how they are failing so much. Nothing lasts around here. Maybe it is just working around chemicals that does it. I don't see how though.