General Purpose

[thomast77]

I am looking for a good general purpose LED flashlight atleast 100 lumens powered by 2xAA with a tail cap push button switch for no more than $30. Any recommendations?
Thanks Tom

 

[FlashKat]

Hard to find.

 

[roadkill1109]

I would have recommended the Fenix E25, but the budget is too low for a quality next-gen LED flashlight.

 

[Gunner12]

For a bit above your price range, the Shiningbeam Spark could work.

The new Minimag LED is said to be decent and could work, also the Romisen RC-N3 is a nice budget 2 AA light. It's only single mode though.

:welcome:

 

[bbrins]

The Fenix E21 is just a few bucks beyond your price range, but if you shop around a bit, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a lower price. I don't have any experience with the Sunwayman R20A, but it is also about the same price, Sunwayman makes pretty good stuff along with Fenix. Check out the cpf marketplace, some of the merchants there post some pretty generous discount codes, and if you can wait a couple of months these guys usually have some really smoking Black Friday and Christmas sales.

 

[TEEJ]

I am looking for a good general purpose LED flashlight atleast 100 lumens powered by 2xAA with a tail cap push button switch for no more than $30. Any recommendations?
Thanks Tom

By "General Purpose" - do you mean its not meant to do anything in particular?

(AA batteries have very little power compared to lithium ion cells, etc...so you get relatively short run times and a dimmer beam....and are your limiting factor after cost)



Depending on what you mean, 100 lumens could be OK, or too weak. If the 100 lumens are in a tightly focused beam, it might reach further, but illuminate very little in area (A little spot of bright light is very difficult to use for task lighting).

If the 100 lumens are in a broad, floody beam, it could be ok for close up task work, taking a walk w/o tripping....but not see very far away.

And so forth.

What would you like the light to be able to DO?



A "General Purpose Light" is akin to a "General Purpose Screwdriver"...it may or may not do what you need it to.

 

[Up All Night]

Rayovac Indestructible 2 AA, forward clicky, 100 lumens high, 18 lumens low. Defined hot spot with good throw and useable spill. $15 at Home Depot. I have two, good buy!!

 

[thomast77]

By "General Purpose" - do you mean its not meant to do anything in particular? (AA batteries have very little power compared to lithium ion cells, etc...so you get relatively short run times and a dimmer beam....and are your limiting factor after cost) Depending on what you mean, 100 lumens could be OK, or too weak. If the 100 lumens are in a tightly focused beam, it might reach further, but illuminate very little in area (A little spot of bright light is very difficult to use for task lighting). If the 100 lumens are in a broad, floody beam, it could be ok for close up task work, taking a walk w/o tripping....but not see very far away. And so forth. What would you like the light to be able to DO? A "General Purpose Light" is akin to a "General Purpose Screwdriver"...it may or may not do what you need it to.

I am glad you brought this up. I don't want a thrower or a flooder. I think I need more of an inbetween. I guess you could say this is most likely to be used as a task light. If the power goes out during a hurricane or I need to look around outside at night or working on the car type of light. I am now willing to go $40 if necessary. It has to have the momentary on and off tail switch I want the high setting to be more than 100 lumens and low setting maybe somewhere around 40-50 lumens. It has to be powered on 2XAA. I have lots of Eneloops and chargers so the batteries are already taken care of. Honestly I was looking at Going Gear at the Klarus ST20 for $40 and I likey, But they have been discontinued

 

[reppans]

FWIW, any 1xAA will cover over 100 lms and be EDC pocketable with tons of back-up battery options. A lot of my general purpose EDC lights max out just over 100 and I find that more than enough. I like letting my eyes dark-adapt for a few minutes and then, I'll tend to use 0.3/3/20 lms as my L/M/H with a floody XML emitter. This also means my Eneloop or 14500 batts last forever - which is really nice when you're using a light 5 hrs straight, like when camping. I find task work with my hands and close up illumination to be required and distant viewing to be optional.

 

[thomast77]

What do you guys think about the Fenix E25 it does not have the tail switch but I like the range of brightness levels 27/90/187 I also like how long it lasts on the batteries 26h/6h15m/2h20m. Its kind of hard to see what the flood vs throw is like from videos?

 

[thomast77]

Which one has the best flood/spill Fenix E21 or E25?

 

[Gunner12]

I don't have either, but the E21 and E25 should be similar in terms of spill (see if you can find beamshots).

For under $40, Shiningbeam has some lights that could work as well. His Caveman and Spark could work for you. Forward tail clickie for on and off, loosen -> tighten the bezel to change modes.

 

[thomast77]

Thank you all for the input I ordered the Fenix E21 v2 from amazon. My next plan is to save for a more expensive light using the 18650 rechargeables. I will be doing alot of research and looking around. Limit for this one will be somewhere around $80. It must have a clicky either on the tail or on the side. for this one I want some throw with a nice flood/spill. I want atleast 3 brightness levels low around maybe 25 mid around 80-90 and high atleast over 200. Any recommendations?

 

[Gunner12]

I hope you like the light!

Make sure to get good rechargeable batteries.

Shiningbeam's MG X-Thrower could work.