Hi there,well welcome to CPF. As Joe has suggested stay with well liked brands here such as 47’s, Eagletac, Thrunite, Fenix, Zebra, ITP, Nitecore, Jetbeam. You will note most of us here talk about edc lights which means every day carry and youwill not find anyone offering a large orange or yellow plastic light for your trip. The lights we talk about here because they are every day carry are typically small lights that can usually but not always fit inside the pocket or bug out bag and are made of aluminium or titanium (also called ti lights). There are many things for you to consider and as suggested the more time on CPF the moré you will learn and read up about to then finally be educated enough to make a wise choice. Glad you are staying with normal cells (battery) options and I would suggest AA lights which allow use of alkaline, lithium and rechargeable(NiMH’s) that way you can use cheapies in the light when you’re on travel and revert back to eco friendly cells upon your return. Note that many lights talked about have two modes or a combination of two modes of operation. First is usually either a rear clicky which is a push in/out button at the rear of the light or a bezel operated light which requires you turning the head to activate.Some lights offer both so you turn the light on at the rear and then change modes via the front bezel. Keep in mind lights that use the front bezel to turn on will require the use of two hands which means they will not be that useful if you are carrying a lot of thing around camp at the same time you want toturn your light off and on. Many here are not that keen (or don’t appear to be)with sos and beacons however I feel they are very worthy if you are really outdoors. They work great as a marker light for hanging inside a tent or from apack when you are hiking at dusk etc. It saves on battery power which is a must if you are outdoors. To get a light with all features such as sos, beacon andstrobe you may be (I stand to be corrected) have to stick with 47’s and Fenix.Try and get a light that is user friendly and probably for you reasonably simple as there are a heap of lights that come with all manner of features thatwill blow your mind (well for a few minutes anyway). Also to note is that the lights with a rear button will require an overhand grip to operate properly asyou have to use your thumb to activate the rear push button. Some lights offe ra side button like the Zebra series which are easier (IMHO) to use but may not fit with what you are doing. Some of the things you have to consider are runtimes, illumination levels (lumens), length of the light, switch operation,modes of light available etc etc. The more you stay around and have a look thewiser your choice will be to get the right light. I wouldn’t worry about price just get the light that fits the job and pay the money. Being too thrifty will cheat you out of what you really need.
