Help me pick a flashlight

[jetteraf]

I know enough to know that the term "best" is subjective, and there is no flashlight (or watch, gun, knife, etc.) that can do it all, but I came here hoping I could get some advice.

I'm looking for something about the size of a mini-maglight, but taking advantage of the technological advances we've seen in the past few years. Basically I'm looking for the best light output and battery life I can find in this size package.

I'm hearing good things about LEDs, and was all set to go shopping for a Surefire, but when I google flashlights I see a lot of good reviews on Fenix products. Basically, I'm hoping there is a consensus on the "best" general purpose light in this catagory. So, what do you guys say? Thanks.

 

[IcantC]

What do you plan to use it for?

 

[quatra2008]

mentioning surefire and fenix in the same sentence is a bad plan. both are very good in their respective ways. if you need a light that is nearly bulletproof but suffers slightly in the output department go with a surefire with a good amount of lumens. this is going to cost you a lot more than a fenix light with the same output. however if you need a light that is bright dependable but not built for tactical operations go with a fenix. but truly you should just buy both :twothumbs

 

[jetteraf]

IcantC: General purpose stuff: a backup in case my car breaks down, something to navigate around the house in power outages, drop it in a BDU pocket to have for national guard duty. Nothing really specialized.

 

[cfromc]

For the uses you mentioned, you really don't need a high powered or a tactical light. I have a couple of lights like you mentioned but the one that is the size of a minimag IS a minimag with a TLE-5EX drop-in and 2 lithium primary AA batteries. This will give you great run-time of approximately 4-6 hours or more (I have about 1 hour on 2 lithium AAs and they still read over 1.8V). It will also give you plenty of light, approximately 50 lumens (just a guess based on comparisons with my other lights). It is more than enough to see 50 yards in the dark and light up a room although not enough to be utterly blinding and unusable. Anyone can use it and batteries are easy to find since it takes AAs. The shelf life of lithiums is 10 years plus and the light will be splash-proof and should be able to take somewhat of a beating and still work. Another advantage is the cost; the drop-in is about $17-25 depending on where you get it.

Mine is a general use light with great run-time and has just become my "spare" light for when someone asks to borrow a light. Its 7-8 years old, been dropped once or twice, used for car repairs and sat in my motorcycle's vibrating saddlebags all year and still lights every time.

YMMV

 

[Gunner12]

Questions:

Batteries?
Size?
Multimode?
Cost?
Throw or flood?

I would recommend either the Fenix L2D-CE Q5 or the L2T V2.0. Has both good output(High/Turbo) and good runtime(Lower modes). Output wise, low of both lights are higher then the Minimag. 8% off coupon for CPFers at Fenix Store is "CPF8".

If you want lower price, look at one of the Dealextreme or Kaidomain Cree/Seoul/Rebel offerings. Like this one or this one(Only slightly cheaper but has 1AA, 2AA and diffuser options together, and doesn't look that hard to mod). Go for the ones getting good reviews. If you see a sub $60 Cree/Seoul light on eBay, chances are they can be found at DX or KD for cheaper. Shipping does take a month unless you use EMS.

:welcome:

 

[Snow]

Surefire L1 Cree

 

[jetteraf]

Thanks for all the advice. I ended up ordering the Fenix T1. It's probably more light than I need, but I liked the way it looked, and it was only marginally more expensive than the L2D-CE-Q5 recommended by Gunner12. It was also in stock and came with batteries and accesories.