I need some advice conserning price/quality!

[troon]

I think I need to buy a strong led light, but yet relatively easy to carry around. I have looked at three lights:

1. Fenix TK30; 630 lumens; and the price; 143$

2. Led Lenser; 1070 lumens; and the price 300$

3. WiseLED Compact; 850 lumens; and the higest price 501$

I know this may be almost impossible to answer, but maybe some of you could help me with "thinking out loud".

I also know that the prices is not comparable. Maby some of you could give me some feedback conserning what would be the best buy conserning price/quality.

And my last question will be is it really possibly to deffend the 500$ price tag on the WiseLED?

 

[John_Galt]

If you want portability, any portability, then forget about option #2. It's massive. Requires 4 D cells, and weighs a ton. Also, LEDLEnsers/Coast lights are horrible on their own account. I doubt you'll get the 1070 lumens for more than the first few seconds with it, for a variety of reasons. 1: Heat. Coast lights are not very well heatsinked. As the LED warms up, it'll lose lumens quickly.

2: They lack regulation. So the output is directly linked to how long the batteries can provide enough current. And they aren't able to for long, as you are only supposed to use alkaline batteries in this light.

The TK30 is definitely better than the Coast, in terms of manufacturing quality.

I would take the TK30 over the other, but, in truth, I'm not extremely familiar with #3.

 

[ugly_giddy]

fenix is ok. i have their pd30 42. like it. but my eyes is set on the 4sevens quark 123 and AA model. i think the pd30 is the last fenix ill get not coz their not good but i like the quarks better. youll have options to mod it in a way.
thats only me.

 

[Brigadier]

SureFire LX2.

 

[Jash]

If the size of the LED Lenser doesn't bother you and you've got $500 to spend, go the Olight SR90.

2,200 lumens on high or a mere 700 on 'Low'. Throws like a canon.

Also consider http://elektrolumens.com/FireSword/FireSword-IV.html if you want sheer output. It's a flooby beam but lights up everything like daylight. It's $400 but then you need four 18650's and a charger. So about $500 all up.

Either of these lights will pound the LED lenser into the dirt for really not much more money. And the build quality of either is superb.

 

[carrot]

Yep. The WiseLED is awesome and the build quality seems quite excellent. I thought they were expensive before I handled them, but now that I have I'm convinced they're priced reasonably.

 

[fonarik.com]

Any flashlight will become obsolete, and you want to buy a new a few years later. Why pay a lot now. Fenix excellent quality.:twothumbs

 

[HIDblue]

+1 on the Olight SR90. It's cheaper than the Wise LED and spits out 2,200 Lumens. :huh:

 

[kramer5150]

Its impossible to have a price-quality discussion without first defining "quality". That term can mean ANYTHING under the sun to any number of people... hence the random scattered recommendations in the replies thus far.

With that in mind, what are your criteria for quality? What are the things you are looking for in a light? Try and list say top-3, mid-3 and low-3 criteria.

My favorite BIG light is the Xtar D-31... IMHO you are much better off with this than the Lenser. its more of a flood light than the SR-90.

 

[Jack Reacher]

I can only reiterate what Kramer's already said about your perception of "quality".

I note that you've quoted a price bracket of ~$140 all the way up to ~$500.

Quality is obviously largely subjective within such wide cost parameters as yours, but loses any important objectivity with such a huge pricing variation. You can really only judge something like quality objectively within much tighter lower and upper limits, say like between $140 to $200, otherwise it's a pointless exercise IMHO.

I normally hate analogies ('cos they're usually ill-conceived) but it's like saying you can buy a quality Ford for $30K (which you can) or a quality Mercedes for $100K... whilst a $10K Lada made in Russia will be a heap of rubbish. I'm just trying to illustrate that price alone doesn't always indicate quality.

Having said that, I'd give the TK30 my vote as a good balance of price, quality, form and function. You may also like to check out its sibling, the TK40, if you're an AA person. I ended up with the $99 iTP Polestar A6 after doing my research, and I'd put it in the "Ford category" quality-wise.

— Cheers, Jack.

 

[troon]

Thank you very much for your answers and your very mild and constructive criticism.