Most Inexpensive Flashlight You'd Trust Your Life to?

[Liquidspaceman]

What is the most inexpensive light, other than Maglite that you would trust your life to? Specific Make and Model please.

Here's my farfetched scenario.

Let's say your son, daughter, nice or nephew or even your dog, wandered into an abandoned mine. I know you'd want the best light, but in this scenario let's assume you had none of your own lights and the local old time miner only had flashlights that were under 25 bucks. He was a "cheap flashlight" hoarder.

This gray bearded miner had Garritys, Rayovacs, Energizers, Romisens, Ultrafires, Hardcase, Brinkman and all other assorted "cheapie" brands you can think of. When he struck gold, he bought all the cheap flashlights he could.

But the miner was also a NUTJOB. He was going to loan you a flashlight but he was also a stingy, old, mean ******* and said, "ONLY ONE LIGHT YOU CAN TAKE." You asked for a backup and he said, "HELL NO, JUST ONE LIGHT, TAKE IT ER LEAVE IT."

And he was holding a shotgun too so you couldn't just strong arm him.

Assume he had every flashlight under 25 bucks you can think of EXCEPT a maglite (weird right?).

No lanterns.

No extra batteries.

No keychain lights.

Old graybeard says YOU BETTER HURRY UP AND CHOOSE OR YOU AINT GiTTIN' NONE. He's getting impatient, better choose fast.

Yes I am extremely bored at work.

 

[ackbar]

CMG Infinity. long battery life.. built like a tank.. plus it has a lanyard so you can't lose it if you hang it on your belt. Even better if you get one with a lithium primary in it.

EDIT: I just read your OP again and I would like to note that a stock mag is a horrible light in this situation. If it is the new LED ones then it has no moon-mode and will just die without warning. A incan would suck up juice quickly and would leave you a long tail runtime of pitiful light.

 

[american lockpicker]

I would take a 2AA Pelican Mitylite.

 

[Chrontius]

Inova X1, second-generation. I've abused an X5 enough that I trust their designs, and I've seen the guts enough to know that if the glue holds, it's pretty bulletproof.

Everready Dolphin, they're big, they run for a good long while, and they float. They also have a backup lamp in a clip inside, I think.

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

ANY lower priced Inova.

 

[Marduke]

Fenix E01 for $15
Gerber Infinity Ultra for $16.75

Both ultra reliable, nearly indestructible.

 

[saabgoblin]

I would surmise that he would also have a cheapo shotgun that would jam and then I'd kill the crazy old coot, render his body fat into an oil and make a torch out of his newly rendered oil and old clothes, oh yeah, since he's already dead, I'd take his lights to add to my collection.

 

[Liquidspaceman]

I would surmise that he would also have a cheapo shotgun that would jam and then I'd kill the crazy old coot, render his body fat into an oil and make a torch out of his newly rendered oil and old clothes, oh yeah, since he's already dead, I'd take his lights to add to my collection.

The skull would make a neato torch head in an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom sort of way.

 

[Black Rose]

Fenix E01 for $15
Gerber Infinity Ultra for $16.75

Both ultra reliable, nearly indestructible.

+1

Simple and effective designs that produce more than enough light for most situations.

 

[Flying Turtle]

He was a "cheap flashlight" hoarder.

I resemble that remark. :laughing:

Geoff

 

[nerdgineer]

Hard to answer a question phrased that way - I'd have to look at the specifics of what he had, not considering the price. In any event, the cheapest really reliable light I ever had was the Walmart Dorcy 1xAAA for $6. I upgraded it with a better 5 mm LED (another $1) and that thing always, always worked. Including after going through a wash and dry cycle. Super darn reliable light.

Most reliable lights (at any cost) from that point upward are all twisties, and generally spring loaded twisties. The 1AA Dorcy 3xLED light (with upgraded LEDs) for about $12, the Gerber Infinity Ultra, the Fenix E01, any of the other Fenix/Civictor spring loaded twisties, the old CMG IU.

Above about $15 or so, I don't consider them to be really cheap anymore.

 

[carrot]

Oh, nerdgineer, I dug out my Civictor awhile ago and it didn't work! I was pretty surprised

 

[Oddjob]

I agree with Marduke and Black Rose. Both the E01 and Gerber UI are reliable and will give you long runtimes. Brightness in that situation is secondary to runtime assuming the old guy won't let you take spare batteries. Who knows how long you will be down there. Either of these light will provide adequate light in a pitch black environment.

 

[vali]

+1 on Fenix E01

I would like to say Romisen RC-N3 or RC-G2 but, honestly, I will not trust my life on them.

 

[lumafist]

McGizmo Mule, hands down.....:thumbsup:

 

[RobertM]

I was going to say Streamlight Microstream, but I haven't had mine long enough for it to prove itself, so I'm going to have to go with the Fenix E01 like some of the above posters.

Robert

 

[Benson]

Someone want to explain what I'm doing out near this abandoned mine naked? (Only way I'd be without a light of my own.)

Assume he had every flashlight under 25 bucks you can think of EXCEPT a maglite (weird right?).

Definitely a NUTJOB. But I think I've seen some posts of his around here before...

Anyway, I'd ask for the 7D Kel-lite, bash him over the head, and take his shotgun and several fistfuls of lights...

How about a 24hour emergency candle, and some relighting method (a long-nosed lighter, or a bottle of matches)? :candle:

Failing that, the biggest decent-looking LED light available, probably a 4xAA, but preferably a C or D cell. It's an abandoned mine, so you don't need much light; my concern would be runtime, which cheap lights of any sort don't tend to have much of. You don't need much "reliability" either, as it's your only light -- you're not going to be neglecting it while you do something else, only to find it it broke when you ran into something with the hip it was on; anything that isn't obviously complete crap will serve well enough, and has negligible chance of failing before the batteries croak.

If I had to name a particular brand and model, rather than selecting what's there, I guess I'd go with a Brinkmann Rebel 2xAA (although with any luck, he'd have the 2xD Rebel, which he'd gotten on sale somewhere -- the cheapest I see it online is $25.99).

Lumafist: I didn't know there were any McGizmo's going for less than $25?

 

[rockz4532]

Sounds like Scrooge at the beggining of the story... I would take the E01, reliable, waterproof to 100 feet, and long runtime. Perfect for an abandoned mine.

 

[PetaBread]

I dont mean to be rude, but why does the OP keep making these

threads asking the same questions? :thinking:

Honestly, use the search function. :tinfoil:

 

[mossyoak]

after dropping an inova x1 three feet onto carpet head first and having it die, i will never trust any inova.

fenix e01 is just about the best choice under 25 bucks.