So Whats the BEST then?

so so so many lights to look at, so so so SO many brands types, sizes, shapes, colours, etc. whats the best LED light on the market? what light says, 'hey, im the motherF***in king' i cant say cos im only new to this 'sickness' but im just curious to get a decent response

Does your toolbox hold only one tool...one tool that you can call your favorite and does every task, performs every job?

There are many "BEST" lights out there - I suggest you start your "photonic emitter account" now! Start tossing all your pocket change into it, look for things around the house to sell, and perhaps get a 2nd or 3rd job to buy all of these "BEST" lights!!

Can I get in on the pool as to how many different lights are now going to be suggested?!

if there's an LED light that I would call the KING. Keeping in mind that when I think "KING" I think the biggest baddest brightest toughest etc etc.... I think of this light..
http://elektrolumens.com/ELX-12/ELX-12.html

Best normalized by cost: Civictor V1. maybe the Fenix L0P-SE...

Best independent of cost is (just guessing, don't have one) a Larry light? a Maxilite?

McLuxIII-27LT would be a great place to start looking for the best, but like was already mentioned, there isn't one flashlight for every task. The 27LT is about as good as it gets for a super tough all purpose light...

The best commercial made light in my opinion is Surefire.

Other best lights would be custom lights like EDC40/60....

Im sorry, but lights made in taiwan, china dont make my list as a best light

for the word 'Best' at the moment...
check on the CPF Modding folder

and don forget this:

nerdgineer said:

Best normalized by cost: Civictor V1. maybe the Fenix L0P-SE...

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I think there are many light in the market are very best light. In fact best light is depending of your point of view or your needs:

brighteness
runtime
design
size
finish
etc.....

Every one here get his own best light and it's not necessary the same choice. If you think there are many of them who are the best for your purpose, you just have to buying it and you 'll become a real flashaholic.

Well you have to say what you will be using the light for. I think there are a bunch of lights that could be considered the best, but you have to factor price into the equation to make it really equal. For example a Maxlite is really nice but costs $280. People like to exagerate it's brightness, but in reality it is only a little brighter than a Jetbeam (which costs $45) and if you toss a 14500 in the Jetbeam it easily outperforms the Maxlite. What I'm saying is that for the most part when you want the absolute best you pay hundreds of more dollars for 5-10% more quality. Most of the people who have the best (most expensive) lights out there just have too much money to blow and want it only because it is the best. It gives them a sense of gratification knowing the own the best available. I myself have owned the HDS U60XRGT (thought to be the best) and a FFIII (also considered damn nice) and sold them both. Neither of them satisfied me and I felt ripped off for paying such a high price for them since they really didn't do that much of a better job than my $40 light I was using before (SXOH modded L1P). Anyways I'll make you a list of the best lights available, here it is:

If you don't care about paying an obscene price here is the best regardless:

Surefire U2 (aside from the quality control issues that come along with this one it is pretty awesome! 6 fully regulated levels. The old version can run on a single 18650 rechargable for free lumens, the new one can't without modification to the walls of the light. Takes it a notch down in my book.
Mclux PD (custom made and very high quality. This one carries a enormous price tag but that is to be expected with a sweet looking TI light like these bad boys. Many fans of a super high quality finish will say this one is king).
HDS U60 (very nice quality overall. multistage light with regulation on all levels. If you are looking for the flat out best this might be it. Especially considering they are on sale right now.
Firefly III (multi stage light, super bright output on high but overheats in mere minutes at that level. no regulation)
Maxlite (the most overpriced light on a list of overpriced lights. I would only pick this one up if you want to say you have one for braggins purposes. Has an awesome look to it and is built like a brick, but as far as performance goes this one isn't up to par).


If you want lights that are VERY good but are also cost effective and won't cost an arm and a leg here is another list:

Streamlight Propoly 4AA Luxeon (Awesome compremise of output and runtime)
Fenix P1 (very similar to FF3, has similar brightness on 3.6v rechargable)
Fenix L0P SE (3 stage pocket light similar in size to ARC AAAP, but destroys it in everyway possible)
Jetbeam MKII (3 stage single AA light with strobe and SOS. Very nice light overall!)
Huntlight FT-01 (as long as you get a non flickering model this thing is really tough to beat for the price if not impossible. 60 lumens output for 3 hours of flat regulation! No other single cell light can touch that, regardless of price!!!

The question you asked is like asking "so what's the best type of vehicle????"

We could answer a car - a truck - SUV - racecar - 18 wheeler - train - airplaine - horse + buggy - boat - motorcycle......??? Under each category there are several manufacturers with diffrent levels of quality (and therefore price).
Buying anything really depends on what you are going to use it for.... we can't answer the question unless you tell us what you need the device for.

In flashlights - are you looking to carry it with you all day every day or you only need it for emergencies such as power outage. Are you lighting up something close or far away. How long do you need to run the light - will you have spare batteries available to you.

bestcounsel said:

[...]
Im sorry, but lights made in taiwan, china dont make my list as a best light

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Country of origin doesn't determine whether something can be good or not. That's like saying everything made in America is good.

Don't forget the Gladius! Adjustable, very low lowest brightness setting, tactical features. After they changed the coating and streamed the tailcap, there's is nothing bad left.

elgarak said:

Don't forget the Gladius! Adjustable, very low lowest brightness setting, tactical features. After they changed the coating and streamed the tailcap, there's is nothing bad left.

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There are still lots of reports of odd shaped hot spots and warped reflectors...

Arc-P. It's always in my pocket...

This is the best one.

love the 5mm leds around it...looks like glass art hahaha

personally, it would be a PD XR-E putting out at least 150 lumens out the window!

teststrips said:

The question you asked is like asking "so what's the best type of vehicle????"

We could answer a car - a truck - SUV - racecar - 18 wheeler - train - airplaine - horse + buggy - boat - motorcycle......??? Under each category there are several manufacturers with diffrent levels of quality (and therefore price).
Buying anything really depends on what you are going to use it for.... we can't answer the question unless you tell us what you need the device for.

In flashlights - are you looking to carry it with you all day every day or you only need it for emergencies such as power outage. Are you lighting up something close or far away. How long do you need to run the light - will you have spare batteries available to you.

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when u put it like that... ur absolutely right, didnt wanna annoy anyone by asking a seemingly pointless question. but yeah im just curious. its good to see finally someone mentioned the Gladius. but like there a 5 million types of LED lights out there and its like, well they all produce light, some for hardcore outdooring and some for combat/tactical, some to look cool, some for keyrings etc, so i c where ur coming from.

i like the look of the Surefire U2 but i also LOVE the look of the Gladius. i like some LEDLenser products and then i look at McGizmo and love the poop out of their wares. but i also love Inova... its amazing how different every light is. thats why i think my post-question is relevent hey, cos u guys will all have a cool perspective on which light is best :rock:

As others have already said, depends on what the purpose is.

For instance, for survival/long hiking trips, the Gerber Infinity Ultra is hard to beat. Good price (~$20), uses just one AA battery (alkaline, lithium, or rechargeable), adequate output (not great, but adequate), and has one of the longest runtimes out there (72+ hrs).

Maxlite (the most overpriced light on a list of overpriced lights. I would only pick this one up if you want to say you have one for braggins purposes. Has an awesome look to it and is built like a brick, but as far as performance goes this one isn't up to par).

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If price alone is a consideration, then it may or may not be "up to par." But if performance alone is a consideration, it most certainly is up to par. I don't know of a brighter 1AA alkaline light out there, and the low setting gives 10+ hrs. of run time.

marxs said:

personally, it would be a PD XR-E putting out at least 150 lumens out the window!

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I am with you marxs... the ultra-high quality McLux PD mixed with the highest output LED ever made: the Cree XR-E. The run of the mill production $6.50 LED that punches 80 lumens at 350mA (3.1V) or 105 lumens at 500mA (3.18V)? Not enough? OK... 134 lumens at 700mA or 50 lumens at 3V 200mA (0.6 watts)?

I hope the bin Q3WC XR-E pans out... 125 lumens at 500mA and 155 lumens at 700mA?

I can't tell you what the BEST is for you... but I can tell you the BEST LED... I have five of them coming, McR19 reflectors and a bored Mag waiting to host 4 of them at 500mA. It will be my BEST photon cannon that will run over 3 hours on level 8 max brightness.

wakemare said:

so so so many lights to look at, so so so SO many brands types, sizes, shapes, colours, etc. whats the best LED light on the market?

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The awful truth is there's no "best LED light", and even if there was there'd be another "best LED light" around in a couple of months. After all, technology is still moving quite fast in this field. This of course means that many people around here are forever stuck with buying more and more lights - which may or may not be a good thing ...

Just consider lights for hiking: Depending on the area you're in and the type of hiking you want to do you may prefer a small, dim, lightweight light or a big, bright light with lots of throw or even a headlamp. If you're in a less developed country a CR123 light may well be out, and if you're in an area where you can't rely on mains electricity all lights that work best on Li Ion or NiMH rechargeables are obviously not a good idea. And so on.

I personally believe there are only a very few criteria that may apply across the board. Reliability is one of them in my opinion, I'm simply not interested in any lights that aren't reliable, not even in lights that I'd never use in a situation where I may depend on the light working. Another one is workmanship, I don't like shoddy workmanship at all, not even if the light is reliable. But that's about it.

Come to think of it, there are situations where the UK 2AAA LED, by no means a "modern" LED light, is better suited than many first class lights, for instance when you need a small, disposable, cheap light with long runtime that runs on alkaline batteries for a trip in a very wet environment. You wouldn't really want to carry a Surefire L4 on a trip where you might well lose your light and where you can't get hold of CR123 batteries, would you?

Hans