What light is most underappreciated?

My apologies if this is too similar to other threads, but I am curious and haven't seen exactly this question posed:

What lights do you think have been greatly underappreciated or underestimated?

Answer not limited to inexpensive or costly lights, not limited to current or discontinued offerings, not limited to handheld or headlamps. Including megawatt blasters and dim battery-misers. Looking for lights you believe haven't received many good words on this forum or much action in the marketplace, but possessed some very desirable design features or functionality that was persistently overlooked.

Why do I ask, you ask? Because I notice that fads, not function, often seem to drive the design of products offered by manufacturers. Hoping to generate a little buzz for features that matter.

- Bill

Peak LED Solutions CR123 collection and 1AAA Collection is most under appreciated.

They are second to none, yet no one knows it.... have a look at flashlight reviews website and see the overall output compared with runtime against Fenix P1

The LEDLenser V focus LED 2AA has been under appreciated and yet its brighter than the Fenix L2T and is focusable from spot to flood

Greetings!

I think the most underappreciated flashlight currently being sold is the Princeton Tec Impact XL. Inexpensive 4AA LED design, absolutely IMMUNE to ANY quantity of water or bad weather, bright enough to be very useful in all but the most extreme of situations, LOOOOOOOOONG battery life, wonderfully ergonomic, and just about indestructible. I cannot find anything bad to say about this light... a true bargain at only $35-ish.

For a headlamp, the Inova 24/7 seems to be extremely underrated... the engineering is sheer genius and the ruggedness/waterproofing is top notch. Outperforms headlamps I've owned that have cost twice as much, in both features as well as battery life.

Best wishes,
Bawko

I find the SureFire E1E to be one of the under appreciated lights. Aside from cannibalizing its hull for mods, you don't hear a lot of things about it.

I took along for a hike the other night into the mountains and found it to be very useful. It has just the right amount of light for navigating and the hotspot throws far enough to see into the distance between the trees. And of course the warm color rendering quality of the incan goes without saying.


The spill beam is actually wider than my G2 P60 I was carrying which illuminated the foreground quite evenly. The runtime of the bulb is around a half hour longer than that of the P60.

After sitting on a stump admiring the stars and the dark forest for a bit, I turned on the E1E and - BAM there goes my night adapted pupils.

The E1E is a good balance between brightness and runtime. Clipped to my baseball cap, it is one heck of an incan headlamp that does double duty as an under appreciated flashlight.

have to agree with Surefire E1E.... own several E1E, but have never used it as a flashlight past turning it on to check bulb works.

it's always been used as a host for other mods. always thought what a puny output?

works great to make a sweet TW4, when combined with KL4, R123 and two stage switch.

While many people do like this light the Fenix E0 seems to be dismissed more than it should. Solid regulation and construction, smooth beam (if a bit blue), bright enough for 90% of most folks needs, and a $20 price. It delivers everything that was promised, but still seems to take a back seat to lights that may only beat it in one or two aspects.

In spite of my feelings, they haven't stopped me from buying most of the competition anyway. :laughing:

Geoff

well i know most people here know its a good light.
but on paper the surefire L1 doesnt look impressive at all.
but in actual use its probably the most useful light i own.

Pila lights are consistently underappreciated.

Magcharger or Magcharger/WA1160. The latter has output up there in the Mag85 range - at least to my eyeballs - without the hassle of assembling a Mag85, and with factory parts availability and support.

cheers

You know I kinda think the Maglite 2D-4D LED 3 watters are kind of under appreciated. They look and feel good in the hand, are pretty robust, put out very good light for over 30 Hours, throw like mad but still flood nicely and can be bought anywhere.

Sure they are not some whizbang tactical light but for a good lighting tool I think they are darn good lights, especially for the average person.

People complain about the light drop off due to thermal build up but even when the light settles in to it's thermal protection lower output it is still plenty bright and lasts for damn near ever. Great power outage light IMO.

I would have to say that the Propoly 4AA Luxeon is the most underappreciated light on this site. I have 2 and find them to be pretty good lights. There does not seem to be much written about these wonderful lights.

Just Kidding !!!:laughing:

Flying Turtle said:

While many people do like this light the Fenix E0 seems to be dismissed more than it should. Solid regulation and construction, smooth beam (if a bit blue), bright enough for 90% of most folks needs, and a $20 price. It delivers everything that was promised, but still seems to take a back seat to lights that may only beat it in one or two aspects.

Geoff

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Couldn't agree more. The EO is the best 5mm LED keychain light on the market, yet it gets very little talk and takes a serious backseat to other lights that are it is superior to.

LionCub.



rob

I would say the Eternalight EliteMax and Pila lights.
The Eternalight has as many features as the most advanced lights and more and it's as useful and serviceable as any light can be yet nobody talks about it.
Pila has incadescent and Luxeon lights that are similar in output and quality to surefires and others at a very good price and not a lot of talk either.

Luigi

E2O.

Seems to have a wonderful balance of brightness and runtime, and has a lovely beam. If you like incans, it is an excellent little light.

Though many love the Palight, it doesn't get a lot of recommendations.
I think it is the best nightstand and "around the house" light available. Every home should have a few.
The Superbright model is bright enough for most indoors household tasks, and the constant glow means it is easy to find.
Multiple power levels too!

The PT Rage.
This is a little butt-kicker, and is inexpensive enough to stash one in each jacket. Waterproof, bright, nice beam, over 1 hour runtime, comes with batteries. The small form factor helps a bunch.

The PT Attitude.
We have several, and I modded one with Nichia CS (I believe the new models already have the high output Nichias). The good qualities are similar to the Rage, but with substantially increased runtime. The overdriven Nichias put out about as much light as a 1W Luxeon.

I have both a Rage and Attitude in my backpack, and feel that I am covered in my lighting needs.

The sum of the qualities of all of the above lights result in them being so good, they are kinda ho-hum. They just work well for their designed purposes, and generally do so reliably, and without breaking the bank.

Most cheap Chinese lights...

A lot of people talk crap about them here, but I own a few and most of them easily outperform the regular 2D flashlights most people have and at a fraction of the price (keep in mind that I'm in europe, there's no such thing as a $2 light here).

...not limited to current or discontinued offerings...

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The old CMG Infinities were so underappreciated that GERBER dropped them entirely when they bought CMG. Even though the CMG had a following in it's day, most owned one with a white LED. The Infinities that really rocked were the ones with colored LEDs. The blue was VERY bright. The blue/green was hidiously bright. It was nearly as bright as the white Infinity Ultra -- except that it's +41 hours runtime (like other Infinities) totally blew the Ultras away. Even the ~525 nm greens were very bright.

At the other end of the scale the Infinities with amber LEDs were very, VERY dim -- the ultimate discrete light to check a wine list in a cabaret...

I think the original CMG Infinities with their various colored LEDs are the most underappreciated.

Those that have some of these lights will know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, there's sort of a hole in the market where these lights used to be and there is really nothing that replaces them in either configuration or price point. :sigh:

Heliotek. Great service, great run-time, nice design to turn spot into diffuse light with a touch, doesn't mind water, cold or getting dropped on its nose. Comes with a sheath and 4 batteries.

It is the light I am giving my dad this year to keep in his car...and I had no price range for this important job.

Yes, Heliotek. I don't have one but it's been on the 'short list' for some time. While completely different from the Heliotek, the LUMARAY FL-6-2006 also comes to mind as a very well designed, rugged light that is very underappreciated.