Must it always be like this?

bewildered - posts 1
Unenlightened

Greetings Flashaholics!

Please help a newb pick out a decent light. I'm bewildered by all the specs, LEDs, battery types, etc. Need a reliable flashlight to replace "Old Faithful" - a Mag 3D that got lost last week. Are those newfangled MagLEDs any good?

Light will be used around the house, out in the garage, and fishing trips on weekends. Want to stay away from lights that use expensive batteries. Don't want to order online. Would rather buy locally so it can be easily returned if necessary. Thanks in advance for your help.

PS: Can't afford to spend over 50 bucks or Wife will kill me.


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SurefireFan - posts 2555
Flashaholic

Welcome to CPF, bewildered. And hold on to your wallet because it's about to get a lot thinner!

You really need at least two lights to fulfill all your needs:

-Surefire U2 for around the house and garage. U2 is the best damn utility light ever made. Use my U2 all the time for working on the truck.

-Surefire A2 for fishing. A2 is absolutely the best damn fishing light ever made. Once you've taken an A2 on a fishing trip, you'll wonder how you ever got by without it.

These lights are slightly above your price range, but once you've experienced Genuine Surefire Qualilty you'll thank me for recommending them. You can find these lights at better sporting goods and police supply stores. Don't worry about batteries - you can order them online for a buck each.


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CreeMania - posts 84
Enlightened

Dude, screw inferior M@gLED technology. M@g sucks!!!!!! Cree Rulez!!!!!!

Dude, get something with a Cree! Anything else is obsolete!


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Fenixlover - posts 1255
Flashaholic

Forget the M@gLEDs - outdated technology and low quality.

Fenix Cree lights outclass anything at their price points. A Fenix L2D CE can be ordered online using the CPF discount for less than 50 bucks including shipping, and it uses common AA cells. Great light - you'll be amazed at its output on turbo.


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(And on and on for dozens of posts before someone tells the poor newb that the MagLED 3D would be an excellent replacement for his lost Mag 3D.)


.

And the reality of the situation is that tint differences aside, there is NOTHING terrible wrong with M*gLeds!

Especially for someone like me, they are a good thing for relatively cheap.

Not small. Not the brightess. But long lasting decent light from Alk C and D batteries.

the recent CREE rage is making alot of people very stereotypical of lesser lights, especially mags...partially because they either have been disappointed by the lights stock performance or have never used earlier lights to understand the concept of why that light was popular before the newer lights came about.

Do you ever wonder why people only recommend CREE fenixies nowadays for whatever application the threader may post with little regard to other alternatives?

Nothing at all wrong with Mag Led's. You could probably get a 2 or 3 D and a minimag and not go far over your budget. Check out your local Wally World or Target and get your lights. :wave:

i don't see anything wrong with fans of certain flashlight companies recommending something that makes them happy to someone new

well when it has nothing to do with the topic or doesn't at all fit with the criteria set by the threader is what makes it annoying, often with some type of transition statement for "alternative choices"

this was before CPF went down...I have yet to see if more is coming up

Yes ringzero, it must always be like this :shakehead
In absolutely ever other forum I'm in it is the same pattern.
Original Poster asks for simple reassurance and advice on what to buy within a budget... and is promply given recommendations for a product anywhere up to 10 times his stated budget. Aficionados of a top quality specialty product will often enter in with almost a demand that the Original Poster should consider Product X that is far over his buget etc.,

Original Poster then feels stupid, embarrassed, inadequate etc., and usually goes away for good after mumbling a reply to the effect of "thanks, yeah... I'll look into brand X... good idea... cheers guys..."

For any normal flashlight chore there simply is nothing better than a Fenix L2D-CE (L1D-CE) in the moment,
especially if someones budget is about the price they cost.

Mags are technically outdated (if much ppl tell this, there might be some reason) and the magleds even more. This has been typed over and over in here, no need to mention all the points again.
Low power Surefires are no longer to recommend also (imho) and much higher in price than the posters plan to spend

Good points, RingZero --

Often thought that CPF should have a Quick-Reply menu
of common, stock answers to common questions:


-- To recommend the OP purchase a SureFire, press 1

-- To recommend the OP purchase a Fenix, press 2

-- To recommend the OP purchase a Headlamp, press 3

-- To recommend the OP purchase an HID, press 4


(you guys get the idea . . . .)


We all have our favorites. We like to suggest something
that we ourselves KNOW and (more importantly) LIKE !

We want to help prevent someone making the same mistakes we've made in the past.

We wanna' save 'em the hassle of reading Thousands of CPF threads.

We're just trying to be helpful. But (let's face it), most folks aren't into this as deeply as WE are.



Few days ago, i was out at Softball games, taking photos with my Canon DSLR.

Someone approaches me and blurts:

"Hey, what's the BEST camera to buy ?"

(that's all he said)


I immediately replied:

"The Canon EOS 1D-Mark3 will be shipping next month.

Quantities are gonna' be limited, so if you want one,
better get yer' name on the Waiting List."


He sez: "Canon. OK, cool" Then he walks away.


We've gotta' realize that, in our chosen fields of expertise,

the best choice for US is not necessarily the best choice for OTHERS.

Some CPF'ers are too smart to read the entire thread before posting; or for that matter, too smart to even try to understand what the original poster is asking. CPF'ers are often nice, but also often dumb.

Ringzero, that is an extremely funny (and very accurate!) parody / cameo of a large proportion of the threads that appear here.

Burgess, I like your time-saving push-button idea. Maybe if all newbs learned how to post a poll, we would be able to respond that way, although that would be a trifle impersonal...

:lolsign:

Bewildered -

Get rid of that nickle plated sissy LED and get yerself a proper torch...something that actually burns Tungstan. What you need is a HotWire. 1000 lumens, baby.

Just kidding, of course. I have to watch my answers. Sometimes an off-the-shelf light is just fine. For many folks a stock MagCharger or a Streamlight will be better for their purposes than a HotWire.

A while back, about a year or so, some building inspectors asked my opinion on what would be a good light for them. I asked them what their specs were. The specs were it had to be small and easy to carry, tight beam for looking in cracks/crannies and above ceiling tiles. HAD to run on alkaline AAs because that's what they were budgeted for. I recommended and showed them a RiverRock 2AA with moonbeam aspheric lens. They turned off the lights, lifted up a couple of ceiling tiles and shined the light around on the sub-floor. They all smiled because it was a huge improvement over their Mini-Mags. I showed them quickbeam's site also. One of them found the Mini-Mag 2AA runtime and compared it to the regulated RiverRock's runtime. They were sold. $19.00 per light. They are still using them every day.

Imagine that. One of the least popular lights discussed on CPF is exactly what they needed.

Icebreak said:

Bewildered -

Get rid of that nickle plated sissy LED and get yerself a proper torch...something that actually burns Tungstan. What you need is a HotWire. 1000 lumens, baby.

Just kidding, of course. I have to watch my answers. Sometimes an off-the-shelf light is just fine. For many folks a stock MagCharger or a Streamlight will be better for their purposes than a HotWire.

A while back, about a year or so, some building inspectors asked my opinion on what would be a good light for them. I asked them what their specs were. The specs were it had to be small and easy to carry, tight beam for looking in cracks/crannies and above ceiling tiles. HAD to run on alkaline AAs because that's what they were budgeted for. I recommended and showed them a RiverRock 2AA with moonbeam aspheric lens. They turned off the lights, lifted up a couple of ceiling tiles and shined the light around on the sub-floor. They all smiled because it was a huge improvement over their Mini-Mags. I showed them quickbeam's site also. One of them found the Mini-Mag 2AA runtime and compared it to the regulated RiverRock's runtime. They were sold. $19.00 per light. They are still using them every day.

Imagine that. One of the least popular lights discussed on CPF is exactly what they needed.

Click to expand...

the thing is, after someone asks for something specific, it's easier to recommend stuff. If they let out the AA part, i can guarantee everyone would have recommend a SF G2. Ofcourse some would still try getting them into fenix's and stuff, but those cost almost twice that. Then there are a million different lego combination to get exactly the output/runtime they want, but thats usually a bit too technical for many consumers and especially for someone like a building inspector.

I find it much simpler to nail down the budget when people ask me about flashlights (or anything for that matter) Most non-CPF'ers are not into ordering flashlights from the net so it throws many options out the window.

My standard listing for most questions are broken down into specific price ranges.

$25 MinimagLED or MagLED upgrade kit
Inova lights (pick your flavor)

$50 Single AAA lights
Peak Baltic AAA with SSC LED
Fenix L0D CE

$50 Single or 2AA lights
Fenix LxD CE series

$75 Lumapower M3 kit

$100 and up... take your pick!

Military/LEO incandescent lights Surefire G2/M3

Military/LEO LED lights Pelican LAPD or Peak Volcano (when released) Surefire ??? with Cree (when released)

$30 low power red Peak Matterhorn red LED

$40 high power red Peak Killamanjaro 7 red LED

$40 UV Peak Killamanjaro 7 UV LED

I try to keep the list simple, the battery choices common and have not had any complaints so far.

Yes, many of us haven't learned to give proper advice or ask the right questions to help narrow down the responses that would satisfy the original poster. Maybe it's not just CPF nature but human nature.

Of course, it's also human nature to ask for advice and to leave out parts of the question that experts may require to answer to our satisfaction. After all, not being experts people may not have thought of all the things that go into the decision. Or they may just want simple reassurance. Give me a brand name and disregard the fact that all manufacturers have a range of products is an example of this.

I am frequently amazed at the quality of some replies and I trust that many people who come here for advice are adept at selecting the replies they are comfortable with. Isn't that why many of us joined and stick around?

yellow said:

For any normal flashlight chore there simply is nothing better than a Fenix L2D-CE (L1D-CE) in the moment,
especially if someones budget is about the price they cost.

Mags are technically outdated (if much ppl tell this, there might be some reason) and the magleds even more. This has been typed over and over in here, no need to mention all the points again.
Low power Surefires are no longer to recommend also (imho) and much higher in price than the posters plan to spend

Click to expand...

your the kinda guy were talking about, for one thing, its hard to categorize exactly what "normal lighting chore" is and really depends on the modes in application your dealing with
but then again I could use a P2D:huh:

Well, people on this forum are very enthusiastic about their lights. There are going to be some biased answers that will be over budget and have alternate requirements simply due to enthusiasm.

Of course the real answer is the Dragon Light ZF10 with super boost and forward clickie. Everything else sux!

Not too long ago I was one of those "newbies" that asked for help.

I got it, acted on it, and was extremely gratefull for it. Part of the beauty of a community like this is that there's always going to be differences of opinion, but that just makes life interesting! Personally I'd never heard of Fenix before somebody reccomended it to me, I now own a pretty good collection of lights!

Please humor simple folk like me, a human response other than that of a pushy sales rep is a wonderfull reassurance.

One thing to keep in mind is the advice here is worth every cent that you paid for it. People's opinions should be a starting point but not a final answer. Trashing a product you never owned, used, or even seen shows a lack of personal integrity.