Flashlight purchase Criteria poll

Tell us if you will what are the 3 most important criteria are when choosing and purchasing a new Flashlight?
Yaesumofo

Quality is always number one for me. There is something very satisfying about using something of high quality that you know will last a long time or will take whatever you can throw at it. This applies to others things as well as flashlights.

One of the options I voted for was "features", but actually I often like lights to have less features. E.g. if a light does NOT have a strobe/SOS/random flash setting, that counts as a feature for me.

Other than that, quality is always important, of course. And brightness/dimness, size, and what kind and how many cells does it take (I always like to have a rechargeable solution available). And I'd lie if I said price was not a factor. Dang, why only three choices, I want them all! :laughing:

Edit: after re thinking... i feel that here is my criteria

Brightness, Quality, Features and Price(included Lumen/Dollar) in sequence... most of the time but at times it could also be like
Quality, Features, Brightness and Price(included Lumen/Dollar) in sequence... and there are times when it could be like
Features, Quality, Brightness and Price(included Lumen/Dollar) in sequence... depending upon the type of flashlight being purchased

I noticed that Country of origin has not been a criteria for me...especially lately...

Quality, country of manufacture, price.



Karl

for me its quality, price, runtime, wad kind of batts used & size of the light.

there's a light for each task so the criteria may not be the same for all my lights purchased.

thought we've got the most discerning bunch of people & 3 most important criteria is a little too little. :sigh:

Durability (I guess that goes with Quality), Runtime, Brightness

great poll.
for me I want some reasonable quality, AS confirmed by USERS, with logical size for battery power, and logical output for size and battery.
THEN
to even think about actually buying it, it does have to be cheap. i want everything, and i want it now

but i figure someday when this stuff isnt "new Tech" it will be so cheap, i will regret sellling it for $5 at a garage sale, when i paid $250

For me, it's quality, brightness/dimness, and features. Everything else is a function of those when I'm choosing a light.

For me it's: Quality (reliability), Features (multi-level especially), and Country of manufacture. Price only comes into play if it is above $200 or so.

I miss the point :application for

Well it could count to the last point, but this is beside the quality the most important reasons for a flashlight purchase, in my case.

Dependent from the application, other factors like brightness, runtime, batt.-source.....are to choose.

Best regards

____
Tom

I'm surprised the opinions of others ranks so low.

So we all come on this site, rave/rant about how good/bad our lights are but in fact no one is listening!:laughing:

Quality, Brightness/Dimness/Opinion of Others

1. Price
2. Quality
3. Opinions (which is pretty much linked to Quality, I think)

I would add one more category: Size, as the really teeny lights have a profound affect on my wallet :laughing:

Nice poll, thanks!

For me: Quality, runtime, features.

When I say runtime, I mean runtime for that output. Features I take to mean a useful user interface, well thought-out levels (tho' I actually prefer single-level lights, funnily enough), pocket clip on smaller lights, etc.

Hmm, it all boils down to quality, doesn't it? You get what you pay for.

Quality, features (Simple is better) and country of origin

I like my lights to be durable, long running and simple tools, I also like to support the "little guy" domestic manufacturters like Arc, MJ, and SureFire (I know SF isn't a "little guy", but they make a solid, well engineered tool)

the latest Whiz-Bang features are cool and all, but there's something strange about a flashlight that needs a bulky "owners manual" to take full advantage of it, what is it, a lighting tool, or a computer?

for me, the A2 with AC's Aviatrix mod is as close to perfection as i've found yet

Quality
Brightness
Add-on's


Price

Quality is obvious because if I did not care, why would I be on the internet typing about flashlights?

Features are always in the mix as I have quite a few lights that do very specific things.

Country of manufacture Since most of the lights I buy can't be seen until they arrive in the mail... I always wonder about the quality that is not always related to the price.

If I could of picked four, manufacturer would of been next. I would rather have a Fenix than an ebay 10,000 lumen LED flashlight although they are both made in the same place. 4Sevens backs up his lights and that adds my trust in Fenix.

Price comes into play when the light heads north of $100. My point of pain is higher but my wife will cause me great pain if it gets too high.

I beleive that once we have 100 voters we will have some signifigant data. I am supprised with a couple of things which are comming out sofar.
I will not discus the results for a while untill a more complete data set is made.
Very interesting so far.
I wish one of the choices in the poll can be used for a write in answer.
Yaesumofo

so far the preference has been

1) Quality
2) Price
3) Tie between Brightness / Features

Interestingly the Accessories, Name of Brand, Country of Origin have little influence.... yet we notice much discussion on these topics... example Brand A is better then Brand P... Brand B does not offer XYZ Assessories and most importantly Brand F is from Country C....

but the reality (so far is) people care less about these things......

Very good poll yaesu ... so thoughtful of you :thumbsup:

Quality is inportant to me, but I would say more than that reliability. Will it always work? Is it waterproof? What if I drop it? Then brightness...I like over 100 lumans (willing to go a little less in a edc light) Then, what do people here think of it? Actually the last one figures pretty high in my head. If people here like something, I most likely will too.