Suggestions for $25 flashlight for 13 year old

Hi,
I'm looking for a flashlight to give as a gift to a 12 year old.
I am interested in spending not more than $25.00 and I want the flashlight to be VERY bright. AAs or AAAs are preferred.
Links are appreciated.
Thanks!

Bright AA and AAA lights usually have high current drain and work best with nimhs as opposed to alkaline batteries. Bright lights running alkalines will have short run times (like less than half an hour to 50%). So, can your 13 year old stand that or can he manage rechargeables?

go to shiningbeam.com and look through there AA and AAA selection. All very cheap and all very bright. You may also want to look at the Fenix E20 although its 35 bucks not 25, its a very nice light I own one.
https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=498

there is a code for the fenix store which gives you an 8% discount, I believe its "CPF 08" if I'm not mistaken.

One question though, how mature is this young boy? You may want to think twice about giving him a light he could blind himself or others with, depending on how bright a light you buy.

Most of the "really brite" AA lights are more than 25 bucks but the Lowes Task Force and Target River Rock are pretty powerful 2C lights. I noticed yesterday at Lowes, the new generation Task Force was marked down to $ 24.97 and the RR is a couple bucks more.

I would get the UltraFire WF-606A from DX #14909 ($22.77). I got mine in a few days ago - very good build quality for a DX product (no scratches :thumbsup: ) - its very bright, runs on 2 AA - for that price, can't go wrong.

Being a flashaholic at 13 could be very dangerous. Flashlight collecting is a mega expensive hobby (even more than rc toys or gaming consoles) :twothumbs

Lumapower F1, $20 not sure if it is VERY BRIGHT.
MTE C2 Q5, $20, 15M waterproof says 150lms.

shiningbeam.com

look at their AAA lights. I'm about to pull the trigger on the 2xAAA with a 100 lumen output (though short runtime I would imagine).
Just under &17 and I have heard good things about shiningbeam here.

I've bought three of the Romisen lights from Shiningbeam and have been very pleased with the lights and the service. I especially like the RC-N3 Q5. It's my edc and I use it in the CR123 form ( you can also use 2 AA ).

I could easily recommend a bunch of DX lights, but to recommend them as gifts is somewhat risky, given their spotty (at best) customer service.

IMHO anyone looking for China-origin lights as gifts should look to Shiningbeam.com first. They are a USA-based operation in NYC that imports product from China. So in the event of a DOA, you are communicating directly with their stateside CS reps.

Ditto the RC-N3-Q5 recommendation, unless the teen needs something single AA format. I like it better with primaries. Its around ~80 Lumens and will run for a little over an hour. It runs noticeably cooler with 2AA or Primaries than with an RCR123.

For simple single stage lights, the Mag 2xAA LED is plenty bright with decent runtime or maybe an Inova X1 for a single AA light. They're available at B&M stores and carry lifetime warranties.

That MTE C2-1 at DX looks really interesting.... refracting optic, dual O-rings, advertised water submersible.

Green Lantern said:

Hi,
I'm looking for a flashlight to give as a gift to a 12 year old.
I am interested in spending not more than $25.00 and I want the flashlight to be VERY bright. AAs or AAAs are preferred.
Links are appreciated.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

The excellent Inova X1 is only $18.49 at Battery Junction. Why give the kid some cheap chinese junk, when quality U.S made products are available?

http://www.batteryjunction.com/inxledfl.html

Ray-O-Vac 3 watt, 2 AA, from Wal-Mart, ~$25.

id recommend the coleman max 2aa, its available at walmart for 25 bucks, and is bright, the only light i have that is brighter is my P2dceq5 on turbo
edit: dont want to hijack thread, but i never see the ROV at my walmart

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------i also would go with a romisen from shinningbeam i have {5] rc-n3 all are great. no problems,and very fast shipping.

Outdoors Fanatic said:

The excellent Inova X1 is only $18.49 at Battery Junction. Why give the kid some cheap chinese junk, when quality U.S made products are available?

http://www.batteryjunction.com/inxledfl.html

Click to expand...

LOL, because in this price range, a lot of the Chinese stuff is better. He asked for really bright, the "2.0 Watt" Inova X1 isn't even as bright as a 0.5 Watt River Rock 2AAA due to it's junk emitter and junk driver. I would also have to suggest the Coleman Max 2AA, 110 lm, pretty bright, and right at 25 bucks. Also, the Inova BOLT 2AA is a little bit pricier, almost as bright with less throw / bigger spot (could be more useful), made in the US. Also, the Bolt is far more reliable, as I've noticed a lot of flickering with the Coleman Max lights, probably due to the shoddy tailcap internals. Honestly though, if you want really bright -around- this price range, the Lowes Task Force 2C Cree (150 lm) [$35] or that new 2D Husky Cree (200 lm) [$25] would probably be your best shot. I doubt you'll find anything U.S. made in this price range, other than the Inovas budget range (X1, X5, Bolts, Radiants), which are unfortunately not really that bright.

Duracell Daylite?

L.E.D. said:

due to it's junk emitter and junk driver

Click to expand...

Can you elaborate why the X1's emitter and driver is junk? I'm just curious and would like to know why. Thanks.

rockz4532 said:

id recommend the coleman max 2aa, its available at walmart for 25 bucks, and is bright, the only light i have that is brighter is my P2dceq5 on turbo
edit: dont want to hijack thread, but i never see the ROV at my walmart

Click to expand...

It's this ROV. This pic is not from WalMart, 'cause they never seem to show all thier lights on their webpages.
RayOVac Sportsman Extreme.
http://www.flashlightz.com/product_images.php?product=171725

Good light, adjustable focus, good throw...somewhat less than the Task Force 2C (old model).

flashlife said:

It's this ROV. This pic is not from WalMart, 'cause they never seem to show all thier lights on their webpages.
RayOVac Sportsman Extreme.
http://www.flashlightz.com/product_images.php?product=171725

Good light, adjustable focus, good throw...somewhat less than the Task Force 2C (old model).

Click to expand...

ooh ooh i recognize that! thats the 3w led energizer with the lithiums that probably replaced the ROV