A flashlight for a 12 year old

What flashlight would be good for a 12 year old he really wants one. Would the gerber fire cracker work for him or go with the more expensive Fenix LoD. Will the gerber fire cracker light a room or is it more like a beam?

Welcome to CPF, rx103.

As long as it is bright and has plenty of features, I'm sure he will like it. Some adults don't like complicated user interfaces with extra modes like strobe, but boys that age love these extras and soon get the hang of them.

If he were my son, I would go by how responsible he is, how often he loses things. Give him a decent inexpensive one ($10-20) and tell him if he still has it and is still working in 3-6 months that you will buy him a better one.

I think a 12yr old is old enough to be responsible for a quality light? I see so many kids that age carrying around cell phones and mp3 players costing far more? :shrug: If it's in your budget I'd suggest getting a high quality 1xAA light. Small enough to be easily carried around and yet still packs enough punch to be useful in a variety of situations. Personally I'd recommend picking up a Fenix LD10 from 4Sevens using coupon code 'CPF8' for an additional 8% discount. Excellent construction, versatile with it's many modes, looks cool so he'll be proud to carry it around, and comes with a lifetime warranty from 4Sevens.

+1 on a Fenix. Good mix between price and quality.

I would stay away from DX lights with a so called assault crown...

I agree that AA batteries are probably the best choice. They are cheap and readily available everywhere and do not have some of the dangers of primary or rechargeable lithiums. Even better if you also get him a set of quality rechargeable AA batteries and a charger.

I would lean towards a 2xAA Fenix L2D/LD20 or a Nitecore D20. It will be a bit larger and harder to lose than a small 1xAA model and will be very very bright with a fun user interface.

Well, Toaster you're right. I'm in my 50's, single, never been married, and never been around kids/teenagers much so I guess I'm out of touch in that respect. I guess my suggestion would probably be more appropriate for a 5 yr old.

I would go for something big and inexpensive like the husky 2D. It will be pretty hard to get lost because its pretty big, and think it would look pretty cool to a 12 year old. it also puts out a good amount of light for 25 bucks.

I'm assuming since this is your first post that you aren't a flashaholic, so he hasn't seen any especially nice flashlights. If that were the case then I partially agree with wesinator - a larger size would probably be more impressive, as well as throw.

I recommend going for the more expensive flashlight because I think he will be very careful with it if he knows what it is worth, or even just how much better it is than what he's seen before.

With that being said, I would recommend the Dereelight CL1H v3 (on sale from flashcrazy in the marketplace) or the tiablo ma6 (batteryjunction.com). Eastward and Aurora, on dealexteme.com and kaidomain.com, have some nice flashlights - they are a cut above most of the flashlights on those sites, although still a cut below the former two. These suggestions are keeping price in mind - you could get a lot better.

I own both AAA flashlights you are asking about. The firecracker has a similar but smoother and more tinted beam compared to the LD01. But the big difference is intensity. The firecracker is pretty much useless except for finding your way in absolute darkness or at very close range. The LD01 will light up most of my neighbor's house from my window despite street lamps etc. And the quality is completely different - even a 12yr old would not miss it.

The Romisen RC-N3 might be good. Not too expensive, easy to use, and a good size too.

:welcome:

Except the RC-N3 has a partially crenellated bezel. I would go with something from Fenix or maybe (if you don't mind spending the $$) a surefire U2 or Kroma.

A Romisen RC-g2 is a small but powerful aluminum 1xAA LED light that could fit in his pocket and still be bright enought for about anything he would want to do. If he leaves it turned on you only waste one AA battery and it has a glass lense so it shouldn't easily scratch. They are pretty well machined and come with a lanyard so they are a little harder to loose, and cost under 12 bucks delivered.

The Firecracker isn't the brightest light there is at 15ish lumens, but the TIR optic it has gives it awesome throw for that brightness, but it's a narrow beam.

Streamlight jr. Led might not be a bad idea its only 30 bucks and its fairly bright

rx103 said:

What flashlight would be good for a 12 year old he really wants one. Would the gerber fire cracker work for him or go with the more expensive Fenix LoD.

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I think you'd be fine going with the L0D.
It's a very fine light (I have 3)!

Happy shopping!

:twothumbs

Streamlight Microstream - ~$16, 1AAA (lithium=4hr runtime), great beam, small, bright (20 L)...
http://www.brightguy.com/products/Streamlight_MicroStream_LED_Flashlight.php

Light Sabre said:

If he were my son, I would go by how responsible he is, how often he loses things. Give him a decent inexpensive one ($10-20) and tell him if he still has it and is still working in 3-6 months that you will buy him a better one.

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Hey Light Saber, don't go so hard on yourself-I'm in my 50's, I am married, and I did just that with my 17 year old, after he lost the E01 I got him in June. Then he asked for another light, so I got him a mini-mag, and told him to take care of it for a while, and we'd see about something better later if he could hold on to it. He did, and I replaced it with an L1D CE, and he's still got it. It never leaves his side. Got my daughter an E01 this Christmas and made her a lanyard for it. Told her the same thing. She took the hint from her older brother. Sticks to it like glue. We use Energizer Lithuim primaries, too. They seem to last forever in both of those lights. :thumbsup: