Brightest Name Brand LED Flashlight UNDER $200?

No interest in mods.

Can't purchase on sites like DX requiring Paypal - must use VISA.

I DO like BRIGHT.

I don't care at all about multiple modes - the fewer the better.

High, med and low are fine...or just high for that matter - I won't use the other two. I don't mind if the light has some size but no bigger than a standard 2 D maglite. 3 D is too big.

Maybe it's time to move to the larger HID lights. Granted, they are much larger then 2D lights, but they are also much brighter and aren't too hard to carry because of the handle. The N30 or Mega Illuminator might be a good choice if you are willing to go big.

For LEDs, the Neofab Legion II might be a contender for a single quad die LED.

There might be multi P7 or MC-E lights in that price range, but I don't recall any at the moment.

I was going to say the Legion II, but it's recently come down from 742 to 600 lumens.

My vote is the M2X.

After that, probably the TK40.

The upcoming Wolf-Eyes Pilot Whale, with an Osram OSTAR-6 might be it. But I'd definitely get some HID light for maximum brightness and throw, though.

Eagletac M2

Olight M30 or Eagletac M2

the solarforce L900M deserves a mention. Gary measured it at 550-650 (legit) Lumens. I played around with his at a recent meet and its screaming-bright. Its the brightest light I have held/used under $90 (lighthound). it has a stable ~350 Lumen low mode too to conserve power.

Maybe the 630 lumen Fenix TK40 or Coleman 530 lumen rechargeable LED spotlight.

My first choice vote is for the EagleTac M2XC4. Since its just one rotating ring and you just stop when you hit the power level you want its not that big of a deal. Very useful bright light. Pacifictacticalsolutions dot com will take very good care of you.

Second choice is simpler to use and its an excellent all around light. The Solarforce L950M. On high/low, off.
Pretty danged easy. Excellent beam. With batteries and charger you are still under the goal price.

Lighthound dot com will take your visa card. You can send me a nice bottle of scotch for saving you so much money.

I don't know what Neofab takes and how it takes it to buy his Legion II. He's overseas. The light is an awesome light but its got a lot of modes and you have to wiggle the ring back and forth, probably not your style.

Last choice is the soon upcoming ultra top secret project from Gene Malkoff. Its going to be very nice.
Save you green stuff.

Maybe the Ultrafire RL-2088 might be another option with a claimed 1300 Lumens. This should be around $150-160.

I vote for the Eagletac M2 or the Fenix TK40, 4/7 take VISA.

Gunner12 said:

Maybe it's time to move to the larger HID lights. Granted, they are much larger then 2D lights, but they are also much brighter and aren't too hard to carry because of the handle. The N30 or Mega Illuminator might be a good choice if you are willing to go big.

For LEDs, the Neofab Legion II might be a contender for a single quad die LED.

There might be multi P7 or MC-E lights in that price range, but I don't recall any at the moment.

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Thanks for responding! I have one of those million candlepower DC searchlights for my car. I'm really looking for something smaller although the N30 does look really cool. I'll keep it in mind if I'm ever looking for a strictly outdoor light. I'm also one of those odd ducks who actually PREFERS bluish light over warm light. I'm kind of glad the N30 is out of stock so that I'm not tempted!

As for the Neofab...looks like a cool light but I'm looking for something mainstream and mass produced that might be sold by Amazon or another distributer who takes VISA. If I had (or wanted) Paypal I'd try some of the bargains on DX.

Can anybody tell me a mainstream, available flashlight that beats the Fenix TK40? I don't want to buy the Fenix only to find out later I could have done better.

Again, nothing that requires Paypal please.

I use my Visa through Paypal all the time. Just set it up as an alternate form of payment.


M2X or TK40 is your brightest out so far, for that price range....

Well, maybe the L950M also...

Ryanrpm said:

I use my Visa through Paypal all the time. Just set it up as an alternate form of payment.


M2X or TK40 is your brightest out so far, for that price range....

Well, maybe the L950M also...

Click to expand...

Thanks for responding!

I just had a really bad experience with Paypal and will never deal with them again. Not really their fault (I don't THINK)- phishing. Just a personal choice. I know many people use it. I buy pre-paid Simon cards of fixed value so worst case scenario they steal the balance. Just makes me more comfortable.

MrGman said:

My first choice vote is for the EagleTac M2XC4. Since its just one rotating ring and you just stop when you hit the power level you want its not that big of a deal. Very useful bright light. Pacifictacticalsolutions dot com will take very good care of you.

Second choice is simpler to use and its an excellent all around light. The Solarforce L950M. On high/low, off.
Pretty danged easy. Excellent beam. With batteries and charger you are still under the goal price.

Lighthound dot com will take your visa card. You can send me a nice bottle of scotch for saving you so much money.

I don't know what Neofab takes and how it takes it to buy his Legion II. He's overseas. The light is an awesome light but its got a lot of modes and you have to wiggle the ring back and forth, probably not your style.

Last choice is the soon upcoming ultra top secret project from Gene Malkoff. Its going to be very nice.
Save you green stuff.

Click to expand...

Thanks for responding. I'm looking into your suggestions and I'm intrigued by what's coming from Malkoff. His reviews are always good. I hope it is a ready to go out of the box model - no assembly required type deal.

How would you compare the Fenix TK40 to the lights you've suggested? It has way more modes than I would like (wish it had the TK30 ring type power adjustment) but I trust Fenix products so I suspect 630 lumens IS 630 lumens. I AM concerned about the 15 minute maximum time on Turbo. If I wanted to use some moonlight mode why would I spend all that money? I almost always use the highest output a lamp will produce.

MrGman said:

My first choice vote is for the EagleTac M2XC4. Since its just one rotating ring and you just stop when you hit the power level you want its not that big of a deal. Very useful bright light. Pacifictacticalsolutions dot com will take very good care of you.

Second choice is simpler to use and its an excellent all around light. The Solarforce L950M. On high/low, off.
Pretty danged easy. Excellent beam. With batteries and charger you are still under the goal price.

Lighthound dot com will take your visa card. You can send me a nice bottle of scotch for saving you so much money.

I don't know what Neofab takes and how it takes it to buy his Legion II. He's overseas. The light is an awesome light but its got a lot of modes and you have to wiggle the ring back and forth, probably not your style.

Last choice is the soon upcoming ultra top secret project from Gene Malkoff. Its going to be very nice.
Save you green stuff.

Click to expand...

BTW, is there a reason you pick the 3 led version of the eagletac rather than the one with a single P7? EagleTac M2C4

I'm pretty sure BatteryJunction.com and 4sevens.com take visa. Both are very good and have a wide variety of lights!!!!!!

ElektroLumens 3P7 Drop-in
Comes in 3 configurations:
Drop in 3 SSC-P7s wired in parallel for 3D M@glight, 3*NiMH. ~1280 lumens.
Drop in 3 SSC-P7s wired in series for 3*Li-on. M@glight size depends on batteries used. Specify C or D head. ~2100 lumens.
Completely assembled in 4C flashlight for 3*18650 batteries. ~2100 lumens.
These are flooders.
For throw look at the suggestions above my post.

SSC-P7 & Cree MC-E Production lights

High power flashlights comparison chart

recDNA said:

I AM concerned about the 15 minute maximum time on Turbo. If I wanted to use some moonlight mode why would I spend all that money? I almost always use the highest output a lamp will produce.

Click to expand...

Many people have done full 2 hour run time tests on turbo with no problem so I would not worry. That is just there to cover their backs. Mine has no problem run on turbo at all.

It is a great light if you don't mind the size.

recDNA said:

BTW, is there a reason you pick the 3 led version of the eagletac rather than the one with a single P7? EagleTac M2C4

Click to expand...

I pick the 3 LED version because its brighter and has better balance of throw versus spill. I have not had my hands on the Fenix TK40 and as much as I like availability of AA's the idea of changing 8 of them at a time for one flashlight in a battery holder is a great big turn off. I would use rechargeables and making sure they are all good and taking a full charge and testing them, having a second set so now its really 16 batteries is a lot of work for 1 flashlight. 2X18650s and one UF W139 charger takes care of that.

The Solarforce L950M is going to be your easiest to use, easiest to buy flashlight. You can run it on high for at least 1.5 hours solid, it has a very nice balance of beam and you can use your credit card over at lighthound. So for a ready to load batteries light that is very bright, good beam pattern, this is it. Unfortunately its out of stock over at Lighthound, very popular light (wonder how that happened????)

The Olight M30 Warrior over at BatteryJunction dot com (they take your visa card) package deal in a nice carrying case is also a great light. Very good price for the package deal. Battery Junction will take good care of you.

There are a lot of lights out there competing in the arena of the brightest. for a store bought, ready to go, off the shelf light, most are using a light source that starts at 900 lumens at the emitter. None put out 900 lumens out the front. Most of them are in reality going to be in the 600 to 700 lumen range of real out the front light. This is all very good for the price considering just a few years ago you would have to buy some monster incandescent light to reach this and the battery pack to make it work was ridiculous. 600 lumens of real out the front light is a hell of a lot. I know. So a EagleTac M2XC4 or Solarforce L950M or Olight M30 or something else you can just buy and drop batteries into right now in this range from $160 or less is a great bargain for a lot of light.


You are not going to find something more powerful that comes ready to turn on with just batteries from a regular "store". It will be a custom mod creation, or it will be over $400.00. My friends 1700 lumen out the front light is really nice. I don't know if its really worth over $800. My $90 Solarforce L900M lights up the entire back yard in one shot well enough, with over 600 lumens. Only when you compare the 2 side by side do you see the advantage of the larger light but it really wasn't necessary to do the job at all. My run time is more than double his. The point is don't agonize over whether or not its the absolute most lumens, get something that is reliable, easy to use, easy to cycle batteries through, from a reputable dealer like you were looking for and just go with it.