Need better flashlight for dad

My father feels it is his duty to provide all the necessities for his family... including flashlights. But he is old and thinks maglites are the pinnacle of flashlight technology.

So...tired of bulky, shortlived bulbs/battery....I purchased a Coast P7 for myself, my sister and a friend was going to buy a third from me..but didn't.. so I gave the third to my mother.

Now my dad feels that his flashlights are inferior. I have hurt his male dominant status and need to restore it.

I need to purchase a flashlight for him that will put the Coast P7 to shame and he can reclaim his status as the dominant light source

Tell him to buy an RRT-3 and carry it on his belt!

for well under $100, get him this!

ShiningBeam MG RX-1. It uses MC-E emitter (rec the warm version), has good throw and reasonable flood, and 3 levels. It's easy to use, and nice and substantial in the hand. Not for pocket carry, but it will restore his status!

In all seriousness, something like a Lumapower D-mini might be a good choice.

A bit of a fatty, but still can be belt carried and has a pretty monster output.

If you're willing to go the 18650 route for him, it opens up a LOT of choices; Olight, Thru-night, JetBeam, etc. Most will use either an MCE or an SST50 or better.

I upgraded my dad's old Maglites with Malkoff drop-ins. I have no idea what a Coast P7 is like but it certainly made my dad happier.

Get him a 2AA Quark Turbo, there will be no argument about who's is the dominant light.

It is amazing what a father's perception of a bright light can be. My dad has carried a Mini-Mag as long as I can remember. When he got a LED Mini-Mag, he thought it was a huge improvement. For his birthday. I bought him a Surefire E2L Outdoorsman to replace the Mini-Mag. At the Surefire rated 60 lumens (yeah, right) it's the brightest light in his house and he was amazed that a light that small could be that bright! I'm working on a couple of lights right now that should give him a heart attack!

Roland of Gilead said:

It is amazing what a father's perception of a bright light can be. My dad has carried a Mini-Mag as long as I can remember. When he got a LED Mini-Mag, he thought it was a huge improvement. For his birthday. I bought him a Surefire E2L Outdoorsman to replace the Mini-Mag. At the Surefire rated 60 lumens (yeah, right) it's the brightest light in his house and he was amazed that a light that small could be that bright! I'm working on a couple of lights right now that should give him a heart attack!

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Read the Dark Tower series? I've always been curious about the E2L series. I've had other SF's but never one of those.

ninemm said:

Read the Dark Tower series? I've always been curious about the E2L series. I've had other SF's but never one of those.

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Still on book 6 of 7. Don't know why I waited so long to read them! It was the perfect light for his needs. He uses the low 3 lumens setting almost exclusively. And with the quoted runtime of 100 hours at that setting, the box of 12 cr123's I gave him should last a LONG TIME!

Roland of Gilead said:

Still on book 6 of 7. Don't know why I waited so long to read them! It was the perfect light for his needs. He uses the low 3 lumens setting almost exclusively. And with the quoted runtime of 100 hours at that setting, the box of 12 cr123's I gave him should last a LONG TIME!

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Yeah, it's awesome how long a good supply of CR123s will last these days. Great series. I'm about to reread it. :thumbsup:

Get him a TK20. A tough manly light, built like a tank but still the perfect size for a hand, very good throw, great colour rendition and relatively cheap. He'll love it. :thumbsup:

I don't know if I'd give my mom or dad an 18650 based light, at least not without showing them this thread and the photos therein.

Actually that's not entirely true, there's no way that I'd give them such a light. I'm not even willing to give myself one and I am a techno geek, mostly because I have kids here and kids can do unpredictable things.

It seems to me that it would be sensible to stick to primaries or NiMH for gifts to non-technical people or people with other priorities than always ensuring they are following nothing but best practices when it comes to safe charging and discharging of lithium ion rechargable cells. But that's just me, I'm Mr. Safety in our family.

The OP should be able to find for not much money dozens of lights that run off primaries or NiMH rechargables that will blow his father's mind.

You do realise cameras, laptops and phones all have LiIons in them as well?:nana:

Stick to a well-regarded brand of cell and charger and one should be fine. Buying 'Ultrafire' from DX/similar.. Well.:shakehead

That's the point of drawing the original poster to the thread I linked - to indicate that there is more to buying a Li-ion driven flashlight and using it and feeding safely than simply ordering whatever is flung at you in ads, low budget or not.

The OP has one post here and the family history includes Maglites and a Coast 4xAAA light. I figure there's at least half a chance that the person isn't yet aware of what they aren't aware of when it comes to Li-ion cells. Better an ounce of caution, lest the OP's dad's fingers go poof one day too.

PS: I've been to a fire scene started by a laptop. The gent's laptop was fried. Unfortunately so was the gent.

jellydonut said:

You do realise cameras, laptops and phones all have LiIons in them as well?:nana:

Stick to a well-regarded brand of cell and charger and one should be fine. Buying 'Ultrafire' from DX/similar.. Well.:shakehead

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The problem with this is that those devices have some serious electronics built into them to reduce the potential for a serious venting event from those batteries. We've all heard the horror stories about laptops and cell phones catching on fire despite these devices having such circuits. With loose cells, even protected ones, you run a higher risk of having an accident with 18650s for the average Joe. We on the forums tend to be more educated about these things and, hence, more careful about the handling of these batteries so we reduce our own personal risk but we still can have problems.

I think that the Quark MiNi AA2 or a Quark AA2 Regular would be great flashlights for your father. Get him a set of four Eneloops and a good charger and you're set.

DON'T get him batteries that are wierd, require special chargers and handling, and can potentially blow up. You want something that is similar to what he is used to, but better.


Buy him an itp A6 Polestar. It uses 6xAA batteries which can be (and should be) rechargable.
It is rated at 700 lumens which it won't quite hit, but it is very very bright!
3 modes and relatively compact...much moreso than a maglite, but enough heft to not be a little light like the P-Rocket.

It also uses a traditional side switch and the nice floody beam has a soft enough hotspot to not be blinding when using it up close (on low or medium) but enough to throw more than far enough for any reasonable use around the house or walking outside.

It costs 72 bucks shipped from goinggear. Both my father and in-law now have one. Use the 'ggcpf10' coupon code if you choose to get it from there. Ive bought several items there and experienced good customer support.

http://goinggear.com/index.php?main...id=287&zenid=89ed188194085ad963d39b104deab469


I recommend a brand new set of 6xAA eneloops with a charger if he doesn't already have one. A good combo is the 4xAA +4 slot charger plus 2xAA +2slot charger from Amazon. That way you can charge all 6 batteries at once.


The upgrade is the Fenix TK40 or new TK45 which looks cooler. They cost twice as much for a bit better build quality. Hence, I'd stick with the Polestar.