What is the rolls Royce of flash lights?

I have a slight obsession for quality and currently own a hand full of zebralights a armytek predator which are all well and good but I feel the need for a flashlight.......if it exists. In order of importance

1. Build quality both fit and finish
2. Performance & output
3. Looking for a Edc and a high output 18650 light like the tm11 etc
Any help from you seasoned flasaholics would be greatlfully received

Post a WTB for a titanium Hyperlux on the Custom BST! :devil:

For me, the quality and big floody would be an Oveready bored and cerakoted 18650 Surefire. (26650 host looks sharp)
the newer triple XPG's are 1400 lumens, or the quad XPG's are incredible

i have a Red Surefire C2 with a Matteous triple Nichia hi cri and I love it. 4500k 90 cri 1100 lumens of awesome.



Macs customs and McGismo's are truly amazing quality and design but don't have the monster output

There's a few custom builders that fit into the Rolls Royce category. One I lust after is Mac's Customs XM-L EDC in Ti... but $449 is a LOT of money for one light. That represents about 1/4 of the money I've spent on lights in the last three years.

Jash said:

There's a few custom builders that fit into the Rolls Royce category. One I lust after is Mac's Customs XM-L EDC in Ti... but $449 is a LOT of money for one light. That represents about 1/4 of the money I've spent on lights in the last three years.

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I spend nearly twice that this year and triple that last year. But never on just one light. My hypothesis, is there's a lot of awesome quality lights in the $200 dollar range, why would I spend $500 dollars and have my wife kill me with it

McGizmo Lights are very high quality and he (Don) has been making custom lights for ~10 years now. Check out his subforum here in the forums
Except for the Makai all of his current lights are rather small, but they don't use 18650s.

Lux-RC will soon be doing a run of his FL33 light (v3). This one also runs on 18650s.

The Alpha form Promtheus Lights also seems nicely made and it even runs on 18650s.

I think it has to be the Spy Tri-V.

But, for the real world of low production lights, the Malkoff lights and Oveready/Moddoo/Torchlab stuff is really top notch.

For customs, most of the custom makers featured in the custom light section can make you a light as good as anyone would want. The custom prices are a bit higher. McGizmo is legendary, but some of the other guys are right in the mix now.

twl said:

I think it has to be the Spy Tri-V.

But, for the real world of low production lights, the Malkoff lights and Oveready/Moddoo/Torchlab stuff is really top notch.

For customs, most of the custom makers featured in the custom light section can make you a light as good as anyone would want. The custom prices are a bit higher. McGizmo is legendary, but some of the other guys are right in the mix now.

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i agree with you

The_Driver said:

The Alpha form Promtheus Lights also seems nicely made and it even runs on 18650s.

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Yep - dark sucks subforum on the custom builders area. Go to his website and read about why and how he does things. I don't have one yet.

McGizmo, Oveready, Mac - great great stuff, have several items from all of them.

Don't forget Mirage Man. I have been fortunate to own a few of his lights and they are awesome.

I also loved my Mac SST-50.

And out of my many McGizmos, mules, sundrop, ls20, i still only have my mule. I think it's the ultimate EDC.
(maybe tri-edc close second, I'm yet to own one)

CarpentryHero said:

I spend nearly twice that this year and triple that last year. But never on just one light. My hypothesis, is there's a lot of awesome quality lights in the $200 dollar range, why would I spend $500 dollars and have my wife kill me with it

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I assume your wife might resent the time you spend here, thinking it is a bad financial influence?

I'd say the McGizmo's, Mac Custom, Spy 007 and to a very slightly lesser degree the HDS.

Prometheus-Alpha

Veleno Designs would definitely have to make the list.

Norm

One of my favorite forum thread formats, because there will always be a direct automotive equivalent to your gear. Rolls, mercedes, bmw, toyota, honda, ford, hyundai, kia = spy, mcgizmo, hds, fenix, sf, mag, jetbeam, dx etc. And if you don't like it, I'll start attacking your favorite car and your favorite light!

:rock:

HighlanderNorth said:

I assume your wife might resent the time you spend here, thinking it is a bad financial influence?

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Hey shut up man, his wife already left him last summer. c.h. just hasn't logged off cpf long enough to notice yet.

CarpentryHero said:

I spend nearly twice that this year and triple that last year. But never on just one light. My hypothesis, is there's a lot of awesome quality lights in the $200 dollar range, why would I spend $500 dollars and have my wife kill me with it

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Well killing you with one of them lights from Maui is kinda stretching it don't you think? It could probably take an eye out though! .... LOL


In reagrds to the thread. Any light that does what I'm looking for it to do, and do it well as well as being reliable is a great light in my opinion!

Oh, an let's not forget the most important part of the equation, … price!

leon2245 said:

One of my favorite forum thread formats, because there will always be a direct automotive equivalent to your gear. Rolls, mercedes, bmw, toyota, honda, ford, hyundai, kia = spy, mcgizmo, hds, fenix, sf, mag, jetbeam, dx etc. And if you don't like it, I'll start attacking your favorite car and your favorite light!
:rock:
....

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Yeah, analogies can be fun -

After giving the OP question a bit of thought, here's what I came up with ...

Rolls are not simply about price or performance, but more about luxury. Famously, in their promotional literature, they used to list their power as "adequate" (without any details regarding speed or torque or horsepower, etc). Materials used are only the best, naturally, of everything.

I think that McGizmo torches are like that, too ... it's tough to even find lumen ratings on them, but so what? They look and work beautifully. The output is indeed "adequate" They are made with titanium, with sapphire, the finest available LED emitters, and the best switch design(s).

:rock: indeed!

Well chaps what a fantastic response and thank you all for your valid input. I'm leaning towards a surefire 6p once I get my head around drop ins and mods etc or maybe a mcgizmo.

Now, for the second light still unsure on this but like the idea of the zebralight s6330 if it lives up to expectations or possibly the nitecore tm15 but concerned about qc.

Any thoughts?

thanks again all from rainy England

For pure Rolls Royce style bling, you'll probably want to look at McGizmo lights. They're gorgeous, exceptionally well-made, and staggeringly expensive.

My other recommendation would be HDS. They, too, are exceptionally well-made but not as "blingy" as McGizmo, and the price is more sensible. They're also more feature-rich with a wonderful programmable interface and lots of custom options that can be set by the user.

For the record, I don't own a McGizmo, but I do own a pair of HDS Rotary's.

You can't go wrong with any of the manufacturers in my sigline. I EDC lights by McGizmo, Mac and Muyshondt and they are are fantastic, my favorites. Beautiful to behold, yes, and workhorses as well.