Top Flashlight Brands/Manufactures

If you were to group all the top flashlight manufactures/brands in terms of quality into the top two or three groups, then which ones would you place in these groups?

1. If you put SureFire in the top group, then what brands would you also put in this top group?

2. Would the next/second tier brands be Thrunite, Nitecore, FourSevens, Olight, and Fenix? What other brands would you include in this second tier group?

3. Would you place StreamLight into the top group with SureFire?

Surefire is the best

I have heard someone rate Malkoff, Elzetta, and HDS as perhaps as good as SureFire.

And someone has rated NiteCore as higher than Sunwayman, Fenix, and FourSevens.

^^ this!!!
Now Sure Fire has to go to #4, not because of quality, but because: big company.
The other names have still got the small company charm and service.

And in fairness to Sure Fire, those other guys had Sure Fire as a benchmark with which to improve upon.

Sure Fire imho has earned their stripes. They still make good products.

I still dig on mag products, but their mechanisation and overall designs are starting to produce products that feel...well cheap. But that is so they can stay on the best seller list at places like wal mart vs $5 chinese products. Sure Fire says "sure we'll let wal mart sell our lights" instead of going after wal mart like mag did.

NC better then Fenix and 4/7.
I can't say I agree, close but not better via, only my opinion.

Surefire is a great brand that makes good products, however they are grossly over priced. You pay for the name Surefire. Their lights don't really impress me. I'm issued several for work. They're nice, function well, but lack features. Most Surefire lights have 2 modes. Super bright and low mode, lacking an intermediate mode. Surefire's lack of 18650 support is rather annoying.

I always wonder why Surefire dominates the for sale threads on Candlepower. For every non-surefire flashlight there is in the classifieds, there's at least 5 Surefires. At the very least, it's annoying to sift through all the Surefire listings when you're trying to look for a light you like.

WarRaven said:

NC better then Fenix and 4/7.
I can't say I agree, close but not better via, only my opinion.

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+1
I agree with your disagreement

NC is good. I agree.
hey I heard there are LED lights available of grow plants. A friend of mine started a business of LED products for gardening.

With a grain of salt, gentlemen:

Top tier: Surefire, Malkoff, Elzetta
Mid tier: Fenix, Sunwayman, Nitecore, Foursevens
Bottom tier: Most other stock unmodded flashlights, any flashlight on sale at a gas station, 90% of all lights sold at most brick and mortar stores.

When we start modding, strangely Maglite becomes top tier.

more_vampires said:

With a grain of salt, gentlemen:

Top tier: Surefire, Malkoff, Elzetta
Mid tier: Fenix, Sunwayman, Nitecore, Foursevens
Bottom tier: Most other flashlights, any flashlight on sale at a gas station, 90% of all lights sold at most brick and mortar stores.

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There re is no way that in terms of quality your top tier doesn't have hds in it.

GearHunter said:

There re is no way that in terms of quality your top tier doesn't have hds in it.

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I was being honest as I don't own one yet. Heard a zillion great things about HDS, including fully potted electronics.

If I said it was top tier and never used one, that'd make me a shill. I hate shilling.

There are other makers that I could have named names upon, but would rather talk about the good than companies that have made big mistakes. Apparently, it's hard for a light maker to stay in a state of grace as far as CPF is concerned. We are virtually guaranteed to have someone point out something they don't like. It's like a sure bet or something.

Oh, also forgot to add Zebralight as a top tier maker. I carry two every day and one in the BOB. Maybe they had problems in the past, but they seem to just gush quality these days. Never a hiccup with any of my 3 ZLs.

pitweiler said:

Surefire's lack of 18650 support is rather annoying.

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Come on, man...you know operators gots no time to be charging no stupid batteries... [emoji14]

more_vampires said:

I was being honest as I don't own one yet. Heard a zillion great things about HDS, including fully potted electronics.

If I said it was top tier and never used one, that'd make me a shill. I hate shilling.

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A fine point sir I appreciate your integrity.

Malkoff / HDS always makes my top 2 most recommend by far. Galaxies tougher and more reliable than other offerings IMO.

This thread again

The mid tier should also include JetBeam, Klarus, ZebraLight, Eagletac, Olight and Thrunite. Peak belongs in there somewhere too, but doesn't fit squarely in top or mid, but certainly isn't bottom tier.

I agree, sir. Good call on rounding out the mid tier, guess I just like Zebralight more than you.

more_vampires said:

I agree, sir. Good call on rounding out the mid tier, guess I just like Zebralight more than you.

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Ha! I didn't see your reference to ZebraLight as a top tier. It is a great manufacturer and I understand why you would list it among the top ones. I have 4 of their lights and I have no bad comment to express about any one of them. I don't own a Surefire, but I have 7 Malkoff's and 1 HDS, and they are both definitely a cut above any other manufacturer's light that I own, which includes at least one from all of the mid-tier manufacturers mentioned in this thread. This is an expensive hobby!

Lighteous said:

This is an expensive hobby!

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Quoted for truth! This is only slightly less expensive than firearms.