A predictable newbie help request...

Morning all,

After lurking here for while I'm jumping in to ask a bit of advice.

My parents have just moved to a little place on a street with no streetlights at all and I want to get the old man as ideal a torch as I can for up to £50.

I was dead set on the Fenix UC30, but having watched a few vids, it looks to me as though it offers more of a spot than flood pattern, which wouldn't really be ideal for walking imo.
I can't seem to find anything focuses, is rechargeable and in budget, so I'm a bit stuck.

So for clarity, what I'm after is,

- £50 or less
- Good flood performance rather than just spot
- no smaller than the UC30(he'd loose it)
- absolute doddle to use
- rechargeable, or takes li ion batteries as well as Alkaline as he'll probably use it every day
- robust and waterproof

I did see the EagleTac P25LC2 with the diffuser, which looks brilliant, but a little fiddly to use tbh.

I've not mentioned output, as I'm trying to sort basic functionality first tbh, but more than 200 I guess.
Would the Coast HP6 be a good call, and just get normal rechargeable?

So there you go. I'd be very grateful for any help here as I can't seem to come to a decision myself.

Thanks in advance,

D.

Hi David, welcome to the forum.

For simplicity I'd suggest an Olight S20R, a little bit overbudget but a decent quality tool. The Fenix you suggested would be fine as well. If the beam was too spotty, a simple bit of opaque tape over the lens would suffice to flood it out.

Rob

Hi David and welcome aboard. One light I think meets all or at least most of your requirements is the Brinyte B158. Very reasonably priced and is one of the few focusing lights that actually is water proof.

You can see and buy it here:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10000772/3692100-authentic-brinyte-b158-led-flashlight


You can see the review of it right here on CPF at this link:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?410322-Review-Brinyte-B158-XML2-LED-Flashlight

Complete with video and beam shots.

Any olight.

Welcome.

A couple of pounds over your budget is the Nitecore MT20A. It runs on AA Lithium, Rechargeable, or Alkaline. It's easy to use, tail-click, and simple up/down UI. The beam IMHO a nice balance of flood vs spot. Also checkout the smaller MT10A.

How is the MT20A over budget? Here in the US it's about $59 so isn't that:

59 Dollar in Pound = £38.77 GBP

Well within the OP budget?

(I own the MT10A, pretty wimpy on 1xAA, haven't acquired an IMR14500 yet, ordering this weekend)

Also I don't love the rear clicky and side up/down configuration in this line. I much prefer my side button on/off, half press, mode selection in the MH20 modded by Vinh which is definitely over budget even stock.

Unfortunately the price of things in the UK is not a simple conversion. It's far more accurate to just substitute $ for £.

Thanks for all the thoughts so far chaps and the warm welcome.

The Brinyte looks fab, would never have found out about that.
I've taken th Fenix off the list as it is too small on reflection.
Mum am rather drawn to the Thrunite TN4A though. Nice and chunky and even without the zoom seems to be the right sort of beam.
Olights look good too but I do think it's down to the TN4A or the Brinyte now.
Zoom looks great but I love that Thrunite. Decisions decisions eh.

Right... UK imposes an 8% duty on all imports. Then a 20% sales tax on the retail price of the product. Doing the math it means you pay about 1 GBP for a product that sells at 1 USD. Additionally the USA doesn't enforce use-tax on products purchased out of state - meaning you can buy sales-tax free. Kinda nice.

Scourie said:

Unfortunately the price of things in the UK is not a simple conversion. It's far more accurate to just substitute $ for £.

Click to expand...

I have to substitute $ for L as I don't have such a fancy "L." If I were buying for dad, I'd purchase a Nitecore MH20. It's not L50 but neither is your dad. A sweet and less expensive light, a JETBeam RRT-0SE.

Check out Nitecore for AA lights.

If you go for the Tn4a, get the neutral white version for a cracking beam colour.

Rob

I love my TN4A Neutral White, and it does have a nice spill, but it's primary feature is its throw. As in, it'll light up a house down the street just as easily as providing walking light. It is a great light, but I would recommend making a diffuser out of some diffuser film if you go that route.
The Olight S15R is a nice light, comes with a Li-Ion/charging dock and runs on AAs.
The Zebralight SC5 is often worth mentioning. It's a bit over budget, but offers incredible performance on Eneloops.
If you decide on going with an 18650 setup, the BLF A6 is an excellent deal.
As far as rechargeables go, I like NiMH (Eneloops, as we like to call them because that's basically the best brand out there and some other companies use the same cells) since you can use them in practically anything, and they don't leak like alkalines. Li-Ion will give you more performance but is less flexible and require a bit more care.

So after considerable investigation, the Brinyte looked almost ideal, but I couldn't find a UK seller. The Nitecore MT20A looks great and the sort of thing I might get for myself, but a little small for my old man fumbling around a cottage at night, so that and Fenix I was looking at in the first place just weren't right. The Olights look cranking and I'd happily have one myself but again, the in budget ones were a little to small.
So in the end the TN4A got the job and looks spot on. A pack on Eneloops to go along with and hopefully that's Christmas taken care of.

And I now appear to have added another specialist forum to my regular reading agenda. Classic cars, vintage watches, a bit of photography were more than enough tbh, but at least the commute will go by faster.

Thanks for all the pointers peeps,

D.

Well hopefully all goes well!
Welcome to CPF and enjoy your stay!
:welcome:

Incidentally, I went for the CW but have the option to change if I want. In the vids I saw I just looked cleaner and brighter but appreciate you'd need to see in person to be sure. Guess it's just personal preference but can see a few of you seem to favour the NW.

Hi David! Welcome to CPF!

May I suggest the Nitecore SRT3?

- 550lm, variable brightnes setting via smart ring.

- Takes eneloops, 14500, aa primaries, 16340 and cr123 batteries.

- Has secondary blue/red led.

- Awesomely simple to use plus the size of the light is "adjustable" depending on which battery format you prefer.

- No battery drain due to tailcap switch.

I'd also recommend the Olight S-series, specifically the S10 Baton but those might be too small for you.

The new Nitecore P12GT also recently came out. I think it's similar in specs with the Fenix you're looking at too.

Yep you can definitely recommend it.
Looks fantastic, I'd love one myself, but it's over budget unfortunately and a little small for my Dad.
Thanks though.