2016 Best of the best model for each brand?

As I add to my collection of lights, I was wondering about the common brands I commonly read about here on CPF and thought I'd ask this question to the board.

What are the top 2 or 3 stock lights from each manufacturer that are the current creme de le creme in 2016?

I realize there will be many correct answers, but if there is a light that is current consensus in terms of lumens, throw, runtime, features, etc that is a current cut above the other models. Answer only the ones that interest you.

I will list 9 manufacturers for sake of brevity, but of course there are many more, so if you feel the need to add one that you can't believe I left out, that's ok too
I will start with my picks.

1. Fenix- TK75
2. Thrunite
3. Eagletac
4. Nitecore- TM26, P12GT
5. Zebralight
6. Olight
7. Surefire
8. Jetbeam
9. Armytek

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Zebralight and Nitecore would be my top two. Much improved QC, customer service, excellent variety of lights and consistently pushing the limits of what a light can do. Fenix makes good quality lights but imo has grown "stale" by not producing that many new designs and no neutral options.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

snowlover91 said:

Zebralight and Nitecore would be my top two. Much improved QC, customer service, excellent variety of lights and consistently pushing the limits of what a light can do. Fenix makes good quality lights but imo has grown "stale" by not producing that many new designs and no neutral options.

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Thank you for your reply. Could you list 2 lights from Nitecore and Zebralight you consider their very best? I rephrased the title to make it more understandable.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

My favorite brands are Fenix and Nitecore. Without trying out all the lights its hard to know what the best is. For Sunwayman I have the V11R and D40A neutral that I really like and haven't cared for some of their newer models.

I have a bunch of Fenix models. I really like the PD32, TK35UE XH-P 50, HL50 headlamp. For Nitecore, it would be their new MT series with the up/dn mode select switches. I have just One EagleTac light D25A mini (twisty) XP-G2 that I really like.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Neat thread idea and it got me thinking about what a great year we had in flashlights. Of course this is going to be subjective but I'll put together some thoughts:

Zebralight

I think Zebralight had a great year, but if I had to put one of their lights as the "best of the year" I'd say its the SC62w. There's just so much to like about that light and it really did seem to be one of the most-recommended edc-style lights of the year. Its fantastic. Honorable mention, however, has to go to the SC5w. That's such a neat light and quite a feat of engineering to get that much light out of a 1.2v NiMH cell.

Olight

Olight had a huge year this year. The hottest product from their lineup was probably the S1 in its many incarnations. That's a great little light! I have to mention the M3XS-UT though - first factory light to break 1km of throw. It's kinda tainted by its tint issues, but still its an amazing performer.

Nitecore

Nitecore's got such a huge line of products, like hundreds of them, so its hard to pick one or two to really brag on. I think the EC11 deserves mention though - 900lm from a CR123-sized light is quite a feat. One of my favorite lights of the year was the TM16, a monster indeed. Mine's the 'w' version and the tint is very nice.

Others didn't impress me as much this year. I bough a couple of Armyteks and they all feel like a step backwards. Thrunite didn't do too much this year, although the upgrades to the TN12 made it a much better light. There's some great Thrunites on the market but most of them came out before 2015. FourSevens was generally very quiet this year, probably due to their legal issues, but hopefully they'll make a strong recovery in 2016. I'm not a big fan of Fenix or Eagletac so I can't comment on those, although I do think Eagletac probably had some neat stuff this year.

I would like to mention one other brand, however: Convoy. I know its more of a budget offering but the Convoy S2+ is such an amazing host and its cheap, too. I built several of those this year and really, really like them. It deserves to be mentioned among the best lights of the year, even if you're just considering the quality of the host.

Speaking of budget, I hope its not inappropriate to mention that some of the custom group buys that were done, mostly on that other more fiscally-friendly forum, were amazing this year. Pretty sure many of the members here also bought a BLF-A6 this year but there was other good stuff there too, like the customized Maxtoch Sniper.

One last mention - the Noctigon Meteor is stunning for its price and deserves a place on the "year's best" list, I think.

EDIT: Reading back through the OP and then my post, I realize I didn't exactly answer the OPs question. Sorry, I guess, but I'm leaving my comments as sort of a best lights of 2015 retrospective. From my perspective, at least.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Great post emarkd, no need to apologize, just the kind of info I was looking for and more. Not familiar with Convoy, will have to check them out. I'm looking for what cpf thinks is the best model that each manufacturer has to offer in 2016. Just my unfamiliarity, but regarding Eagletac, all their model names seem to run together for me, can't keep the lineup straight in my mind. I did get a Olight m3xs-ut and it has awesome throw to be so light and portable. My ZL SC62 is my first and only EDC to this point, hopefully to be supplanted by the SC63w. We shall see.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

ateupwithgolf said:

regarding Eagletac, all their model names seem to run together for me, can't keep the lineup straight in my mind.

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I know exactly what you mean. Those are some long, cryptic model names they've got. I did buy one Eagletac this year, a DX30LC2. It was one of the first tube-style lights with XP-L HI so it was really in a class by itself for a brief period. Its a nice enough light, although I found the tint too cool and the lowest output waayy to high for me to really consider carrying it much. The EagleTac D25A Ti is still one of my favorite AA/14500 sized lights on the market, so there's that. All of their lights have way too many disco modes though.

Eh, EagleTac's a fine brand and they probably make more good stuff than I realize, I'm just not that into them.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Seriously?

I choose #10, "other"...but thanks for asking.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Olight-M3XS-UT
Nitecore-MH20
Fenix-TAC
Eagletac-TX25C
Armytek-Dobermann Pro
Maglite-any 3rd Gen

Not sure what the creme de le creme manufacturers and lights will be in 2016, but in the past I've gravitated to Nitecore (EC11, EA41, & EC4S) and Fenix (PD35-2014 version). Build quality and performance of those brands and models seem to meet my requirements just fine. Olight seems to be a first class mfg, but I just haven't found anything in their product line that I can't live without.

For 2016 I'll be interested in seeing if there will be more lights released with the MT-G2 emitter, especially if they can be had with a sub-$100.00 street price. I would probably jump on the Klarus G30 if it was offered in a group buy.

Fenix LD75C, 4200 lumens in a small package and four colors with red, green and blue light.

Fenix TK35UE 2014 version with MTG2 emitter.

Nitecore P36, also with MTG2 emitter

Nitecore TM36 super thrower. This was the first 1.1 km thrower, long before Olight came out with the M3X-UT.

Olight with the S1 Baton in aluminum, raw copper, rose copper, titanium, and brass. Great little light.

OMG Lumens Deft X edc Enthusiast 400 kcd mini thrower.

OMG Lumens Rev Victor Enthusiast. 1300 kcd thrower in a handheld

The rest of the lights I've purchased aren't new to market lights, so that's all folks.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

ateupwithgolf said:

Thank you for your reply. Could you list 2 lights from Nitecore and Zebralight you consider their very best? I rephrased the title to make it more understandable.

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Nitecore MT10c and the Zebralight SC62w.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Olight - S10RII + M3XS-UT

Nitecore - MH20NW, EC11, EC4SW (sorry love Nitecore amazing year from them - lol)

Fenix TK75 2900lm

Olight - +1 for the S1 Baton and M3X-UT for blistering output from compact lights at a great price.

Nitecore - TM26GT + MH20, which I had modded by Vinh but the stock light is a great performer.

I can't comment on the rest but look forward to other opinions on those.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

dazed1 said:

Olight - S10RII + M3XS-UT

Nitecore - MH20NW, EC11, EC4SW (sorry love Nitecore amazing year from them - lol)

Fenix TK75 2900lm

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That's 3 mentions already on the EC11. Is it currently the smallest, brightest CR123 out there at 900 lumens?

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

I'll only speak to lights I own here:

EagleTac - MX30L3. The new '30' series upgrades on EagleTac light is very impressive. The new dual switch works really well. The XHP50 puts out a lot of light and throw is really nice for a quad die LED.

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Olight S1

Fenix PD25

Nitecore P36

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Fenix:
TK75 2015
TK35UE 2015 XHP50
E15 2016
HL55

Surefire:
Beast II

Nitecore:
TM16GT

Malkoff:
Wildcat
Hound Dog

Re: 2016 Best of the best by brand

Surefire:
UM2
E1L-AA would be great, an 1xAA light

I can only post about Nitecore:

TM16GT (handheld S&R)
EC4 thrower/EC4S floody (back pocket)
MH20 (EDC front pocket)
HC90 (headlight)

For me, I have the TM16 and on order, the TM16GT. I currently have both the EC4 and the EC4S, along with the HC90. Later this year, I'll purchase the MH20. I like flashlights.