2nd light: another Fenix PD35? or Streamlight Protac, Nitecore SRT7GT

I love my Fenix PD35 and seems to be a best all-around. Dropped it 10 ft onto a concrete and a tile floor and no issues.

Due to me starting to get addicted to flashlights, I'm looking for a second flashlight to keep around the house and to illuminate around the house for checkups, in the crawlspace, and the small woods out back. Looking for a good light that has a nice wide angle but also good beam length. I don't want a straight spot light that is very concentrated.

People said the Nitecore SRT7GT has a good "throw" of light but some others said the spotlight is useful. Reviews said Nitecore lights are not as tough as Fenix or Surefire and Streamlight? Is the Nitecore good for a wide angle beam? I do like the colored LEDs as an extra feature.

Streamlight Protac 88040 was intriguing as well, but not convinced it's better than the Fenix PD35? I was just looking to get another brand, maybe try out an American brand.

No harm in trying out another brand to see if you like it. Streamlight make good products. Not always on the cutting edge of technology but tough and reliable.

If i were you id not only try a different brand but a different user interface as well. I wouldn't recommend getting another rear clickly side mode button light, that pd35 does that very well and other brands with that same interface will just vary slightly. Maybe try a side switch only interface like a zebralight? The sc63 mk3 and sc600 mk3 are on sale, youll have to get a high drain flat top 18650 though. Those 2 will have a similar beam profile to your pd35 but a nicer whiter tint(if you get the 5700k variant) and they are awesome around the house. They are not 100% us but based out of texas and have great customer service.

What about the thrunite tN4A HD in neutral white? A little different running on 4 AA's.....nicely spaced modes with good throw ....and will run fine on in a pinch on 4 alkalines if you need it in a power outage(turbo sparingly) if all rechargeables are drained....

HouseBuilder328 said:

I love my Fenix PD35 and seems to be a best all-around. Dropped it 10 ft onto a concrete and a tile floor and no issues.

Due to me starting to get addicted to flashlights, I'm looking for a second flashlight to keep around the house and to illuminate around the house for checkups, in the crawlspace, and the small woods out back. Looking for a good light that has a nice wide angle but also good beam length. I don't want a straight spot light that is very concentrated.

People said the Nitecore SRT7GT has a good "throw" of light but some others said the spotlight is useful. Reviews said Nitecore lights are not as tough as Fenix or Surefire and Streamlight? Is the Nitecore good for a wide angle beam? I do like the colored LEDs as an extra feature.

Streamlight Protac 88040 was intriguing as well, but not convinced it's better than the Fenix PD35? I was just looking to get another brand, maybe try out an American brand.

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If I were in your position I'd wait and see if Fenix produces that new PD35 V2.0 that they have in their product catalogue. The PD35 TAC was one of their most popular products, and this new version has even better specs. The only thing I hope they will change when, or if, it reaches production, is that huge gap between High and Turbo. I won't hold my breath in anticipation though...

I depends on what you want. If you want the absolutely toughest, best engineered, most feature-rich light available then look at HDS. But be warned, that kind of quality isn't cheap.

The best light for you is something that matches your uses with its features at a reasonable price. On a place like this, you will have many people tell you to get this or that to have the "absolute best". Well, that best may not be the best for you, especially given the price. It's foolish to pay so much for something when your uses aren't life-or-death with that difference being a beam of light.

Given you brought up the Nitecore SRT7GT specifically, I'll comment on my experience with my Nitecore SRT7 (the older version). It's an impressive flashlight with good performance but the most remarkable characteristic of any SRT model is the Smart Ring which is a magnetic ring to change the modes. This UI is among the best I've ever experienced because you can easily and quickly access what you need. However, SRT models like the SRT7 and SRT7GT have more modes than a typical user really needs. It's neat to have the red, green, and blue LEDs, but they won't get much use by the common user. They even have a flashing red and blue mode which is really only for law enforcement use. The SRT7GT even adds a UV mode. In essence, you're paying to get this user interface with these modes but they may not be all that useful to you.

Now, if the matter is that you want one for the novelty, then yes, I'd recommend the SRT7GT. It's great. However, if you're just looking for another reliable flashlight for general use in and around the house, then you may not want to deviate far from what worked well thus far. You can easily pay more for quality, durability, features, and performance and still feel like they aren't much better than your old flashlight if it handled your needs well before.

Fenix E35UE

I just got an email from Fenix that they are releasing PD35 V2 in March. Check out thier website for the specs. Looks good!

colight said:

If I were in your position I'd wait and see if Fenix produces that new PD35 V2.0 that they have in their product catalogue. The PD35 TAC was one of their most popular products, and this new version has even better specs. The only thing I hope they will change when, or if, it reaches production, is that huge gap between High and Turbo. I won't hold my breath in anticipation though...

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How wrong I was!! I mentioned it yesterday, and by jove, now they've released it. @noboneshotdog, check this out...

^^^^
That's hilarious. Does the new PD35 V2 have the better mode spacing you were hoping for? I have never owned this particular light.

noboneshotdog said:

^^^^
That's hilarious. Does the new PD35 V2 have the better mode spacing you were hoping for? I have never owned this particular light.

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:laughing:
I was hoping for a better spacing in this specific version, but I guess the difference in spacing won't be so bad anyway when compared with most other products in the market. Most have this huge gap, and I wouldn't call it a problem as such. Merely hoping..... About the light - I never owned the PD35 TAC, or any of the PD series for that matter, but apparently that was one of Fenix's best tactical flashlights in a long time, even if a little outdated by now. Many people would still swear by it. Now I really feel like testing the waters with this version.