Best cost effective flashlight?

Well I know how people have been raving about the Pelican M6 saying how bright it is and how far it throws but I was just wondering if there is a better solution. I live up north in Canada and I always get dinged on shipping and clearing customs. Now to be honest, I don't use lights that often and I only buy them for the novelty factor so I can't justify making a bulk order and risk it getting rejected totally at customs as the Canadian government seems to think that they're hazardous. I'm hoping for a nice little light that puts out a bit more than the Arcs and uses batteries that are more common or have rechargeable replacements for those less common batteries. Thanks everyone!

How about a Pt-40? It uses common AA batteries and common Pr type bulbs. The beam is nice and broad. The reflector is textured. The light is waterproof. Princeton is more than forgiving when it comes to the warranty on their products. At around $15 bucks (U.S. dollar), this light is very cost effective.

SF G2 is nice and bright. You can get the conversion kit for it to use rechargable batts. Else maybe an E2e/KL1 or even an L4 with rechargable Pila batteries (from our very own JSBurlys).

Else, on the cheaper end of the table, you can always get an Everled and fit it into any of your lights that runs 2-6 batteries (3-9 volts). Or a Sandwich for your MiniMag would be nice and bright too... PT Surge is nice and bright too... There's so many choices out there, maybe if you let us know more in detail what you are looking for (Led/Incan, throw/flood, etc) then we can help you narrow down your choices...

Bang for the buck - consider a PT surge. At around $25 US (newgraham or brightguy) its hard to beat the light output for the money and uses AA batteries and more lumens than the M6 but a bit larger.

But the price on the M6 at Battery Station is hard to beat, $32 US. The only downside is the CR123 batteries, but they make rechargables in that size now.

www.batterystation.com/cpf.htm

How about the Streamlight Task light Luxeon 3AA. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif
It has a bright beam and uses AA bateries with a 28 hr.
run time. I use rechargable NiMH batteries which are also
common and easy to get. It is constructed of machined
aluminum and comes in black or titanium anodized finish.
For my money it is a great all around light. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/huh.gif

Tom

Tom

Streamlight Jr. Luxeon,
It uses 2 AA batteries, has a belt holster and a current regulated Luxeon Star LED. They run $30 US and the five I've seen (they guys at work use them), they are very bright and white.
For dimmer use, the Dorcy one 5mm LED AAA light is great...runs $6.

The best bang for the buck for a one watt luxeon light is Princeton Impact XL. $15 on sale at Gander Mountain. It's a diving light that uses 4X AA. Very solid and bright!

Stick in 4 2300 AA nimh and run it for free. Thanks again to Kbsman for running down to Gander Mt and shipping it to me.

fivebyfive: Ooh what is the differnce between a textured and untextured reflecter? I would think that the texture would reflect more light?

Stanley: Conversion kit? Do you mean like there is something that can substitute 3 Li-123s with "a rechargeable rod" or something like that? What I'm looking for is just a cheap solution (like rechargeable batteries or mods of rechargeables). The housing can be as big/small as long as it's practical with no price range. I figure if I want to keep a light, I might as well buy the best one and save up by using the batteries economically.

pwdrkeg: I just read the review on the Stremlight and it seems to get a 4.0 like the rest of the lights. However, it is a recommendation I will keep in mind. I've gotten the habit of using NiCd on my lights because I don't have to worry about the battery getting ruined if I drain the whole thing.

BentHeadTX: I was contemplating on getting a Dorcy but settled for a bunch of the Xnova lights instead. In Canada, the Dorcys works out to be over $16USD. Sigh. Everything is so expensive up here with the exception of tainted beef.

cy: Princeton Impact XL for $15?! Do they offer shipping? The choices we have of lights over here is very limited. The "best" lights are the Mags and that's just pretty sad. Cost me ~$60USD just to get an Arc AAA.

Thanks for all your replies! IT was greatly appreciated!

Hmm... well, you can take a look at the conversion kit for the G2 here on Surefire's site, not sure if that'll exactly fit your price range though... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Oh, forgot about the UKE 4AA eLed, thats a really long running light for about $20 at Brightguy, IIRC... very good value for $$!

Hmm. That looks very nice! A bit expensive though. Maybe if it was $50 I would've considered it but being the price of a flashlight itself. My main concern is the interchangeability of parts. If I decided I don't want to use a G2, I couldn't use it in an E2D.

You said that:
Else maybe an E2e/KL1 or even an L4 with rechargable Pila batteries (from our very own JSBurlys)

Are you talking about the "J.S. Burly's 123 Rechargable Set"? I was wondering if this would blow the E2D as it is incandescent. I take it that it is Li-ion content right?

Thanks.

b2P, the difference between a textured and untextured reflector is the quality of the beam. A good example of what a beam looks like with an untextured (smooth) reflector would be the mag-lite. The beam is full of holes and dark rings. A good example of what a beam looks like with a textured reflector is your typical surefire light. A surefire beam is broad and is evenly distrubuted to eliminate any dark holes or rings within the beam. The amount of light reflected from a textured reflector isn't necessarily brighter, but it all goes to the right places.

hmmm. common/rechargeable bats, brighter than arc.

my suggestion would be a Badboy 400 in a minimag. add a glass lens and a kroll.

it runs great on nimh (not sure about nicads). you have your choice of bats--it will eat pretty much any bat.

you have a choice of collimators/reflectors to get the beam you prefer: anything from a super-broad flood to a nice tight spot.

the sandwich/minimag combo is a very versatile combo.

Bob

Underwater Kinetics eLED light running 4-AA cells (very slim/flat)
or
Streamlight Twin-task 2L running 2-123 cells (long storage life cells)

GregR