Best flashlight for under $30...????

i need to buy another flashlight (my old trusty Tekna was stolen)...what do people think is the best light for under $30? It can be a regular bulb or LED. It must run on easily obtainable batteries (i.e. AA, C, D,). Finally, the beam can be adjustable OR a wide beam. I don't want a narrow beam.

Thanks,

Brian

Do you want a small flashlight or a large one? A bright one, or long-running? One that you keep handy at home, or one that you carry everywhere? Et cetera et cetera. What model of Tekna did you have?

Add an eternaLight to your "box of goodies" or for just $15 more Battery Station has the Pelican M6 LED on sale to CPF members for $45!!

I'll say Streamlight TwinTask 2C flashlight. Easy to find "c" batteries, and you have LED or incandescent.
It might be a smigden over $30.00, but it might be exactly what you are looking for also. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Let us know what ya decide.



Blades

I was going to add the Streamlight Jr. Luxeon to your but it is also about a $1 over the $30 upper limit. You'll have to strike that light from your list.

Re: Best flashlight for under $30...???? *DELETED*

Post deleted by nerdgineer

The biggest bang-for-the-buck for about $25 in my book is the PT surge.

OK, actually lots of choices here:
My local Academy store sold me my Inova X5T for $29.95.
Got my Inova X1 for about 20 bucks. Uses single AA
Also under thirty bucks I have bought: ( I still own all of these)

Brinkman: Maxfire 2x123 and rechargeable version, both under 30 bucks

Streamlight: Propolymer: 2AA Xenon, 3N LED, 4AA Xenon, 4AA LED, Baton Light (3N, 3LED), Twin Task 1L, and the Syclone 4AA LED + Krypton (really versatile, really cool!)

Pelican: 4AA Stealth Lite, 2C Pocket Saber Light, 2AA Mitylite Magnum, 2AAA Mitylite, 4AA Mitylite, 2C Super Pelilite

Koehler Brightstar Responder: heck, the whole product line!: 1 AAA, 2AAA, 2AA, 4AA, 2C and 3C. (super rugged, some rated for 30 foot drop test)

All of these lights are really great choices for under thirty bucks. Some of those listed are incandescent and some are LED, should give you lots of choices to consider. All of them use easy to find batteries, as well. The Pelicans are super tough and can take lots of abuse. All have lifetime warranties.

Hope this information helps you decide.

For a general purpose flashlight, take a look at the Streamlight TT-3C. It has:

3 Leds with a runtime of 33 hours 36 minutes to 50% brightniss
or
6 leds with a runtime of 18 hours to 50% brightness
or
a Xenon bulb that can be focused from flood to a fairly tight beam with a runtime of 2 hours 26 minutes to 50% brightness.

As I remamber it is in the $30.00 range and uses 3 "C" batteries.

UK 4AA eLED w/Switch (AS2), $24.50, regulated output for 11 hours. On sale now at brightguy for $20, so you can still get the charger mentioned earlier if you want.

Rayovac Industrial 3D (make sure it says "made in USA" on the tailcap) are some of the best cheap 3D lights that exist!

Princeton Tech TEC 40 (4AA) is a bombproof nice bright 4AA job with twist bezel switching.

The dang cheap Dorcy LED lights, 1AAA 1LED, 1AA 3LED, and 2AA 4LED are remarkably nice for low $$$...

For a couple of bucks more check out the Peak LED Solutions AAA and AA lights. The Peak 3 LED AAA light is about equal in visible output, throw and flood to the 5 LED AA that they offer. All of them outthrow the Arc AAA and AA lights. At least to my eyes......YMMV

Streamlight Jr. Luxeon is $29.95 and the UKE 4AA is $20. The Streamlight is brighter and uses 2AA (90 minutes of run time) good ole' Luxeon inside. The UKE 4AA is not as bright but has perfect regulation for over 10 hours on 4AA batteries.

BentHead, isn't amazing we consider the good ol' Lux to BE "old?" Only to CPFers, I'd imagine. To the rest of the world...hey, the rest of the world, mostly, still doesn't know of the Luxeon.

I'll echo others and say go with a Streamlight Twin-Task; they make great general purpose lights.

New Gerber Trio ($20 at batterystation.com) also sounds pretty nice. 2AA, 3 LED's, basically a big brother to the Infinity Ultra.

My vote for the most practical would be the UK 4AA eLED. My vote for the most loved would be the Arc AAA.

Geoff

I figure if you want incandescent, try out the Bright Star Responder. It uses 4AA cells and is focusable. If you want regulated, I would suggest the UK 4AA eLED flashlight. It is regulated and uses a Luxeon LED but isn't as bright as the Responder.

1 more vote for the UKE 4AA eLed. Extremely long runtime on 4AAs and dive rated as well. The only thing that could probably go wrong with it would be Murphy related, I think.

Hi,

Thanks to everyone who posted their suggestions. You guys are great! So much information.
I've decided to go with the Princeton Tec Surge.
A couple of questions though...I've read in CPF about early models having solder on circuit boards melt...
1) Is this problem fixed in newer models?
2) Is there a way to tell from the packaging which models are old and which models are new?

Thanks!!!

Brian