Looking for a good Flashlight

[brad22]

Whats the best flashlight out there for the $60 range? My Smith and Wesson came up short last night when searching for our cows out in the dark rainy storm. My 2 foot long maglite works great but looking for something to fit in my pocket (or at least smaller than the massive maglite). Looking for something I can see 100 yards?

 

[Heylam]

Where's Brown when you need him?

 

[wsuwrhr]

Whats the best flashlight out there for the $60 range? My Smith and Wesson came up short last night when searching for our cows out in the dark rainy storm. My 2 foot long maglite works great but looking for something to fit in my pocket (or at least smaller than the massive maglite). Looking for something I can see 100 yards?

I am pretty sure Maglite is doing supercool LED stuff now, and they have smaller than D size battery flashlights.

Stick with American Made.

 

[wsuwrhr]

http://maglite.com

 

[wsuwrhr]

http://maglite.com/shop/flashlights/compact-flashlights.html

 

[obnoxious001]

Whats the best flashlight out there for the $60 range? My Smith and Wesson came up short last night when searching for our cows out in the dark rainy storm. My 2 foot long maglite works great but looking for something to fit in my pocket (or at least smaller than the massive maglite). Looking for something I can see 100 yards?

I kind of dove into researching all of the imported rechargeable Ebay lights that have various fantastic claims of how many lumens they are making. I ended up buying one for myself and a 2nd for another friend out here on the river. They were about $10 each, two rechargeable cells and the charging unit. I have been very happy with mine, seems to hold a charge well, and I can light the hill across the river from me. I think most of them have the same internals, maybe just different cosmetic "tactical" housings, with adjustable beam, 3 different brightness levels as well as "SOS" and another strobe effect that I presume is to disorient an animal or person if you shine it in their eyes.

On kind of a separate note, many of the smaller single cell flashlights have a bracket that they tout as for bicycles, but got a feeling you could mount them on a gun if so desired.

 

[Ouderkirk]

Whats the best flashlight out there for the $60 range? My Smith and Wesson came up short last night when searching for our cows out in the dark rainy storm. My 2 foot long maglite works great but looking for something to fit in my pocket (or at least smaller than the massive maglite). Looking for something I can see 100 yards?

2-c cell maglite :thumbup:

https://www.amazon.com/Maglite-Inca...d=1483578638&sr=8-5&keywords=2-c+cell+maglite

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mag-Lite-2-C-Cell-/351927355097?hash=item51f08146d9:g:h4kAAOSwA3dYR5te


you can update to LED for about $6.

Use Energizer batteries. Duracells while powerful have a tendency to leak if they are left in the device with low charge.

 

[copterzach]

Check out Fenix lights. Badass and not to expensive. I have a fenix uc35. 5 levels and rechargable

 

[Headless hula]

Streamlite gets my vote. The ones designed for the fire service are just about bullet proof.

Flashlights and pocket knives are just something a guy can't have too many of.

Knucklehead is a great example.

 

[Bpracing1127]

The whole deal with flashlights is go get into lithium ion batteries. Stay away from aa, aaa, d and c cell batteries. Get a flashlight that uses a 18650 or a 26650 battery. Buy a charger and good to go. They are so bright you can drive with them and will last a long time on a charge.

 

[Hullbilly]

I use a Streamlight protac3 at work.

This is my backup, and all purpose go to. Its stupid bright and reasonably priced, yet still fairly compact.

http://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/30120

 

[pronstar]

Lots of good reviews, and links to good third-party reviews...not bad for $60

https://slickdeals.net/f/9539720-co...ee-shipping?src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo1


Add about $40 for 2x 26650 protected batteries + charger you can get from Amazon or EBay


Like Bpracing1127 posted above, the batteries are just as important as the light...you won't drive a bright-ass light with D cells.

 

[SBMech]

I swear by Streamlight, mine is 10 years old with the LED upgrade kit, a little pricey but it fits in a pocket pretty easily and is bright as hell, run time is about 3 hours on a full charge.

I use it every single day, all day.

This is mine, but newer with the LED already in it.

http://streamlight.com/en/products/detail/index/stinger-classic-led

 

[Stainless]

Costco always has something good and at great price.

 

[Tinkerer]

The mag lights are lame when it comes to output.
I wouldn't buy anything with less than 1000 lumens.
And don't buy anything plastic.
I bought the Fenix with the 3500 lithium ion battery and it makes my old rechargable mag lite look like a joke.
Where the mag lite was bright in one spot the new LED Fenix is that bright over the entire area.
NO comparison.
and the nice thing is 1000 lumens is way to bright for indoor use so you use the lower output settings.

 

[Chili Palmer]

I got one of these Guard Dog Solaire 900 on one of the deal of the day sites for about $30. It not super expensive, the batteries stay charged even if I don't use it for quite awhile and it puts out a nice wide beam pattern. Like it was said earlier the Maglites suck compared to these "cheapie" flashlights. Yeah, I'd rather have an American made unit, but the Maglite isn't even competitive to these "lesser" flashlights.

 

[Spudsbud]

I 2nd Bbracing. Look for 18650
rechargeables. 1000+ lumens then size you want. batteries are pricey but buy a spare as they charge very slowly.

 

[Rsqfxr]

my department uses various models of streamlight

 

[Blubyu]

Streamlight.

 

[Foscheck]

X2 on Fenix. I was a diehard Maglight guy until I bought a Fenix PD 35 Tactical. 1000 lumens that fits in the palm of your hand for about $75

 

[Tinkerer]

I have had Streamlight The ones I have seen were on or off. AND no where near as bright. And you will want to go rechargable. Batteries get expensive and don't last long. If you have seen the pictures of the tactical flashlights lighting up EVERYTHING within 200 ft it isn't fake. The flashlights I have will do just that. They even tell you to NOT ever shine it in ANYONE'S eyes as it will temporary blind them. Pets also.
I use these flashlights for work and home. ( one for each use)

 

[C-2]

I used to collect flashlights and own several Fenix lights and countless other Chinese knockoffs.

I used to mod Mag lights, stuffing 4 C cells into the 4-D battery for more power with the LED upgrade...

Batteries too, the rechargeable lithium blah blah blah.

blahh blahh blahhh, the shit never ends, lol.

BUT, what I have found is, disregard all the above bullshiat.

Stick to regular batteries, the kind you can grab when needed and will not catch your house on fire if you make a mistake charging them. The black Rite Aid batteries performed even better than Duracell's...but they no longer carry them. Now they have the white label batteries, they seem to work well too, but I have not seen the bench tests on them.

My favorite light of all time is the $20 Duracell 1000 lumen. That's $20 including 4-C batteries. It's nicely built and balanced, and if needed it doubles as a shillelagh.

And yes, I like this light and use it more than any Fenix I own. :eek

https://www.amazon.com/Duracell-Durabeam-Ultra-1000-Lumens/dp/B00O70XP24

I've also read not to spring for the stronger 1300 Lumen model as it is not the same quality of light.

 

[Luvnlife]

I have a Nitecore that is badass for when shtf also have a couple Duracells that see alot of use. The Nitecore has Liion and the Duracell just reg batteries. Just got me and the wife each a J-5 Hyper-v on regulars batteries for now, they seem to be working well and pretty cheap on Amazon.[emoji363][emoji363][emoji363][emoji363][emoji363]

 

[WAAZ]

My brother got all of us the flashlight you see on the infomercials (Atomic Beam) for xmas. For the $$, it seems very well made - doesn't feel cheap and it's brite as f##k! I'm actually going to order more to have one in the car/boat etc.

 

[mothershipper]

I got one of those Atomic Beam flashlights that all of you have been seeing in the commercials on TV. The thing is super bright and tough. Cheap also, I think they are $20 through the website. I think they are around 5000 lumens if I am right.

 

[Gramps]

I use this for pocket carry

Streamlight Protac 1L

 

[TomD]

Got a Feit Electric LED flashlight at BJ's. 2 for $25.00 3 C cells each w/batteries. Has hi/low, strobe, & SOS morse code function, zoom in/out. :tbi

 

[Icky]

X2 on Fenix. I was a diehard Maglight guy until I bought a Fenix PD 35 Tactical. 1000 lumens that fits in the palm of your hand for about $75

I have the uc 40, rechargeable off my cell charger (mini usb) and i also have their head lamp that charges the same way.
Their customer service is great too, i broke mine using it as a light for our sheer at work, when it came down it broke the cap and charging port, emailed them to see if i could buy the new pieces, they sent it to me free:thumbsup

 

[CANUCK007]

Just went through this myself.wanted for xmas and didn't get..bought a Klarus at the gun club store.looks just like Gramps version,just a wee bit longer.Works great.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

You always get a lot of different opinions on flashlights. Specially rechargeable vs off the shelf batteries. For me, I use my flashlight A LOT for work. I need to use off the shelf batteries. Work buys them anyways. But, I look at it this way, if I'm is a situation with lots of time using the flashlight and the batteries start to die, I'm either gonna need to have a second light or battery charged and ready to swap or, just swap in fresh off the shelf batteries available anywhere and not have to worry about forgetting to charge the damn thing or something to go wrong with the charger.

 

[Just Ducky]

i recommend the Fenix flashlights too.I have theLD41 model and it is bad ass.It has three brightness setting ,a strobe setting and also an s.o.s.signal.The high brigthness setting is searchlight bright.:thumbsup:thumbsup

 

[pronstar]

Smoking deal here for $13...you're basically buying an 18650 battery with charger, and getting the light for free.

https://slickdeals.net/f/9639116-th...er-13-79-free-shipping-with-prime#commentsBox

If you don't like the light, buy another that's 18650-compatible (most of the super-bright LED flashlights use them) and use the battery in it.

FYI - Tesla cars are powered by thousands of 18650 batteries wired together inside their battery packs.

 

[Tinkerer]

You CAN put regular batteries in the rechargable flashlights. 2 of the CR instead of the Li Ion.

 

[C-2]

The problem with lights these days is that some are too efficient, and hot. Others are too bright...I think some are advertised as weapons. :eek

The quality handheld headlights are awesome, though.

 

[rivermobster]

Nitecore fan here as well. I have a CR6 for around the house and a MT06 for work.

I have a Sreamlight at work as well, but it hardly gets used anymore.

I use Nitecore chargers an eneloop batteries for my pocket flashlight and Nitecore batteries for my CR6.

Very happy with Nitecore products. They are the only ones that stand up to the abuse I put them through!

👍