General question about long-term reliability

I’m one of those people who knew nothing about flashlights beyond what you can get a big box stores until I found my way here by accident. Having found out there’s more available than Coast and Husky and Ray-o-Vac, I plunged in and bought a Wowtac and a Thorfire and a Sofirn and a few others. This process has reminded me of two things I already knew from life’s experience: the more complex and sophisticated, the more opportunities there are for failure; and, you get what you pay for. All the flashlights I’ve bought have gone back except the Thorfire, and that one’s still iffy. The moonlight on the Sofirn was so dim it wasn’t useful for anything. The slide focus on the Wowtac A3S was too tight (a problem that was supposed to be fixed, but wasn’t in mine). The switch on the Thorfire is temperamental.

Bottom line: I don’t care so much now about the bells and whistles of new lights. I’m not interested in having the latest thing or of modifying what I have. What I want to know from people with long experience in this is what brands keep their promises (regarding what the flashlights are supposed to do) and are reliable for the long term? I want to end up with an 18650 (or 2 x AA) light for general use around the house, a somewhat smaller one for my bag (under 4”), and a good keychain light. I’d love to have the Wowtac in good working order for the first of those three, but I don’t know that I want to try it again. I have an Olight on my keychain, but it’s got only one mode.

The second thing I’m reminded of has to be considered. I know that you get what you pay for, but I’m a budget buyer, and I don’t want to spend more than $30 each (or not much more) for any light. That should be doable, shouldn’t it?

So, what will serve me well and last a long time?

Here’s my take:

Lights under $5 are disposable. They may work for a little while, but they’re going to break. Usually the switch starts to give problems. They’re also inefficient, and have a horrible cheap LED (angry blue tint).

Lights from $5-$20 give you progressively better quality, and can be very good light. But they’re probably simple lights, and likely not very efficient or bright.

Lights in the $20-$30 range is the budget sweet spot. You can get a decent quality light, with a bright, efficient, and nicely tinted LED. You’ll get multiple modes, and a good user interface.

Above $30, you’re paying for extreme output, or improvements in efficiency, or better quality. The improvements are marginal, but significant if you’re willing to pay for it. Every flashaholic will eventually move into higher priced lights, but probably still buy the majority of their lights in the budget bracket (even if it doesn’t account for most of the $$$ spent).

For the budget lights, you probably won’t go wrong if you buy anything that has “BLF” as part of the name. Look at sites such as Banggood and Gearbest for those kinds of lights. Convoy is another great budget brand. I like most Astrolux lights too, which are often very similar to BLF lights.

My favorite more expensive brand is Zebralight. Perfect EDC lights; great user interface, leading-edge in efficiency.

Thanks for the recommendations. I haven’t looked at BLFs yet. I’ll see what they have.

I know this is pushing beyond my tightwad budget, but are Fenix flashlights as good as their price? I occasionally see reviews of much less expensive, no-name lights where the reviewer says such lights beat Fenix and all those big-name ones. Is a Fenix a reliable, quality product?

(I’m asking this after seeing the Fenix UC30 2017. Comments on that specific one are welcome, too.)

I know this is pushing beyond my tightwad budget, but are Fenix flashlights as good as their price? I occasionally see reviews of much less expensive no-name lights where the reviewer says such lights beat Fenix and all those big-name ones.

Apart from the price, what about them makes them over-rated?

Wellp, if you’re trying to have one light be a do-everything light, you’re going to be repeatedly disappointed. Just the same way you wouldn’t attempt to get by with just an adjustable wrench, you’d need to buy crescent wrenches, box wrenches, sockets, deep sockets, etc., and use the right tool for the job. Hell, just flood vs throw means having at least 2 distinctly different lights.

The closest I’ve come to a do-everything light is the Sofirn SF32W, warm-white, everything from moonlight to turbo, and in wonderfully-spaced steps.

And my EDC is a 1-mode ’502.

So resign yourself to getting at least whatever lights would fill your needs, then get more to fill in the gaps.

Flood vs throw, capacity of an 18650 vs portability of AA/AAA, brightness, UI, etc.

Yeah, I know I need to wind up with three lights of different sizes.

You are in Budget Light Forums where you get what you pay for.
There are other forums that talk about the higher end flashlights.
I use to buy cheap flashlights until I got tired of them not working when I depended on them for different uses.

Again Lighbringer made his point .., only one light is not enough for most of the situations..! You can not run with a TK75 in your hands , you can not hike with an AA light.. and so on...An EDC , a good thrower and a strong flooder should be a must...

As for reliability , I already stated my point of view when is coming to mode a light near or beyond their limits ! I "lost" some good light trying to push them hard , I was close to die in the mountains cause my beloved hard modded light gave up on me in the middle of a river crossing.., so , for myself , the modding now consists in a better led , thicker wires , good springs and switches , quality "O" rings...those small things that give me confidence in my light companion !

Let be clear , I'm not against modding , by contrary , but if this is done only for "show off " purposes , I'm out...

Fenix lights have a good reputation , I have only one , a TK75 from the first batch , dedomed leds and mildly modded driver , but this one worked flawlessly for so many years , even if , after modding it , I carried a back up light , just in case...

But , as you know , even the better companies has their fails , seems to be a luck game...

The premium lights such as Fenix, Olight, Jetbeam, and others are more reliable lights than the economy brands but they also cost more and most of the better ones are more than $30. The premium brands are build to be tamper proof meaning their drivers are not held in place by retaining rings that can work themselves loose and cause failure. R&D on premium lights is better, they will work with protected or non protected batteries, short or long. Switches are more reliable, drivers more reliable, fit and finish better.

The Convoy is a popular economy brand here but drivers and switches are held in place by retaining rings and much more prone to failure.

There are exceptions to everything.

Thanks for the informative comments. I’m a 62-year-old homeowner who isn’t running anywhere, and likely won’t be hiking at night anytime soon, especially in our part of north Texas where woods are at a premium! The information about premium lights is very helpful. Since I won’t be modding anything, it doesn’t matter to me if parts are permanently fixed in place.

Aside from the zoom problem , what other problems have you been having?

Great topic.

I bought a few Fenix lights 5+ years ago when I first started looking for “better” lights. While I’m not crazy about the emitters or that my older twisty LD02 can basically only be operated with two hands, they all still work, which can’t be said of a couple other lights I bought in the $20-$30 range…

Do you mean with the A3S? If so, I had no problems other than that. I liked it otherwise.

No, I mean what problems have you had with your other lights?

Best value for money and solid reliability I would recommend:-

1x 18650 - buy a Convoy S2+, available from $7 to $15 usually, in your preferred colour and tint. Can’t go wrong here.
For extra credit, buy a C8 as well for some throw, Convoy is good, Astrolux is getting a lot of good reviews as well.

smaller one for my bag (under 4”), not sure what to recommend here, preferably a tail clicky to avoid unintended switch-on. I would buy a BLF A6 so you have two 18650 lights, and then decide which to have at home and in the bag.

a good keychain light - Nitecore Tip SS or CRI, fantastic USB rechargeable light.

So the above needs only one battery type, and a 1 or 2 cell charger will be enough.

Expensive brands will usually be made with better quality standards. They’re designed to work reliably, and last a long time. (Not all expensive brands have great quality standards, so I’m generalizing.)

Expensive brands generally do not try to put out the most lumens. Over-driving the LED can lead to premature failure of the driver, and reduced life-span of the LED.

A lot of lights in the budget category over-drive the LED. In that way, they “beat” expensive brands. But, they might not last as long, or be as reliable.

I would suggest you start with budget lights. They’re usually pretty good, and do offer the best “bang for the buck”. Even if they only last a couple of years, you will get your money’s worth out of them. After you get to know what you like and don’t like, you can look into buying a more expensive light with the features you really want.

Keep in mind that I’m not an aficionado like most people here. I’m a fixer, but I’m not interested in having flashlights I have to fix.

My first venture was with little a J5 tactical. That one was uncomfortable to hold; I think they tried to get as many sharp edges on the little light as possible. It wasn’t a pleasure to use. The Wowtac A1S has a tail switch that’s impossible for me to use with my thumb. I think I took on too much of the blame for that in an earlier post (the thing about the arthritis in the base of my thumb that makes the joint a little loose); I’ve had no problems with tail switches on the J5s or the Coast and Ozark Trail lights I bought. I’ve tried quite a few lights in stores that were packaged to allow that, and I’ve had no problems with them. The A1S is just too stiff and too recessed. Then there was the Sofirn with the annoyingly dim moonlight, surely not the 2 lumens it advertizes. The .5 lumen moonlight on my Thorfire TK15 is brighter and is actually usable. I kept leaving the Sofirn on because I wasn’t aware it had cycled to moonlight (I’ve been told I could aim it at my hand to check, but that would be a nuisance). And finally there’s the finicky side switch on the TK15. It’s supposed to take a double-click to turn on the strobe, but it happens sometimes with a long press intended to turn it off. One time, it wouldn’t come on until I’d tapped it 4 or 5 times. Banggood said I should take a video of it. Since it doesn’t happen but maybe 30% of the time, I’ll have to aim my phone camera at it every time I use it to capture it fouling up. Fat chance. A good reason to confine my purchases to Amazon or other US company. So I think that’s just something I’ll learn to live with.

In the meantime, I’m looking for a _reliable _3”–4” affordable light for my bag. The Thorfire TK05, Lumintop EDC05, Lumintop Tool AA, Manker E11, and UltraTac K18 Mini are possibilities (the regular K18 is not available in flat top now because of a design flaw except in brass, but I would have to buy that directly from UltraTac).

I’m tempted to try the A3S again for my around-the homestead light, but Wowtac is giving me mixed signals about the zoom. First they said they are just like the A3’s in that regard. When I suggested that the A3S’s people here have that have a smooth zoom are anomolies, I was told, “It is not anomalies.There might be slightly different between A3 and A3s. some customers like it more smooth, some like it more tight.” So I could order one, but it would be a crap shoot whether it works well or not.

And the beat goes on.

Maybe the zoom thing just needs breaking in? Can the o rings be lubed? Grab a Convoy S2+ on sale when you see one . For around $10, you will like it .