Need recommendation for my first general purpose 18650 flashlight (Zanflare F1, Eagle Eye X6R, Convoy C8)

Thorfire vg10s? Very cheap, throw in between a c8 and a tubelight.

Sorry, but F1 is bigger than S9, and I, personally, wouldn’t call it marginal
I remember you disputed it before and I, from my end, never understood it honestly. Wanted to put up a photo of F1 next to S9, but got tied up with something else

Granted, F1’s got higher output, sturdier…all that, but S9 is small, elegant

Wondered where that perception comes from, and only thing that comes to my mind may be this American sense of beauty that usually involves size.

Remember a girl I knew in Germany who once told me, after being asked what is she missing from USA, saying…bigger things (!!) And boy, was I surprised on my first visit to US - after having a cup of coffee you end up with a pile of garbage, plastic spoons, plastic bags, both regular sugar and artificial sweetener, filter, condensed milk……and coffee maker itself “oversized” by the way. A grandpa next to me ate a very big turkey sandwich
Then you enter a gentlemen’s room only to find a urinal bowl that is a few, or several, times the size of those in Europe…

You are lucky you haven’t encountered a Japanese :slight_smile:

F1 next to S2, and S9 is a tad shorter than S2 actually
A bit unfortunate angle, but still clearly shows that F1 is bigger, both length and diameter

Granted, the S9 is smaller and lighter, but it’s also an 18650 light.

And this is my point. That it’s only got (just looked it up) 580lm out the pipe. Take a 14500 light like an SP10 or TK05, and they’re in the same 500lm-600lm range, and lots smaller.

Granted, there’s no on-board recharging, but it’s, as I mentioned, anæmic compared to other 18650 lights that push out twice the lemons.

I holster a ’502 as my “real” EDC light, but nowadays I’m also pocketing an SP10.

Edit: And that’s what I wanted to mention, that with the same output, you could be using a 14500 light, and have it be lots smaller. So to me, instead of filling the gap between much brighter 18650s and much smaller 14500s, and getting the best of both worlds, the S9 is kind of the worst of both worlds, almost as big as most other 18650 lights, but with the lesser output of 14500 lights.

Huh? Where were you getting your coffee?

Here, you ask for a coffee, you get it in a cardboard cup, made with milk/cream/sugar/nutrapoison, whatever you ask for, and walk out with… the cup.

Go to a 7-11 and you build your own, from doll-sized cups to a nice big pail of it, but you roll yer own. Me, I like Colombian roast, a few packets of honey, some French-vanilla creamer, and some half’n’half. Oh, and a coupla shots of Stōk.

Hotel room, a plastic bag holding multiple plastic bags inside, two (2!) spoons, regular sugar / sweetener, plastic cup, packet of ground coffee, filter, napkin, milk etc….each in its own bag inside. A single cup, and you cant avoid a pile afterwards
Of course, this may have been an exception to how it is done normally, but that was my first experience, and that’s why i mention it

Lightbringer, as for me my personal favorite is JetBeam Jet-1 MK, which is roughly same output as S9, but still, S9 is, as far as I know, smallest 18650 (“standard” size) light with USB charging, with decent quality. Of course, 18650 will also provide more enrgy compared to 14500

This new one from Skilhunt is smaller: M200 USB magnetic charging flashlight – LED Headlamp │ Tactical Flashlight

Well, yah, but that’s different. To be “accommodating” they have to throw in all that crap.

What would you expect otherwise? An actual sugar-bowl, small ewer with creamer, etc.? I’d hate to have to deal with the bug problem from having exposed edibles all over the place! :smiley:

Or have a dispenser of all the packets, and have people “empty” them with each stay?

Hey, if you know a better way to do it…

Yeah, I got two Jet-Is and a Jet-II.

Also got more Convoys than I know what to do with. S2s, S2+es, S3s, S5s, C8s, complete, hosts, white, UV. I think I bought Simon that new pool he’s got with all the Convoys I collected over the years.

So I got nothing at all against Convoy, just question why the S9.

Man you need a proprietary or special cable for this Skilhunt thing. That alone kinda negates the concept of S9, or better still don’t like non-standard experiments

Well that was the question you had from the beginning

Again: if you voluntarily “limit” your choice to 18650, and 18650 only, which is understandable (or you want more energy than 14500), AND you want USB, also understandable…than you in the S9 niche. As simple as that

Of course, “lemons” dont bother you all that much and ~500lm is Ok, which could be fine for some, believe it or not :slight_smile:

Never saw this in Europe, not even in hotel rooms, that tells something. Maybe even the coffee example can be questioned to some extent, but you have numerous other examples, industrial products, consumer goods, urban planning, motor vehicles, food…even medications

Uhhh, I forgot what this was all dealing with. I thought you were questioning/criticising “American” taste for all things bigger.

Considering how things lately have been shrinking (vs raising prices), I don’t think this applies anymore.

Man, Im not criticizing at all, and am sorry it it ended up sounding like that. Had a feeling its actually amusing in a way
All I was saying that it was ‘different’, but from the other, European end, where usually smaller counts

Anyway, a taste for beauty is quite relative, learned that long time ago :slight_smile:

Eagle Eye X2R is great. Wellmade and small. Fits in pocket. Three low to high modes with memory. Recommended. Inexpensive too on aliexpress. Great for general purpose.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32698198611.html?pid=808_0000_0101&spm=a2g0n.search-amp.list.32698198611&

And get 4 protected 3400mah 18650

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32812496460.html?pid=808_0000_0101&spm=a2g0n.search-amp.list.32812496460&

Everything for less than $30!

Btw, getting less for a given amount of currency units…that’s normal, that’s how fiat money (money printing) works :slight_smile:

Wellp, take paper-towels. A roll used to be so huge that it’d not even fit on a wall-dispenser until you used up a good part of it. Now, it’s like you’re buying rolls that were already half used-up. Big fat rolls that are still smaller what they used to be are called “bonus rolls”, as if you’re getting some kind of “bonus”.

Yogurt, 8oz was always the norm. Then some sneaky genius invented “whips”, whipped with air like mousse that only held 6oz in an 8oz-size container. Then they just dispensed with that and went to 6oz containers, and now I’ve even seen 4oz containers coming into vogue. (“Diet” portions?)

Coffee cans? Always held 16oz, so densely packed that if you opened it to remove the included scoop, you’d never get the lid back on ’til you again used up a portion of it. Then, they shrunk to the same size cans, but only loosely packed with 14oz. Then there was a gap at the top… 13oz? Then 12oz, and lower, and I’ve seen something like 10¾oz or so. Soon, they’ll be shipping empty cans.

Yankee Doodle cupcakes? They were real cupcakes, about as tall as was their diameter. After a while, they got shorter, and shorter, and shorter, that they’re like tall pancakes instead.

Stella Doro anisette toast (zweibachs), used to completely fill the crackly tray they were always packed in. Now, they’re so… small, that they rattle around in the tray with lots of room to spare, and even the wrapping sinks in because the height of the 2-stacked cookies doesn’t even reach to the top of the tray.

And so on, and so on, and so on. You go to the market, come home, look at what you bought, and feel cheated.

Anyway… I wish we’d go back to bigger

I’ve read that “some settling may occur during packing and handling”. :laughing:

I get what you are saying Finnno , our cars and houses are huge. Half of us are overweight. Ford is only going to make SUVs and one sedan. Quantity over quality. Trucks are used for general transportation .Mine is bigger than yours :smiley:

Isn’t this what is known as “hijacking” a thread? Poor rhymeguy is still looking for a frickin flashlight.

He should get a big flashlight, then!

BLF GT… go for it… do it… do it… do it!!