How to choose flashlight. Main things in simple words.

:+1: :+1:

. :beer: Nice Job on this…

Wow! You put a lot of work into this! I wish I had read something like this when I started, thankfully I did a lot of sifting through threads for my purchases but this method you have presented is a big time saver. Thanks for the thoughtful efforts!

Damn, subbed for later reading. :+1:

Forgoing discussion on UI/modes and CRI for more technical subjects is the wrong approach IMO. Interface is in many ways the MOST important aspect of choosing a light the way I see it.

If activating it and getting to the mode you want is a chore every time you use it, who cares if the efficiency at certain modes is better than another light IMO.

CRI being as nearly important is debatable but I would have stuck with much older lights I already owned if high-CRI options weren’t available to me when I started looking into flashlights again. For me the best resource to see how UIs and emitter CRI/temp/tint have changed and to compare available options was the “Advanced Knife Bro” channel on Youtube. Very muggle/layman friendly buying guides.

Still a great guide here and I am excited to see what additions are made in the future! :smiley:

Awesome! I am still at the very beginning of the learning curve with regard to flashlights. Every day spent reading at BLF is a day of “Oh’s! and Aha’s!”, sparsly followed up by digging deeper into the matter, the “Errr, later…maybe!’s” moments. Right now there are still many things I don’t want to learn, or try as all things discussing or modding of emitters, drivers etc. is simply still too complex, too technical for me and it will take a while before I venture into it.
I tried reading and understanding the Flashlight Wiki but this explanation is so much better! This thread is a keeper. Also one to which I will refer different beginners around me. Thank you very much for listing all basics and explaining it clearly and simply. Thanks, Narmattaru! :slight_smile:

Very well done! Sticky’d.

Awesome post!! :+1: :beer:

What?

hm, seems i wrote it in to complex way and use some russian idiomas

to have straight hands, to have have groing from shoulders, not from butt - all that means being able having tech skills of doing things well with your hands. like soldering, repairing, wood-woriing

i mean, in other words, “if you want and if you can - you may play around with installing TIR optic”

i will read my text couple of times more, to add some new ideas and to pick proper words for them

i plan to add some thought about UI. problems is that UI is quite subjective. what is good for one, is bad for another…

Thank you for doing this. As a noob, most of it was over my head. Still good reading though.

I am curious, in the Convoy series, let’s say the S2, what combo would be your choice for the average, common guy that is not into lights? ….

if you are not really limited with size, i would vote for convoy s11 or m3

they are bigger than s2+, but fully stabilized and way brighter

u can check my accoumt for my reviews of these models, cannot leave direct links as i use smartphone right now

Probably the 4000K SST-20 WITH 4*7135

Nice intro. I can see a page based on this writeup being a summary for new enthusiasts and each section having links into a deep dive on that topic.

Awesome! Great read, not so many questions from me (hopefully) :smiley:

thank you very interesting read :+1:

Too late. Those pics of the flashaholic bookcases are from my house. If I only read this 10 years ago. The only thing missing is size matters. The noob won’t know what they’re looking at unless you put something alongside those lights they can compare it to, so they can better gauge how big the light is.

lots of people here can say the same, me as well )

i’d just say get a good cheap one and see what else you need or you want to change

blf a6 or astrolux s1 - same thing
convoy s2+
plus a battery and a $2 charger

after that you will have a good light and know a LOT more about what you like and need, than just from reading

wle

Thank you very much for doing this for the sake of the flashlight community. Very nice introduction and I was able to get some gaps in flashlight understanding filled in .