Tough but cheap CR123A light recommendation

How about under $10?
XTAR WK42 on clearance at their eb*y store xtarshop

I have had a couple of these banging around in different jackets for most of this year and have had no issues. I wish they were tail clicky instead of side but that’s me.

XTAR WK42 on sellout $10 - $15. Comes on low then m/h/turbo. You don’t have to worry about it switching on in your pocket. Recessed switch. Has memory last used. I use the 16340 but CR123A can also be used. If you can’t find one let me know. I have an extra I can send. It’s now “one” of my favorite EDCs. Anno shows signs of wear but very durable! IPX8

I have the titanium version of the Eagletac D25C and it’s incredibly well designed for EDC. The clip is really solid and fixed in place, actually it has the best clip of all of my lights, tail clicky has great feedback and it is very lightweight. Output is just ok in stock form but it is very mod-friendly, mine is producing 1,000lm+ with an efest 16340 drawing 4.3A start and throws a nice smooth beam with the XP-L HI, paired with a 17mm FET+1.

MSRP is high but you can often find it in deal prices, I got my Ti for $40 and now illumn has the aluminium nichia 219 version for $30. http://www.illumn.com/eagletac-d25c-clicky-nichia-219.html

$10 above your designated budget but totally worth it if you also plan to mod it later, but as a stock light there are many other brighter alternatives (in terms of output, ignoring build quality).

Thanks for the offer but I work with about 1300+ in my department. I’ll check out those XTAR WK42’s though, thanks.

I put together flashlights for my First Responders in the area and charge $5.00 over cost 350+ lights to date over the last five years. I’ve even gotten a purchase order from an out of area agency for their DA investigators. I’ve learned a lot about what they want, expect and what works. What I put together is a CUXM2 dropin from intl-outdoors or from our own Mountain Electronics. Wrapped with an adhesive Aluminum tape until it’s very snug. This also keeps the pill and reflector from unscrewing which seems to happen from frequent battery changes. Host are SolarForces and I put two layers of Teflon tape on the head threads. Tail switch retaining ring is smoothed out and tightened. I found on a few lights including SolarForce that the switch retaining rings like to loosen over time. This I found was ridges around the dimples grabbing into the body. I take out the retaining ring and hone it smooth with a fine honing stone. Some people want the Pflexpro dropins, at 3.8 amps those get Copper wraps. Top three modes sets are;high/low, high/medium/low and high/low/strobe. Those that say the P60 is past its prime might be right but these lights work hard and only a few ever needed repair.

Off topic again, I need suggestions on where to direct my people when they ask “Hey whats a good backup light to get?” CR123A’s far exceed AA’s and AAA’s in performance and never leak.

Eagletac D25C is probably the best quality CR123A light on the market (for a reasonable price) and with a Nichia 219 it get’s the colors right too (could be important when checking licenses). There are brighter CR123A lights on the market, but at least I seldom need more light than the Eagletac produces.

thorfire small and use standard parts easy to mod or change as you wish

www.thorfiredirect.com/ThorFire-Keychain-LED-Flashlight-Ultra-Bright-174-Lumen-Mini-Keychain-Pocket-Size-Torch-Lighting-p-96.html

The best CR123A light I’ve seen build-wise is the Trustfire Mini-02. It’s made of stainless steel, and it’s fairly thick and very tough. Gearbest has them at $12.04 right now, but I’m not sure how many they’ll have, since it is an older product. No clip, but you could probably buy one separately that would fit. It comes with a key-ring and a Trustfire brand CR123A. If you don’t mind spending some time on it, you could upgrade the XM-L emitter to something more modern. But, if you’re going to be buying over 1000 of them, I’d doubt you’ll want to do that. It already claims 480 lumen output, so might be good enough as is. I had one from Rey (WWEFANS) that had been upgraded for a GB, and I loved it until a friend in need of a good light bought it from me.

1+
the best chinese 16340 lamp in 5C.

Yeah, but Flash Sale price is $20 and only 29 left at that price. The ’regular’ price is$44, which is likely to be a deal-breaker for the OP.

At the rate you’re selling them, wouldn’t it be better to maybe get a group buy sorted, to your specifications? Maybe even get them engraved with something special for your particular colleagues/staff etc?

I agree with the on the road m3. I think for the money it is a very good investment

Thanks for the ideas and input. I personally aren’t buying them, but it really helps when I can point some one in the right direction. You should see the CHAOS when we talk back up pistols and pocket knifes.

Well, I wish I’d have thought of it first, but I think scrumpypaul’s idea of a GB would work for you, if you can get the guys on board with it.

We buy our own weapons, knives and flashlights. Some will spend extra for the very best other some would use duct tape if allowed. We get issued long arms, vest, uniforms and Streamlights.

i second the ebay XTAR WK42
from the xtarstore, reliable establishment
great, tiny light
3 or 4 modes
some blinkies, easily avoidable
also runs on CR123 or 16340, it changes what it does based on battery type
16340 will not run down to overdischarge
cr123 it doesnt; care, go down to 0

wle

Do you mean the light driver protects unprotected li-ions from overdischarge? — that’s really good design.

yes. that is fairly common, actually.

DQG tiny IV 18650 does it, Manker U11 does it.

When the voltage under load gets too low, they usually either blink or shift to a lower mode, when there is no lower mode they turn off.

The XTAR can be tricked though.

What it does is register

  1. here is a new battery [current was interrupted]
  2. what voltage is it NOW?
  3. if over 3.2, it must be a 16340, so set the ’ do not overdischarge ’ flag

however, if you put in a 16340 that happens to be under 3.2 [whatever the threshold is, not sure really], it will assume that is NOT a 16340 and can be discharged to 0
as long as you leave it in, it is fine

wle

Without warning, eh? That’s really bad.

right - it works ok if you don;t remove a 16340 and insert it half-rundown

there is no better way to really do that though. you want cr123s to run down all the way, but you don;t want th 16340s to do that…

unless you were to tell it explicitly [button commands] what kind of battery you have.

wle

The WK 42 can also can be fooled if you have a really fresh CR123. I had a CR123 that was just barely over the bottom limit that lit up the low battery warning on the clicky after a few minutes. I was pretty confused until I re-read the manual LOL.Then I just pulled out the battery for a few minutes to let the light reset and it was all good.