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As in an Ultrafire 501B with an International Outdoor super charged dropin or a Solarforce L2P with an under driven Solarforce dropin. Of course I would prefer both high power and great craftmanship but if I could only choose one it would be higher craftmanship.
I like a good balance of both,
though good craftsmaship is my preference. I prefer a light to work when i need it to, and be durable and last.
I like good craftsmanship but honestly if it doesn’t have the power I’m looking for it will just end up getting modded anyway and if I can’t mod it then it gets sold or becomes a shelf queen. I use most of my lights for walking the woods and checking on fields. So I like something that can reach out a long ways and light up a big area. I always take a spare or two so I’m not worried if it dies while I’m out and about, I can always fix it when I get home.
So for me it’s power over craftsmanship.
If craftsmanship has at least adequate power for the job, then craftsmanship. But no amount of craftsman ship will make up for significant performance shortcomings. Except its pretty to look and appreciate.
I think the law of diminishing returns applies for lumens output, and I’d rather have a 500 lumen full copper light rather than a 1200 lumen cheaply made light for the same $80.
I prefer higher craftsmanship because it's easier for me to fix lower power.
And often higher power requires higher craftsmanship.
In flashlights i want higher power but if its piss poor construction its not going to give power for long
In real life i want craftsmanship, but i want both in all aspects of life and i am only choosing because those are the only options you gave
The electronics included don't matter much to me. It's about how much modding potential exists. As long as the design is good, I don't mind a few blemishes, although the reflector and thread anodization must be good.
I went with higher craftmanship. I do fall for the high lumen trap sometimes, but overall I think everyone looks at the quality of the light first.
And if a light has low PWM, I find myself not using it.
Bad design - don’t want it
High price - not interested
I modding lights so I look for ones that spark my interest. I’d actually rather dump a bunch of time into a $15 light than a $50 light that shouldn’t need me chopping it up.
I think that is a comparison of false choices, most of the time its more like: 500 lumen full copper light for $350 (probably more if full copper too) vs a $40 3,000 lumen light vs a modded reasonably cheap 1200 lumen light for $60. If you buy the $40 cheapo, then go for the modded medium cost light, or mod the first one for $40-100 more to make it reliable, you’d still be $200 ahead for having both! I’ll take both the medium and low cost and use my extra $200 left over on nice batteries, a charger and 2 more lights 
I’m at the point where the decisions are getting more difficult. I’m ready to commit to helping our problem instead of selfishly continuing in being part of the problem itself. What does this mean? It means I am going All American. Our country is in trouble and it’s due to a lot of things, but if we can get our people to buy our products then our jobs will come home. It’s really that simple. So I won’t be buying any more Chinese lights. And if that means drivers and everything else as well. Then so be it. Not many companies in the USofA making lithium ion batteries, so yeah it’s not gonna be an easy choice. But you know what? It’s really easier than one might think. Why do I need 30 cheap flashlights that needed work to make em work? Moving on…
I do prefer quality work. Hence my Texas Poker custom made Titanium and copper light. Buck can make anything else I’ll be needing, or someone else here can. If need be, I’ll invest in the American Made products that will allow me to make what I need myself.
Will it make a difference in our economy if I don’t buy a $10 Chinese flashlight? Not much of a dent at all. But if a few hundred thousand of us don’t? Yeah, we all have to give a damn.
I think this is a false dichotomy.
Why not an International Outdoor super charged dropin or with a Solarforce L2P.
That seems like a good combination.
I think you could have picked a different maker as all the Solarforce hosts that I have are of a good quality manufacture, I’ll give you the Solarforce drop-in although they do work. It might have been better if you had featured a no-name cheap drop-in.
I think we all want a high quality product, it’s just the price that limits the choice, for my uses Solarforce suits me fine, that’s just me, others will have a different view of the price/quality point that they are happy with.
They can do it right
They can do it fast
They can do it cheap
Pick any two of the above
:D
I would say I will never purchase a light without a high power! Everyone likes it to be solid, bright, and last forever.
Nice to have a light that works and is trouble free , especially for those times you just dont need any BS from your flashlight, and you dont have 10 or 20 or 30 other lights to back you up ...
I’ve been going for Nichia 219 emitters lately, which probably puts me solidly in the quality-over-power category. On a similar note, I carry a neutral-white DQG Tiny AAA w/ Eneloop instead of a Tank007 E09 w/ 10440. I care a lot about the relatively low output levels, and not so much about the highest modes… so power is frequently irrelevant.
But this does tend to be a false dichotomy. For example, Zebralights usually provide both craftsmanship and power, while a typical UltraFire does neither. The decision is usually a matter of whether the brighter, better-built item is worth the extra cost or if the cheaper item is sufficient.