New user here but Have trawled this forum and few others looking for a new flashlight however still not 100% sure , I currently have some $5 xml t6 I bought from ebay few years ago, however its past its best now so want something new/way better.
My budget is max max max $30 (could be lower price as well!),
looking for a single cell 18650 which has a good flood-light capabilities , I will use it daily as a main bike Light + to walk a dog at night sometimes.
I won’t mod anything and will use it stock.
Looking for the best quality/brightest one you can currently get for that $?
Yeah, BLF A6 is my vote too. I use one for cycling, and it works fine. I leave it on about 500 or 600 lumens, and it will last well over an hour. I usually carry a spare cell if I’m going for a longer ride, or swap out the cell from my C8 that I use as a spotter.
I don’t need thousands of lumens. I’m not mountain biking downhill in the dark!
Worst time to see is about a half-hour after sunset. The sky is still bright (wrecking any chance to dark-adapt my eyes), but the ground is dark. Any amount of light from my bike light doesn’t seem to help. Okay, maybe this is where thousands of lumens would help, but the bad time of evening doesn’t last that long.
This was one of the features which sold it to me when watching some videos about it.
my night rides barely ever are longer than 30mins + I rarely ever ride at nights, I use the flashlight in day just to be more visible, so I don’t need the super-high mode for that.
I watched some videos about the Zanflare F1 however seems like the high mode is like 600lumens only? On the BLF a6 it was like 900-1000 or something like that?
Convoy S2+, 6×7135, for 2.1A current. Bright enough on high for great light, yet not so hot that it cooks itself to death.
Simple enough to not qualify as “modding”, but you can order a standard 20mm TIR lens in anything from 5° to 60° and get the amount of flood/throw that you need. Plus, Carclo makes a… forgot what it’s called… a spread-beam TIR that’s wide on the horizontal and narrow on the vertical, just like a car’s headlights.
The Zenflare F1 has a turbo mode between 900 to 1000 lumens, don’t know exactly.
I’m road cycling to go to work since 6 years and a half, I have used several different flashlights and the one I’m still using is an eagle eye X6 with an XM-L2 U2 (3C tint) bought in 2015 that is below 600 lumens on the highest mode which is the mode I’m using all the time. I never felt having not enough brightness. When I started commuting I was using a flashlight less brighter than this one.
I’m not trying to convince you in any way that 600 lumens are more than enough, I’m just giving my impressions/feelings.
there will only be about 20 mins of what i consider decent riding light in any single 18650
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Am I the only one remembering when bike lights were way under 100 lumens? A BLF A6 with a decent cell will give hours of useable light for biking in any scenario short of the aforementioned downhill mountain bike racing.
I still think the Eagle Eye X2R is a hidden gem for something like this. The 1.6A high is a good 500lumen + and with built in USB charging, there is nothing else to carry if you have a micro USB phone charger.
If you love your fellow cyclists, get a light with a larger reflector, so that you don’t annoy your oncoming cyclists with a screaming pin point of light.
I was once the only one in a group of about 7 mountain bikers with a light caught out after dark in an area we didn’t know. We all made it back with 26 lumens from a 2 led petzl headlamp.
dont underestimate what 100 lumens can do, when in a running group my 250 lumen headlamp is often mistaken by runners ahead for car headlamps coming up behind.
blf a6 gets my vote, 7 levels to choose from, max level is irrelevant on all these lights for cycling since turbo is not sustained output, it steps down automatically.
Wowtac A1S if you need a battery as well.
BLF A6
Astrolux S41
A Convoy isn’t a bad choice
A Thorfire VG10s is a good amount of light for about $16 delivered in like 2 days with amazon prime after coupon.
I like the H03 but I am not sure about using it on a bike. You would likely want the reflector version for that as well and I never see that with the coupon.
