Hi, from The South.
Joined here to come up to speed on LED flashlights & the value-oriented brands. House and cars have been full of 3D & 4D incan. Maglites that double as nightsticks. Wife & 3 daughters never needed them, but they were there. Now trying to find suitable LED replacements.
Eager to learn & get acquainted. Oh, yeah…I’m old, educated & interested in precision design/engineering, audio, music, investing and grandchildren!
liteyear
Welcome to BLF liteyear, you have come to the right place to learn about flashlights.
I gotta warn you though, the wallet can get quite thin if you hang around here long. :money_mouth_face:
Welcome to BLF, liteyear.
If you are used to light with bigger battery tube, then you should consider latest Haikelite MT09R.
You will need to purchase charger and 18650 batteries too. Or you want to stick to D cells?
Seems as though everything I’ve played with lately comes with that same warning! LOL
I’d rather have up-to-date flashlights than to lean toward a given battery or battery tube size. With little knowledge about current LED flashlights, I’m willing to go with solid recommendations. As for batteries, I’m agnostic other than to think one battery type should suit the half dozen flashlights I’ll be buying. I just don’t have a need for 3 or 4 new battery types and chargers. Open to suggestions, though! Particularly for the light that sits next to my chair :sunglasses:
18650 is the most popular battery type for flashlight. And Haikelite MT09R is the most up to date flashlight at this moment, it is going to ship end of this month. So far only BLF member Terry White has tested a sample with XHP70.2 LED. He will be testing another sample with XHP35 HI LED too. Below is the groupbuy link.
Haikelite MT09R GB
This is just the kind of info I need. Rather than learning about every “new” battery & flashlight, having pointers to the popular short list is a big help. Learning the brands & best places to buy them is my task. Thank you so much. :+1:
Not at all. Good to know you find the info useful. :sunglasses:
But for your information, I don’t order this light yet due to tight budget :person_facepalming: while waiting for Terry to test the sample with XHP35 HI LED.
More great advice & thanks. Just to clarify. The old Maglites can be replaced without worrying about long tubes, large heads or nightsticks. I mentioned those attributes only to say those were the types of lights that were in the cars and around the house for a number of years. Now, in 2018, I’m prepared to scatter brighter, better LED lights around without worrying about the “nightstick issue.” CCW covers that.
However, for the gadget nut that I am, I’d buy an exception for my own chair-side flashlight. In all honesty, I’m so new to all this that both the MT09R and that Convoy L6 appeal to me. Again, probably overkill for my need, but fun to own!
I appreciate the advice.
If you are attached to the Maglites, you have a couple options.
If you are a modded— or care to hire one here— the possibilities are endless.
I am not a modded— so I bought what I think is the best “Lumens-per-buck”
upgrade, which is the $13.00. Its very floods, and maybe 300+ Real lumens…
6.3W LED Upgrade for MagLite-Eco
Item# newitem2397219569
From the fusionlite.com. They started with the Fusion36 drop in.
—- If you are not sentimental about keeping the MagLites— dig in.
Many beautiful lights here with great output at great prices :). 
I’m not sentimental at all, but was curious about refitting/repurposing the Maglites for something. You’ve offered a terrific suggestion. If I’m bailing out of the Maglites, do you have thoughts about 2 or 3 worthy successors?
Many thanks!
I have the L6, which probably most of us here do, its sort of on the line off a maglite but about a 100x brighter. Runs on 2 26650 li-ions.
Nice all purpose around the house light. There’s also a coupon code that’s still active for it here.
Most of us probably have one or two of the UTORCH UT01 or a convoy S2. The UT01 uses 14500 li-ion and the S2 a 18650. Makes a good go anywhere light. If you want something small to WOW your friends with then there is the Emisar D4.
I warned you about the wallet.
Have a nice time here, liteyear!
You did indeed, but these lights that “most of us have” are just the things I’m looking for. Thanks for the (continued) suggestions. As an aside, I know which knives or guns a lot of people made popular, but just haven’t had lights on my radar. Playing catch up, but this is the right place to get the info. I can tell.
Really appreciate the tips.
What type of Engineering background do you have? Aerospace, Civil, Electrical. Industrial?
BTW, I am an Engineer myself.
Electrical (around the time electrons were discovered :student: )
This might interest you then.How To Build a Flashlight With Perfect Modes (picture heavy)
That’s where it all started for us BLFer’s, We finally could customize a flashlight to our own liking.
We have advanced pretty far since then but I’m sure you’ll get caught up on all the new firmwares around here pretty quick.
There’s lots of guides on this site to get you started if your interested.
Now THAT is some really interesting history. Coming from incan Maglites with no modes to what these new lights can do - well, it is quite the rabbit hole I’ve fallen into willing decided to dive into. Thanks for providing that!
Welcome liteyear! I hope you find it interesting. There is so much to learn here. I see good suggestions above. I have a few Convoys and Lumintops that are amongst my favorites; hard to go wrong with those brands. I just got a Miboxer charger that charges Lithium and NiMh batteries so easily and automatically, there really isn’t a need to be stuck with just LiIon or just NiMh. I have had the C2-3000 for about a week now, and it’s the best charger I’ve had so far, and they are inexpensive too. Please read up on lithium battery safety if you go that route. If your light won’t have low voltage protection, protected cells will prevent overdischarge, which is very important. If you choose NiMh, get good quality low self discharge (LSD) cells made in Japan, not China, like Eneloops or Amazon Basics. I’m curious to see what kind of interests BLF will spark 
in an electrical engineer. No need to throw away the old Mags either. There are lots of fun things to do with them, from cheap little bulb shaped led “bulb” to custom builds with thousands of lumens. I’ll always have a bunch of old Mags around, and for some reason or another, I’m sure I’ll have a few more before it’s all said and done. Nice to have you here; have fun!
First thing I ask back when asked “What kind of flashlight should I get?”, is, “Whaddya wanna do with it?”.
You want to go owl-spotting, and need lots of throw? Or you want an area light to light up the path in front of you, and need flood instead? Want a “compromise” light that does neither too well? 
No one light fulfills all needs, so yeah, prepare to jump in and start collecting…