Voile', for labout $35 you have a nice 3-mode, no blinky, well made light. It does have a forward clicky, which I like but some may want to spend another 10 bucks and put a reverse clicky in it.
I would also spend an extra $3 and buy the low-profile stainless bezel, it makes the light shorter and, IMO, better looking. If a pocket clip is to you liking, you can get that as well, but I don't use them in lights this big. You are probably going to spend another $15-20 for a charger and a couple of 18650 batteries, but when you are all done you will have $50 invested in a light that will serve you for a long time to come.
So what would YOU recommend to a noobie for their first 18650 light?
A Solarforce L2T or L2P and the Manafont drop in or a 502B, 504B or C1 if they want a clip and the Manafont drop in or maybe a KDC8, all of the above with some protected Flame batteries.
I wish there was a regulated drop in to recommend for cheap, it would make more sense for a newbie to start out with something more idiot proof so the battery choice wouldn't be so critical.
I've answered this question a thousand times and it's pretty much as you guys suggest. For me it has to be the new version L2 with the above described drop-in. (SKU 5720)
Brightest, highest quality light $30 ever bought and like troop, there are a few lights I would have passed on had I discovered this drop-in sooner. I don't mean to evangelize this drop-in; it's not perfect (direct drive on high must be respected) but like E said in another post somewhere, the lumens-per-money-spent is hard to beat.
IMO it’s not the best looking host around, but it will get the job done. And the good news is that at manafont, you will probably be getting a genuine Ultrafire, not a knock-off. I own one and it has never failed me. Just wrap the drop-in well with copper or aluminum foil to wick the heat away to the host.
The same or some other ready-made 18650 light.
I would recommend getting P60 as the SECOND light for not a total noobie, since they need wrapping. Bad wrap can make a shortcut.
Non problematic, with great driver, waterproof and with excellent heatsinking. I migt be biased as this was mine first high power led flashlight but even today I can't find a weak point for it...
Solarforce has excellent quality and reputation. For your first light, I recommend buying a light that will result in a positive experience. There are lots of cheap lights out there and some of them are poor quality or are hit or miss with quality. You can buy a cheaper light, but the Solarforce is well worth the money. It takes a lot of reading here at BLF to find the gems.
For ease of use and being thermally superior to any P60 host... I would recommend the new XinTD C8 3-mode in neutral (3C). I just have a better feeling of not going over 3A for a beginners light. The need of wrapping a dropin with foil would not have made the best impression on me several years ago. A beginners light should work out of the box under all circumstances. Checking the flashlight every 30 sec for overheating isn't exactly user friendly. Also i think there is a difference between beginners on high power flashlights and beginners on BLF. Beginners on BLF will become pros in no time. ;-)
Agree with the OP, but for almost the same $$ you can get a Shiningbeam S-mini and not have to spend any time combining parts and waiting on shipping. Plus, Bryan stands behind what he sells, so after-sale service would be far better than MF/ etc. Admittedly, they aren't as bright, but also not prone to overheating, which might be a plus for a noob.
This is the first time I have seen this light and I definitely agree it would be a perfect beginner light. Just drop a battery in and you are good. The pill is huge so even at 2.8 amps it should not overheat.
It gets even better ... the alu reflector is screwing in the brass pill. Best thermal design I have ever seen on a budget screw-in/drop-in light. And the pill should accommodate even 20mm stars for future LED updates. I ordered a similar brass pill alone at DD (without reflector threads)... hopefully it is the same body-threads diameter. I am doing the same thing with a warm white XM-L to my UF C8 XR-E.
