i have come to realize that these are tools. to be "perfectly happy" with a specific light has a great deal with its application.
just as you would be foolish to use a 9" dovetail saw to lop off the ends of 2x4's for a shed, using a fully driven UL-980L to quietly get something out of the sleeping babys room is also doomed to failure.
while the average person does not expect one saw, or chisel, or surgical dressing to fit every application, they think "oh, ill get a flashlight", for right or wrong, we know better. they are tools and as such are application specific.
that said, in my work as a respiratory therapist working nights in an inner city hospital the shiningbeam S-mini, driven with AW protected 18650, has come as close to perfect in this role as any light i have carried in 25 years. a low that is low enough to check paitient pupils or look for equipment and not wake sleeping paitiets, solid runtimes on medium, for ventilator checks in the dark, additional airway lighting during difficult intubations and brochoscopies, and a solid high for oxygen tank room processes and travel between hospitals at 3a with equipment, etc. no flashes, no flashes, no flashes.
would i use it to search for a lost cat in the woods? possibly but not if i had my L2P/XP-G 3-mode at hand. do i carry it with me all the time when off? no, my nitecore D-10 takes that duty.
you just need to get some and see how they fit into your everyday. the good news? now that you have found BLF you can get a range of lights for fairly short money (even though it seems like a lot, get into guns sometime or even bikes to see the dollars/euros pile up).
You can mention high end torches here and then buy a lower priced torch and compare the two. You may then have buyer remorse. One of my first purchases was an Ld40. Not exactly high end but not budget. Never use it. Doesn't really compare to my kd c8 xml for a third of the price.
Hi Lensman... LOL! Another one that came over from...
I'm into photography too.... Looking forward to your posts and contributions. Problem is that too many people are sharing info and a lot of us end up buying more than we ought to. (which is a good thing IMO). LOL!
No problem at all, you can mention high-end flashlights here with links to other forums and websites, am sure we all love the occasional indulgence. Eg I found out last night somebody did beamshots of SR92 (which is a near 400 bucks flashlight i believe) and the Sky Ray 3 x T6. WOAH....I love my Sky Ray 3 x T6 even more. I thought that as good as the Sky Ray 3 x T6 is, there would be absolutely no fight/comparison with the SR92. There are also things which the Sky Ray 3xT6 do better, and there are things which the SR92 do better. But I do like Olight stuff.... just too expensive.
Looking forward to your posts and contributions. Problem is that too many people are sharing info and a lot of us end up buying more than we ought to. (which is a good thing IMO). LOL!