What was your best/favorite/coolest flashlight of 2019? Top 5 announced!

At the moment, its the WildTrail BLFD80v2 XHP50.2 packs a serious punch for such a tiny torch!

second up is probably my XHP50.2 C8, all though i love the 1mm white one as well also really like the Jax Z1

This may get revised when i drop a CSLPM1.TG in a C8+

flat white s2+ 18350.

Olight T-20 - I found a pair of these unpacking boxes at the new house and they rekindled my fascination with lights. I had forgotten I had even owned them. Hey, they were a big deal back in the Aughts!

Convoy S2+ SST-40 5000K - First light I bought this year after getting back into flashlights. Promptly LEGO’d with the 18350 tube, clip headband, alternate optic. Much has changed since 2009 when a 1W LED was a big deal.

FW3A - Fun UI, triple emitters, nice balance of light and runtime.

Jeers -
Lumintop Pico - I wanted to love you, you cute little thing. Perhaps I still do. But you can’t hold your electrons, and stopped putting out. Neither Lumintop nor Amazon cared, so you sit in a drawer until I dissect you. Seriously, a cool light, great for the wow factor, and useful levels of light. But it had a self-discharge problem, and stopped working completely on day 31.

My favorite light that I got this year in stock form is my DQG Slim AA.

After mods, my CULNM1 Z1 and FW3A are close. The Z1 is older than 2019 but the CULNM1 isn’t :wink:

While I do really like my Titanium and Copper Fireflies E07 and my all brass E07, and I expect to be enamored with the Noctigon K1 when it arrives (en-route now), my favorite is going to have to be the one I have the most invested in… DBC-08. The 8th light I’ve built from the ground up, with a White Flat that makes 760 lumens at 5A for ~600M throw off a Sanyo UR16650FTZ 2500mAh cell.

The Mokume Gane pill section and MokuTi bezel and tail cap were birthday presents to me in 2018 in the form of two 30mm x 39mm bars that I just now got around to utilizing, Thank You Sinner! :smiley: The carbon fiber tubes on the battery tube are courtesy of CRX, another Thank you there! :slight_smile: With the LD-4A driver from LED4Power this light is truly exceptional in every way. I’m going to be cherishing this one for quite some time for sure!

Oddly enough, my most pleasing light(s) this year are a pair of humble Skilhunt M200s that I picked up on a sale a while back - basically, they’re an H03 made in a straight line with a more throwy beam.

They are pure function; not especially pretty, especially powerful or especially anything, but they feel rugged in my hand, the UI suits me, and they appear so far to be utterly reliable despite numerous bumps and drops.

I find myself reaching for them first and leaving the much more ‘gracious’ lights on the shelf.

Fw3a sst20
D4svn

Lumintop AAA

Emisar D4v2 SST-20 3000K

ZebraLight SC600Fd IV Plus

FW3A and LT1

Handheld:

1st: Jaxman E3 w/ Nichia 5700 90CRI. 'Cause I'm weak when it comes to fine & rugged 1xAA lights.

Runner-up: FW3A WW. It's said that one always remembers their "first"; this is my first Anduril, first BLF collaboration, first pocket rocket, first time I've waited years for a flashlight.

Headlight:

1st: Acebeam H40 SST 20. See above my weakness for 1xAA. Also has the overhead strap. One around-the-head strap is a deal killer for me regardless how good the light is.

Runner-up: YLP Panda 2M CR. 'Cause very good floody, high CRI. If it had somehow, miraculously been 1xAA it would have taken 1st.

slmjim

WK30. LH351D in white, plus red and UV to play with, kewl modes for each (including the red+white “police strobe”), what’s not to love?

Category: Maximum combined power and throw: .

Imalent R90TS. I waited 2.5 years for something to top the X65, and Imalent did so, with 36000 lumens and 1750 meters throw.

My favorite lights of the year:

FW3A for EDC category.

BLF-D80v2 for compact thrower category.

Acebeam K30 GT from Andrew-Amanda.

That is gorgeous! Very nice choice on MokuTi. Do you have a link to the project? :+1:

EDC: BLF FW3A.
Thrower: Astrolux FT03 (pick any emitter)
Coolest: BLF LT1 or IF25 tint ramping.

What I want for 2020: FW4A with tint ramping! :smiling_imp:

M43 in 219c still my favorite multi cell light.

D4v2ti is my new favorite single cell light.

D4 sst-20 4000k updated with custom buck driver, then updated with fd2 tint LEDs. Pocket daemon convinced to work all 2019 as a amazing illumination tool.

FW’1’A
W30 acebeam
Not cool. Both are as warm as possible.