Wow, thanks for the work!
Nice to see that some of my simple-ish reviews made the spot too 
Nostalgia and good memories of flashlight obsession, lol!
Nice, this thread should keep me busy for a bit!
So sad almost none have usb-c charging. That’s keeping me from buying the 14500 lights.
Smaller should mean more hassle free, not less.
Smaller usually means no room for external charging ports though.
This.
Adding a charging port to a small light can substantially increase the size of the light. Much more so than in a larger light.
I also dislike charging ports because most have rubber covers over the port. Unless very well designed, these covers can fall off or dangle from the light. And any rubber cover can eventually wear out and break.
Sure that size is an issue? 
SC01 isn’t a 14500 light.
Add a charge port to something like an SP10 and it would be as long as some 18650 lights.
And that’s why there is TIR’s.
It’s not the size that is the problem, it’s most of these lights being multi-fuel so alkaleak, NiMH, Li-ion and the rest. It makes onboard loading way more complicated and even dangerous as idiots go try charge non-rechargeable batteries. There’s AA-sized light with USB but these work with one battery-type only mostly being 14500.
Should not be that hard to implement a function that only charge if voltage is above 2V. (Per cell)
The utility of an onboard charger also depends on how you typically use your lights.
If you’re like me and already have an external charger to charge batteries, an onboard charger is just a waste of space.
Using an external charger has many advantages:
- can use the light while it is charging if you have an extra battery.
- smaller light
- less risk of compromising the waterproofing
- less stuff inside to break
Onboard charging seems more like a feature for muggles who only own one light and no charger, or maybe for traveling if you don’t want to bring a charger.
On board chargers are an entry point for water. Also, you can’t use your light while charging. IMHO, it’s just marketing nonsense. No substitute for a quality external charger. Like I said, this is my opinion.
Not if they are magnetic like the Skilhunt M150 !
But then people will complain about proprietary charging :person_facepalming:
And the loop restarts…
So you’re saying that by upping the voltage and mAh of the cell it would require a much larger circuitry to handle it? Something that large to make it 18650 sized? I’m not proficient in electronics, so I’d like to understand the limitations.
There are many, many uses of flashlights where water submersion is a non-issue. And yes, if one has a constant need for illumination there is always the impetus to have a backup. A built-in charging light can take a rest.
I use a Skilhunt H03 as a charging host when I travel, so I don’t have to carry a separate portable charger. And when need be, the H03 can serve as a backup light. Also note that most chargers aren’t sealed units. They do have vulnerability. What if some water accidentally strikes a charger? With a sealed light, there’s much better protection. This is also why I like the Skilhunt proprietary magnetic chargers, as there’s no chance for water ingress into the light.
Magnetic chargers have their own issues.
- Some Olights have magnetic chargers. Users discovered that if you shorted between the charger contacts on the tailcap the tailspring would melt down due to a dead short. This is not a good thing for a small pocket light where your keys or change could easily cause the tailcap contacts to short.
- Some people, myself included, dislike magnets on their pocket EDC lights. If kept in the pocket with wallet there is concern the magnet might demagnetize credit cards or I.D… If kept in the pocket with keys, the magnet tends to stick to them making it harder with withdraw from a pocket.
Also, NO type of onboard charging allows you to use the light away from an outlet while the light is being charged. With an external charger, you can have one cell charging while the other is in your light in your pocket nowhere near an outlet.
Not quite what I said.
I said, adding onboard charging would probably make the light longer than some 18650 lights. An 18650 light would still be wider and heavier, especially with the weight of a heavier cell.
A charge port and related circuitry can add up to 1 cm in length to a typical small light.
- Sofirn SP10b is 89mm in length.
- Zebralight SC64 is 92mm in length. DQG Tiny 18650 is also 89mm in length.
- Adding a charger circuit to the Sofirn SP10 would probably increase it to closer to 100mm in length…. that’s not a good thing for those who want the smallest possible pocket light.
Personally, I find onboard charging to be mostly a useless gimmick. It’s like those 2-way clips that seem to be all the rage with manufacturers these days. It has some slight situational use, but overall lights are much better without it.
That said, if you’re going to add charging to your light, do it right, like in the Sofirn SC21:
- Make sure the charger port cover is firm and will not come out accidentally.
- Use true USB-C charging.
What else do you have that has a usb-c port and needs charging everyday…. Tell me, how often do you change your phone because of water intrusion in the charging port? That’s without the rubber grommet.
That you don’t take your battery out of your phone and use your external phone battery charger is because of the fact that it’s an EDC. It’s the most preferred and easiest way. I don’t care if the imalent ms18 don’t have built in charging, it’s a beast that would take forever to charge. But a small EDC flashlight? That I want to be able to top off in an easy manner besides my phone. I don’t want or need another charging station for my flashlights. I want something that can be charged with an external usb-c battery pack if needed when camping. Or in the boat, or in the cabin. I don’t see the good in having to invest in three charging stations in which they don’t work in 2 out of three of the cases (tent and boat). For What’s to be considered as an EDC, I demand usb charging built in, it useless in my EDC scenario elseway.
There is no single perfect light for all people or all uses, just like there are no single perfect homes, cars, TVs, phones, and the list goes on and on…
That is why we are fortunate to have a choice of lights, homes, vehicles, etc.
So the argument that onboard charging being good/bad is irrelevant.
My favorite pocket light has no built-in charger and I love it. My favorite workshop lights have built-in chargers and I love them and chose them because they did.
I have gifted a few lights to “muggles”. The very first light I gave used an AA/14500 cell and had a magnetic charger base. (O-light S15R). This person was a MUGGLE, all caps used intentionally. When the cell became depleted they pulled it out, saw it looked like a AA so dropped in a Duracell AA. The light worked so the depleted 14500 was tossed out. The fact that they had a charger someplace never entered their mind.
Now the only lights that use AA or AAA that I gift only use alkalines, or Nimh if a person wanted to.
The lights that I have gifted that use 18650 and 21700 cells all have onboard charging because the muggles don’t have any standalone chargers and don’t need to add clutter to their lives, but they do have USB chargers and cables for other stuff.
If more flashoholics just dropped the prestige in the whole “usb is for mugglers” - thing, that would be great. There’s nothing bad in having options for charging your EDC at work, abroad, at the lake etc. That’s not “muggling” that’s what EDC should stand for.
Just to clarify my statement, I only said what I said because of the “entry point of water” 
I honestly don’t care much as I can carry spare cells (normally 14500s) and I have the Olight UC charger to charge them with a power bank or USB socket.
As MtnDon wrote there is no single right answer.
- If you’re traveling or charge your light in multiple different locations as Lumen9000 does, it could be very useful. Highly desired even.
- However, for how I use my lights its useless. I don’t travel a lot and already have a dedicated charger for all my flashlight cells. And since I have dozens of lights, I’ll still need that charger even if I got a new light or two with onboard charging. I also don’t like having to take my EDC off my person to set it aside to charge for an hour. I’d much rather just swap cells with the one in the charger and be topped up instantly.
I have a number of lights with onboard charging and find I never use that feature. It’s faster to swap in a fresh cell.