You can still charge your battery on a charger. No one said you have to use the built in exclusively. You can use another light while you are charging or put in a spare battery. Again, all built in charging does is give you another option. Early built in chargers may have had problems, I never had that experience with mine. Totally submerged lights would be vulnerable to water but rain or an occasional drop into a puddle would not be a problem as long as you are careful to close the flap. I am seriously considering selling all my none built in charger lights since I like the feature so much. Built in charging in conjunction with an inline USB tester allows you to monitor the current the same as a dedicated charger. Most dedicated chargers do not measure internal resistance accurately so this really is not a perk. Capacity can still be measured on the dedicated charger when you so desire.
If I like the basic platform of the light, OBC has no impact on my purchase decision. It’s convenient for traveling without the added bulk of separate charger, but carrying pre-charged spare cells is not that burdensome either. I’m usually not out in the elements enough with my lights to be concerned about moisture ingress. Although I have a few 14500 cells with integrated charging (USB-B), I don’t particularly trust them, and it’s known they have some parasitic drain from the monitoring circuitry…I rarely use them.
Yes
There are clearly some advantages of built in charging but the dozen or so negatives outweigh thew one or two positives.
4. Non-replaceable driver in most cases. Very BAD
The only point I’d agree with is #1. A built-in charger doesn’t prevent you from charging separately, it’s a convenience in case you need it.
And even on the issue of liquid entry, it’s total submersion that’s a problem for those charging ports, not being in the rain or dropping into a puddle. For myself, if I had to weigh chance of needing to recharge a light when I’m not at home vs. needing the light to be totally water proof…there’s more instances when I’m out camping or whatever and don’t bother to bring a 18650 charger with me. Much more likely for that to happen than dropping a flashlight into deep bodies of water.
It’s so nice to just charge up your flashlight and not have to bring yet another gadget when camping for a few days.
I have voted no.
While charging you can’t use the flashlight
Best external charger and boxes / cases to carry spare batteries.
I don’t like it for my own lights and almost never use it when lights have it, but I do like it for giving/loaning lights to other people.
I say no, unless we're talking about keychain flashlights with tiny lithium-ion batteries.
I like it in certain circumstances. Lots of valid points here.
I basically never want it on an EDC light. For that, I want smaller, more moddable, better waterproofing, those sorts of things that tend to preclude charging. I’m also super in touch with that kind of light so I have a good idea when I need to charge it before I need an on-the-go solution.
But, I think it’s a good idea for multi-cell parallel lights, like the Q8/SP36/LT1. The reason is if you charge them in a charger all together you’ll still get some slight variance. If they’re charged in parallel in the light, they’ll all charge together perfectly evenly. Also, it’s frequently a pain to load/unload four cells at once, and it takes up (in most cases) the entire charger for one light.
Also, I really prefer the in-the-threads charger types, like in small 10180 lights, D10 headlamps, and the Noctigon K1. The little rubber flaps tend to tear on me.
I think built-in charging can be great for instances where packing simple/light is important. It’s also great for those who have no interest in learning about batteries and how to care for them—they can just treat it like their phone.
For myself, I don’t need built-in charging and I prefer lights to be more compact instead. I wouldn’t mind the option if more lights would use solutions like the Noctigon K1. Rubber covers can really throw a monkey-wrench into the IP rating of a light.
I strongly prefer no built in charging, unless it’s a headlamp. It’s not a dealbreaker for me, but if I’m choosing between two lights and one has charging and on doesn’t, I’ll buy the light without.
For EDC carry, it’s a necessity. For large 3 batt lights, fine, might be complicated. But an EDC you can plug in to any phone charger, battery pack/ solar cell in the world? Priceless.
Voted other, it’s a good option to have on larger lights, not on small EDC ones where integrated charging adds bulk.
I voted yes. I used to dislike integrated charging because of water ingress concerns, but most of the lights I’ve tried recently have had excellent port cover solutions. I don’t mind not having it on single-cell lights, but it’s almost a necessity for me on multi-cell lights. I don’t want to have to 4 18650 cells out of a light and take up 4 slots on my charger when I could just plug in a USB cable.
Yes please. An open standard on magnetic USB recharging would be incredible. The organization in charge of USB standards needs to get on that.
It’s not a necessity… but it’s nice to have if the following conditions are met:
- The cost of flashlight is only marginally higher with the built-in charging
- The built-in charging doesn’t add appreciably to the flashlight size
- The port is well done to help prevent water ingress
- The firmware governing the feature does not overcharge the battery
I take an 18650 flashlight with built-in charging in my bugout & weekender bag, instead of a separate charger, which I use to recharge the 18650 cells of other flashlights I take with me. It’s super convenient and I like how it’s a sealed affair—no exposed contact points as typically found on a dedicated charger.
As for rubber stopper covers on ports, they can be done well that they’ll keep rain water out. Yeah, it’s an issue if you’re going to risk submerging. But if I’m going to expect very wet conditions, I take along a nicely sealed up light with no charging port.
Magnetic is amazing. I like Skilhunt’s solution… which is very close to Olight’s. In fact, you can actually charge a Skilhunt on an Olight charger (but not the other way around).
Btw, on a related note… small chargers. I have a Nitecore UM2 that I really like. It does a fine job of charging batteries at a normal, safe rate, while also supplying useful information. But I just don’t like the fragility. It’s just so exposed and those spring loaded contact pads are a touch sketchy. I realize that these chargers aren’t sealed up so that it allows for heat dissipation in case of cells getting very warm in the process. But is there a good charger design design that’s a little more rugged & protected for 2 cells, that’s also reasonably priced?
Completely agree! I voted no. However, built in charging is useful to give to someone that doesn’t have a good charger. I wouldn’t mind built in charging provided it didn’t make for a light that is not water proof. Love the charging that is universal USB powered. Under the seals or magnetic are the only way to go and magnetic should be an open standard!
Like QI? 