"Defiant 500 Lumen" XML 3C Flashlight @ Home Depot stores (US) - $20

Inventory Checker
disclaimer: not my zip, used to get inventory checker to launch. thanks, scaru.

Product Page. 4 in my local store, going to pick one up!

Review (from HD page):

Great light. Better than expected.
Pros:

  1. the intensity of the LED. Very bright.
    I took it outside last night and from my front my driver’s seat in my vehicle I shined it against garage door.
    The 550 Lumen was “brighter” than my low beam lights.
  2. the “whiteness” of the light is very good. Almost purely white. Just a slight amount of yellow.
    (yellowishness normally occurs ewith cheaper LED lights, like the retrofit kits).
  3. construction
    The chassis is very sturdy and solid feeling.
  4. Battery cost/type
    Uses 3 of the “C” cell batteries.
    While not the cheapest out there, it surely beats those “specialty” types of batteries on both price-to-replace and availability )
    CONs
  5. while it is focused quite well, there does not seem to be much (if any) way to adjust the sharpness/focus of the light beam.
    I am going back to HD to get a get a couple more for Christmas presents.
    I WAS going to give maglites from the black friday sale at lowes ($14.97 for a 2D cell) but I will be returning the maglites
    I’ll be buying these Defiants to use as my gifts instead.
    2 thjumbs up ! !

overall for most folks no matter what anybody else sez. It has a 9-hour run time for starters with 2 very common D-cells. You won’t get that on the Defiant that’s for sure driving an XML hard - much less messing around with an extra-cell out of a 4-pak of C’s that’ll just gather dust. So basically you’re gifting a torch that’ll require 2 x 2-pak of C’s to fire up once the 3 in the bubble-pak die. The Defiant OTOH only has 4-hours of runtime.

The switch on the Mag can inherently also last much longer from wear and tear due to the fact that it doesn’t require it to be switched on completely for momentary light-up. On the Defiant you have to turn it on completely then you can use it as a momentary on-off. ‘Little’ details like this make the difference but they are important little details - and in the case of switches the less you have to fully deploy them the better for reliability.

Foremost, The Mag is American-made and it’ll last into the next generation and beyond. I doubt the same for the Defiant just by what’ve I seen in the internals.

IMO, the Defiant is a good-enough light for torchies to mess with - it is decent quality and good value but it really lends itself to those that know what they’re doing to make it a better rig than it is stock. It needs help.

For the average non-flashholic, this light will likely become a battery maintenance PITA, too much light overkill since it’s only one-mode high, and $$$ wasted in the long run. The Mag was designed for simplicity, reliability, and ruggedness at a very fair price. At $14.97 it is a flat-out steal. For what I paid at $13.47 it was near criminal - considering it was below Home Depot’s cost. 8)

Just sayin’……………………………

I was just going to post that I heard Lumatic was a big fan of these!

Someone post a link here to the other thread. on my phone and can't right now. O. P. may wish to see it.

-Garry

they’re not that bad, but they’re just not that good either - at least not better than the Mag. But whatever. Some folks just think lumens and only lumens makes anything a better light I guess. :cowboy_hat_face:

I’m just playing.

I bought one of each. Actually i bought two of the Mags.

@torchjunkie

This is the previous thread about this light.

Thanks for info… I’m quite happy with it! Definitely didn’t buy it for the runtime — nor would I for most XML lights on the market — so it’s kind of hard to compare to an XRE/XPG maglite.

A better comparison is this to the quality of your average XML budget thrower from China. From that perspective, I am very satisfied. Nice to have a light that holds its own & runs on alkalines.

I bought some maglites 2D’s …love em

On the Defiant, if it were me, why not build yourself a battery carrier for 2 18650’s or larger and wire it in paralell ?

When I get a chance I’ll go through the blow-by-blows. Suffice to say, it works b*tchin’. :slight_smile:

I’ve been thinkin about this….anything to get rid of the alkaline LEAK THREAT.

for ya when I get a decent chance around here. 8)

If you disassembly this Defiant light, there is a white plastic washer with a square hole. The washer fits around the Cree LED. Put this washer into the lens opening, and screw the flashlight back together (very slowly) with the tail-end pointing up.

I haven’t seen any conversions for the Maglite that help w/o spending too much, and I really can’t find hours and hours of DIY needed to fix a Maglite. Heatsinking is a problem.

This flashlight is a very nice light for the money. Purchased (3) two-packs of safe NiMH’s. Charge three, and use three. So why convert to a bomb ? I only wish the tint of the cree xml led was a bit warmer, but neutral white is okay. :slight_smile:

Welcome to BLF redlaw55 ! ! ! :party: