Hello everyone. I was offered by my mother a gift of my choice in the $30-ish price range give or take a few bucks. What should I get, I have no idea. LOL :) I own this or have this on the way:
two P60 XM-L lights
Ultrafire U20
Romisen RC-A5
Fenix LD01
4Sevenes 123X2 and Preon 2
in a light I prefer (but not set in stone:
rear clicky
low/med/hi or moon/low/med/hi (in that order)
pocket clip
prefer to buy online
value for the money/bang for the buck
name brand does not matter
I would also be interested in knives, here is what I own:
At $30, The Xeno E03 is tough to beat for a single AA/14500 light and tactical HID is a great dealer to work with. I also suggest the n-light B2S. For single 18650, take a look at the the Trustfire T2. The Sky ray G6 looks to be a very good light, but no one has one yet to confirm. It certainly looks pretty.
Xeno E03 XM-L. I just took it out for a day of pretty hard use, no issue with the coating (not HA). You can put NiMH/Alkalines in there and get a very nice lower intensity flood light perfect for indoor use when on lowest mode. I think its just a couple of lumens. For indoor use, XR-E on a 18mm or so reflector is not as floody as i'd like. XP-G barely makes it as well. XM-L is good!
It has no PWM as well on lowest mode. I have never seen current regulated lights with such a low cost, do remember that we are talking about XM-L class lights.
Put in some 14500 and let her rip. On 14500 is has decent throw as well.
Currently out of stock though. This thing makes new stuff like Jetbeam BC10 "obselete" in a certain sense, btw that is $10 more expensive. Its just 5mm longer but 2mm smaller in diameter than the BC10! Multiple battery (also gives you multiple selectable intensities and easily available primaries, which also gives you a real low). CW, NW or WW. The WW is very very good tint. Choice of 3 colours, black/purple/red. The rear GITD cap is a PITA, but you can just cap it with your spare regular sized (those P60 or 42mm lights like C8) on top of it, it fits real tight.
Included is a spare switch just in case it breaks, nice touch.
The ITP C7 is a nice light no question. Its built like a tank and the infinite adjustability is cool. I regularly carry one with a 14500. However, it is an older light. Its more throwy for an AA light with an XR-E and a rather deep reflector. Its also large for an AA and the output is not at the same level as some of the newer lights with newer emitters. Given the choice of the C7 and Xeno E03 at about the same price, as a gift light I'd go with the Xeno.
Check out SirJohn's excellent review in the 14500/AA sect. Its out of stock for 2 weeks at tacticalhid.com, you can order it now. Warm white looks very nice, but if you want a wee bit more efficiency go with the CW. NW is like out of stock indefinitely.
I think Jason at Tactical HID gave an eta of two weeks and he usually is pretty good about that stuff. He isn't allowing any more ordering of the neutral whites but you should be able to order the cool whites and warm whites at any time and then you just need to wait for them to arrive. Any concerns and you could probably just contact him and ask before ordering: