So Is Anybody Besides Me Decided To Concentrate On Buying Better Quality Flashlights From Here On?

gcbryan I agree with you, the only thing is, if you like modding them, a decent host can do a lot for future moddings of new leds available, but a really bad one was bad from the first day.

I am looking more and more at the $20-34 bracket. Quality instead of quantity.... why should I buy the 20ieth P60 host?

See I don't really care about flashlights. I don't horde them or love them or need them. The only reason I play is for the modding. I need to "do things", occupy my time and my mind. Make myself think more (say stroke). I need to work with my hands and make something. It can be a flashlight, a knife, a model sailboat or any number of things, but it's the constructing and figuring out that is my need. I just about always sell them off after I make them. I did one of the first H.I.D. MagLites and sold it, same with all the other mods. Only with money so tight on a fixed income now, I just do it as cheaply as I can.

Sorry - (takes one step off the soapbox)

Next?

There is the thrill when you get a cheap one that is very good. The original (93mm) stainless steel C3 comes to mind and the Aurora SH-034. the Aurora may just be the best quality light I own at any price. I'm not about to stop buying the really cheap stuff. I gave a pal of mine one of the dollar cheapie AA lights from a couple of years back and he was delighted with it. When he broke it, I gave him a $7 MDXL cheapie (I'm sure old4570 reviewed it but I can't find the review) which he likes even more. Next I'll probably give him a Hugsby P32. He is the guy who looks after the assistant if I'm out of town you see.

Again the Hugsby is an extremely well-made light for not a lot. AFAIR it was about $15 and worth every cent.

Below ten dollars there are a few bargains and a lot of junk. But I've had fun finding out which were which.

Same here... I'm on disability for lifelong mental health problems (depression, bipolar) and I do mods to get the rewards of the work, and I've always loved working with my hands. I do love lights though and I keep what I mod, plus my top hate in life is selling. I couldn't sell you a drink of water in a desert, and I know it. So I won't put myself in that headache.

Bummed right now due to left elbow surgery so modding is out now also. Had a pinched funny bone nerve. Ouch.

Rich

I find it hard to spend 30-60$ for cheapo multi XM-L or multi 18650 but somehow I find it easier to spend same amount on Zebra...

I could easily purchase another price/quality wise but I just HAVE TO cut down all excess investments for at least half year now.

I have bought tons of cheap stuff, most of them are sold or ordered on request to others wanting power with least possible cost.

For my own use, hardly much less than Solarforce goes anymore as far as P60´s go.

DQG´s have got me also pretty bad...

I still love to look around for best quality / price ratio. If I ever manage to buy multi 18650 light, it will be probably over 100$ but must be good in every way i.e. no drawbacks like PWM or such

I think my last LED light purchase will be a Kai Domain XML C8? I have 20 + led flashlights now from about $2 to $20 mostly in the Ultrafire/Romisen quality range. I may pick up a few more vintage lights to keep my 1920s Eveready company. I am kinda waiting for Cree or the competition to come up with with a single LED that will throw 1000 meters (maybe I will be waiting forever).

+1.

L2P with HAIII is a nice basic mechanical quality level.

But I wish that the next generation of Budget lights also will have some more advanced drivers.

And you know Solarforce seems to be a step up above the other budget lights being offered. They do tend to cost a little more but they are priced reasonably well on their cheaper end lights. My only gripe with them on their more expensive top end lights is that they seem to be underdriven. They do make some very nice machined body tubes on some of their lights. I do like my Solarforce Skyline I. But I wished they would have driven it a little harder.

After some 80-100 lights (95% of them budget), I find myself not caring much about the new DX Zuperfire if it isn't something special. Yes, I like quality and I already have enough lights for five lifetimes so I am ok with quantity. Now I think I am more interested in purchasing a premium light or 4-5 quality budget lights every few months, and I think I will have more fun this way because I will have more time to play with each of them and "feel" it as an item of mine. You see, I have many lights for many months that I only tested once if they work and never used them again...

So, yes, I think less flashlights of better quality are what I am most interested on at this point. It doesn't have to be a Catapult or a TK-75 to like it, a nice HAIII solarforce with an XML-U2 dropin, a Crelant 7G5 or a TR-3T6 can do the job. And a couple of high-end lights (Catapult and TK-75 comes to mind again) once or twice a year will complete my happiness

I'm with you here

Started "buying" new generation LED flashlights a year ago, from DX, with ULTRAFIRE and SKYRAY..,

all this time, a LOT of flashlights (mostly budget) passed from my hands

Now, everything "budget" is sold (except for the Ultrafire UF-H2) -

I am only keeping a HDS Rotary, a Zebra SC600 and an Armytek Predator and they will not change for sometime!

I already have more than enough flashlights. I'm afraid my Junkfires aren't going to fare well on my bike in wet weather commutes. I'll probably bite the bullet and purchase one real bike light. It seems wrong, though, when the price of a good bike light is 20% the price of the bike itself.

I have been rethinking this and I think for 2012 I am going to narrow my scope to only warm tints and 3-mode (or UIs with hidden disco modes) lights. I have a decent flashlight in every closet, cabinet and vehicle that I own and really don't need any more.

Hopefully this strategy can keep me connected without all the money being spent. My golfing buddies will probably be glad to see me again.

What does the title of this thread really mean????????????

I would have thought that no matter the price we are all always looking for better quality flashlights. After all who knowingly in advance purchases junk?

The fact is that price and quality don't always equate. The Ultrafire MCU-C88 is a classic example. Truly superb build quality but low cost. Its a $30 light that's the equal of lights more than twice that price. Equally by all reports the same is true of the Balder SE-1 which is the equal of lights more than twice its price. Even the new Tank-007 E09 (under $15) is being reported as of equal quality to similar sized Fenix's lights costing far, far more.

All in all therefore I fail to understand the title of this thread, unless it assumes, somewhat naively in my opinion, that if you want quality you always to have to always pay big bucks.

Don't buy a "dedicated" bike light!

A good XM-L flashlight (floody) with a twofish (or similar, $3.00 value) flashlight bike "holder" and an extra pair of 18650 in your pocket (for the long rides) and you 're more than covered!!!

UF-2100, Xeno E03 (with 14500), Zebra SC600 would fit perfectly in this role!

+1

i hereby pledge ... : )

a quick comment on price . i think all lights are overpriced, the cheap ones and the top of the line ones and everything in between. we pay quite a bit for most lights relative to the workmanship and the higher end lights even more. that's why i like this site. so i can see what is worth it and what isn't. even looking at the price of the LEDs , top of the line leds are costly but you pay the premium again for the brightest led. all depends what you want

if you want to fork over money its easy but it depends what you want. if you want to mod lights and get a good bang for the buck then maybe the light costing many times more is not worth it.
if your a cop or something you may not want to skimp but myself i dont need an “explosion proof” light.

here is my latest purchases and their “counterparts” ( Fenix E21 , Fenix TK41)
small sun 2AA = $3.50
Fenix E21 =$35 retail, GB $24 something

SacredFire NF-009 = $24

Fenix TK41 = $130 retail

the SS has a cheapy led but not a bad body - many times cheaper than the E21 but adequate for a lot of things . frankly the small sun is for a mod , to use up another old modded led leftover. Its just for fun, to mod, good deal for the price. an really fits most peoples needs , got 3 gave one away. the E21 doesnt fit the bill for any of the above but is a solid reliable perfect out of the box. its a go to light unless i am pluming or working on the car, something that will tear up or dirty the light more than need be for its value.

... there is a place for all lights and i can see where you have paid for several low priced lights and thought you could have gotten a “good one” - esp people that get a DOA and cant get it fixed or suffer crappy modes and fraking seizure causing PWM . or dont want to tinker.

other than having different uses for different lights i like the holy grail lights- as mentioned before Ultrafire MCU-C88. $30 for it is a bit costly if you think about it but other than that, finding these gems AND making them its all part of the fun.

i have a $2.50 flashlight (@homedepot: two 1xAA and a head lamp for $7 ) next to my tk41 on the night stand, both are great and have there purpose , neither go on pluming adventures :)

all about cost/benefit and having fun


I made the same decision about 4 months ago. I was buying about 5 lights a month that averaged about $20-25 each. I decided I'd rather buy two $50 lights, or even one $75-100 light per month instead. So far I have not regretted that decision, especially since some of my "favorite" cheapy lights seem to be failing at a fairly regular rate.

I think lights in the $40 range-like the Xeno-are my new starting point. I don't spend more $$ than I used to, just have fewer lights. And I don't spend more than a hundred bucks on any lights. In some circles that would still make me a budget light collector.

Plus, it is easier to get one "suspicious" package per month into the house than it is facing the spousal flak when one or two come every week....

Good post troop. That's sort of the way I feel.

"spousal flak"

"You catch some shrapnel on that last one?"

"Yeah, I think I got the bleeding stopped but you know they're gonna just keep shellin' us 'til we take out that damn 88mm"

"There's the mailman . . . incoming! . . .incoming! . . . oh man, look at that poor fellow - what happened to him?"

"Spousal flak, caught him right square in the face. He just stood there and took it . . . nothing he could do."

"It's like a daisy-cutter, there's no escape . . ."

noescapeFoy