Please Help A Noobie Choose His First Single 18650 Cell Thrower + Little Flood For ~ $50

You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72596

Hey guys!
I’ve been lurking around the forums for a while but i had my account registered today.
I am in the market for some descent throwing single cell 18650 light with a fair amount of flood. As you can see i made a poll with the models i had in mind. Your suggestions are more than welcome if there is any flashlight that fits my budge ~ $50 that performs better than the ones in the Poll.

Thanks in advance

Real™ flashoholics buy neutral white. First one is like twice the cost of the 3rd, so depends on whether you suppose a side switch is worth it.

Thanks for the input agenthex! Well the side switch means nothing to me tbh. In terms of throw/flood which one seems best for you?
May i ask why flashoholics choose the neutral white LED color?

They’re about same size reflector and same emitter so should be quite similar. Neutral white just makes colors more pleasant and less glare off reflective surfaces (incl. rain/haze). For pure throw a cooler white might be better for contrast but I always pick up NW for general use.

thanks for the explanation that sums it up. do you know any other light that might outperforms the ones i mentioned?

There’s a limit to how much a light can perform given an emitter and reflector size.

Most of the money paid for $$$ premium lights isn’t performance per se but incremental build quality, better electronics (very long runtime on low modes), warranty, stuff like that. All those lights you list are good enough and there really isn’t much better than that.

With the length of the c8, a tail switch is fine, I feel if you go above 2 x 18650 series in length you want a side switch, on short lights, tail switch is fine.

Personally, I’ll be ordering a 3 mode nw xintd c8 in December, till then I’ll continue to shill it to death, I love the c8 size/performance and can’t see the benefit in spending more on what is basically an aluminum tube with an hours worth of time on a lathe. Go into production and your probably talking a couple of minutes in a cnc lathe. I don’t feel a laser etched name is worth the extra dollars.

Glad to hear that bro! Again thanks a million for pointing me in the right direction.
I guess ill go for the cheapest and get myself some decent IMR batteries

I hear you buddy! and i totally agree with you! :wink:

What about the Jacob A60 (if DX still has it)? It's the king of budget throwers. Tight throwing beam, with dim spill. Might need some attention to the emitter mounting (see last page of that thread). Or if you want an XM-L thrower, either an HD2010 or a Small Sun ZY-T08. The HD2010 may have issues due to the direct drive driver and possible shorting of emitter leads to reflector (which can be modified). The Small Sun may not be driven very hard, but is still a seriously impressive thrower! I really like it!

-Garry

I love my V9CS.

The side switch is to change modes. A forward clicky rear switch turns on/off.

The side switch when held down will go from 100% brightness down to 1% and back again in 1% increments.

Double click the side switch and you get the SOS and strobe modes.

By far my favorite UI. Something to take into account.

Hey Garrybunk
Actually i did have my eye on the Jacob A60 and sadly its out of stock at DX. The thing is from my understanding that the HD2010 doesnt shine using 18650 cells. and i want to avoid buying new charger + batteries. In regards to modding and fixing new stuff i still didnt reach that knowledge to start playing with my new toys :8) thus having a decenst quality Flashlight for now is a good choice i thinkg
regarding the Small Sun ZY-T08 i dont know how it compares to any of the flashlights i mentioned in the Poll

yeah buddy i watched a review on youtube and i kinda like the UI also!
but i think the price difference is kinda huge compared to the others mentioned in the poll if it performs equally to them also

The UI on the V9CS is worth the extra on its own tbh. It’s also very well built and a clear step up from my budget lights. You really can see and feel the tactile difference in quality.

That said the regulation on the Crelant is non existent on an 18650 (not that it’s really an issue tbh) but is apparently regulated on 2xRCR.

As for throw and flood. Well it throws ok and has some spill. But it’s an XM-L so isn’t a throw master. My 180 lumen XP-E Maglite out throws it. But with a smaller hot spot and less bright spill.

I’ve got the small syn on the way, it’s described as an out and out thrower, it depends what you want/need. I think the small sun looks like a fantastic light, but as an all rounder, I’d always go to a c8 first, pocketable, its pretty small, but with that 40mm head, gives acceptable throw. The xintd just seems to be the best of a good design, an with the options you can either go with cw for maximum output (throw and spill) or nw for far nicer colour rendering.

Look around the site, there are plenty of comparisons (foys blf mini thread is fairly high on the recent posts and gives some nice comparison shots of tint, look at the difference in the colours of the stones and any greenery to get an idea). I don’t mind cw (cool white) but I do find a more neutral tone usefull. In a thrower, I want maximum performance, that’s the point, so I’d pick a more efficient cw emitter to get that, rather than sacrifice some output for nicer colour rendering.

@ Chicken Drumstick i appreciate your input. And i agree the quality seems great plus the UI looks great too. But i don’t think it justifies the price difference.

@ gords1001 Till that moment i am having my eye on the following:
XinTD C8 V3
SANYO UR18650FM 2600MAH

If you dont mind letting me know where i can find the smallsun with some decent 18650 cells to have them both shipped together in 1 package i wouldnt mind checking it out.

Both of your links point the thing, do you have a link for the C8?

Regarding the price difference, tbh I don’t know how much they all cost. I nabbed my V9Cs for $39.99 inc shipping. I like it, although maybe not my fav.

I find it a little too big for a trouser/pants pocket, so you’ll want a coat. But the best thing is the UI, personally I have having to scroll through modes all the time and dual switch of the V9CS means this is never an issue.

I also have a 2x18650 Small Sun ZY13 which is a dual switch and a Klarus NT20 also dual switch. They are by far and away the best UI’s.

That said I think beam profile is important, as a general purpose light I much prefer my L2M p60 XM-L. It doesn’t throw as far, but it throws far enough to be useful, but just lights up a wider area better and is slimmer, smaller and more pocket friendly.

Sorry for the bad link i edited my post for you. The good thing in the XinTD C8 is you can choose your modes.
the whole point of my purchase is to have great throw with a fair amount of flood.

My all time favorite for $24 is the small sun zy-t13 2x 18560 a good thrower with a fair amount of spill too.Hard to beat for the price and no mode memory,so it goes back to high when the light is turned back on.