Best Mass Produced Flashlight For Its Purpose
I am going with just six types here. You guys might think of more and please post them if you do. Also, please post your list of what you think is the best preferably explaining why you think so.
Keychain Light: (length must be less than 4” and should be less than 3”. Width must be no more than 1” put preferably less.)
Olight S10R —
With the lights on smartphones producing anywhere from 25-50 lumens, there is almost no point in buying a keychain flashlight unless you get at least close to 100 lumens. The S10R more than does that producing 400 lumens and 341 feet of throw. After 4.5 minutes, high mode drops to 200 lumens unlike the regular S10.
I don’t get why so many people just won’t accept the S10R as a keychain light. The most common answer is the lithium battery which is absurd. As long as a quality battery like the battery that comes with the light is used, it is no more dangerous than a smartphone. My husband and I have the regular S10–L2 with an Olight 16340 battery inside on our keychains next to a butane filled micro blow torch that produces a 2400 degree Fahrenheit (1316 degree Centigrade) flame.
My 55 y/o mother in–law has an S10R. She won’t put it on her keychain because she thinks it’s too heavy in her car ignition but does EDC it and uses it frequently outdoors. She already has a heavy keychain so that is understandable in her case not to put any flashlight on it.
Not many mass produced flashlights come close to the S10 and its variants in terms of size and performance. Everyone I seen so far appears to be a knockoff. The S10R seems to be the clear winner here but any of its variants are just about as good.
Pocket Light: (length is usually around 5” but can approach near 6” and go smaller than 5” for the ideal pocket light. Width is almost always exactly 1” for gun mounting purposes but sometimes off 1/100th or 2 of an inch)
Olight S30R —
This one has closer competitors but small size (4.69” length) and the micro-dok charger beat the competition on this one. Dropping down from 1000 lumens turbo mode to a sustained, more than usually needed, 600 lumens also makes this light the winner. Emphasizing flood over throw is yet another feather in this light’s cap.
If quantity of quality lights was the contest for this category, Eagletac would easily win, especially if neutral white lights had to be included, but it’s for a single model and none of Eagletac’s pocket lights seem to outdo the S30R.
Non–lithium batteries are so last decade just like incandescent bulbs are so last century. It’s halfway through the 2010s. Some people just don’t want to let the beloved obsolescent become obsolete. My husband’s 82 y/o grandfather owns an S30R. He struggles to send email but has no trouble using an 18650 lithium battery and all of this light’s functions. For this reason, I will put non-lithium battery powered lights in the only class it belongs: history class.
Vehicle Light: (This one is the biggest form factor wild card. In–light charging is pretty much a must to be a good vehicle light, preferably USB. Ideally, it should fit in the glove compartment to be in this category but I guess just about any light can do in the real world. Most people just use their pocket light for this purpose but since this was already covered, I am omitting that category as well as keychain and the next two categories from this category. I guess that makes this category a miscellaneous one.)
Olight R40 Seeker —
This light is slightly too big to truly fit in the pocket light category but it is quite pocketable, especially going from a vehicle to a building rather than EDC. The 1100 lumens high non–turbo mode makes this light better than it’s only USB in–light rechargeable close competitor: Fenix UC35. Some people might be turned off by the R40’s custom 26650 but the duration of even this battery let alone some non-custom 26650’s that can last considerably longer is a worthwhile tradeoff for an emergency or work vehicle light. The Fenix UC35 does win against the R40 if an emergency vehicle light must double up as a pocket light but loses to the R40 Seeker being judged solely as a vehicle light.
Headlamp: (Self-contained power is almost a must. Separate power pack very undesirable. I am excluding deep diving and other special purpose headlamps since they deserve a category of their own that I know nothing about)
Nitecore HC90 —
If a separate power pack is acceptable, then the Olight H35 Wave at 1500 lumens easily wins this category. For most people, it isn’t so it loses by default. The Fenix HL55 could have easily been manufactured to beat the HC90 since it does have some advantages over the HC90 but Fenix failed to do so for too many reasons: Only neutral white, No RGB, No USB recharge, no variable brightness and many others. Zebralight might have been the best for headlamps at one time but like Fenix with lights in general, failed to keep up.
Flood Light: (LEDs only. Single handed operability a near must.)
Nitecore TM26
The TM26 is probably the most non–Surefire imitated light on the market.
The only thing that compares in size versus performance is Nitecore’s own TM06. Since the TM 26 is soon to be upped to 4000 lumens, it removes the TM06 from any consideration but would still lose even if the TM26 wasn’t being upgraded this year. The most common description of the difference between these two lights is the vulgar but accurate phrase, “TM06 is the castrated version of the TM26” so I won’t bother to explain it myself. Just please don’t be rude to TM06 owners by mocking their flashlight as the “Tiny Eunuch”, “Tiny Steer”…etc. It’s still a good light and has a flood, size, and price advantage over the TM26 even if it loses in other categories like throw, OLED display, No NBP2 battery pack capability and now luminosity.
If size wasn’t an issue, then I guess the Olight SR96 at 4800 lumens wins but it is twice the length of the TM26 so not very portable or single hand operable for real world use. If even a non–self–contained battery isn’t an issue either, then go all out for the Olight X6 Marauder and shine away those 5000 lumens.
Throw Light: (LEDs only. Single handed operability a big plus but obviously can’t be a must)
Nitecore TM36 / TM36 Lite
The TM36 and TM36 Lite is the same flashlight head. The only difference between the two is the battery tails which are interchangeable with each other’s head so I’ll just consider this one flashlight. There doesn’t appear to be any mass produced, handheld LED light that can out throw the 3609 feet that the TM36 can throw. The only debate seems to be which tail to use.
The next closest light is the Olight SR95S UT Intimidator which throws 3281 feet. These kind of extreme throw lights are rarely used in the search and rescue and other professions that could actually benefit from these lights so how it pleases an enthusiast is all it needs to be judged by. I apologize for sounding like Captain Obvious but a throw light is all about the throw. TM36 wins there so it can pretty much win this category solely on that but it doesn’t. The TM36 is about 1.5” shorter, has that lovely OLED display that shows meters thrown for the mode it is in, and is quite attractive looking unlike the SR95S. The TM36 Lite or simply putting a TM26 tail on a TM36 makes it a much smaller albeit top heavy light but at least you have that choice with TM36.
This is the one light my husband does not yet have but really wants. I seem to prefer the Lite version whereas he seems to prefer the NBP52 battery version. Smaller is better for me even if it is top–heavy. The Lite version reminds me of my 42” brown teddy bear and his white but otherwise identical girl twin. He has a huge head compared to the rest of his body.
When it comes to high end flashlights, the best light for every major category for better or worse are now down to just two manufacturers: Olight and Nitecore with Olight winning the EDC and near EDC categories and Nitecore winning the high and special performance light categories. I personally prefer competition at the expense of choice overload. It appears that the high end flashlight industry has become about as uncompetitive as the high end smartphone industry. I won’t go into Surefire being the flashlight analog of iPhone or Blackberry since that is a separate blog worthy topic. I hope that Fenix and Zebralight can make a market comeback, Eagletac produces a cool white light that clearly beats the competition, a competitive new manufacturer (preferably American) that actually understands the importance of marketing and its customers, and last but not least, Surefire realizes what decade it is and becomes price competitive which will probably not be until next decade, unfortunately. The biggest benefit for better competition would be price reduction. How nice it would be if flashlight building and modding were only practical for higher or special performance like what Vinh does rather than to save money.