Like many I’m sure, I actually prefer a clicky light most of the time. But twisties still have a place and can be useful in often being compact and simple.
However my collection contains very few twisties and only two 18650 ones. And I don’t really recall seeing many group buys or BLF versions of such lights.
So are there any good non premium ones out there?
I have the DQG Tiny 18650 MK1 (2 of them, but only 1 works!!). Which conceptually is brilliant, if a flawed execution. And I do still like to EDC mine from time to time due to it’s size.
I also have an EagleTac D25LC2, an early XP-G one. It’s not as short as the DQG, but it’s really slim for an 18650 light and works flawlessly. And it’s still a really good light, although not that brilliant a tint.
A more modern EagleTac D Series appeals. But is there anything else worth looking at. Or is it time to look at a BLF Special Edition 18650 twisty?
Yeah, you “stumped the panel” on that one!
It seems there ain’t too many 18650 twistys out there. I Love my DQG Tiny V1 twisty in NW, it’s plenty bright and works great, very reliable I never had a problem with it and I use (and abuse) the hell out of it, I have many other tube lights but I still almost always carry my DQG because of its short size and deep carry clip, I pretty much use it every day.
Been looking at the DQG Tiny 4th (side switch) because its rated about 350 lumens more than the V1.
I have the Eagletac D25C2 MINI (16650 twisty with XPG2) It’s pretty damn compact, excellent deep carry clip, it’s thinner than any 18650 light. I’m running the Keeppower 2500mAh 16650. Sure I wish it was brighter (and NW) but it’s definitely no slouch.
Lol, i also loved my DQG mk1 18650 tiny even though the twisty stopped working. Such a great job keeping it as small as possible - even at the expense of reliability. Got years of wonderful use from it though, and have a 4th gen with side clicky on order :-).
tbh I never really look specifically for twisty lights in this class before.
As posted in my op, I have an EagleTac D25LC2, it was my ‘first’ proper LED torch. For daily use I do prefer a clicky light, but a twisty has a place. So was thinking of getting a newer one, EagleTac still have the D series twisties and updated to some extent. But thought that there might be more choice available.
It would be easy to mod something like a convoy S2+ to make a tail twisty: just take out the switch PCB and swap it for a piece of copper with a spring. You end up with a redundant button on the end which would have to be packed out or superglued but the andodised threads would make it into a twisty.
With some kind of spacer you could make it work as a head twisty (the unanodised bit of the body doesn’t quite make a connection on mine without adjusting the depth of the pill (around 1mm). It then does work as a twisty when the tail switch is closed.
It doesn’t have the compactness that is the main advantage of a twisty and of course still has the tail switch.
A modded side-switch light could be more compact if you can get the right combination of anodisation.
I have a Thorfire TG18 that works well as a twisty but also has a tail switch. The switch always looked like an afterthought to me so I think it was designed as a twisty but then they changed their minds and added the switch.
Also known as the LuckySun E6 and the Palight V5. Not exactly compact though and the ‘smoothie’ looks might not appeal.
There is a pure twisty version without the tail switch called the Nico Nature Easy 10.
Yeah the HDS is a bit out of my considered price range.
The Nico Nature S10 does indeed look interesting. But I’d like to see a review.
$20 isn’t a great amount to spend, but I’ll be honest I have little interest in buying something that might have crap tint, terrible PWM and basically unknown on it’s performance. I’ve not seen any listings saying what output the low mode should be. And there certainly seems some discrepancy between listing and pics, some being XM-L some XM-L2 and some claiming both.
If it was $9.00 then maybe. But at $20 I’d rather put extra to it and get another EagleTac, at least I know that will be quality and have a choice of tints.
