Hi, new to the forums and quality flashlights beside a handful of surefires. I am looking for a light for walking the dog at night or walks around the neighborhood. Doesn’t have to be pocketable and I think a flood style light will suit my needs better than something with a long throw. I originally found the DX80 online, but after trying to do as much reading and watching reviews before posting, I found some mediocre reviews about Imalent and the ergonomics / UI of the DX80 in particular. I’ve found a handful of lights that seem to be good alternatives but am having a hard time deciding. Quality is most important to me and the price difference between them isn’t big enough to sway the decision:
1. Imalent MS06 — fixes the DX80 form factor issues, but still has the questionable Imalent reliability.
2. Acebeam X80GT — similar quality concerns to Imalent. Somewhat similar form factor / performance to the MS06.
3. Olight Marauder 2 — better quality brand? Not sure how useful the extra functions are and seems expensive compared to alternatives.
4. Lumintop BLF GT3 — good brand reputation. Light seems relatively new and can’t find a ton of feedback on it.
5. Emisar D18 — great reputation, not sure how performance stacks up to others on this list.
6. Mateminco MT18S — seems very similar to the Emisar, great price point/value but that really isn’t the deciding factor for me.
If I am leaving any off, I am open to suggestions. I have a good pocketable surefire with throw, so really looking for something different with this one. Appreciate any help/advice.
That’s how I got started. MM15, then M43, then TN36UT, then next…next… The next super flooder is a little bit more floodier, the next one has a little bit more throw, the next one has the new, next generation emitters, the next one is just as powerful but smaller, the next one is bigger but much more powerful, there’s still enough gap between two to fit another one, etc.
I have Imalent MS06, it is all good, super flooder. I have D18 modded with 18 W2 emitters, it has some more throw.
Acebeam X45 is all great after years of nightly use, Imalent M18 is all great for me, too.
It's all about distance versus beam width per size per name that you trust.
I got the MS06 for the same purpose as you, they had an issue with red light when trying to activate turbo but that was in the early models. I got mine a few weeks ago and it’s faultless.
Acebeam has good quality AFAIK, but they're a bit expensive for many of us.
I don't like Olight in general for a lot of reasons...
I've never heard of this one. It's quite a departure from the other "GT" series lights. Lumintop has failed to impress me on the quality front lately.
I wholeheartedly recommend anything and everything Hank (the Emisar/Noctigon guy) makes
Mateminco is known for occasional quality issues.
You haven't mentioned the old standby BLF Q8. It's now made by Sofirn, so that's... whatever that is, I guess.
As others have said, there's a few Haikelite models - MT03 and MT09R - that are worth considering. However, to my knowledge they mostly have counterfeit FETs in the drivers (excepting the ones TA modded himself) which can cause failure points. They're best modded with spring bypasses and FET replacements.
If you want something smaller, lighter but very bright, go for the D18
If you want to go all out, the X80GT is the one to pick. From what I’ve heard, acebeam is pretty consistently good with their quality control but this thing is expensive.
For something more budget oriented, you should be pretty impressed with the SP36 or SP36 Pro
Pay attention to what the brightest setting the light can actually sustain and regulate. The top end lumens are very misleading as they all step down after a few seconds.
I’m starting to think built-in charging ought to be required on multi-cell lights. I have a plan to add it to my Supfire M6 but no ideas for my modded MF02 (it’s 4P now - maybe I’ll just hook a charger /- to the/- on the cell carrier…)