A small but frequently occurring use for a flashlight for me is as a nightstand light, and I’ve been trying to find a really great one and thought it might be interesting to see what other people would use for this purpose.
For me personally, this is what I look for:
I like something AA sized that’s easy to operate. It should come on in very low mode for late night use, and I’ve found a warm tint is pleasing for this use. A silent switch is better than a loud clicky. Tail standing should be fairly obvious for this use. Being able to find it easily is important, so I like to use a tritium vial for this purpose.
Currently I’ve been using a Nitecore D11 since its my only light with trits in the tail, and it works pretty well for this use. I also like my RRT-01 since I can smoothly ramp the brightness up as needed.
Sunwayman D40A for the reasons you stated above. It’s fatter than you specify (uses 4 AA’s), but that makes it tail stand real solid like. Can start in moon mode by either holding power button when turning on or be have it as the memorized mode. Tint is nice, but I wouldn’t call in warm. I find it pleasant though. This same light can be used to go outside and blast a big area with light. Has a great beam pattern. Not a budget light though.
i like the 18650 tubes like such as the convoy s3, roche f12, hd 2011.
they are fairly small ,and can tail stand , but most importantly, they are flooders.
i dont like that blinding hotspot when searching for stuff close by.
Nitecore EA1, it has the RED LED that creates a superb moonlit non disturbing light , it also has a red blinky so you can find it in the dark, then I have my Klarus XT11 as my bright go to light if things go bump in the night
I like the side switch things, and not too big. For my palm is not big, and I must make sure I am comfortable when i hold the light. Then, it should not so bright, for I like use it for reading.
I also rotate mine often, but my favorite is ZL SC80W. It has pleasing warm tint, super long runtime, firmly tail standing. Moreover, It accepts many type of batteries with AA/16340/17500 size.
I use a Zebralight SC30w on moonlight pointing at my wrist watch (which also rests on my nightstand). However this is not the only light that sits on my nightstand.
I usually find myself reaching for my Olight S10. Nice and floody and moonlight is so easy to get to.
Found the magnetic end to be really useful as well.
Sunwayman M20C on the night stand for things that go bump in the night, and there’s usually a V11R or L10 next to it. I will always have a moonlight mode light on the nightstand.
Another on i forgot to mention is the “Nuclear” blue LED on my Rail light. ( its been running on the same pair of AA Alcalines since May month turned on continously.
I too use Sunwayman D40A as my night time bedside light. I’ve added a silicone diffuser. It’s very easy to get into moonlight mode for trips to the washroom in the middle of the night.
I have a Xeno E03 as well, and that driver mod sounds pretty neat. Do you know a source to get those Qlite drivers? Everything I’m finding from Qlite is for big permanent LED light fixtures.
May as well be protected by one of the biggest lights in your collection. Has the nice 2 lumen mode for pee stops, has the 3,500 lumens for noises in the night……
My night stand has about 10 lights on it at all times. Come on guys, surely you have more than one on the night stand.
I EDC a SW V10R with trit, so at night it goes on the night stand. I really like the variable out put ring, I can turn it up to just enough light to do the task. It also has a really low low, so no one gets woke up if I decide I need to get up for some reason.
I do have the SW D40 on the night stand too. If I had to pick one, I guess I would have to pick the D40. It does have a good low and very good high for that “whats that” moment. It tail stands so well, My kids tend to knock over my lights sometimes. But the SW D40 usually makes it through the storm. If I had to pick one the D40 would be it.
