I’m looking for some assistance from the members, please recommend a light for my needs. Even better if you can tell me where you would buy it from.
I have a house full of these old 3 AAA cell, 9 led el-cheapo lights. I want to get rid of them and replace them with four or five 18650 based lights. I already have an awesome light, discussed here. I’m not looking for a light this bright or big. I want something to light up the pantry or a closet, you know, places where I used the 9 led cheap lights before.
What I’m looking for:
- 18650 battery size
- a single on/off mode (or a double mode of bright & dim). I really have no use for any flashing modes.
- wide beam emitter lens if possible
- the smaller the better, but not critical. Maybe 4-5” max length
- I’m thinking XML-T6 or better LED, they seem so common, is this the sweet spot for an LED? I’m open to hearing about other LED’s to consider.
- Zoom/No Zoom - I don’t think I care if the light has this feature or not.
$5-8 per light
What I’m - not - looking for:
- A super bright light, I already have one.
- be nice if it came with a battery, but not required At this price point, it’s probably not a great battery anyway.
anything big.
Thanks in advance for you suggestions and discussion!
If you’re open to other battery options an SK68 clone is perfect to have a bunch of around the house. They use AA or sometimes 14500, perfect for some eneloops. Not as bright as your C8, but still brighter than any other cheap light. It’s a zoomie so its great for different situations, it’s very durable, and under $5. There’s a reason why they’re so popular.
How are the latest batch of zeusray from dealmetic ? I use mine around the house and love it, but it does have sos,blinky but it starts on high and has beautiful flood, and right in your price range
Edit to add… Just looked and its on back order still.
One of the things I like about my TangsFire C8 8W XM-L2 U3 1300LM is that after about 7 seconds, turning on the light is always the brightest mode, regardless of where it was 7 seconds ago.
I don’t see a way while shopping, to tell which lights do this. My UltraFire XML-U2 doesn’t do that, you have to cycle through to get back to bright.
Thanks for the replies to my thread. I decided to buy one each of the items in my early candidates list (post #10). I’ll review all when they arrive. Whichever one I like best, I’ll probably just buy a few more of them.
For indoors, maybe you should think again about a zoomy used mostly in flood mode. Reflector lights have spill but the hot spot is irritating up close.
a 2 cent piece of diffuser material takes a massive lux beast into a indoor pussycat in seconds .
I understand peoples attraction to flood to throw lights but they have real flaws to them too . just buy an indoor light like a s2 convoy ....just wet your finger ,rub it on a bar of soap take some diffuser material and stick it right onto the lens ..the heat will dry it in seconds and you're good to go .....flood . Also a lot wider and smoother flood than a zoomie.
i have both of the above and suggest both over a zoomie or almost any other cheaper light ..
you may pay 5$ more for them but you get a driver that gets rid of the silly strobe and sos ..and the nasty PWM that comes on cheap lights drivers ...and like you said you hated .... it gets rid of next mode nonsense ...it stays in the mode you were using last time you used the light .....and you get to pick the emitter of your choice .....altogether a hard budget light to beat .
There are quite a lot of choices at $5-8 price range but these lights are normally poor in build quality.
I’d like to advice you to increase your budget and look at Convoy line of flashlights. People are more easily satisfied with good quality products in general.
I didn’t, but I was having trouble finding that, and so I made this post to the forum. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after my order that I hear about the Convoy lights with a link to blink less lights.
The Sk clone should serve you well but it is hard to beat the quality per dollar with the Convoy, especially when you are buying with a quantity discount and 8% on top of that.
This light at a qty of 3 or more is 12.92 less 8% BLF discount code
3 of these on top of what you already have ordered you should be good to go. :)
