I’m using one as a worklight for delicate tasks in the nearfield like soldering. Small 14500 light with the emitter in the middle of the battery tube. LiIon or NIMH cell for that.
Doubles as an outdoor light with flexible battery options. Keeping a stash of 1.7V lithium primaries for that. Will run on alkaleaks as a last resort.
Regards
Arno
I only use clips to occasionally clip a light to my collar or locate a side switch. Bad clips that aren’t well thought out or cheap are shameful. So many manufacturers just ignore it and add some piece of junk as an afterthought.
It depends on the light:
For a small AA/14500 light like a Lumintop Tool AA - I want that to be able to clip to a baseball cap.
For a 18650 light, I want the clip pointing the other way to hold it upright in my pocket (it’s too heavy for a baseball cap).
For a heavier 22650 light or bigger, a clip would purely be for anti-roll purposes, but a light that big for me is usually placed lens down anyway so a clip is not neccessary.
I don’t like the look of the two way clips but I have never owned a light with one so can’t comment on their usefulness.
I would prefer a clip to be solidly mounted to the light, not just clipped on - every light I have where it is just clipped on has separated and I’ve dropped the light at some point. One day I won’t notice that I’ve dropped it.
Tail up deep preferred.
Can't stand gobs of stuff at the bottom of pocket so
•pocket hangers for keys and D4 work daily carry (WDC).
•snap on deep carry for SC31 Pro travelling daily carry.
•screwed on, emitter down for S21A while at home.
Smaller lights just go in fifth/coin pocket.
I wasn’t able to mark one option because my use is really dependent on several things.
I do like that the flashlight has the possibility to have a pocket clip!
Preferently, deep carry or something like that, so that the flashlight doesn’t protrude much from the pockets.
I also tend to like the “screw-in” clips , such as the ones sold in Convoy store, specially for small lights. When they don’t have that option, I try to use something that gives me similar carry options.
When I come to work, I don’t use the flashlight with the pocket clip, and also tend to avoid using the knife with it too, so that it doesn’t get spotted in the metro or in the street. I do carry them in the right pocket, though, or in the coin pocket (depending on its size).
When I go for a walk at night, I use the flashlight with the pocket clip, in the jeans/shorts pocket, or even in the jacket pocket, so that I can easily grab it and use it. Same thing goes for the knife.
When I am at my parents home (village) I tend to use it with the clip, too, as I feel I am in a more relaxed environment and I probably need it more than in my regular day-to-day “routine”.
I do like two way clips for the lights I carry in my backpack strap (Olight M1T Raider, On The Road 311), but only rarely I use them in caps.
Oh, and I do like the possibility to reverse the clips via the grooves in the flashlights!
Now that I think about it, it doesn’t really matter much to me whether a light comes with a clip or not, so long as there’s a place to attach one. I’m unusually picky about pocket clips so I’ve gone to great lengths to make sure my lights have the best pocket clip possible. Below are my two Lumintop FW’s, which have heavily modified Neal’s clips on them. I cut, bent, sanded, and polished them to be the right shape and have a nice finish.
I did significant modification to a Mateminco FW2 clip so it would fit nicely on a Wurkkos TS10, but it broke shortly after installation. Now I’m waiting on Lumintop clips that Jon_Slider mentioned here. I’ll have to sand and polish one to get the silver finish I like.
I added Lumintop FW clips to my C8+ collection. These did not get much use but it was a fun project. My S12 got a similar treatment with a Noctigon KR4 clip and it works beautifully. This S2+ has an Olight Warrior 3 clip that I ground down, sanded, and polished. It also fit an Emisar D4V2 very nicely.
My Convoy M1 and Mateminco FW2 both have a Thyrm Switchback glued in place at the perfect height. I also found that nn Olight Seeker 2 clip perfectly fits a Nightwatch SN59v1, not that you would ever NEED that.
I added a modified Noctigon KR4 clip to an Emisar D4SV2. It was not the most pocketable light but having a clip made it more usable.
Also works perfectly with a Sofirn IF25a. Sized like its designed for the light, tight and the curve indexes just slightly into the tailcap notches so between that and the tightness it does not rotate.
+1! The clip shouldn’t be removable. It also has to be pretty close to the body of the flashlight to produce friction with clothes, etc along it’s whole length, not just the end where it touches the flashlight.
Two way clips look bulky and totally unnecessary for me.
For me, any “pocket” light should have a good clip. I don’t really mind the how or why of the clip. But it should allow for deep pocket carry. It seems so obvious to me, yet so many makes offer such crappy excuses for a clip or none at all.
The Astrolux EA01 for instance. It is a little chunky, but perfectly pocketable, but the design doesn’t even let you add a clip of any sort.
I think any flashlight should come with a decent, detachable pocket clip.
I find myself using pocket clips mostly on my 14500 / AA lights, cause they’re lightweight and won’t be dragging down the side wall of my pocket when I attach the light.
The ideal design checks the following properties:
- Slim profile
- Allows for relatively deep pocket carrying
- Medium retention force
For 1x18650 and 1x21700 lights, a single direction deep carry clip is essential. If an EDC doesn’t have a deep carry clip, it probably won’t get any use from me. Bi-directional clips take up more space and don’t add any value for me.
For larger lights, I don’t need clips because they’re too large to clip to my pocket. And I only buy smaller lights for keychains, so those don’t need clips either.
A pet peeve of mine, as someone who’s pedantic about clips, is that it can be hard to get a good clip without spending almost as much on the clip as I spent on the flashlight, in cases where the light doesn’t come with a good one.
i usually use clips for
1. anti roll [though a piece of tape sticking up can do that , and some lights have angular sides ]
2. to find the button on a side switch light
3. to clip to a pocket [maybe 10 times a year]