How should a beginner spend $300?

LED Flashlights – General Info
71

For that kind of usage and application a hand held light is going to be totally useless. Unless you can change your car tire, or do general house-repairs with one hand.

Go with a headlamp first, and supplement it with a hand held of your choice. I personally am partial to thrunite and zebralight designs, but there are MANY to chose from. Both have served me very well around the house and on dozens of camp-outs and backpacking trips as my sons boy scout troop coordinator. The Zebralight is almost 10 years old, and pictured with its clip-on mount.

Oh… Don’t knock the harbor freight freebie!! Seriously my son and I have used the blue light shown below on half a dozen camp outs. I have one and so does my son for his load-out. Its been every bit as useful as any high $$$ lantern, and a fraction of the size and weight. Its not water resistant, but I bag it in a small zip lock freezer bag, with a small hole in the corner to run the hook through. In all honesty its been GREAT, and of course you can’t complain about the price. Several of our scouts use them as well and we have not had a single incident of failure. Its resistor direct drive, so just load up some duracell AAA and run them till they die. We use the magnet and stick it onto whatever metal we can find. The back of a Coleman camp stove wind screen works best. The button is firm/hard enough to press and it alleviates accidental turn-on.

72

Now I’m getting confused… :smiley:

And cheap is definitely good.

Yeah, they implemented linear ramping instead of logarithmic, so a 10% diff from 90% to 100% is literally imperceptible, whereas 5% to 15% is night’n’day. It’s bright… bright… bright… dimmer… >blink!<… brighter… bright… bright… bright. I admit that could have been done much better.

’Though I’ve gotten kind of good at “catching” it at the dip to get almost moonlight levels, but sometimes not.

And yeah, I learned the hard way about self-induced blindness. I just close my eyes before the swipe. :smiley:

I want to stick a 219B in there, too, ’though 4000K or so.

Reading? Honestly, I’d love to stick a nice WW in there. 5D or even 7A/7D. Nice’n’relaxing…

73

… oh, someone above mentioned having a head lamp flood light and a compact hand held thrower. I agree with this approach. In addition to floody headlamps, I also use a UF-1504 DIY build. Its been awesome, paired with my headlamps and it FAR out-throws the range of my own eye-sight. Its great for those “WTH Was THAT NOISE???” moments… fwiw its usually deer or raccoons romping around the camp. Biggest drawback is pack weight… its heavy. But when zoomed out its wide flooding enough for general purposes.

Convoy L2 is another GREAT affordable, reasonably compact thrower…
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=652

74

Great advice here. After you play with the first light or two, you will get a better idea of what you want to pursue next. It could be a shockingly bright and small D4, or perhaps a 26650 light for a bit more heft and runtime, a pocket thrower like the D1, maybe a 20,000 lumen light Cannon.

Take it slow.

That being said thank you for this post, it sure has perculated a lot of knowledge learned the hard way.

I also put in my vote again for the blf a6/astrolux s1 as a great first light workhorse. In my opinion it is slightly nicer than the s2, so unless you are modding I would go for the A6. I particularly don’t like the metal switch on the s2… It feels clunky to me, but some on here love it.

75

I appreciate your comments, Dman7777. This post has shown me just how generous and knowledgeable the folks here are. The advice has been sound and gives me direction for the first order or two as well as some fun things to try down the road. It helps to have flashlight advice when you’re headed down a blind alley! :smiling_imp:

76

One thing you mentioned was navigating group buys. Those are difficult sometimes because it’s not up to us as consumers when things will go on sale. For me, I subscribe to people like Trevi_Lux MadMax and Bilakos so I can scour their pages for deals. There are others you can subscribe to and maybe some people can suggest some more since I’m not a pro. With group buys it’s not an exact science and though the price is right the shipping usually takes a month or so. Not a dealbreaker but something to keep in mind. If you don’t see the item you want on a particular site you can always direct message some of those deal people and they might be able to find you a code to use at checkout.

For quicker service try checking out MtnElectronics for well-modded lights and SUPER fast shipping. Like if you have an itch for a modded light you’ll have it in your grubby hands in 4 days tops. And that’s what he does best IMO, provides lights that are more pricey than Gearbest but quality is perfect, made in USA and shipped fast to you. Plus he can max out an ordinary light and has more options on tints, emitters etc.
For batteries I recommend Mtn Elec, Illumn, Liion, as reliable sellers. Sometimes costs a bit more than GearBest or Banggood but there’s a peace of mind that you know the batteries are good quality.

Finally let me direct you down another rabbit hole/resource in Reddit. r/flashlight is another great place to view pics and read thoughts on new flashlights and ask questions about all things flashlights. I’m not directing anyone away from BLF; it’s just another fun place to be a flashaholic. They’ve got their own feel but the sidebar is full of helpful links to help flashlight newbies and experts alike.

This forum is probably the safest place on the planet to ask anyone about flashlights, though. You can search the threads for your question to see if someone has already asked but even if you simply start a thread with your question and it’s been asked before they’ll still be super nice to you. It’s what this place does best. I’m still a noob by many standards but I’m a lot smarter because of this place. So ask away like you’ve done here and welcome!

77

Sales, sales, and more sales.

The longer you can afford to wait, the better prices you’ll get.

Fasttech usually has sitewide sales around various holidays, like 15% off and such (not counting the always-good BLF discount). Use the volume discount (price-break at 3 of the same, more at 5 of the same) when possible.

GB has almost daily flash-sales for this and that, but you need to sit on the listings and hit them fast when they’re announced. Ditto for those who provide discount codes like Fin17 and Bilakos13, among others. The better the deal, the faster they expire or run-out. Eg, you can pay 35bux regular price for a Zanflare F1, but get a 20-25buk flash sale price for 200 units total, which’d run out fast. Or possibly a discount code for 13bux or even 10bux which runs out in minutes after going into effect. Plus, no matter how many are available, you’re limited to 1 per account, so you’ll not be able to get 4-6 at the flash/coupon price.

Then there’s Banggood, AliExpress, etc., that have their own sales. Eg, I went kinda crazy on 11.11 on AX, knowing full well that lots of “sales” are just a few % off, but hey, every little bit counts.

Think of it as buying toilet-paper at the supermarket. If you need it now, you’ll likely pay full price. But if there’s some super-sale, you can stock up on a 6mo supply if they’ll let you. You’ll just have to wait for that particular brand/price/etc. to go on sale… whenever.

78

Well said, Illumenated, and thanks. I’ve been so focused on looking a lights that learning about these suppliers is taking a back seat. I made one attempt last night at Gear Best and apparently fumbled in trying to use their codes. I’m still eager to find these deals that have allowed people to say, “I got it for $6.99 with a code.” I visit the site and see $29.81 :person_facepalming: Over the weekend, I intend to figure out 1) what I’m going to buy right now and, 2) where/how to buy it. If deals like $30 items for $6 are really out there, I’ll start waiting and watching. If the real discount is 20% or less, I may give my first order to a reliable supplier and keep moving. Again, I appreciate your comments!

79

Thanks for this, Lightbringer. I’m about to narrow my list and get ready to buy. I’ll have to make a decision about getting some hands-on with a couple of lights at whatever prices vs. holding out for the discount codes/sales/coupons. Just having the heads up that this is the way these deals get found is worth a lot. Also, I liked your suggestions about reflectors, TIRs & tints earlier. That was a big help.

80

Lots of lights have been listed already but I’m going to add the Acebeam L30.

It’s simply the best light in my collection and has the latest tech in flashlight: 20700 battery, XHP70.2, is super bright and the driver they put into this thing is amazing.

Btw Skip the Convoy C8 and get the D1S.

And get the best all around, easy to use charger: Xtar VP2

81

I’m surprised no one mentioned the Zanflare F1 yet. Damned nice design, tailswitch on/off, sideswitch for modes, built-in charging, a charging port that’s not covered by some silly easy-to-rip-off rubber flap but an actual O-ring-sealed screw-ring, blinkies well hidden so click ’til you puke and you’ll still never hit strobe by accident, etc.

My only bitchfest about it? CW is somewhat greenish, and NW is hideously yellow-green. At least the early ones were. Ironically, it’s probably because of the AR-coated lens. Using cheaper plain glass might not green up the beam so much. They might have fixed the tint on newer ones, maybe someone’ll chime in.

Truth be told, after using the CW for a while (and I’m definitely a warm-NW to WW fan), you kinda get used to it, so it’s not that bad after a while. Use a non-green beam for a while, then go back, and yeah, you need to “get used to it” all over again.

Still, it’s a damned nice light. 20bux was great, 13bux was a steal, 10bux, don’t care if I have 4 already, I’m getting a 5th. :smiley:

Picture-perfect presentation box, seriously high-class, so even if you hate its guts, you can gift it away to someone who’ll probably love you forever for it. :smiley:

The “carrying case” is a rather beautiful storage case. It’s a zip-up neoprene case that takes you a while to get the light in there, so keep that in mind. Go to FT and get a nice Jetbeam/Jaxman holster for it if you want to holster it.

High-class all the way, seriously. I just wish I could easily swap the emitter and maybe glass to de-green it, but other than that, I can’t say enough nice things about it.

82

I would not buy a $20 light unless you are planning to mod just in case the light stop working.

83

It’s even worse to buy a $120 light and have it stop working!

Rotsa ruck with “warranties”… I’ve heard enough horror-stories about that.

84

For 20$ you can get very nice and good quality lights though

85

Agree.

86

Lots of good advice have been posted just above.

Knowing where, how, from whom and when to buy is indeed some sort of hunting/waiting game that’s part of the process. If you just go straight to a site and buy a light, you’ll pay more (and sometime much more) then what you usually manage to grab if you’re wise/informed or just a BLF member.

There are a number of threads here you should have a look at or watch, that list current sales and coupons, mainly on Gearbest, Banggood, Fasttech and occasionally on some Aliexpress stores. That’s where you once in a while find some unbelievable deals, but most of the time you get some really nice discounts on a selection of lights, batteries and chargers.

That said, sometime you just want that light ASAP and don’t care for the discounts… and other times you just can’t pass an insane deal on something you already have several instances of and don’t really need more. :person_facepalming:

87

Glowing words here :innocent:
Got an F1 the other day, the only (subjective) remark I have is that its bigger than Convoys :slight_smile: got used to that size…
Convoy S9 is on its way tho, have a feeling I will prefer it over F1 :slight_smile:

88

I figure I beat up on it enough for the green beam…

Marginally. It’s probably the charging circuit that adds that extra half-inch or so.

Dunno, but what I saw of it didn’t thrill me. It seemed… meh.

I’ll have to go find the threads about it and check it out again.

I’ve still got hosts for the S3, S5, etc., that I haven’t used yet, despite wanting to. I should resurrect those ideas I had…

89

i think you’re both right …a 7$ headlamp is hard to beat …but on low it has PWM that;s irritatingly unacceptable …but like the motion detection / 18650 / the usb and the price. BUT the Skillhunt H03NW is imho a light so nice ,I bought it twice . i have 3 zebralights and think the skillhunt for about a third of the price of a Zebra is as good or almost as good …great light great prices on them at 25$ - 32$…great lights … buy both
OR a AA Manker nichia E03 :slight_smile:

90

Y’see, this is what’s so odd about PWM. I get migraines from the damned overhead fluorescents at work, and can see 120Hz flicker in my peripheral vision, yet PWM from lights like this and those that others grex about, never seems to bother me.