S2+ with both the come-with tube and shorty tube.
Sometimes you feel like a nut… sometimes you feel like a squirrel.
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It’s called “superposition”, it’s in another dimension!
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Convoy T6 SFT25 or Convoy T3 519A.
I think kids like more throwers so T6 is good choice, it has solid throw even on 1% mode and it has usable spill.
Or You can buy both, so he can have thrower and flooder for different usage cases.
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I think, generally, at least at first, we teach our kids what to like. They just haven’t had time to get to where they have the biases that many of us have. Tint, CRI, beam profile , lumens, Candela… they don’t care. Then they figure things out for themselves… later. Probably much later.
I gave a few kids TS10s when I was getting them for $12. They all loved them. A couple even got into playing with Andruil2…
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When I was a child, it was the age of incandescent flashlights and there was always a competition whose lamp would project the light beam the furthest, who could illuminate the house on the hill or the lonely tree in the field.
That’s why I wrote that a lamp with a thrower beam may be more attractive to kids, especially if they like exploring nature.
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you are right on that, my son also loves how far my C8 shoots, and well, no effort with a 42mm lens and a 31mm deep reflector!
But he also got really impressed by the tint of it: yes, my 4000K XPH50.3 Hi R9050 was greenish and I disliked for that, but it certainly was more pleasant to his eyes than all the cheap 6500K flashlights that landed in this house.
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I’d vote 18650 (or 21700); if I had 14500 cells when I was 7, I’d definitely have blown something up jamming them into an AA battery compartment!
Controversial opinion, but how about a zoom light? I think the convoy Z1 might be a little large, but don’t have an alternative suggestion off the top of my head.
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That is actually a very important thing I haven’t thought about a second. As a kid, I would definitely tried to “tune” some other toys with a LiIon cell…
I also had a zoomy in my mind when I read acobp’s last post.
I just bought this one: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005010662090499.html to be modded with some different LED, depending on how good of a host it will be.
I love zoomies, but there aren’t a lot good ones out there that don’t have a massive head like the Z1.
Anyway, none of them are red…
Sounds like OP specifically wanted a red host though
Thanks, the 21700 S21E is by far the winner in my head:
Red, Andúril and USB port are undoubtedly a great plus.
Not so much the side e-switch, as pointed out by @Mandrake50. I still have to research, but I seem to remember someone used some Hank light switch on a S21E and if I remember correctly some Emisar light had the option of a raised retaining ring for it.
That would be an option, I need to research it, actually.
The USB port is good so the battery doesn’t get taken out, I have Loctite threadlock and I may put a bit.
Zoomie: I find them good on paper (I wanted a zoomie as first light, then I am glad I didn’t), we have one and we (my son and I) don’t find it that appealing to play with it to have a big spill or a narrow beam. Our even shows on the mountain in front of us the square of the LED 
Thanks for the suggestion though.
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Simon is working on a raised ring around the button, no ETA though.
S21E with Anduris is paired with very old drivers (either linear or FET) which are pretty inefficient and get hot really quickly.
The switch problem, for me, would be solved by having a lighted switch. I could deal with that on a flashlight that I used regularly. On one of the many that I have that spend lots of time on a shelf or in a drawer, well then there is the problem of the light just sitting there and doing nothing but draining the cell. As there is typically no LVP on switch lighting, it is too easy to fully kill a cell.
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Thats cool your son likes torches!
I bought my son a S2+ when he was around 8. I let him pick the colour and led, he picked 12 group blue with a KW CSLNM1.TG as he was intersted in having it throw light as far as it can. Its a cool light and he still uses it today (he is about to turn 13) as a light around the house, i have it set to one of the modes where its at 1% when you first turn it on.
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I think I read FET earlier on, so no good? It would be with a Nichia 519A, 4 or 5000k
S2+ is a close second, 12 groups buck, here debating between 519A/5000 and Luminus SFT-40 in 3000k
Admittedly, I am both curious with Andúril, and with the S2+, later on I’d like another one for me.
S21E will still give you much longer runtime thanks to much larger battery.
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S2+ with normal and short 18350 tube
That wouldn’t be a question for me.
SST40 is just not a modern emitter anymore.
LHP531 in 5000 or 6500K, or a smaller Emitter like B35AM or 519A, maybe SFT25R in 5000K, the tint is still nice
LHP531 in 6500K is the nicest cold white I have ever seen, plus since I like floody lights, it’s nice to have such a large LES.
The SFT40 is still a great emitter. I know the SFT42R is the new hotness, but the 3000K SFT40 is very high CRI and still throws.
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Hi CRI is important, as he is into macro photography.
I really don’t want yet another blue light, I am in a quest to not have any, actually
The LHP531 in 6500K has a very low DUV and is more in the 6000K corner. It is essentially a pure cold white, no blue in sight.
I avoided 6500K LEDs like the devil until I came across this LED. It showed me, that cold white can actually be nice.
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