New member, looking for first quality light.

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Title simply explains what I’m looking for. A bit more details would be very bright LED that uses either common batteries (AA,AAA, etc…), or includes rechargeable with charger. The latter is probably desired. Also, compact that could be carried daily and possibly used for self-defense (called striker bezel I believe). I don’t really know a whole lot else of what I’m looking for…stylish design I suppose, long lasting charge or run-time, and affordable ($100 all included or less?). I’ve come across the olight m18 striker and nitecore p12, which seem like pretty good options, but I’d like to get some expert opinions and advice. I look forward to discussing some other possible options. Thanks everyone.

2

I thoroughly enjoy my p12, but it is 18650…no AAs

Have you looked into an eagletac d25a? It comes in clicky with a tail switch or a twisty version. It takes AAs and 14500 if you ever want to in the future.

Are you familiar with eneloop AAs?

3

Just jump right in head first and ditch the aa’s. Grap a couple of 18650’s, a good charger and a convoy s2 or s6. Those have been my goto lights at work and have held up well.

4

With that kinda budget, you can get a Zebralight SC5 with some Eneloop XXX batteries.
But if you willing to go for 18650 set-up, a Convoy S2+ with a couple of 18650 batteries and good 2-cell charger, you can still have some changes from $50

5

The Olight S15R is on sale right now at gearbest, includes a 14500 and charger base, but also can run on AA or get the extender to run 2xAA.
Won’t give you much self defense or long runtime on high because of the battery format, but is 1/4 of your budget and small so can be carried easily.
“(product link)”:http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_112105.html

There’s a Manker in the works that member JohnnyMac likes, not in production yet but he says it’s really bright on just 1xAA
“(review link)”:Review: Manker T01 Prerelease Sample (small updates 20150925))

6

If you like the Nitecore P12, you should consider the MH12 as well, it’s the same flashlight with a micro-usb port for charging.

In the long term you would probably want some spare batteries (protected, non-protected?), and a separate charger - Nitecore D4, Xtar VC2 Plus, Xtar VC4 to name a few.

Problem with AA flashlights is the Lithium ion equivalent battery (14500) has a way lower capacity than 18650. And hardly any flashlight will give you good runtimes or brightness when run by alkaleaks, which can also damage your flashlight. So you’ll end up with AA batteries and a charger anyway, in which case you might as well start off with the 18650 set. Of course if you’re already sorted out with AA rechargeables, it’s a different story.

7

Thank you all for the replies, I’ll take a look at each of your recommendations and let you know which one I decide on. I’ll probably get one with the 18650 batteries and it seems everyone recommends them. ALso, i’m not familiar with the eneloop AA’s. What are they gecko?

8

The convoy’s look really nice. Which is the best one?

9

They are all high quality. Convoy value is hard to beat. My Tip: Get the Convoy M1 from Fasttech. I just received mine and couldn’t be happier. It compares to lights I paid double for. It was around $19.77 delivered in 10 days. Buy name brand charger and batteries, not _fire garbage. Go to Andrew and Amanda website for deals on lights, batts and Charger. They have pretty good combo deals. I just ordered a D4 charger with 4 Olight 18650 batts 2600mah for $42.00

10

Here you go https://m.fasttech.com/products/0/10002364/1212400-convoy-m1-cree-xm-l-u2-1b-2-group-35-mode-900lm-le and http://www.ebay.com/itm/NiteCore-IntelliCharger-D4-2nd-generation-w-4x-Olight-2600mAh-Batteries-/171592175961?hash=item27f3b0d159 at Fasttech I think the discount code is BLF. Leaves you $40.00 for 2 more lights Good luck

11

wow thanks apex!

12

most of these lights just need one 18650 batteries, or two?

13

I just bought both of what you linked, i’ll probably get another more compact convoy as well

14

Get a S2+ in blue or red, you will like it alot!

15

Convoys are good, butif you need something smaller or don’t mind the shorter ru times of 14500, I would highly recommend the Olight S15R linked above. It is a really great light and at this price is impossible to beat. 4 well space modes, great UI, magnetic tail

16

Most just take one 18650 Start perusing the deals and commercial sellers forums. You’ll find some low priced Winners.

17

MT2A ‘The Executive’

Discreet, every day carry light that doubles as a potent defense tool.

18

I’ll just weigh in and say that just about anything made of machined aluminum with an end sticking out is going to ruin someone’s day, without having to explain to the jury why you ordered a special “tactical/ self defense tool”. Most flashlights in the tube or c8 configuration seem to have some pretty nasty looking parts that I wouldn’t want to have smacked into my temple. I’d even go as far as to hope that one day Simon from Convoy offers all his flashlights in “lady red” or “boy blue”. I’d snap those up in a heart beat.

Just another school of thought. I have considered the same very carefully.

19

BLF A6. Stupidly bright for the size, and just $25 after the code.

Details in this thread.

I bought 2, if you can only get one I’d recommend the 3D tint over the 1A, I haven’t seen the 5A in person.

20

If you’re not familiar with Li-ion cells, here’s a few resources to bring you up to speed:

Flashlights have their own esoteric language. (To the unitiated, it can seem like reading Egyptian hieroglyphics!) You probably can follow the discussions about different types of LED emitters: MC-E, XP-G2, XM-L, XM-L2, XP-L, to name a few. But did you know about flux bins and tint bins? Those are the letters and numbers that follow the emitter type. So, for example, you might have an XM-L T5 5C.

  • The “T5” represents the flux bin, a rating of the LED’s output. Generally speaking, the higher the letter and the higher the number, the more efficient the LED is. A T6 is marginally better than a T5, a U2 is significantly better than a T5.
  • And the “5C” represents the tint bin, a rating of the LED’s tint. A 5C tint bin is relatively warm compared to most flashlights. A 1A tint is fairly cool. See attached chart for color codes: Color/temp reference chart?

Note: Manufacturers will often omit the flux bins and tint bins from their product descriptions. This may be because they don’t know the information. It has also been posited that the manufacturers intentionally omit the information, in order to preserve their options for switching whatever LEDs they may happen to have in supply.

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For more reference information on flashlights: Flashlight Wiki