Recommend a single cell 18650 Flashlight!

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping you guys can help recommend to me a flashlight, I've had great advice on my Crelant and Thorfire lights so far from the BLF crew and I'm very happy with them.

I'm looking for a neutral to warm Flashlight that uses a single 18650 cell, budget around $10, having had great success so far with Crelant and Thorfire, preferably something as decent and that's on sale from BG, Aliexpress, GB etc.

Ideally quite bright, suppose 300-400 odd lumens give or take would be good and preferably without PWM control(not sure if that is feasible).

Fire away and thanks in advance!

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A neutral or warm led directly implies a flashlight with emitter choice. In really budget that is only Convoy. Gearbest has a S2+ (great flashlight) in XP-L HI version in several tints that is about 15 dollar.

https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_640316.html

Or look around in the Convoy store:
https://convoy.aliexpress.com/store/group/Convoy-Flashlights/330416_254412389.html

3

Eagle Eye X2R in 3C tint with coupon around 13-14$

GB3RDHR
https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_411562.html

4

Jaxman E2 with Nichia 219B 4000K 90+ CRI

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/JAXMAN-E2-Nichia-219B-18650-LED-flashlight-torch-High-color-rendering-index/1812094_32601073098.html?spm=2114.12010615.0.0.5ce5139ekA28Bz

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Excellent recommendation hIKARInoob !

Savydude, for this 3rd flashlights you should really try an high CRI one and compare with the 2 you already got.

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That seller has awesome lights but with shipping that light hits $22.

Forgot about Convoy, have seen good things mentioned about them on BLF, I have been wanting to try one out.

Is the Convoy build and emitted light quality really nice for the price?

7

True. Here it is again!

https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_355969.html

More at Fasttech: https://www.fasttech.com/search?jaxman

8

Feel like making your own?

Get a WF-502B host (comes with pill and reflector), get a nice 5D tint XM-L on 16mm “star” (round, actually), and your choice of 17mm driver like a NANJG 104C (select whatever modes you want by solder-bridging 1 of 4 contacts on the board).

Just like the old Burger King slogan, “Have it your way”.

You can solder or sometimes even press-fit (’though I wouldn’t recommend it) the driver to the pill, and only need to solder 2 wires to the LED. That’s it. Instant flashlight-to-order. Easy as falling off a toilet.

I EDC a ’502 with a 1-mode (on/off only) ~1A driver, and it meets like 99% of what I need during the day. When I have access to other lights, I can use them, but during the day when I need A Flashlight™, it fits the bill perfectly.

Yesterday I was in the car doing a puzzle waiting for someone, and the pen slid off, down between the seat and console, then under the seat. Black carpet, seat, interior, black everything, no hope of finding it under the cables, motors, etc., without a light. Click on, “Ah, there it is!”, grab the pen, done. No need for moonlight or Super Turbo Flare Supernova mode, nothing.

Every day, every day, every day, the perfect tool.

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You know, to many people “WF-502B” is just some random letters and numbers… But flashaholics know what this means. I don’t even know if there’s ever been a WF-502A…
I suspect there are differences in quality, just like you have different quality C8 lights? Do you know where you can find good quality hosts? Are the coloured ones good quality as well?

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Yeh, A/B/C/D refers to how many CR123s/18350s you can stuff into it. B is 2, so an 18650. Would like a shorty A version, just to have. :smiley:

Alas, I got Solorforce L2M hosts that have 2-piece tubes, so I can switch between 18650 and 18350 on a whim. To me, that’s a true tac-light, as the switch is NOT recessed, so isn’t really suitable for pocket-carry or anywhere that it can be accidentally turned on. But it’s a kick-ass tac-light! And a shorty version with an 18350 is nice and compact (at the expense of much less than half the runtime).

Ironically, I never got just the host. A few years ago I “stocked up” on full ’502Bs. Most had real XM-Ls, or at least good Latticebright clones, but the drivers were garbage. Parallelled resistors to “regulate” current, and the usual H/M/L/strobe garbage. But the switches were actually pretty good, real brass pills and Al reflectors, so it was easy to gut them and use premium parts.

Same like with C8s, ’though they started out being really good, like the ’502s, but later were pure garbage with plastic reflectors and the cheapest XP-E-sized LB chips that would barely vomit out 70-100lm of Angry Blue™ light. Barely salvageable, and I rant about them that it’s not worth the ag to try to fix ’em up, as you could just get a top-notch Convoy C8 host and go nuts with it.

So… no idea how full ’502s are nowadays (it’d be a crap-shoot, emphasis on “crap”), but the hosts-only that FT sells should be pretty good to really good.

Damn, that reminds me. I was going to stick a 5D in an S2+ but replace the reflector with a TIR lens. Reflectors skew the colors so that especially on warmer CTs the hotspot is overly yellow and the spill is overly blue. TIRs seem to blend the colors together much more nicely. I swapped the reflector for a TIR on my 4C S2+, and no more Angry Yellow™ hotspot, but a nice creamy if not rosy tint. I’m itchin’ to see what a 5D looks like… :smiley:

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Don’t see why. Tried if I could actually see it to get it, nope, so just reached for my light and got it no problem.

Nah. For craptastic colored LEDs (red, green, UV, IR, etc.) that probably won’t take more’n 1A or so anyway, even crappy hosts are fine, as they won’t be too stressed out.

It’s when you have a high-strung setup like 3A or so through a white LED that’ll be pushing 10W or more, that you want a good solid host. 3W or less probably won’t heat up too much that even a crappy host couldn’t shed the heat buildup.

For “specialty” lights like that, I stick with 1-mode drivers, so I expect the light to be able to be kept on indefinitely without self-cooking. Don’t really see a need for a red LED to be stepped down, not if I intend to use it outside.

Anyone wantsa go hawg-huntin’, those are the lights to use… And a nice small XP-E/-E2 is a nice tight pencil-beam, even in a crappy C8 clone.

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You use 18650 or triple AAA? The latter goes well with the 1A no worries vibe or not?

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’Oo, me?

18650s.

3×AAA is the Battery Of The Devil. Bright with fresh cells, fading constantly to uselessness. Hitler used 3×AAA lights.

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Says the Lightbringer, haha! :stuck_out_tongue: Well I’d certainly consider using 3xAAA Eneloops in such a light.