People always ask which light is best, which car is best, which (fill in the blank) is best. That really can’t be answered most of the time because one person’s “best” is not the same as the next guy’s. The issue is, someone new enough to ask such a question doesn’t tend to know what catagories are most important to their needs.
I have run into this myself when trying to glean advise from those in the know about something I really didn’t know much or even care to know much about. Nobody can be an expert at everything and for some people, they just want a good flashlight and not a crappy overpriced one.
My advice when asking what light to get is to accurately state your list of wants in order so those who have an encyclopedic knowledge of them can really narrow down your choice.
For example, if I was look for a new headlamp, I would ask like this:
I want a single18650 headlamp with warm or neutral tint and as big of flood as possible. Prefer to not spend much more than $50 unless needed but $100 is my max.
The best light is the one hanging around my neck, wait a minute its actually the one Im holding or was it the one i just set down… no sorry its the one that I just ordered.Noo its the one that comes in tomorrow……What was the question again?
You mentioned people not knowing what categories are most important to their needs. Well said.
Searching for something? Doing something? What range? Two inches away? Two feet? A thousand meters?
Small enough to carry and have and easily use, or large enough to impress others? Impress self?
Something that will be used and dinged and nicked and scratched, or something that is to be treasured and revered, sitting on a shelf?
Just like the best Beatles song, or the best rock group. There is no single best one, so for good reason, there are many. Same with flashlights. Many is better than few.
I cant speak about pratriculat model yet Speaking of “BLF best brand” the best arround is Manker/a.k.a Pranker
They implement BLF best innovations ( most of the time even without asking) yet they tent to die/cause problems quite often thus forse us to use out skills and mods to repair them, improoving them and this place with ideas even more! This way Manker gets even better ideas and continues their venerable flashlight endeavours
I just tried to fix a door hinge and had the Lumitop tool nearby, which I’m starting to take with me
more often (I don’t EDC). It was distracting as my helper couldn’t hold it steady in a tight and dim area.
I had to go get a 3xAA lantern and it worked better for the task at hand. I’m sure the Blitzwolf lantern
would’ve worked better but I only ordered it yesterday…
Obviously the answer is get one of each of everything :-).
Just like anything else… there is no “BEST”. Ther’e are only pros, cons, strengths, weaknesses, inclusions and omissions. EVERYTHING has its compromise. Whether or not its perceivable to an individual is the question.
QUOTE [Why there is no good answer to which light is best]
Looking on the bright side, if there was an answer to that question , this would be a very quiet place, we’d have come on here bought 10 of the ‘best light’ and never visited again
There is a best, it just doesn’t exist
You can’t get km of throw, thousands of lumens, cheap price, long runtime, and small size all in one package.
Maybe some day it will be possible.
When people ask this question they are saying something else .
They want to avoid making bad flashlight purchasing decisions …and probably think that they can get away with buying ONE “perfect flashlight”.
there are a few common answers to that.
One is a s2 convoy…or any basic decent 18650 tube light s6 s5 s3 s2+ etc etc etc
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Another obvious piece of advice is a decent zoomie like the supfire F3-L2 ,brynite B158 or a sk68 etc Something that does nothing very right or wrong but still beats the life out of most bad choices a newb might make
- Better answers to them are probably to purchase new or older BLF group buy lights .
-Or expect to buy multiple lights for each in about 6 different catagories ….keychain /AA edc/18650 tube/18650 Thrower / Headlamp….
lastly I suggest people find someone on BLF who make really smart buying decisions ( a mentor)….people like RMM Richard or TomE…Someone a newb would be safe buying almost anything they sell or suggest buying .
I think collectively our best blf advice has become encapsulated in offerings that RMM and others now sell and endorse .
It’s always possible some day there will be a flashlight the size of a keychain which can also be mounted on a head band which can be adjusted for huge flood or huge throw
