I need a flashlight

[Chris]

Ok so for the 3rd time the power went out this year. Every time the power goes out I always swear im going to buy a quality LED flashlight and I have decided this is one thing I cant pass up anymore.

So the power goes out today and ontop of that the current 10 year old flashlights I have at home ALL have no more batteries. I look down at my phone, great batteries almost dead too. And my dog is injured and he cant walk can anything else go wrong, zombies maybe? Here I am home alone, pitch black and I am getting jittery. (I watched "Insidious" not too long ago) and I decided for safety reasons that I am going to just leave my revolver in its gun rug incase i get too jumpy...

Anyways, I need some info guys. What I am looking for are 2 handheld torches. One is a rugged bright LED torch, with moderate battery life, I looked at companies like Surefire and Inova, can anyone recommend others? The Inova ones are hell of a expensive...but if they are that worth it then whatever, price is not really a issue if it has quality as long as its not absurd (IE $300 for a flashlight)

The second torch I want is a manually rechargeable one, you know either shake it or crank it and get light for X amount of time, just in case my battery LED torch dies...

Any suggestions or comments? I dont know much about the flashlight word, like who is the best or whatever so thats why im asking. And reviews on amazon are very few...

 

[winchster]

I have a surefire 6p as part of my edc. Its in my pocket everywhere I go Love it. I want the new led version, it's almost twice as bright. Don't know about the second part.

 

[Bultx1215]

I have found the Maglite LED's to be pretty good. Batteries last quite a bit longer than I initially expected. Plus, they are good and bright and won't break the bank.

 

[Glockster69]

Surfire E2D LED Defender (if you're inclinded, I think NRA has a branded version out too)
SMALL, light and bright w/high & low beam but no strobe on my 3yr old. I've dropped mine plenty on hard surfaces and it just keeps going.
No experience with rechargables.

Edit: I've dropped mine plenty while on a 6' - 10' ladder on hard surfaces and it just keeps going. No guarantee mind you

 

[jtriron]

Check out the Olight 20 series. Great tough flashlights. Just order a 20 pak of c123 batteries and you'll be set for a long time.
(keep the batteries in your freezer to extend the shelf life, and you always know where they are)

 

[matefrio]

I'd recommend a flashlight, headlamp and a lantern. Fenix brand has a great reputation.

http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14_18

 

[BigBoss0311]

Headlamp isn't a bad idea, that way you have hands free. For that I would recommend the Petzl: Petzl Tikka 2 LED Headlamp at REI.com
As far as handheld flashlights, can't go wrong with Surefire. I have a G2 and absolutely love it: Surefire G2 Nitrolon Xenon Tactical Flashlight FREE UPS Law Enforcement Sure Fire flash light G2-YL G2-TN G2-OD G2-BK
Another good brand that no one seems to know is Pelican. I have 2 of their lights that I have used for the past 7 years. They have been beat to crap and all I keep having to replace are the batteries. Pelican M6 Xenon Flashlight with Holster & Lithium Batteries from Pelican-Case.com or Pelican M6 LED Lithium Flashlight with Holster/Batteries 2330 - Black from Pelican-Case.com

 

[Bithabus]

Surefire 6p with Malkoff drop-in.

 

[jtriron]

I'd recommend a flashlight, headlamp and a lantern. Fenix brand has a great reputation.

Fenix : Going Gear, Gearing you up for the outdoors

Agree on Fenix as well / have 2 and are great lights.

17 days without power after Ike teaches a person that a good flashlight is very important.

 

[Wolfwood]

for power outages i have a few hurricane lamps, (in a pinch they can run off jsut about anyhting that burns) and several LED lanterns for more ambient light.

 

[Texas42]

Midway has Surefire G3's for sale for $30 plus S&H

Surefire G3 Flashlight Xenon Bulb with Batteries (3 CR123A Lithium) Nitrolon Black - MidwayUSA

The battery life sux, but you can stick it on your rifle (at least I think you can). An idea would be to get a MagLite with a LED conversion kit. There are lots of conversion kits out there.

 

[Tejano Scott]

Fenix lights are far superior to Surefire... I've owned no less than a dozen surefire lights in the last (almost) 20 years. I now will never own another until they reduce their price and boost their lumens. Fenix Lights are far superior and cheaper. I've now owned 6 Fenix Lights and love them waaaay more than ANY surefire I've ever owned. I have a Fenix TK-35(820 lumens), a Fenix Headlamp(very handy), Fenix TK-15 on my AR, 2 Fenix PD 30(my former edc light), and a Fenix PD 20(my current EDC light). Surefires aren't total pieces of shit, but they are not the BEST available.

BTW, I am not a Fenix dealer or spokesperson. I used to pimp Surefire through my Dad's FFL business until 1 day I learned the truth... QUIT BUYING SUREFIRE PEOPLE(unless you just insist on buying inferior products at superior pricing).

 

[London]

O-light makes high-quality flashlights which perform just as well or better than their expensive competitors. Surefire used to be the best thing you could get and have been riding that reputation for too long, just like Mag-lite. Compare their outputs and battery life to a company like O-Light and you'll find they get blown out of the water.

I also posted an article I wrote about how to make your own flashlight in this section. It will save you a lot of money and still produce a very high quality flashlight, comparable to a Sure-fire costing over $200.

 

[SC-Texas]

I am a surefire guy through and through. Surefire Fanboy! But the Fenix lights are pretty damned good!

 

[Skip]

I'm diggin' my OLIGHT V2010
270 Lumens, 4 settings including strobe.
I think I paid like 40- 45 bucks on Ebay.

 

[DEE24]

Im not bias to any brand or favor one over the other. I picked this one up at bass pro and have been very happy. Under $100 and plenty bright enough for in the house or yard. On top of that its light and small which is why I bought it to start with. Its the streamlight super tac.

Tactical Hand-Held Series - Super Tac | Streamlight

 

[tussery]

To each their own. I own a Fenix and in no way would I ever consider carrying it over my Surefire A2L. For some reason as bright as those Chinese light companies are they have yet to come up with something as useful as the A2 series of lights. It's nice not having to carry 2 lights or a red filter for two useful functions for me.

 

[tussery]

Fenix lights are far superior to Surefire...

Surefire bodies are far superior to Fenix, and that is the only reason I will pay a premium for a Surefire over a Fenix.

 

[TwoOneOh]

I own a EagleTac T20C2 MKII and i love it. It's crushproof, submersible and bright as hell (300 OTF lumens). Actually it's brighter than most of deputy's lights that i work with (Streamlight Stingers). It's as tough if not tougher than my surefire lights and it runs off of rechargeable batteries, whereas the surefires are expensive to operate. It runs off of 1 18650 battery and with the 3000mAH cell that i have, it runs for about 2 weeks on a single charge of periodic use. I bought it from http://www.lighthound.com and their customer service was great.

EagleTac T20C2MKII
Ultrafire 3000mAH 18650 battery
Ultrafire WF-139 Charger for 14500 / 17500 / 18500 / 18650 / RCR123 3.7 volt Lithium Battery Charger

Also the Surefire FM35 Red Filter fits perfectly over the end of it and allows me to use one light with both red and white light.

 

[double_r76]

I'm a Surefire guy. Many of them provided through my work, so I'm not feeling the price pinch too much.

I've only had one Surefire die on me. It was a weaponlight that was about 5 years old... I called Surefire and they asked me if I tried changing the batteries and the lamp. Then they told me to send it in. About two weeks later I got the same body back with a new lamp, head, batteries, and tailcap. No charge.

How is Fenix's warranty?

I just skimmed Fenix's website. Do they have a presence here in the US? The only phone numbers I saw were for China. I'm not hating, just curious...

-Randy