Are there inexpensive, quality lights out there?

Grease

Grease

Joined
May 10, 2012
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I know in the world of knives you can find quality for a few bucks - is the flashlight world the same?

My dad just bought a crappy "9 LED Flashlight!" for the hundredth time, and I'm tired of seeing my family using these junk lights. The battery packs barely work, and won't work if the batteries aren't given a massage and and a spa treatment first, to make them nice and cozy. :p And when they do work, they're woefully inefficient. No circuitry of any kind to keep the light bright, so it gets dimmer as the battery goes (rapidly) down. And don' even ask about the throw distance... It's shorter than the literal throwable distance of the light.

I want to see if I can locate some $5-10 lights that I can point him towards that won't stop working after a week spent in a drawer.
 
Its a little more expensive than your range, but the bang for the buck is pretty high: The Nebo Blueline and Redline are two lights that are pretty nice, use common battery sizes, and offer a TON of lumens for their $25 price point. Just a thought.
 
in my experience it's hard to find quality anything for $5-10...

olight makes some decent inexpensive flashlights..
 
I bought a Dorcy flash light, from Target maybe?, several years ago. It has a glass lens and a little clicky button. It's aluminum and the threads seem pretty good, it has O-rings. It uses 3 AAA batteries. I bought it for work while I was waiting for my CR123A batteries to come in the mail. I believe that I paid $25 for it.
It held up to my work environment (fabricator aboard fishing boats) pretty well.

EDIT
I just looked it up and the light has 45 lumens and runs for 25 hours, and will throw light 100 ft.
Here's a couple of quick and dirty pics. Left to right, Dorcy, Surefire (3G?), Fenix PD30. They all have fresh batteries.

IMG162.jpg


IMG163.jpg
 
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Have a look at Shiningbeam.com Very reputable small business, and most of the lights are regulated. Meaning, they have consistent brightness, throughout the life of the battery. The caveman model is an excellent budget offering. I hope you follow my advice, you won't be sorry.

NEBO, and the like, are junk lights too.
 
As said on several other threads, Maglight. 7-10 bucks plus an extra 10 for a good upgrade bulb and you'll have a light that will last years. I've had my current Minimag 4 years and its sued everyday.
 
I have been carrying a streamlight microstream for about a year, it is still doing it's job. I think I spent all of 15$ on it. I have heard some folks have had problems with the tail pieces on theirs, but mine has not been an issue.
 
I know you dont wanna spend alot but it would be the last light you ll ever have to buy! Get yourself a basic Surefire! I ve used many lights on and off duty and I always go back to Surefire. IMO they are the best made most reliable lights out there! You can get a basic G2 for like 60 bucks! Stop dropping ten here and there and just put and end to it with a Surefire!! Stay away from Made in China!!
 
Grease said:
I know in the world of knives you can find quality for a few bucks - is the flashlight world the same?

My dad just bought a crappy "9 LED Flashlight!" for the hundredth time, and I'm tired of seeing my family using these junk lights. The battery packs barely work, and won't work if the batteries aren't given a massage and and a spa treatment first, to make them nice and cozy. :p And when they do work, they're woefully inefficient. No circuitry of any kind to keep the light bright, so it gets dimmer as the battery goes (rapidly) down. And don' even ask about the throw distance... It's shorter than the literal throwable distance of the light.

I want to see if I can locate some $5-10 lights that I can point him towards that won't stop working after a week spent in a drawer.
Click to expand...

My brother is in the same place. he keeps buying gas station lights. I think this Christmas will pick up a good inexpensive light for him.


I used to have a streamlight mircostream. But I gave it away, It was too small for me. The amount of light it put out just wasn't enough. It did hold up just fine though.
 
Go for Streamlight for value. I have the Nano by them on my keychain and I frequently carry the Streamlight Microlight in my pocket it is an AWESOME value light. A bit over 10 dollars but so worth it; 1 AAA battery, clicky tail switch, good pocket clip, very bright for running on 1 AAA, nice and simple at one mode. All most people really need:

IMG_8848.jpg
 
+1 on Streamlight offerings.

Also check out Princeton Tec -
Attitude 3 LED Flashlight,
or Impact XL.

Waterproof, twist on/off, virtually unbreakable, 20-25 bucks.
I've never had a single issue with any of several that I own.

Anybody else here use a Pelican 3330?
I've got two, one (bright yellow) is my EDC on my pack.

Don't forget a Photon Freedom keychain light, they're the bomb. :thumbup:
 
Grease said:
I want to see if I can locate some $5-10 lights that I can point him towards that won't stop working after a week spent in a drawer.
Click to expand...
Grease said:
or the hundredth time, and I'm tired of seeing my family using these junk lights
Click to expand...

I don't get the mentality of this, your sick of seeing your family use junk lights yet your only willing to spend $5-10?? Its a false economy, at that price range you will probably only find junk. Buy 5 $10 lights or one $50 dollar light, which is more expensive? $50 will get you a great flashlight that will last, I would recommend having a look through the 4sevens and Fenix lineups, affordable and dependable have a few of each but I carry a lenslight ;)
 
I have 2 olights,Surefire,stream light jet beam. Maybe dad isn't ready to update to today's technology. I use me olight 1500 lumens for EDC m30 is the model


Good luck Declan
 
I'm not a flashlight guy, but wanted something some type of light to edc. Last Christmas I got a Streamlight micro stream. It's perfect for me. On simple mode that is plenty bright for daily task. Nice clicky tailpiece. Awesome clip. Not to mention that at about 18.00, it's a steal.
 
Rayovac and Coleman make a couple ok home or glove box lights for under $20 and like others have said, Mag Lite offers the most classic and available patterns. Mags go on sale every now and then especially around X-mas time.

Problems with the $10 knock off lights is all the same. Lenses scratch to hell and break, or the light burns out from dropping on concrete or immersing in water once.

Above suggestions to spend more and get more from your LED light are well informed. Fenix, Surefire, Jetbeam are all waterproof, durable, and bright as all hell. Just not $10 unfortunately.
 
The Rocky brand of lights is a decent, cheap, knock-around light. My only gripe with them is the plastic window. The newer versions can be identified by the addition of a grippy rubber sleeve; these have different modes like strobe and hi/lo.

You can get them at Sam's Club in a value pack deal where you get two bigger 3x AAA lights and two itty-bitty keychain lights for under $40. They can also be found online individually for about $12.
 
Go to shiningbeam.com, and look at the Romisen RC-G2 III. For $16.75 + shipping, this is a great value. There are coupon codes available. This light comes with a Cree XP-G R5 emitter, powered by one AA battery, orange peel reflector to smooth out beam. To operate: press button lightly for momentary-on, press further for constant-on.
 
I've got a lot of lights laying around my house. I've bought some good lights by Pelican, Streamlight and Nuwai. They all use Luxeon LED's and the problem is that now the best lights use Cree LED's which are even brighter. I've bought a couple of new Fenix lights, the PD32 and LD01 and they are amazing. I carry the PD32 in my briefcase and the LD01 in my pocket. The PD32 has very good light output on 2 CR123 batteries and is barely larger than the 2 batteries. The LD01 has good output from a single AAA battery and is barely larger than the battery. However these 2 lights are more expensive than the average person would want for casual use. For the average person I recommend the standard LED mini-mag and standard 2D mag. These are relatively inexpensive, they work well and are durable, and they are widely available. The only problem is that you have to check the batteries frequently, if the batteries leak the lights will be ruined. I bought a new one a year ago, put it in my car, and noticed a few weeks ago that its batteries have already killed it.

DSC_6618b.jpg
 
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