best flashlight for under 30 bucks

Diamond Cut II

Diamond Cut II

Joined
Sep 1, 2002
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I was browsing tadgear.com and thought I'd look at the flashlights. They had different types like LEDs and just plain regular bulbs. What's the difference between these two? Brightness or life? Is Pelican a good brand? I was thinkin about the Govt. Issue but for the 10.00 price tag I assume that it's not that great. Thanks in advance for any help. I'm really in need of a flashlight and tired of using my lighter:D


-DC2
 
The X5 has been replaced by the X5T which is bulkier than an X5 and has a momentary tail cap switch that is missing from the original X5, but it's still a hell of a light. It uses 2 lithium CR123 batteries (which have a 10 year shelf life) and is about the size of a Mini Mag. Instead of the single fragile bulb used in a Mini Mag, it uses five super bright LEDs that throw more light than a Mini Mag, get 20 hours out of a set of batteries and have a 110,000 hour mean time between failure rating. The light is also waterproof to 150 ft.

I've bought them for $35.00 at closeout pricing. It's $5.00 over your stated price, but well worth the money IMHO.

jmx
 
All of these flashlights sound great. I'm probably gonna get all of 'em:D well, maybe not. I'm kinda interested in the X5T. The pelican looks too small for my taste and I like sound of 5 LEDs. Probably gonna get the X5T in a few months. Have to buy some knives first:D . Thanks for all your help.


-DC2
 
Here is a list of six, bright LED flashlights for under $30.

CMG Reactor: $29.95
The CMG Reactor is an excellent value because it uses a Luxeon Star LED which is one of the brightest LEDs out there. The Reactor works best with lithium batteries.

Princeton Tec Attitude: $19.95
The Princeton Tec Attitude is a lightweight, waterproof pocket light that uses four AAA batteries.

Opalec NewBeam: $25.95
The Opalec NewBeam is an LED conversion kit for the Mini Maglite that produces constant white light twice as long as a stock Mini Maglite. It also has a low battery indicator.

PAL Survival Light
The PAL Survival Light is a 9 volt flashlight that has three modes: Always On, Low Beam, High Beam and Strobe Light. It is slightly larger than a 9 volt battery.

Arc AAA: $24.95
The Arc AAA is a flashlight that you should always have with you because it is bright, tiny and tough. I carry one in my front pants pocket every day.

CMG Infinity Ultra: $23.95
The CMG Infinity Ultra is essentially a AA version of the Arc AAA. It is a superb value and comes with a lanyard and pocket clip.
 
Don't go to CandlePower Forums , you will find your knife wish list becomes hard to fill because those light sabre's keep buring up all your gadget money, leaving little available for those great knives you see and read about here :D

The near legendary Walt Welch turned me onto Carley Lamps in Mag-lites with HI-CAP Ni-Cad batteries. My flashlights were never the same after that.

For incadescent lights, the UnderWater Kinetics are good lights, in addition to the lines listed above. Princeton Tec and Streamlight get good reviews but, don't seem to get talked about as much as SureFire (which has some LED lights that should be ready for release soon).
 
Hi,

Extensively used at scouting and found to be very reliable:

UKE 4 AA flashlight
UKE 2 AAA mini flashlight
ARC 1 LED AAA ----LED light---
Inova Microlight ----LED light---
Inova 5XT ----LED light---

Of these 5, I would recommend the UKE's and small single LED Arc and Inova Microlight.
My preference for lots of use with the 1 LED lights above goes to the ARC as it uses easy to get cheap AAA alkaline batteries instead of more expensive CR 2016 or 2032's.

The UKE lights are very bright, waterproof, small and relatively cheap.

The Inova 5XT is a beautifull small package, although mine started to 'flicker' when using the push-button feature even thow I put enough pressure on the switch. Also for Holland it uses expensive D123 Lithium batteries costing about $7 over here.

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera
 
Surefire has released their LED products. They are the KL1, KL2 and KL3. They are LED replacement bezels for their popular E1/E2 and M2 lights. Theses LED replacement bezels are hard to get because they are new production items.
 
Hi Dkochan,

These hardly fall in the sub $30 category, if you can get me one for $30 including the body, let me know ;)

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera
 
Bagheera,

The Surefire lights are definitely not in the sub $30 category. I mentioned the Surefire lights because Sid Post mentioned the Surefire LED lights were not yet released -- they are.

--David Kochan
 
I was searching google and found an LED light called the exodus4. It said it was the brightest LED out there and was visible for up to 2 miles. Does anyone have any info on this? Thanks.


-DC2
 
Hi David,

What would the Luxeon KL3 unit for an 6P go for ?? probably more then the value of the 6P ?

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera
 
Diamond Cut II, I have no clue what the exodus4 is, and I've never heard of it, but I can give you the name of a very affordable light that works for me. I can't believe nobody's mentioned the Brinkmann Legend LX. It uses a Xenon bulb and 123A lithium batteries. It's made out of aluminum and has a pretty nice finish. It might not be a hardcore or tough as a surefire, but on LED Museum it was shown to actually be a little brighter than a surefire e2e. You can also pick one up at your local Walmart, which is handy.
 
Best bang for the buck for under 30 bucks would have to be the Brinkmann Legend LX. Its brighter than an E2 and 50 bucks less. And even better, your local Walmart has em for $19.95. Sure it uses the expensive 123A batteries and doesn't get much more than an hour of run time, but I never find myself using it for more than 30 seconds at a time. If I need light for a long time, or don't need that much light, I simply pull out my Arc AAA. Both of these flashlights are daily carried by me, and both just happen to be under 20 dollars. Highly recommend both, but the Legend LX has more of a wow factor for the price.

Mark
 
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