Surefire

Best Surefire...Probably none of them, depending on the length of the trip...The rechargeable models last about an hour, as do the lithium models...Which means you would need access to a charger, or take a lot of lithium batteries with you...I would suggest, for a lithium light, the Underwater Kinetics 2L, which has a runtime of about 4 hours on two lithium batteries, or a PrincetonTec Surge, which is brighter than most ECONOMICAL Surefires and has a runtime of 4-5hrs on 8 AA-size batteries...

--dan
 
Surefires are great SHORT TERM flashlights. Figure 1 hour max on a set of batteries. I'd get a godd led light

That said, it depends on how you camp! I've gone on 2 week camping trips where I've used my flashlight less than that! My theory when camping is wake up when it starts to get light, and go to bed when it gets dark. Camp hard enough, and you'll be GLAD to go to bed early
 
Get a Sirefire M2 with spare battires and bulbs (use when you need a really bright light). Also buy an LED light for general camp needs.
 
If you're only bringing one light, don't bring a surefire unless you want to haul around alot of extra batteries. One of the UKE's or Princeton Tec's will do. If you're bringing another light, then any of the 6V surefires will do, with the M2 on top for the shock-proofness. Personally, I've brought my 6P backpacking to supplement my Petzl Tikka. The combination worked fine. The Tikka was great for general camp duties and bathroom runs without having that yellowish half-dead battery look that the 3 or 4 Petzl Micro users had. The 6P was only used for about 10 minutes the whole trip.

My new combo is a E2, 1 set of spare batts, a Petzl Zipka, an ARC-AAA LE, and a Photon 3. If I needed a real waterproof LED light, I'd use either a PT Matrix, switchback (if it ever comes out), or a handheld LED light.

gm
 
gm has the right idea. If you do need a lot of light, obviously nothing beats a SureFire. I would recommend waiting until January for the new E2e which is waterproof and has a pyrex bezel and lockout tailcap. Again, bring lots of batteries.

As far as non-SureFires - the best choice hands down is the ARC AAA LE. This is IMO the best LED there is. Next best is the Photon III. A little gimmicky and not without problems, but still a great light, especially for your keyring as it is considerably smaller than the ARC. Then you are left with the Zipka as the best small headlamp.

My two choices: the soon-to-be-released E2e in Hard Anodized and the ARC AAA LE in Hard Anodized. With those two you should be set for intensity, durability, and longevity.

FYI: pictures of the E2e I speak of reside at http://www.pk-engineering.com/gallery11.html

Bucky
 
There are persistent rumors of a ~25 lumen, long-running lamp for the E2. While I'm sure this is whacky science at best, I've noticed that Surefire often doubles the lumens, at the expense of 2/3 of the runtime. Which means that it's conceiveable we're talking about 25 lumens for nearly 3 hours -- that makes it a suitable camp light in my book! Maybe an EternaLite for backup, now that the price has dropped precipitously. I just picked up an xray for ~$35.

Joe
 
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