Tactical flashlight

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unky_gumbi

Joined
Aug 28, 2009
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I have been thinking of picking up a good tactical flashlight, and was just wondering what is out there in the 100-150 dollar range. I would like something LED for battery life and small enough to carry in a pocket. I would be using it mostly for work, camping, and as a back up to my cycling lights when rriding the trails at night and hopefully not SD but I would like it to be tough enough if the need arose.

The only thing I have looked at so far is the Surefire E2D LED Defender, its at the upper end of my budget and acording to the marketing it would meet my needs, but I can't find any indipendent reviews on it. So if you have an oppinion on it or something else that may fill the job better let me know please.

Thanks
George
 
THE E2D IS A SMOKING LIGHT,THE LX2 IS A BLASTER MORE LUMENS THAN THE E2D NOT SURE IF ITZ A TACTICAL LIGHT,opps cap lock.....
 
Right now the E2DL and LX2 have the same "high" output of 200 lumens. Low is 5 for the E2DL and 15 for the LX2. I found the LX2 for about $165, you can probably find a new version of the E2DL for $150.

The LX2 has really kicked the E2DL out of my pocket. The low setting is a bit brighter, and my E2DL is the old 120 lumen version.

Personally I would take a good look at the E1B "Backup." 80 lumens high, 5 low, 1 CR123 cell, and it works with any outfit. It's small and manageable. Mine rides on my belt most days if I'm not carrying my LX2.
 
I would highly recommend a JetBeam Jet-Pro III ST. If you get the BV (broad voltage) version it will run on either 2 CR123 Lithium primary cells or 1 18650 Li-Ion rechargeable. It is one of the smallest 18650 lights on the market with 3 user defined settings (you can set each one to be the brightness that you want). I love it.

Edited to add:

I wouldn't recommend the E2DL for what you intend to use it for. I have one and it is a great light, but it is a lightsaber that focuses almost all of the light into an intense hotspot and has very little spill outside of that hotspot. Not the ideal setup for general around the house and outdoor tasks. Although, you can purchase a diffuser that turns the beam into 100% spill.
 
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You cannot go wrong with Surefire. Hands down, they have the best lights on the planet. I have several, including the E2e which is the incandescent light. The newer model is LED.

I'ts small and light enough to put in my pocket. I take it just about everywhere. Plus it's tactical. It will momentarily blind anyone or anything that gets in your way. I will also light up a room or pearce the outside darkness.

Bottom line, if you want the best that will last forever, go with Surefire. You won't be sorry.
 
Incidentalist said:
I would highly recommend a JetBeam Jet-Pro III ST. If you get the BV (broad voltage) version it will run on either 2 CR123 Lithium primary cells or 1 18650 Li-Ion rechargeable. It is one of the smallest 18650 lights on the market with 3 user defined settings (you can set each one to be the brightness that you want). I love it.

Edited to add:

I wouldn't recommend the E2DL for what you intend to use it for. I have one and it is a great light, but it is a lightsaber that focuses almost all of the light into an intense hotspot and has very little spill outside of that hotspot. Not the ideal setup for general around the house and outdoor tasks. Although, you can purchase a diffuser that turns the beam into 100% spill.
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Good point there. I find that comparing beam profiles between my E2DL, E1B, G2L, and LX2 I find that the E1B and E2DL have the tightest beam profiles. Still plenty of spill on the E2DL though. The G2L has a much more flood type pattern for general use and the LX2 is between the flood / spot patterns.
 
All good recommendations so far, Josh, thanks for describing the beam patterns I have been wondering about the LX2 beam for a while.

A malkoff MD2 with M60W (warm tint LED) and low output ring would probably be ideal or a SF 6PD with the malkoff goodies.

Careful buying surefires though, their very addictive.
 
I think that the spotlight is more in tune with my needs, the work aplication is to peer down tubes and under benches, for camping is simular to work I am looking to pierce the dark to go beyond what my head lamp will do. And on the bike when I am trail riding I have a dual lamp set up, a NiteRider digital and a Sigma Karma the NR is a flood that I mount on the bars and the sigma is a spot that I mount on my helmet I find myself putting the NR on med or low to get a good idea of the imediate trail infront of me and the Sigma on high to peirce through and spot things in the distance. I really relly on the sigma when traveling at speed over the NR.

For home use I am pretty much set up with the head lamp that I have, being that I live in the city and it quite bright at night. I think thatthe really bright focused light is what I want, and if not I can alway pick up another light:D this light would have to easily be used for self defence as pulling out my 710 would put me in a world of hurt up here in Canada were as a flash light would considered reasonable. Winnipeg has been getting more and more violent in the last couple of years, and I have decided that my bare hands may not be enough to protect myself any more
 
unky_gumbi said:
I think that the spotlight is more in tune with my needs, the work aplication is to peer down tubes and under benches, for camping is simular to work I am looking to pierce the dark to go beyond what my head lamp will do. And on the bike when I am trail riding I have a dual lamp set up, a NiteRider digital and a Sigma Karma the NR is a flood that I mount on the bars and the sigma is a spot that I mount on my helmet I find myself putting the NR on med or low to get a good idea of the imediate trail infront of me and the Sigma on high to peirce through and spot things in the distance. I really relly on the sigma when traveling at speed over the NR.

For home use I am pretty much set up with the head lamp that I have, being that I live in the city and it quite bright at night. I think thatthe really bright focused light is what I want, and if not I can alway pick up another light:D this light would have to easily be used for self defence as pulling out my 710 would put me in a world of hurt up here in Canada were as a flash light would considered reasonable. Winnipeg has been getting more and more violent in the last couple of years, and I have decided that my bare hands may not be enough to protect myself any more
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I'd say look for a nice walking stick and pair of running shoes. ;)

Go for the LX2 or E2DL. :thumbup: 200 lumens is a lot of deterrent.
 
Josh K said:
I'd say look for a nice walking stick and pair of running shoes. ;)

Go for the LX2 or E2DL. :thumbup: 200 lumens is a lot of deterrent.
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The Canadian knife laws have a million shades of grey in them, I can carry almost anything I want as long as it meet a few standards, blade length isnt one of them. the real kicker is as soon as i use a knife to defend myself it becomes a weapon and is a federal offence:jerkit: Here anything can be declared a weapon if it is so used, yet a flashlight is more likely to be let go. As for the stick and running shoes, why do you think I ride a bike, it doubles as both :D moves faster then I run and have you ever been hit with a 30pound piece of metal with lots of sharp parts on it. It also acts as a bit of a shield too. I have nailed a couple of low lifes with my dirt jump bike, one try to snag the bike while I was landing a jump, I just ejected in the air and made sure the bike was flying towards him, the pedal hit him square in the face and knocked him out
 
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jill jackson said:
I bought an OLIGHT M20 Warrior and I'm very happy with it. You can buy one for less than 70 dollars shipped and it's great reviews lead me to it. Has a max output of 250 lumen's. Works great and is easy and positive to adjust. I don't think you can beat them for the money.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=209384
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Thanks for the link to the review, some very good information there I am going to have to look into the Canadian availablity on it, may have bumped the surefire out of top spot
 
So its come down to the Olight M20 and the surefire E2D LED Defender, the M20 is only $20 cheaper up here at $129 as compared to the surefire at $149. with only a $20 difference it comes down to whickh one of the 2 is a better tactical light I am leaning towards the surefire mainly because I have bought from this online dealer before and was very satisfied with the service and I think that the surefire may have a bit of an edge in performence making it worth the extra money. Any final thoughts before I commit to it?
 
unky_gumbi said:
So its come down to the Olight M20 and the surefire E2D LED Defender, the M20 is only $20 cheaper up here at $129 as compared to the surefire at $149. with only a $20 difference it comes down to whickh one of the 2 is a better tactical light I am leaning towards the surefire mainly because I have bought from this online dealer before and was very satisfied with the service and I think that the surefire may have a bit of an edge in performence making it worth the extra money. Any final thoughts before I commit to it?
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Surefire produces the best production lights out there. It gets my vote. :thumbup:
 
There are a ton of different lights out there that would just confuse the issue more and more......Surefire is an awesome light and it will suit your needs just fine. I suggest you stop here and buy the Surefire.
 
Ok you guys pushed me over the edge :D budget is set, some money from the next paycheck is going to buy the surefire.

Thanks a lot
 
The LX2 and E2D are both excellent recommendations ...

Perhaps consider a SureFire C2 LED ... the reason I say this is A: it's more in keeping with your budget [than say a LX2] and B: you can toss a Malkoff M60 in there down the road. That is, as LED technology progresses, you can just swap-out your P60 sized module and toss-in a newer P60 sized module. The LX2 and E2D can't be upgraded without surgery. Alternatively, you could just buy a standard incandescent C2 [cheaper] and toss in the Malkoff right away. The SureFire P60 LED module [that comes in the C2 LED] is nothing special but at 80 lumens it's not terrible either. The C2 is a small, robust light ... IMHO it's one of the best and easily the most versatile lights that SureFire makes. Malkoff drop-ins are highly-respected and very well made [waaaay better than SureFire's own P60 LED module], they come in a variety of configs, but the standard M60 pumps-out 225 lumens! Installing the drop-in is so easy, my mother could do it.

Another rock-solid light with a customizable user-interface is the Ra Clicky. It's a one-cell light that's extremely tough and very small.

All the above lights [in my post] are very highly respected and you can't go wrong with any of them.
 
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