Spyderco Forums

I need everyones opinion on what flashlight to buy in the near future . I am sort of in the dark ages ( no pun intended ) concerning this subject . Should I go with Surefire 6P LED , Olight T20 , Inova , I am just not sure where to put my money down . I already have several Maglights , UKE 2L , and a Boker Plus , not really what I consider real high tech . What do you carry ? Thank you ,MG2 .

I carry an ARC-AAA. Small, durable, and bright.

+1 for the ARC-P AAA. One of the best Keychain lights around in my opinion.
You might look at the Fenix line as well. They have some great lights for sure.

Check out Fenix... the 1Xaaa lives on my keys with an Energizer Lithium in there. Can't beat it. And I have a 2X123 on the nightstand. I don't remember the model numbers anyway.

But, they are well built and bright.

I don't currently have any decent lights, but am looking at the Fenix line. Check out some videos on youtube on them. I'm looking at the P3D Premium right now, which isn't too expensive, but looks like a great light.

You really can't go wrong with an Arc-P. The Surefire 6P(L) is like the delica of the flashlight world, a really good quality versatile light.

I can recommend an SF E1L/or with a beam diffuser (so you can alter between a spot and flood beam) for a great simple allround EDC.

More affordable alternatives can be found in the Fenix line. The Fenix line is great if you want a lot of power in small packages. I recently added a Fenix P2D Q5 to my EDC rotation of Surefires. This light is smaller and smoother than the Surefires, making it a better light for me to carry when wearing a suit.

I dislike all the beam modes on the Fenixes though. I prefer Surefire for nicer beams, more hand-filling ergos and simple user interface (clicky or no clicky).
My main EDC is the SF L1 with Cree LED, just two levels of light in a very compac package.

Wouter

Hi there Manix Guy 2!

I'd consider myself a part time flashaholic. Unfortunately for this response I don't have huge amounts of disposable income, otherwise I'd have a lot more lights to opine about. :cool:

However, I have owned Pelican's, Streamlights, HDS, Novatac, LRI/Photon lights and now an Arc. Here's my thoughts:

For keyring sized, the Photon Freedom Micro is excellent. VERY small, very light, very bright, and the push button is large and easy to find. No hassles. Downside? Not very common batteries. Upside? Infinite brightness levels from very very dim to almost 10 lumens (if you get one of the newest ones on their site). The Rex is a nice alternative- completely rechargeable. But almost twice the size. http://www.photonlight.com

That said, for keyrings, I now prefer the Arc AAA premium. Just as bright as the freedom on max, but it uses standard aaa batteries. And its built like a tank. http://www.arcflashlight.com

For pocket-sized EDC, I'd have to recommend an HDS EDC- except there you're looking at trying to find it used. The Novatac EDC is the same form factor and concept, with a sligthly better menu, but in my opinion not built as well. But, thats really not saying much, both are built to withstand abuse. The HDS is just a bit better. There are some new HDS lights coming out, a Twisty and soon a clicky. They appear to be even more rugged. The nice thing with the HDS EDC and Twisty legacies are options. Take a look at novatac.com and hdslights.com for more. Arc also has a new CR123 sized light coming out, but you'll have to hunt Candlepowerforums.com for details and wait a while to buy.

For larger flashlights, you can't go wrong with Pelican or Streamlight LEDs. However, from what I've ready, SureFire is the way to go here. I've never owned Surefire, so I can only say my Pelican M6 LED and Streamlight TL-2 LED were both great lights. I gave them away as gifts when I got the more pocketable and less hungry Novatac.

Hope this helps!

Michael

What are you going to use the light for?

Do you have a size limit?

Do you have a price limit?

Do you prefer incandescent or LED?

Do you have a switch-type preference?

Do you have a battery type preference?

Do you need flood, throw, or a combination of both?

I'm a real Surefire fanatic (although one of these days, I'm going to pic up an Arc AAA).

I recently got a Surefire E1L Outdoorsman, and it has quickly become my favorite light. It's fairly small, light, and extremely durable. The beam is also amazingly bright and has an incredibly far reach for such a small light. The lens is actually focused so it has a long throw, and yet it's great for up-close. It takes one 123 Lithium battery, and after daily use since December, I can't notice that the brightness is diminished at all from battery use. It's one bright LED light!

And Surefire has a lifetime warranty, to boot.

I'm considering selling a few of my other lights in order to buy another E1L or two. They're that good!

+1 on the Surefire E1L. I never leave the house without mine in the pocket. :spyder:

Hello So Cal . General all around use . I need a fairly compact flashlight , price no biggie as long as quality is factored in , LED high output , battery nonissue , and need light to beam as far away as possible . I also have so Photon IIs and a Gerber Reactivator that I am not crazy about . more worried about bulb life than battery life . Thanks everyone MG2

I say Surefire or Fenix.
I edc a Surefire L1 and a Fenix AA light. One of the originial Fenix lights, 1 output level.


Jason

Fenix T1.

Definitely.

Here is a link to a mini review I did on mine:
http://spyderco.com/forums/showpost.php ... stcount=19

It has two modes, bright and blinding. 60 lumens and 225 lumens.
It is built like a tank.
It uses the new, very efficient, premium Q5 LED that will live longer than you.
Due to the Q5, the battery consumption is very good;
60 lumen mode = 10 hours.
225 lumen mode = 1.5 hours.

For a comparison, the SureFire 6P produces 65 lumens but only runs for 1 hour on the same batteries that the Fenix T1 uses.

MikeG1P315 wrote:For keyring sized, the Photon Freedom Micro is excellent. VERY small, very light, very bright, and the push button is large and easy to find. No hassles. Downside? Not very common batteries. Upside? Infinite brightness levels from very very dim to almost 10 lumens (if you get one of the newest ones on their site).

+1 to this! :D
I EDC a Photon Freedom Micro on my keychain, and it has come in handy more times than I can count; but it's still easy to forget about it until you need it. Very unobtrusive. :cool:

Mr Blonde wrote:The Surefire 6P(L) is like the delica of the flashlight world, a really good quality versatile light.

Great analogy! :D

I have a 6P LED, and you can hardly beat the quality-to-price ratio. It's a great flashlight, and was exactly what it took to get me into Surefires (I had previously considered all of their flashlights either too expensive, or too short-lived).

Surefire 6P or G2 with LED gives you a lot of light and good runtime in a relatively small and easy to handle package. I'm not sure which of the two may give better throw, which you mentioned as a factor, but you may be able to find such a comparison at CPF.

SeanH wrote:
For a comparison, the SureFire 6P produces 65 lumens but only runs for 1 hour on the same batteries that the Fenix T1 uses.

Not a fair comparison, you're comparing an incandescent to a LED light.
The 6P LED is listed at 80 lumens for 11 hours.

Gollum wrote:Not a fair comparison, you're comparing an incandescent to a LED light.
The 6P LED is listed at 80 lumens for 11 hours.

True. And if you never need a turbo mode that the Fenix T1 provides, then the Surefire 6PL is the better light.

Manix Guy 2 wrote:.... What do you carry ? Thank you ,MG2 .

Usually it's either my Surefire L4 or E2D as a primary light. Trust me on this, the pocket clip helps a lot! I don't even feel the light clipped to the top of my pants pocket.

A smaller keychain light usually comes with me as well. Currently a Fenix L0D Rebel 80. (But I recommend going with the current Cree model L0D, instead). The keychain light is great for smaller jobs. Helps to conserve batteries in my primary light.

At work, I use a Fenix P3D. But I don't carry it when out and about. The barrel of the light is too smooth.

Stop by candlepowerforums.com

I'm a Regular there. Perfect place for all of your flashlight related questions. The nice thing is that it's just as friendly as the Spyderco forums. If you let us know what you plan to use the light for, which type of tasks; we can help you better in making a choice.

Im a surefire fan , Fenix has a good line up but Im trying not to support the Chinese economy . I would say a Surefire LED lite of some flavor , + an Arc P . The Fenix is brighter than the arc , has bells an whistles , but isnt as rock solid . I have Two fave Surefires , the E1L , an the L1 , ( two stage ) . the most recent generations of these lites using Cree LEDs are spectacular .

Chris

You guys are too much with your help . Thanks to all . Surefire 6P LED may be what I am looking for but I think I will dive into the Forum suggested just to be sure this is the way to go . MG2