Please recommend a great flashlight.

[nyeyn]

We'd like to buy a flashlight that's rechargeable, is very bright and
lasts a long time before fading, and is easy to carry. We'd like one for
use around the home and garden/forest and another to keep in the car
(that can be recharged in the car).

Obviously there's a lot of factors involved: brightness/length of time
before light fades and needs rechaging/quality of build-durability/cost.

We bought one for about $20 that is very bright but after a few uses, the
light starts to fade after 4 minutes. Hopefully we can do a lot better
than that.

To a certain extent you get what you pay for, and the very best
flashlights will be very expensive but sometimes a lot of money will buy
you crap compared to something less expensive.

I'd like to hear what you would recommend for either under $30 or $30-
$100.

I couldn't locate any website where different flashlights are evaluated
and compared. Do you know of one?

Dealtextreme.com sells a lot of Chinese made flashights including many
Cree flashlights but they offer hardly any descriptions that might help
me.

Thanks for any advice,

Tony

 

[Don Klipstein]

We'd like to buy a flashlight that's rechargeable, is very bright and
lasts a long time before fading, and is easy to carry. We'd like one for
use around the home and garden/forest and another to keep in the car
(that can be recharged in the car).

Obviously there's a lot of factors involved: brightness/length of time
before light fades and needs rechaging/quality of build-durability/cost.

We bought one for about $20 that is very bright but after a few uses, the
light starts to fade after 4 minutes. Hopefully we can do a lot better
than that.

To a certain extent you get what you pay for, and the very best
flashlights will be very expensive but sometimes a lot of money will buy
you crap compared to something less expensive.

I'd like to hear what you would recommend for either under $30 or $30-
$100.

I couldn't locate any website where different flashlights are evaluated
and compared. Do you know of one?

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledleft.htm

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/menutop.htm#26 (links to other flashlight
review sites)

http://www.candlepowerforums.com

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

 

[[email protected]]

We'd like to buy a flashlight that's rechargeable, is very bright and
lasts a long time before fading, and is easy to carry. We'd like one
for use around the home and garden/forest and another to keep in the
car (that can be recharged in the car). [...]

I'd like to hear what you would recommend for either under $30

A standard Mag-Lite LED (about $30) in whatever size you prefer, and buy
two sets of rechargeable batteries for it on your own. Advantage: In an
emergency, or if you've just forgotten to charge it, you can drop in a
set of alkaline batteries. The alkalines will "keep" much better than
the rechargeables; you can throw a set of alkalines up on the shelf and
get them down next year and they'll still be OK. Disadvantage: you'll
have to physically swap the sets of batteries to recharge it; you can't
recharge the batteries while they are still inside the flashlight.
Lubricate the O-ring (and the threads) on the base cap with a little
petroleum jelly or silicone oil to make this easier.

or $30-$100.

Rechargeable Mag-Lite (about $80-$90), which for some reason is not yet
offered in LED. Buy two that are the same size - one that includes a
car charger (12 V DC) and one that includes a home charger (120 V AC).
That way you can swap the flashlights around between chargers as
required. You can get a kit that has both the 12 V DC and 120 V AC
power cords, but it only has one charging cradle - there are two
mounting brackets in the kit, so you _can_ move the charging cradle
around, but it's a moderate PITA. If you have two charging cradles,
you can just snap the flashlights in and out of them as needed.

Alternative: A Coleman lantern. Okay, not exactly a flashlight, but is
much brighter and can be "recharged" in a couple of minutes. You can't
use it indoors, and you really need one of the clam-shell cases to
conveniently transport it in the car. They can be "recharged" in the
car if you are handy with an Okie credit card.

I couldn't locate any website where different flashlights are
evaluated and compared. Do you know of one?

Don Klipstein gave some good ones. Especially candlepowerforums; those
folks are nuts about flashlights.

Matt Roberds

 

[David Hopper]

We'd like to buy a flashlight that's rechargeable, is very bright and
lasts a long time before fading, and is easy to carry. We'd like one for
use around the home and garden/forest and another to keep in the car
(that can be recharged in the car).

At work I use a Streamlight SL-20XP/LED which does a great job for me.
I use the LEDs most of the time and use the halogen side for extra
brightness. The 40 hr battery life using the LED side means I don't
have to worry if I forget to turn it off during the day. The drop in
charger in the truck makes it ready to go at any time.

http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=89

 

[Victor Roberts]

We'd like to buy a flashlight that's rechargeable, is very bright and
lasts a long time before fading, and is easy to carry. We'd like one for
use around the home and garden/forest and another to keep in the car
(that can be recharged in the car).

Obviously there's a lot of factors involved: brightness/length of time
before light fades and needs rechaging/quality of build-durability/cost.

We bought one for about $20 that is very bright but after a few uses, the
light starts to fade after 4 minutes. Hopefully we can do a lot better
than that.

To a certain extent you get what you pay for, and the very best
flashlights will be very expensive but sometimes a lot of money will buy
you crap compared to something less expensive.

I'd like to hear what you would recommend for either under $30 or $30-
$100.

I couldn't locate any website where different flashlights are evaluated
and compared. Do you know of one?

Dealtextreme.com sells a lot of Chinese made flashights including many
Cree flashlights but they offer hardly any descriptions that might help
me.

Thanks for any advice,

Tony

What is "very bright". I have Celestron Power Tank that I
bought to power my telescope, but also occasionally use as a
very powerful flashlight during emergencies. The Power Tank
uses a 7 amp-hour lead acid battery as its power source and
has a main lamp rated at 80,000 candlepower!

See:

http://www.telescopes.com/telescope...onpowertank12vpowersupply7amphour.cfm#details


--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
To reply via e-mail:
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site without written permission.

 

[Tom Biasi]

You might search out one of these:

Oh do I wish I could have one of those!
Tom

 

[GregS]

At work I use a Streamlight SL-20XP/LED which does a great job for me.
I use the LEDs most of the time and use the halogen side for extra
brightness. The 40 hr battery life using the LED side means I don't
have to worry if I forget to turn it off during the day. The drop in
charger in the truck makes it ready to go at any time.

http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=89

I don't know if there are any good lights that have built in smart charging.
The sure thing is to have separate cells and suitable chargers. Most
all the chargers that stay plugged in will destroy the cells lifetime
over a short time, a year or two. My favorite medium intensity
LED light is the Dorcey 1 watt LED. Its small, fits in pocket, is reliable,
less blue light, and cheap, $20 at Walmart. It lasts about 3 hours continious,
but with my use its just seems not to die. Gradually fades out.
You can always buy a Surefire for the best overall performane products.

http://www.dorcy.com/products.aspx?c=35

 

[GregS]

I don't know if there are any good lights that have built in smart charging.
The sure thing is to have separate cells and suitable chargers. Most
all the chargers that stay plugged in will destroy the cells lifetime
over a short time, a year or two. My favorite medium intensity
LED light is the Dorcey 1 watt LED. Its small, fits in pocket, is reliable,
less blue light, and cheap, $20 at Walmart. It lasts about 3 hours continious,
but with my use its just seems not to die. Gradually fades out.
You can always buy a Surefire for the best overall performane products.

http://www.dorcy.com/products.aspx?c=35

Surefire do have SMARTCHARGERS. Most of the flashlights are over $100.

greg

 

[Bill]

Check out this flashlight..

 

[zxcvbob]

We'd like to buy a flashlight that's rechargeable, is very bright and
lasts a long time before fading, and is easy to carry. We'd like one for
use around the home and garden/forest and another to keep in the car
(that can be recharged in the car).

Obviously there's a lot of factors involved: brightness/length of time
before light fades and needs rechaging/quality of build-durability/cost.

We bought one for about $20 that is very bright but after a few uses, the
light starts to fade after 4 minutes. Hopefully we can do a lot better
than that.

To a certain extent you get what you pay for, and the very best
flashlights will be very expensive but sometimes a lot of money will buy
you crap compared to something less expensive.

I'd like to hear what you would recommend for either under $30 or $30-
$100.

I couldn't locate any website where different flashlights are evaluated
and compared. Do you know of one?

Dealtextreme.com sells a lot of Chinese made flashights including many
Cree flashlights but they offer hardly any descriptions that might help
me.

Thanks for any advice,

Tony

I bought a 3-AA cell Maglight with a "3W" LED (it can't possibly be 3
watts) two years ago and it has become my favorite flashlight. A set of
alkaline batteries seems to last forever, or for occasional heavy use I
put NiMH rechargeables in it.

I bought a little bit larger (so she won't lose it) LED flashlight for
my teenage daughter to carry in her car. I don't remember what brand it
is; Gordon or Dorcy, maybe. It has a 3W LED and uses 2 or 3 C cells.
It's brighter than my Maglight -- perhaps because it has a larger more
efficient reflector.

There should be no need to use rechargeable batteries in an LED light
with C or D cells.

Bob

 

[Don Klipstein]

On Mar 20, 2:08 pm, [email protected] (GregS) wrote:
[snip]

Surefire do have SMARTCHARGERS. Most of the flashlights are over $100.

My LED flashlights were under $30 each. They are rated at
150 hours of light per four AA batteries.

I could buy a lot of batteries for the price difference. Plus, the
charger isn't going to be much good to me while I'm actually
in the woods.

I would do a test run to see how bright it actually is after the amount
of time that you will be away from anyplace to use a charger or get fresh
batteries.

AA alkaline batteries probably will make that unit produce light for 150
hours. Question is, how much light at 149 hours? How much light at 75
hours? How much light at 40 hours?

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])