I need a new Flashlight....

Dear Fellow Uber-dorks,

I've been making due with a 3 'C' battery Maglight and some small LED lights but I want a good one...

Must / should be:

• LED
• Less than $200
• Multi-brightness settings (brighter the better)
• No larger than Maglite 3 C battery models

Who has a kick ass flash light???...

Surefire.

E2L.

3 cell mag. not a good light ??? :eek1
I musta' been under a (dark) rock.

+1 Surefire

My Fav.....Z2 Combat Light...around 129.00

LOVE my two Surefires. One is a G2Z Combat Light, and the other is a G2LED [in bright yellow, so I can find it].

Tough as nails, and they work. No doubt Surefire will have something that meets your requirements.

WA.

Surefire - I have the E2E and love it.

This is not a fancy top of the line light.... and it's not LED which means I go through batteries more frequently than I like...

It's is decent.. but not that bright by newer standards

Here's why I ask: I was one of the first people to come upon a two car accident on a dark stretch of interstate near my house recently... once I got out and made sure people were being attended to by other passers by, I got to work clearing a lane of debris and got traffic moving past because I didn't know now long it would take EMS to arrive...and while I was flagging cars past I realized that my Maglite was not up to the task...

Go to the Fenix website:

https://www.fenix-store.com/


I like my Surefires, but I sure like a powerful flashlight that uses AA batteries.

I would suggest the Surefire A2 Aviator. I personally have a Surefire E2L Outdoorsman, which I got when I upgraded from a Surefire E2O Outdoorsman (pre LED)... My next Surefire will most likely be an A2 Aviator, which runs about $180 or $190 if I recall correctly. They are GREAT little lights! ("little" being in comparison to the 'D' cell Maglites ) If memory serves me well, the E2L Outdoorsman is as strong(bright) as a 2 'D' cell if not 3 'D' cell Maglite in a package the size of a 'AA' Maglite. But the light it puts out is a LOT easier to see. For one it doesn't have the wholes and darker spots in the focal point like the Maglite does.

Are any LED flashlights bright enough to be used for tunnel exploring? I found some old railroad tunnels near our place at lake cumberland that we went exploring and the couple of little flashlights we had were just crap. I don't want to carry around a 10 million candle power car battery sized thing, but I would also like to be able to see more than ten feet in front of me.

+1 http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

compared to pretty much anything modern it is a dud.

Maglite. Heavy, cumbersome, has holes in the light pattern, battery hog even with a LED thingy, and not all too bright even with battery hog high brightness lamp.

Coleman makes a $25.00 single LED flashlight that puts out 115 lumens and the batteries are lasting me a month or so if I use it a lot.

D cell LED maglights put out decent light and unlike the surfires they last a long time on one set of batteries. I have left my 4D Maglight on for 8 hours and it was still bright.

X3 got one great small, but then there is always a Fleshlight . look it up

my 25 dollar coleman 1 led 2 AA flashlight does at least 20 hours or more on one set of 2 AAs and is way way brighter than even my 4D Maglite.

+1 again for Fenix.

As nice as Surefire, without the huge name to raise the cost.

They have many high quality flashlights in many configurations.

I prefer the AA sizes, because it costs the least in batteries to run them per hour/brightness, and the size is manageable. You want a 2 or optimally 3 cell LED flashlight for max brightness UNLESS small length is your ultimate goal, due to electronic limitations (the LED's use about 4 volts, 1- and 2- cell lights use a power upconverter, consequently there is less power available to run the LED when you have fewer cells). Best scenario: single AA for pocket, 3 AA for actual flashlight duty.

OR, if you want to go crazy, get a 2-cell lithium (123 battery size, like camera type) powered light, and a set of rechargeable 123 lithiums. Hella bright, small package. ONLY downside is cost of batteries. Size is between AA and C, closer to AA.

The QUALITY single - cell AA's of today compete easily with the 4D maglites of 10 years ago, amazingly enough.

subsbd

surefires are good, but mine has a tendancy to turn itself on and burn out the 12$ worth of batteries.

I've abused Pelican lights for years in diving scenarios and this new LED one is pretty damned good and has long battery life.

http://www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=2410


and I buy handfulls of these little LEDS from countycomm. when all you need is a little bit of light for immediate area lighting and seeing what you are grabbing. $1.20 each and the batteries can be had for cheap on ebay
http://www.countycomm.com/orngled.htm. get the clip version for on your cap http://www.countycomm.com/ARES SOLED.htm

my little black diamond Ion light on a bungee neck strap is great / handsfree too.

I got put off on the Lithium 123- flashlights by the stories of uncontrolled venting and overheating on Candlepower Forum. AA-powered flashlights were just so much more convenient for use at work,where the batteries were free (and 123s were not stocked).
Maglites: I still keep a 6-cell one next to the bed as an emergency light,and I converted it to LED. At work, I could never understand the Tradesmen who continued to lug those heavy old Maglites around on the job-my little 2-AA Fenix L2T was many times brighter.

Fenix TK 40. Same rough size as a Mag 3D, but hella bright.

http://http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=696

Fenix PD30. Smaller, but still brighter than a MAG.

http://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=1886