Looking for a bad ass flashlight, less then $40

[swbsam]

I'm not a flashlight collector, a flashlight snob, or anyone who will use a flashlight more than once in while. I did have one of those rare occasions during the weekend and all 4 of the flashlights in my house were just inadequate, even with fresh bulbs.. So it's upgrade time!

I figure I could just grab one from Target but deal extreme has some nifty ones at fair prices:

http://www.dealextreme.com/sea...arch.cree%20flashlight


Any other suggestions?
Thanks!

p.s not deal extreme spam, I promise

 

[Barfo]

Text

Definitely NSFW. Unfortunately for your "neffing mode" mentioned below, I'm in "vacationing mode." Next time, please make sure you mention a link is NSFW, especially in a thread where someone wouldn't expect that. And, your link isn't appropriate for OT anyway (read the rules in personal forum issues) -DrPizza

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: barfo

beat me to it

 

[MiniDoom]

I use this one for my bike. I'm very happy with it. It's not regulated, but you can't really notice it dim. It is more like 5-600 lumens instead of the 900 they say. Runs for about an hour on high before dimming and 4-5 hours medium.

 

[vi edit]

Are you looking for retina burning brightness, but at cost of battery life, or "ok" brightness but longer burn times?

 

[0roo0roo]

candlepowerforum is your friend.

maglite=no no no!

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Are you looking for retina burning brightness, but at cost of battery life, or "ok" brightness but longer burn times?

Well, I've been exploring a lot of un-lit basements lately (looking for a new home, mostly foreclosures), so decent battery life between charges would be nice, but bright enough to fill a room would be nice.. so that I can scare away the rats, honestly!

 

[mugs]

I'm sure people will recommend the Surefire G2. It's a great flashlight, and it's right in your price range. I have one, and I love it. But I won't recommend it for you, because you're not a flashlight snob. Instead I will recommend the Brinkman Maxfire LX. It's a knock-off of the G2.

The main differences:
- The Brinkman only costs $16 at Target
- Replacing the bulb in the G2 requires replacement of a whole assembly that costs ~$15 IIRC. I haven't looked for replacement bulbs for my Maxfires, but you can buy the whole flashlight for the same price as the G2's bulb assembly
- The Brinkman is slightly lower quality
- The Brinkman has a clicky switch; the G2 has a twisty switch. Clicky switches might fail after excessive use.

They both have pretty much the same output, and they use the same batteries. Get the Brinkman and a supply of batteries (I get mine from batterystation.com)

I have a G2 (and a G3), but I have about 5 of the Brinkman Maxfire LXs. They're cheap enough to buy to keep around the house and in each car, etc.

Review of the Brinkman:
http://flashlightreviews.com/r...rinkmann_maxfirelx.htm

And the G2:
http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/surefire_g2.htm

 

[Barfo]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: barfo
Text

beat me to it

I'm in neffing mode.
edit: "was in neffing mode."

Originally posted by: mugs
I'm sure people will recommend the Surefire G2. It's a great flashlight, and it's right in your price range. I have one, and I love it. But I won't recommend it for you, because you're not a flashlight snob. Instead I will recommend the Brinkman Maxfire LX. It's a knock-off of the G2.

The main differences:
- The Brinkman only costs $16 at Target
- Replacing the bulb in the G2 requires replacement of a whole assembly that costs ~$15 IIRC. I haven't looked for replacement bulbs for my Maxfires, but you can buy the whole flashlight for the same price as the G2's bulb assembly
- The Brinkman is slightly lower quality
- The Brinkman has a clicky switch; the G2 has a twisty switch. Clicky switches might fail after excessive use.

They both have pretty much the same output, and they use the same batteries. Get the Brinkman and a supply of batteries (I get mine from batterystation.com)

I have a G2 (and a G3), but I have about 5 of the Brinkman Maxfire LXs. They're cheap enough to buy to keep around the house and in each car, etc.

flahslight geek, survivalist?

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: mugs
I'm sure people will recommend the Surefire G2. It's a great flashlight, and it's right in your price range. I have one, and I love it. But I won't recommend it for you, because you're not a flashlight snob. Instead I will recommend the Brinkman Maxfire LX. It's a knock-off of the G2.

The main differences:
- The Brinkman only costs $16 at Target
- Replacing the bulb in the G2 requires replacement of a whole assembly that costs ~$15 IIRC. I haven't looked for replacement bulbs for my Maxfires, but you can buy the whole flashlight for the same price as the G2's bulb assembly
- The Brinkman is slightly lower quality
- The Brinkman has a clicky switch; the G2 has a twisty switch. Clicky switches might fail after excessive use.

They both have pretty much the same output, and they use the same batteries. Get the Brinkman and a supply of batteries (I get mine from batterystation.com)

I have a G2 (and a G3), but I have about 5 of the Brinkman Maxfire LXs. They're cheap enough to buy to keep around the house and in each car, etc.

Sweet! I can seem to find it on Target's site - is it a store only product?

Thanks!

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: mugs
I'm sure people will recommend the Surefire G2. It's a great flashlight, and it's right in your price range. I have one, and I love it. But I won't recommend it for you, because you're not a flashlight snob. Instead I will recommend the Brinkman Maxfire LX. It's a knock-off of the G2.

The main differences:
- The Brinkman only costs $16 at Target
- Replacing the bulb in the G2 requires replacement of a whole assembly that costs ~$15 IIRC. I haven't looked for replacement bulbs for my Maxfires, but you can buy the whole flashlight for the same price as the G2's bulb assembly
- The Brinkman is slightly lower quality
- The Brinkman has a clicky switch; the G2 has a twisty switch. Clicky switches might fail after excessive use.

They both have pretty much the same output, and they use the same batteries. Get the Brinkman and a supply of batteries (I get mine from batterystation.com)

I have a G2 (and a G3), but I have about 5 of the Brinkman Maxfire LXs. They're cheap enough to buy to keep around the house and in each car, etc.

Sweet! I can seem to find it on Target's site - is it a store only product?

Thanks!

Maybe. I haven't bought one in a while, but I always bought them at the B&M store. I've seen the at Walmart too I think.

 

[vi edit]

Yeh, I've got a G2 as well. Incredibly bright and has an excellent "throw distance" for all the bigger it is. Plus it's virtually indestructable. But if you turn it on and leave it on I think you only get about 20 minutes of use out of it. So it's a compromise.

LED will have better battery life, but I haven't seen one yet that has the throw of a traditional bulb. They work okay as flood lights from a few feet away, but they just sort of fall apart after that.

[edit] I'm thinking 20 minutes is the burn time for the upgraded bulb. Regular bulb is around 50 minutes)

 

[RichardE]

You can make a homemade flashlight with a few can of pringles...

I'd post how but last time I did that the mods were upset with me

 

[Minjin]

If you can pony up an extra $10, I'd recommend a Fenix L2D-CE as the best all around flashlight out there.

-runs on 2-AA
-variable brightness modes that run on constant current...meaning dead flat regulation and no flicker
-easy to hold and use...not too small and not too big
-amazing runtime yet brighter than most lights

 

[SKC]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
candlepowerforum is your friend.

maglite=no no no!

why is maglite so bad? Not that I use flashlights all that often but I haven't seen problems with the ones I've used.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: barfo
flahslight geek, survivalist?

Juh?

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: RichardE
You can make a homemade flashlight with a few can of pringles...

I'd post how but last time I did that the mods were upset with me

It's okay...I won't be upset with you.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Yeh, I've got a G2 as well. Incredibly bright and has an excellent "throw distance" for all the bigger it is. Plus it's virtually indestructable. But if you turn it on and leave it on I think you only get about 20 minutes of use out of it. So it's a compromise.

LED will have better battery life, but I haven't seen one yet that has the throw of a traditional bulb. They work okay as flood lights from a few feet away, but they just sort of fall apart after that.

[edit] I'm thinking 20 minutes is the burn time for the upgraded bulb. Regular bulb is around 50 minutes)

Does that mean that you need to replace the batteries after 20 minutes, or the bulbs?

 

[CRXican]

check out

www.lapolicegear.com

I bought a surefire from them and it came with a ton of extra batteries for free. They also have a good number of other brands.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: SKC

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
candlepowerforum is your friend.

maglite=no no no!

why is maglite so bad? Not that I use flashlights all that often but I haven't seen problems with the ones I've used.

over priced.

for the longest time after 1+ watt leds were out they didn't bother upgrading their product line. then when they did, they didn't heatsink their units right so the brightness was not so hot. then they never updated their line after that once more as led tech continued to improve at a steady rate. so now its just rather pathetic stuff they are selling to people who don't know any better and coasting on their name. an old 3 watt led is not as bright as a new 3watt led. but i guess they figure most people don't know that

not to mention they still don't bother with tail switches on their aa models. the functionality and brightness of competitor models just beats maglite silly. even coleman sells cree based lights at the same price no less. maglite is a fat slow company that got used to putting out the same crap for years on end when bulb lights basically had no improvements. and they never changed.

anyways always checkout candlepowerforums... they have the flashlight knowledge.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: vi edit
Yeh, I've got a G2 as well. Incredibly bright and has an excellent "throw distance" for all the bigger it is. Plus it's virtually indestructable. But if you turn it on and leave it on I think you only get about 20 minutes of use out of it. So it's a compromise.

LED will have better battery life, but I haven't seen one yet that has the throw of a traditional bulb. They work okay as flood lights from a few feet away, but they just sort of fall apart after that.

[edit] I'm thinking 20 minutes is the burn time for the upgraded bulb. Regular bulb is around 50 minutes)

Does that mean that you need to replace the batteries after 20 minutes, or the bulbs?

Batteries. But that's with the high output "look how big my dick is" lamp assembly. With the standard output assembly it's closer to an hour.

 

[SKC]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: SKC

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
candlepowerforum is your friend.

maglite=no no no!

why is maglite so bad? Not that I use flashlights all that often but I haven't seen problems with the ones I've used.

over priced.

for the longest time after 1+ watt leds were out they didn't bother upgrading their product line. then when they did, they didn't heatsink their units right so the brightness was not so hot. then they never updated their line after that once more as led tech continued to improve at a steady rate. so now its just rather pathetic stuff they are selling to people who don't know any better and coasting on their name. an old 3 watt led is not as bright as a new 3watt led. but i guess they figure most people don't know that

not to mention they still don't bother with tail switches on their aa models. the functionality and brightness of competitor models just beats maglite silly. even coleman sells cree based lights at the same price no less. maglite is a fat slow company that got used to putting out the same crap for years on end when bulb lights basically had no improvements. and they never changed.

anyways always checkout candlepowerforums... they have the flashlight knowledge.

understood, thanks. Thought I'd reply to the thread here first since candlepowerforums is blocked.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: barfo
Text

beat me to it

Lol you said "beat".

 

[mugs]

A Mag-Lite is a great flashlight to have.

If you want to bludgeon someone.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: RichardE
You can make a homemade fleshlight with a few can of pringles...

I'd post how but last time I did that the mods were upset with me

Just keep it G-rated. I would be interested as well. The wife has been mad at me lately.