Definition of a Budget Light?

[KeepingItLight]

Hi Timothy,

Sounds you've got real good bargains. But as discussed in another post the xxxfire flashlights are always a risk to take. You either get a crazy price-performance ratio or a crazing lump of waste made from some workshop in China. Even the handsome brands disappoint sometimes. I read on a Chinese forum about a terribly assembled Fenix E12 which has a mis-centered LED in its head. I trust the Fenix brand with all I have but I wish budget lights can really mean value other than just cheap.

In the case of BLF 348, one thing we had going for us was the power of the group buy. This was a custom build. Prototypes were approved by the leader of the GB. Of course, that was no guarantee against the things you warn about. At the end of the day, the best guarantee an individual had was the 800 other people in the group buy. They would have launched a very big wave of complaint if problems had been widespread. Both the manufacturer and the vendor, therefore, were motivated to make the group buy work.

The same light, without the Nichia emitter, was the subject of a group buy in 2014. That meant there was a track record with this manufacturer, as well.

 

[bykfixer]

I think 'cheap' light and 'budget' light as 2 differing items.
- Cheap evokes visions of products made as inexpensive, poorly made items sold to tight-wads or poor people.
-Budget implies best bang for your buck scenario where you can actually obtain something made with care and sold to folks who want the best product their given amount can buy.
- Regardless of the $ amount of either.

Maybe the word value fits in between cheap and budget somewhere?....

 

[el soluna]

Guys thank you so much. You made me feel I'm not alone.

 

[ven]

Guys thank you so much. You made me feel I'm not alone.

Yep.............we are all mad too

 

[eh4]

To me "budget" means quality first, high value for it's price. My budget requires that I read a bunch and save a little bit before acquiring.
2AA Rayovac Indestructible is a good, cheap budget light to me, as is an L3 Illumination 4 mode AA with Nichia219, but then to me so is a ZL H600w, I just have to save 4-5 times as long to get it.
Once the ZL and the batteries and charger are bought it's the cheapest to run and most useful of the lights I have.
To put budget into perspective, I spent more on 10-20$ lights than my H600w before finally getting it, so it's twice the price of a 50$ "budget light" cutoff, but it's eliminated the need for me to keep spending and trying more lights.
Got it last year, this year I'm getting an Armytek Predator, so I guess my personal use light budget is around 10$ a month.
I'll keep buying both the AA powered L10 with 4 modes and Nichia, and the AA Rayovac Indestructible as gifts and as spare lights for emergencies. Especially for a car light, once that you don't mind giving away to a stranger in real need, it's hard to beat the 2AA Rayovac.

The epitome of a non budget light would be one that's needlessly expensive, or one that promises a lot for cheap, but then is shoddily made and unreliable, and ends up failing you, hopefully not when you're really counting on it.
Goes for all tools.
Isn't there some saying about how a poor man can buy quality, Once. -something like that, we're all constrained by our means or if our means aren't the limiting factor then the amount of good sense we possess will be.

 

[Fireclaw18]

To me, "budget" varies by type of light.

I don't consider $50 for a small 1xAA pocket light budget. However, I would consider that amount budget for a 4x18650 multi-emitter light.

To determine what is budget, I first determine a baseline from what the common premium brands offer. So I look at manufacturers like Olight, Eagletac, Fenix, Sunwayman, etc. That gives me the premium price point. Anything significantly below that in the same category of light I consider budget. Note that I do not consider "super-premimum" lights like Surefire or HDS in my analysis. I don't consider them relevant in determining a budget light.

I base my determination of "budget light" on the price of the light, not the build quality.

In terms of quality, budget ranges from cheapie poorly-built knockoffs that cost a few dollars to well-built lights with quality comparable to any premium light (like Convoy), and even customized hobbyist lights with tons of features (like the CPF Italia Cometa).

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

I think many people (non-CPF) view a Mag-Light still as a higher end flashlight. So for a non-flashaholic definition of budget I would think they mean a decent light of decent quality that will set them back less than a comparable Mag-Light would.

I also don't think people consider battery cost in the long run when they ask for the budget light. Unless you start talking about them there lights that take those funky CR123 camera batteries that cost a fortune at the corner drug store.

 

[dmattaponi]

I tend to like that under $30 range as being "budget", and I also agree that budget doesn't necessarily equate with "cheap" as in low quality. I just got two new Thrunite lights, one under $30, the other under $25, and both seem to be of good quality and easy on the wallet.

 

[harro]

I tend to like that under $30 range as being "budget", and I also agree that budget doesn't necessarily equate with "cheap" as in low quality. I just got two new Thrunite lights, one under $30, the other under $25, and both seem to be of good quality and easy on the wallet.

A quality name and a budget price.....what better?!

Seems to be that quite a few name brands are targeting the budget buck, good thing. It might lessen some of the dreadful, no name paperweights that seem to flood todays market...

 

[JohnnyBravo]

For me, budget means $10-25. Mid-range would be $25-99. And high-end is $100 or more, since it's triple digit dollar figures. Oh, and cheapies would be $9.99 or less...

 

[mikekoz]

A budget light is any light that is ignored by most people on this forum!! :nana: Seriously though, it could mean different things to different folks, but to me, any light that is below around $30.00 is a budget light. Your mileage may vary!!

 

[eh4]

"You're on a budget", vs "the light is on a budget".
For me, I'm on the budget.
If I found the perfect, future proof light with nearly perfect buck/boost, fine grained programmability, durable parts, easily upgraded, etc. Then it's budgetable at Nearly whatever $. -just a matter of how long it takes to save up to acquire.
By the same standard, a future proofed Light Saber would be "budget".
So long as the value is high enough, there's no hard price cap, that would be imprudent.

 

[dmattaponi]

A quality name and a budget price.....what better?!

Seems to be that quite a few name brands are targeting the budget buck, good thing. It might lessen some of the dreadful, no name paperweights that seem to flood todays market...

Agreed

 

[flashturtle]

The CPF budget light might be around $50, but it's probably closer to $5 for regular non-flashaholic people.

I've had normal people look at me like I was on crack for spending $50 on a flashlight. You guys here wouldn't blink at $150 ....it's all relative and you have to remember that we are enthusiasts....

i bought a bunch of $5 budget flashlights for one of my daughters birthday parties. It was a sleepover and one of the activities was decorating their lights.

Go to Walmart, walk to the flashlight aisle, and look to see what the median price is of their 5 cheapest flashlights. That's what 95% of non-CPF people will consider a budget light.

This pretty much hits the nail on the head.

A long time ago i thought mag-lites were the only good brands out there. I'm still entry level CPF user but $20 would be the ceiling for flashlights for me, mainly because i dont do much extreme stuff. My cellphone flashlight normally gets the job done for me and i'm a city dweller that never been camping or done tactic training.

 

[KowShak]

To me budget means it's cheap enough to buy a replacement when you break it or lose it. It could even mean cheap enough so you can buy a spare and give it away without thinking about it. We're not talking about shelf queens that you're afraid to get a scratch on because they cost you a month's beer money

 

[eh4]

To me budget means it's cheap enough to buy a replacement when you break it or lose it. It could even mean cheap enough so you can buy a spare and give it away without thinking about it. We're not talking about shelf queens that you're afraid to get a scratch on because they cost you a month's beer money

That's it right there.

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond]

+1 Good answer. Might even take it a step further to say a budget light is one you don't care if you lose or break.

 

[Father Azmodius]

Any light can fit into the budget with enough overtime and excuses.

 

[akhyar]

Based on my disposable income and the lights that I purchased from China like Convoy S2+, D80 Lucky Sun, I guess $20-30 sounds fair to me

 

[dmattaponi]

Thrunite Archer 1Av2 in neutral white $29.95 Such a bargain I just ordered a second to put away as a backup.