Looking to improve lighting.

[goodfornothing]

As this is my first post, I am an avid hunter and was looking to improve my lighting. The old mini-mag light isn't bright enough for me anymore.

I don't know squat about lighting, leds, and what not so I turn to y'all to enlighten me.

I was looking at the E2L Outdoorsman LED flashlight from SureFire. I probably need one with a high runtime. Rechargeable and Vehicle charger is a plus...

What do ya'll think? My budget is $150 to $200..

 

[ziptrickhead]

Unless you really need the Surefire ruggedness, I would suggest you look into the Quark series of lights from . They have multiple modes which can vary your runtime. If you go with one of the 123a battery lights, then you can buy rechargeable batteries for it as well as a charger and a power cable with car adapter for that charger. You can check out the Quark lights and battery options at 4sevens' site (www.4sevens.com). Overall with light, batteries, and charger, the total should be under your budget of $150.

I'm not sure about the newer LED Surefires, but I remember that the old models had problems running on 3.6V rechargeable batteries.

 

[BarryG]

I have different quarks and Surefires but the light I have with me most of the time is the Jetbeam Jet-1 Pro. you can check it out at bugoutgearusa.com

don't forget to use the discount code "cpfjet" for 20% off

What batteries choices do you prefer?
What length?

I also have read good things about the Fenix brand. I can't comment, I don't have one........yet:naughty:

 

[fishx65]

I've pretty much settled on a bored 6P or Solarforce L2 with an R2 Cree for my deer hunting and fishing adventures. I bowhunt about 75 evenings per season so 18650 rechargeables are a must for me. It's easy to carry a few spare 18650's for a late night tracking job. I have several drop-ins but I like the single modes best. My EOS headlamp handles my low-light needs.

 

[carrot]

The Surefire E2L is a great choice. I own three of them myself, and many other Surefires. I am also very fond of the L1 which I think of as a slightly smaller E2L.

 

[Incan]

im an avid hunter too. e2l outdoorsman is the best of the best if youre talking about build quality. you can get an e2l AA now it runs on AA batteries. the quark aa2 is my go-to light though it has the moonlight mode if youre a deer hunter you can see the value in that.

 

[entoptics]

SureFire is pretty much unquestionably the toughest light out there, but they have some performance drawbacks, and more importantly they are priced in a realm where a person could get 2 flashlights with better performance and the battery system to power them for the same price as one SureFire.

SureFire sells lots of lights for one reason...Everyone likes to believe they need a bomb proof light because they are tough manly men. Same reason there's so many shiny and clean 1 ton diesel trucks with no trailers behind them, and lifted 4x4s on the interstate. Not saying there aren't people who really need big trucks or bomb proof flashlights, I'm just saying that 95% of those that are sold aren't ever used in their intended niche.

If you can honestly say "I need a bullet proof light that will never fail me" then perhaps SureFire is the way to go. If not, Quark, Fenix, O-light, EagleTac, and Jet Beam make lights with superb performance in an extremely rugged package, that will cost you 1/3 of the E2L.

Obviously, this is my personal philosophy, but I've always thought it's better to spend your money on 2 lights than just one.

A SureFire may survive a thermonuclear attack, but it's not gonna provide any more light than a Fenix at the bottom of a creek, or in a thief's pocket.

Philosophy aside, some more info on your specific needs would be helpful.

If the E2L is your "baseline", and you want to stick with off the shelf battery options, I'd suggest checking out the Quark AA2 or 123-2, the Fenix LD20, the EagleTac P20A2 and P20C2, and the Jet Beam lineup.

 

[Zivman]

SureFire is pretty much unquestionably the toughest light out there, but they have some performance drawbacks, and more importantly they are priced in a realm where a person could get 2 flashlights with better performance and the battery system to power them for the same price as one SureFire.

SureFire sells lots of lights for one reason...Everyone likes to believe they need a bomb proof light because they are tough manly men. Same reason there's so many shiny and clean 1 ton diesel trucks with no trailers behind them, and lifted 4x4s on the interstate. Not saying there aren't people who really need big trucks or bomb proof flashlights, I'm just saying that 95% of those that are sold aren't ever used in their intended niche.

If you can honestly say "I need a bullet proof light that will never fail me" then perhaps SureFire is the way to go. If not, Quark, Fenix, O-light, EagleTac, and Jet Beam make lights with superb performance in an extremely rugged package, that will cost you 1/3 of the E2L.

Obviously, this is my personal philosophy, but I've always thought it's better to spend your money on 2 lights than just one.

A SureFire may survive a thermonuclear attack, but it's not gonna provide any more light than a Fenix at the bottom of a creek, or in a thief's pocket.

Philosophy aside, some more info on your specific needs would be helpful.

If the E2L is your "baseline", and you want to stick with off the shelf battery options, I'd suggest checking out the Quark AA2 or 123-2, the Fenix LD20, the EagleTac P20A2 and P20C2, and the Jet Beam lineup.

I have recently been addicted to flashlights and been buying a lot of them over the past few months. Surefire lights are 'the' best lights I have personally come across.

I own quark, eagletac, olight, jetbeam, lumapower, nitecore, and some other off brands. the most direct comparison I have is a LX2 surefire or my new Stratum Surefire to an eagletac T20C2 MKII and I would take the surefire's 160-200 lumens over the eagletac's 380 lumens any day of the week. I do prefer using a single 18650 in the eagletac, but the more I use primaries, the more I don't seem to mind them. They are cheap and I just buy a dozen when I buy a new light. Never worry about charging them.

The quality and feel of the surefire is in another league compared to the other lights I own. They are much more purposeful and legit. The other lights seem toy-like in comparison. I say this without the intent of badmouthing any light I own. I am happy with all the lights I own, from all the manufacturers.

Going forward, it will take something special to have me buy a non-surefire light.

 

[chanjyj]

SureFire is pretty much unquestionably the toughest light out there, but they have some performance drawbacks, and more importantly they are priced in a realm where a person could get 2 flashlights with better performance and the battery system to power them for the same price as one SureFire.

SureFire sells lots of lights for one reason...Everyone likes to believe they need a bomb proof light because they are tough manly men. Same reason there's so many shiny and clean 1 ton diesel trucks with no trailers behind them, and lifted 4x4s on the interstate. Not saying there aren't people who really need big trucks or bomb proof flashlights, I'm just saying that 95% of those that are sold aren't ever used in their intended niche.

If you can honestly say "I need a bullet proof light that will never fail me" then perhaps SureFire is the way to go. If not, Quark, Fenix, O-light, EagleTac, and Jet Beam make lights with superb performance in an extremely rugged package, that will cost you 1/3 of the E2L.

Obviously, this is my personal philosophy, but I've always thought it's better to spend your money on 2 lights than just one.

A SureFire may survive a thermonuclear attack, but it's not gonna provide any more light than a Fenix at the bottom of a creek, or in a thief's pocket.

Philosophy aside, some more info on your specific needs would be helpful.

If the E2L is your "baseline", and you want to stick with off the shelf battery options, I'd suggest checking out the Quark AA2 or 123-2, the Fenix LD20, the EagleTac P20A2 and P20C2, and the Jet Beam lineup.

I to disagree on one point - my Fenixes, in the TA and TK series are just as bombproof to me as a surefire. The LD and PD series are not bombproof, so in that aspect, I'll agree with you.

 

[carrot]

Let's not turn this into a Surefire vs. everything else thread.

I like Surefire, so I buy Surefire. Lots of them. But I also buy 4sevens, Peak and a whole array of others. I have probably lost, given away or destroyed more Fenixes than most members here own, too. I'll pretty much always buy Surefire or custom when given the chance because I find them more satisfying to own. But there are a LOT of great lights out there from not-Surefire and they are certainly worth the money as well.

 

[entoptics]

Let's not turn this into a Surefire vs. everything else thread.

I like Surefire, so I buy Surefire. Lots of them. But I also buy 4sevens, Peak and a whole array of others. I have probably lost, given away or destroyed more Fenixes than most members here own, too. I'll pretty much always buy Surefire or custom when given the chance because I find them more satisfying to own. But there are a LOT of great lights out there from not-Surefire and they are certainly worth the money as well.

+1

Doesn't sound like the OP already has lots of good lights though.