What does a $150-200 flashlight get you these days?

[orbital]

Pfft, that's barely more than half a cent per candela (.006¢ each)

+

Your math is off,

nevertheless, by your own definition, the UDR Dominator is the biggest toy one can buy.

 

[richbuff]

In before close. $200, Emisar D18 modded to 18 x W2, 15,000 lumens, 750 meters throw.

 

[orbital]

the question was

What does a $150-200 flashlight [One Light] get you these days?

Yes, for $150 ~$200 you can get alot.

Where you go after that is up to you.

 

[Guitar Guy]

$159 gets you 1300 meters of throw
Ladies and gentlemen, the Acebeam T28 ultra long range led flashlight !
So a 150 - 200 dollar flashlight gets 1300 meters throw

I was going to mention the Acebeam T28 also. I just got one and it's a pretty good value at that price, with battery included. Couldn't have come close to that 5 years ago. Single battery, lightweight, 1300 meter throw, great runtimes, nice selection of modes. Great throw on medium & high too, so you don't have to overheat the light by using turbo excessively.

 

[Chicken Drumstick]

Back in the early days when the Luxeon's (I probably spelled that wrong) ruled, it seemed like in order to get a really decent LED flashlight, you had to spend $200 and the like (Surefire, etc) and there were limited mainstream manufacturers. I myself bought a couple of McGizmo mods. Now there are a lot of mainstream flashlight manufacturers such as Nitecore, Olight, Fenix etc that offer a variety of lights, many in the $50-75 dollar range. It seems like their only real expensive offerings are the ones with multiple LEDs that produce thousands of lumens. But in exploring some flashlights suggested to me in another thread, it seems like there are still quite a few single LED flashlights that run upwards of $150-200 or more. So just curious, what does all that extra money get you these days?

A lighter wallet

 

[alohasurftoad]

this new thrower with TIR optics...

https://www.acebeam.com/long-range-hunting-flashlight-19

or this small yard blaster...

https://www.illumn.com/flashlights/...chlight-1-x-21700-usb-c-battery-included.html

 

[Jason_Tx]

+

Your math is off,

nevertheless, by your own definition, the UDR Dominator is the biggest toy one can buy.

0.o
Could be.
I used Cost Per Unit = Total Cost / Number of Units or:
1200 (dollars) divided by 200,000 (candela) to get the .006 but yeah, I could be misremembering something.
Either way, it's pretty cheap per candela which is why I figured you'd want to send me a couple of 'em.

 

[orbital]

0.o
Could be.
I used Cost Per Unit = Total Cost / Number of Units or:
1200 (dollars) divided by 200,000 (candela) to get the .006 but yeah, I could be misremembering something.
Either way, it's pretty cheap per candela which is why I figured you'd want to send me a couple of 'em.

+

The K30-GT has more candela and twice the lumens for $1000.00 less
..remember, the UDR will have performance upgrades down the road, an absolute certainly,, that's called business.

So, people have to decide the 'value' question themselves.



__________________________
__________________________

The U.I. on the K30-GT is as follows:

There are 4 main modes that have memory,, just a quick click & you got it.

Lowest mode is a 1 sec. press of power switch
Highest mode is a double click of power switch

That's it.

Last: The voltage light is only On when the light is On,, I don't find it distracting.


The L35 U.I. is identical ^^^^^^

 

[jon_slider]

those rotary lights look pretty cool though. i wonder if i'd like something like that more than the ZL UI.
can't seem to find what to 'upgrade' to.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the Jetbeam RRT-01
The stepless rotary has come to dominate my collection, I do recommend the experience
it has the ultra low lows of your zebra

my precious:

Functional Art, Pocket Jewelry, 219b 4500k 9080 sw45k mod:

Niteye Eye10 Tic, sister company to Jetbeam and Sunwayman
they all offer a stepless rotary, only Jetbeam is presently in production

the rotary UI has been a total gamechanger for me
just really simple and intuitive

otoh
Ive never had a zebra, Im not in my clicky phase
though no doubt, there is plenty of merit to the precise, repeatable settings and customizable steps of a programmable 3 mode clicky..

both is best

 

[bykfixer]

The RRT01 is a pretty nice little light. So small it easily disappears in a trouser pocket or purse, has a nice output and that rotary thing is amazing.
Much of my pocket sized light uses are in daylight so I opt to carry brighter clickies that start on high but for somebody looking for a very portable light to use as a general use tool it's definitely worth considering.

 

[diggy64]

Consider popcan lights the past 10 years:
I bought the Nitecore TM11 in 2012 for $167.50 and it produced an amazing (at the time) 2,000 floody lumens. In 2020, you can buy a Emisar D18 for $99 that produces over 10,0000 floody lumens.

Considering headlamps:
I bought a Kavelight in 2012 for $335 and it produced maybe 800 lumens. In 2010, you can buy a Zebralight for $89 that produces over 1500 lumens.

Drivers, LED's, and battery tech have pushed form and function to new levels. Quality is still paramount to most users (thank goodness) and I still have (and use) the older models listed above. It's been a real pleasure being a part of this hobby during these years. I'm glad it has become more accessible to more people as prices have fallen.

 

[ben_r_]

Ha! First thing this topic title made me think was: MULTIPLE flashlights! lol

 

[bykfixer]

Ben, it does for many of us here as well.

Welcome to CPF.

 

[mickb]

150-200 covers my whole small collection. Though I would like at least one malkoff at some point. What $150-200 would get me now if I could find them is a draw full of 13 lumen Fenix E01 and HL23 headlamps..

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

150-200 covers my whole small collection. Though I would like at least one malkoff at some point. What $150-200 would get me now if I could find them is a draw full of 13 lumen Fenix E01 and HL23 headlamps..

Yeah, unless someone already has a lot of lights, and knows exactly what "expensive" light they want, I wouldn't blow $200 on a single light. You can get a great variety of very nice budget lights for that. Convoy is excellent. Astrolux is good too. Get an inexpensive EDC, such as a Convoy S2+, and an inexpensive thrower, like a Convoy C8 or Astrolux C8, and you've still got $150 to spend, as well as two very nice lights.

After that, I'd get a headlamp. Maybe the Astrolux HL01, which is inexpensive, though a bit heavy so I wouldn't get it for long hikes. It's tough to find a cheap, small, and good headlamp, but there's plenty of options in the $75 - $100 range.

Finally, use the other $50 - $100 on a fun light, like an Emissar or something like that.

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

Generally speaking, the more you spend, the better quality you get in terms of materials, workmanship, and features. Case in point, I have yet to find a flashlight that is equal to my high CRI HDS Rotary for less than what I paid for it. Ever have a flashlight that after you drop it, you cringe and hope it's still operational? That's not the Rotary. As I like to say, when you drop an HDS flashlight, you pick it up and check the ground for damage. And beyond that, there's the extremely efficient circuit design, and the multiple modes and programmable features that allow you set up the flashlight exactly as you want.

I suppose in the end it depends on what you value since there are countless "good enough" flashlights available for less and that are easier on the wallet to replace if (or perhaps when) they break.

 

[mickb]

Yeah, unless someone already has a lot of lights, and knows exactly what "expensive" light they want, I wouldn't blow $200 on a single light. You can get a great variety of very nice budget lights for that. Convoy is excellent. Astrolux is good too. Get an inexpensive EDC, such as a Convoy S2+, and an inexpensive thrower, like a Convoy C8 or Astrolux C8, and you've still got $150 to spend, as well as two very nice lights.

Incidetally I got Randy at Pflexpro to mod a convoy C8 for me, was still only $60-70 from memory.