Help me find a cheap flashlight that is robust... EBay??

Hi All,

I'm back with another need for advice.

Our family has decided to start prepping for an EMP attack via either the Sun or North Korea.. Probably wasting my time and money but its like an insurance policy.

I use Led flashlights around the house all the time.. I converted a couple of my maglights with the TerraLux adapters and have been happy so far.. We also use these $1.99 Harbor Freight flashlights that have like 9 small leds and run on 3aaa batteries.. They're really handy when the power goes out and have a real long run time using my Eneloop's.

The flashlights I purchase will be placed in my Faraday cage for safe keeping.. While the maglights (140 lumens?) are nice for reaching out longer distances, and the HF lights are nice for using indoors, I'm looking for something that does both and is of a decent quality and able to survive several years of use.

I see flashlights claiming 300 to 5000 lms on ebay all over the place.. but not sure if they're junk or not. I don't want to spend $20 on a flashlight as I need to get four or five of them. I'd like to find something that's a good balance for under $10....

Suggestions?

Here is a thread of some ebay lights I've bought.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?421039-A-few-Ebay-budget-lights-I-bought-lately

This is probably a different sort of suggestion than you're thinking of, but what about a couple Fenix E01's? They're not bright, but enough to walk around safely, they are very robust, and very efficient, which helps you get as much as you can out of your battery supply. They usually sell for $11-12.

Or you can diversify and have an E01 or two and a couple brighter lights. If you go with the cheap 3xAAA style lights you seem to be thinking of, when they get dim, the E01 will run for hours in moon mode on their "dead" batteries.

Check out our CPF dealers and manufactures for lights you might like.

Bill

I will second the e01. Very good, small light for around $12

The E01 is too small.. I need at least 100 lumen.. I ordered a $2.75 unit off ebay.. probably a piece of junk but its only $2.75 so it won't be life ending.

https://youtu.be/Q1UmcY920gg

a vote for the Ti3. If it can sometimes survive being shot out of a shotgun, more than likely it will last awhile. 100+ lumens for 30 minutes I believe. Use it on lower modes for much longer.

Murphy625 said:

The E01 is too small.. I need at least 100 lumen.. I ordered a $2.75 unit off ebay.. probably a piece of junk but its only $2.75 so it won't be life ending.

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I hear ya, but you'd be surprised how much lighting the E01 will provide, couple with great runtime and unmatched regulation.

sbslider said:

https://youtu.be/Q1UmcY920gg

a vote for the Ti3. If it can sometimes survive being shot out of a shotgun, more than likely it will last awhile. 100+ lumens for 30 minutes I believe. Use it on lower modes for much longer.

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I'm really liking this light. I will use the Firefly mode most, then Medium. High is unregulated, with very little runtime, but it's good to know it's there, if needed.

Murphy625 said:

The E01 is too small.. I need at least 100 lumen.. I ordered a $2.75 unit off ebay.. probably a piece of junk but its only $2.75 so it won't be life ending.

Click to expand...

I understand. I still think it's a good light to have around. If you want to be prepared for any emergency, a light that keeps running on batteries all your other lights think are dead seems like a really compelling feature, there's a LED abuse thread where E01's have gone through everything from being towed behind a bicycle to tumbled in a dryer to thrown off a multi-story parking garage onto asphalt and survived.

Also, different lights for different purposes. You said you want multiple, but does it really add further benefit to 4 or 5 of the same light? A mix of bright lights and super-efficient lights is what appeals to me.

The Rayovac Essentials 1AA puts out 19 lumens on paper. But it is tailored to cast those 19 lumens a good 30-50'. $4.99 at my local CVS.

I recently tested one and got 19 hours of useable light from the supplied e-cell. Turned it off and spent the next evening see-ing if the battery would ever quit. Turn it off, let it rest a few minutes and it was back to full brightness for about an hour. Repeat and got about 30 minutes of full brightness... after several repeated resting, back to full output with dimming developing faster as each cycle was repeated I finally took the battery out 5 hours later and stuck it in my battery museum.

I doubt it would withstand being rifle mounted or dropped to concrete from a second story window, but it did withstand being "slinky'd" down 4 brick steps a few times.

iamlucky13 said:

I understand. I still think it's a good light to have around. If you want to be prepared for any emergency, a light that keeps running on batteries all your other lights think are dead seems like a really compelling feature, there's a LED abuse thread where E01's have gone through everything from being towed behind a bicycle to tumbled in a dryer to thrown off a multi-story parking garage onto asphalt and survived.

Also, different lights for different purposes. You said you want multiple, but does it really add further benefit to 4 or 5 of the same light? A mix of bright lights and super-efficient lights is what appeals to me.

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That's actually a pretty good idea.. perhaps I'll look into getting one of those now.

convoy s2+
inexpensive and good quality.much of the ebay stuff in this price range is cheap and junky.
i have heard of flash sales on banggood and fastech for $3.99
but they can most often be found around $10
if you dont mind 18650 it can be everything you want in one light.

Another point of view: why do you need multiple cheap lights in the corners if you may EDC a good quality one and have it on you everywhere? Something like: Lumintop IYP365 Nichia -- shirt pocket, Eagtac D25C Ti Nichia -- coat pocket, Elzetta B343 -- coat pocket, Lumintop TD16 XPL -- EDC bag

I like a couple. If you want only 1 mode the Hugsby Xp 1 is a good one for about $5 on eBay. If you want 3 modes the
Tank 007 e09 is one of my favorites.They are available on FT for $13.26 if you buy 1.
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1601/10002363/1173305
There are somesingle modes there also for slightly over$10.
Considering you are talking about emergency maybe AA lights would be better. I like the Tank 566 for $16.69. https://www.fasttech.com/products/1601/10002363/1359503

Jerry