First flashlight buying help

Looking for a EDC all purpose light. I won't use it professionally and I'm not an outdoorsy person. It's mostly something to keep on me "just in case". I'm primarily interested in easy access to "max power", strobe, and some "lower power" mode. Having modes in the middle is a plus.

I've done a bunch of reading and am considering these:

• PD35 Tac - it's outdated but has a great feature set that meets my needs. However with UC35 and PD35 refreshes this year, I'd imagine a PD35 Tac refresh coming soon. A more efficient bulb/longer runtimes and a low battery indicator would be my expected improvements.
• UC35 / PD35 v2 - to me they're basically the same light but the UC has more convenient charging and sacrifices usage time for it.
• Streamlight Protac 2L-X - simple, no frills but has the core feature set I'm looking for.
• Olight M2T - similar to the PD35 Tac in terms of core features, but my main concerns here are 1) accidentally turning the light on by depressing the side switch and 2) the warranty/customer service

For the Streamlight and Olight, can you recommend a 18650 cell? I think Streamlight only offers 2600 mAh and Olight has way too many 3000+ ones to choose from. Would the Fenix 3500 mAh work in those?

I know these are all 5+ inch lights, but I will still probably carry these in a pocket with my keys. I'll likely take advantage of the clip. I've looked at Klarus, Surefire, Thrunite, Wowtac, and a few other brands, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Thanks.

If I had to pick only 1 flashlight, I would go for the Zebralight SC63w. It is small, super bright when needed, has a big side mounted button that doesn't get accidentally pressed, and has all the features you mentioned. I have had my SC63w for two and a half years and use it all the time and it has never failed me. It has been dropped many times and I use it every night on moonlight mode for a night light. It is also very efficient with the battery. I'll use it quite a bit, then check the battery level and I still get surprised with high battery level status. I have many lights, but I have used the SC63w the most.

You need to know how much you are willing to pay, and how long a runtime you need. For me I would choose between Malkoff and HDS, knowing either will last a very long time, with the Malkoff I could pick a one or two 18650 battery.

7tisix said:

If I had to pick only 1 flashlight, I would go for the Zebralight SC63w. It is small, super bright when needed, has a big side mounted button that doesn't get accidentally pressed, and has all the features you mentioned. I have had my SC63w for two and a half years and use it all the time and it has never failed me. It has been dropped many times and I use it every night on moonlight mode for a night light. It is also very efficient with the battery. I'll use it quite a bit, then check the battery level and I still get surprised with high battery level status. I have many lights, but I have used the SC63w the most.

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It looks likw the SC64W is now that replacement for the 63 but both use an unprotected battery which I'm not quite comfortable trying with my first light. Thanks for the recommendation though.

Rafael Jimenez said:

You need to know how much you are willing to pay, and how long a runtime you need. For me I would choose between Malkoff and HDS, knowing either will last a very long time, with the Malkoff I could pick a one or two 18650 battery.

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I'm looking for something less than $100. I checked out Malkoff and HDS. The Malkoff site doesn't seem too helpful in terms of details about their flashlights (size, output, runtime, etc). For HDS, $300 for a 300ish lumen flashlight seems a bit overpriced but again maybe there are qualities of HDS that a flashlight newbie like me isn't familiar with.

I'm also looking at the Pelican 7610. It seems to have all the same functions and performance as the Streamlight HL-X but with the benefit of a battery level indicator. Any thoughts on these flashlights?

Thanks for the suggestion

Charlie Hustle said:

My personal opinion is that a 5.5 inch light used for E.D.C. in the pocket is just too long.

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Same here. It's not just the length, but also the weight of a light + 18650 battery stuffed inside.

hulk2k18 said:

I know these are all 5+ inch lights, but I will still probably carry these in a pocket with my keys. I'll likely take advantage of the clip.

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If it's for "just in case", I'd have a look at 1x (or 2x) AA lights instead. They can still offer quite a bit of 'oomph' (lumens) if needed, and good runtime on lower modes. Battery replacement is easy given the ubiquitous AA size.

I use 18650 powered lights primarily for 2 reasons:
-When you know you'll want an amount of output that's just too hard on AA batteries (or heats up a small light's head or body too fast).
-Or when you know you'll need runtime/output combo that AA's just can't do capacity wise.

Outside of that, I'd choose between "AA powered, pocketable" or "18650 powered, carry in toolbag, dashboard compartment or similar". Not to mention safety aspect of 18650 Li-ions... If you have a quality light + battery, chances of anything going wrong are very low. But not zero, and an 18650 stuffed into metal tube can do a lot of damage. Not something I'd strap to back of my head for example... :tinfoil:

(..) but both use an unprotected battery which I'm not quite comfortable trying with my first light.

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Don sweat it! There's pro's and con's to using protected batteries. For starters: electronics in the protection circuit could also fail. That failure point doesn't exist for unprotected cells.
Secondly: protected cells will have a conductor strip running from top to bottom of the cell, with a thin layer of isolation (or wrapper) covering it. Damage that eg. by stuffing into a smallish tube, and you may get a short circuit between + pole and flashlight body (connected to - pole directly, or when light is switched on). Again a failure point that unprotected cells don't have.
Also protected cells have higher self-discharge due to the always-powered protection circuit. Not a big issue, but more relevant for lights that aren't used often. And they're longer, which some lights can't handle.

Personally I'd use protected cells for any application where they go in series. For parallel / single cell lights, use a good light (driver), quality cells, and then unprotected is fine.

hulk2k18 said:

Looking for a EDC all purpose light. I won't use it professionally and I'm not an outdoorsy person. It's mostly something to keep on me "just in case". I'm primarily interested in easy access to "max power", strobe, and some "lower power" mode. Having modes in the middle is a plus.

I've done a bunch of reading and am considering these:

• PD35 Tac - it's outdated but has a great feature set that meets my needs. However with UC35 and PD35 refreshes this year, I'd imagine a PD35 Tac refresh coming soon. A more efficient bulb/longer runtimes and a low battery indicator would be my expected improvements.
• UC35 / PD35 v2 - to me they're basically the same light but the UC has more convenient charging and sacrifices usage time for it.
• Streamlight Protac 2L-X - simple, no frills but has the core feature set I'm looking for.
• Olight M2T - similar to the PD35 Tac in terms of core features, but my main concerns here are 1) accidentally turning the light on by depressing the side switch and 2) the warranty/customer service

For the Streamlight and Olight, can you recommend a 18650 cell? I think Streamlight only offers 2600 mAh and Olight has way too many 3000+ ones to choose from. Would the Fenix 3500 mAh work in those?

I know these are all 5+ inch lights, but I will still probably carry these in a pocket with my keys. I'll likely take advantage of the clip. I've looked at Klarus, Surefire, Thrunite, Wowtac, and a few other brands, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Thanks.

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I think the Lumintop Tool 2.0 checks all your boxes IF you use a 14500 battery in it, the kind that has a slot built into it that you can insert your USB cord into.