what is the best led flashlight to buy?
The research
- Why you should trust us
- How nosotros picked
- How we tested
- Our pick: ThruNite Archer 2A V3
- Flaws just non dealbreakers
- Runner-up: Manker E12
- Too great: ThruNite TC15 V3
- Also bang-up: Olight S2R Baton II
- Long-term test notes
- Why we can't recommend a cheaper flashlight
- The competition
Why you should trust united states of america
I'chiliad a daily flashlight user, every bit I accept nightly trips to the woodshed, chicken coop, and moo-cow barn as well as regular walks in the forest at dark. I too take a very hands-on approach with my habitation, and I seem to e'er be using ane of my one-half-dozen flashlights to look backside the water heater, to peer into the crawl space, or to get a amend wait at my boiler control. In add-on, I accept four kids, and I find myself constantly looking under the couch for lost toys.
For this guide, I spent about 40 hours combing through the online forums of flashlight enthusiasts (who call themselves "flashaholics"). Chief among these sites is CandlePowerForums, but I also read through threads at BudgetLightForum.com and The Flashlight Forum (which is now defunct). These forums are filled with people who are actually into flashlights, and it's not uncommon for them to own xx or 30 (or more) flashlights.
I spoke with Dave Wise, who used to run Layman's Lights, a website (which has since been sold to other owners) dedicated to flashlights. Wise has reviewed flashlights since 2007, and in that time, he told me, he has taken a easily-on look at nearly 200 different models. Unfortunately, Wise no longer updates his site.
I too spent a lot of time reading through the impressive work of Selfbuilt, an independent flashlight reviewer who puts together impressively comprehensive flashlight reviews (run into this review on CandlePowerForums for a taste). I used Selfbuilt's site equally a reference point for some of the more technical questions we pursued.
How nosotros picked
Afterward speaking to our flashlight good, Dave Wise, about the best features in general-employ flashlights, we decided to seek out models that use two AA batteries; have a squeamish, wide beam; and provide a skilful selection of effulgence levels, including the very depression "moonlight" setting (also called "firefly" in some models). Wise recommended that the flashlight take a strobe feature for emergency use but stressed that the mode needed to be split up from the regular effulgence levels. Our research turned upwards a few other good features to have: A flashlight should be waterproof and designed so that it doesn't hands roll. Likewise, in order to be reliable, a good flashlight should be able to hold a constant level of brightness (something that only the better ones can do).
LED flashlights that employ 2 AA batteries offer the best combination of effulgence, run time, and convenience. Wise told united states that, for the non-enthusiast, "AA are definitely the place to look these days." Selfbuilt, another prominent flashlight reviewer, discusses two-AA lights on a recommendations page, writing, "With the much greater efficiency of mod LEDs, you don't demand to rely on clunky 2xD or 2xC prison cell incandescent lights any more (which were never very reliable to start with)." For our main recommendations, nosotros avoided atypical bombardment sizes such as CR123A, which give many loftier-end flashlights their superior performance. Instead, we wanted something inexpensive and widely available. For the absolute all-time performance, experts recommend rechargeable AA batteries, although we too liked that the lights nosotros were considering could take any basic AAs in an emergency (or an extended power outage).
Through our research we learned that the two-AA setup offers a better residual of power and run time than a single-AA or any of the AAA configurations you lot frequently find amongst lights on the lower end of the quality scale. AAA lights tend to accept a lot more than majority, and as a result you can't rotate them in a hand equally easily. The 2-AA battery configuration still makes a flashlight a lilliputian large for a pants pocket—for that reason, a lot of enthusiasts value compact everyday-bear designs instead, merely in our search for a balance of power, run fourth dimension, and cost, we didn't brand an EDC size a priority.
In 2020, we took a deeper look at rechargeable flashlights. The size we researched relies on a unmarried 18650 battery, which is brighter and longer-lasting than AA and spares you the demand to purchase boosted batteries (or dispose of the dead ones you've used). The downsides of these models are that yous tin't recharge them during a power outage (unless y'all have an independent power source) and that when the battery is drained, you can't immediately get information technology support and running again, as you need to wait for it to charge. For these reasons, we still prefer lights that apply AA batteries, merely we wanted to take some rechargeable recommendations for those interested in this powerful and user-friendly category.
To be clear, AA batteries tin can be rechargeable, too. In fact, rechargeable AA batteries are much amend than alkaline AAs. Wise put it frankly: "Don't ever use alkaline metal AA or AAA cells in high-power devices like flashlights. It'due south almost a guarantee that they'll leak and destroy your investment." Instead, "a good prepare of Ni-MH rechargeable cells" is his recommendation. "Preferably pre-charged ones like Eneloops. If the light will sit down in a drawer forever between emergency uses, splurge on lithium cells. They're good for ten+ years and won't leak." (For our rechargeable-battery recommendation, see our guide to the best rechargeable AA batteries.) Even understanding all of the above, all the same, many people simply rely on the simplicity of alkali metal batteries and keep a small-scale supply on mitt.
Almost flashlights take either a reflector or a zoom lens. This component dictates the low-cal's beam design—basically, how the light looks as it projects from the flashlight—and we prefer reflectors over zoom lenses. Generally speaking, a reflector gives you a improve view of what you want to run into. It's a shiny metal cone positioned effectually the LED emitter, often with an orange-skin texture that evens out the spread of the beam. Reflectors produce both a heart hot spot of full-bodied light and a lesser wide-diameter light around it (called the spill beam). The zoom design, in contrast, consists of a lens situated in front of the LED that concentrates the low-cal the way a magnifying glass concentrates a sunbeam. These lenses usually slide forrad and back, giving you the option of a pocket-size, focused spotlight (the forward position) or a wider, diffused surface area light (the dorsum position). Dissimilar a reflector, a zoom pattern can't produce both the concentrated hot spot and the spill beam at the same fourth dimension.
In comparing the two designs, Wise favored reflectors, saying that most people would "grow to capeesh a flood light far more one with tight focus." He explained, "Everyone starts off wanting to low-cal up trees at the far end of a field [with a zoom lens], but eventually people merely want to employ the calorie-free to bank check the oil after nighttime, or gear up up the tent when they got to the campground too tardily, or just have the canis familiaris for a walk through the woods at dark. These are all tasks better served by seeing everything around you as equally as possible."
A zoom lens is almost never seen on high-end lights, which "says something about how useful it really is," Wise added. This is non an unusual opinion inside the flashlight world. In looking over the threads at CandlePowerForum, we noticed that many enthusiasts tended to refer to zoom-style flashlights with the somewhat disparaging name "zoomies." Reflector lights too typically have a college degree of h2o resistance, and some tin survive full submersion—whereas zoom lights, with more than moving parts, can't take it.
Nosotros also looked for lights with a broad variety of brightness levels. Wise told us, "The brighter lights get, the more I capeesh lower output modes." Lower-lite modes don't compromise your night vision equally much, and they tin as well greatly extend battery life. "A light that lasts for an hour or two running 500+ lumens may last for more than a day at v-ten lumens, and some have crazy low Moon modes that can concluding upwards of a month," Wise said. "Beingness a male parent of small-scale children, I find I use the super low modes literally every day, generally more any other feature. This is usually to get dressed for work every morning without waking people, or to bank check on sleeping children at night." As a result, in our selection procedure, we didn't put a premium on mega-high lumen counts.
A strobe setting is a peachy feature to have—useful during roadside emergencies, when you're running at night, or fifty-fifty for cocky-defence purposes—but information technology'south non something y'all should have to deal with during normal use. Wise said, "If you have to cycle through them all the time, and then they go actually abrasive." In nigh of the lights we tested (and almost all of the inexpensive models), the strobe is positioned as just some other effulgence setting, and then the light toggle goes: high, medium, low, strobe. This means that if you commencement at the loftier setting, become to any other setting, and then need to go back to high, within that cycle y'all demand to pass through the strobe setting. Information technology'due south blinding, it'southward annoying, and later information technology happens 2 or three times, you'll desire to throw the flashlight deep, deep into the forest. It'due south such a frustrating pattern that its absence or presence became a unproblematic pass/fail test for usa. Some lights make the procedure even more agonizing past adding an actress SOS setting, which blinks out the universal distress betoken in Morse code.
Flashlights can go very expensive, so for a low-cal powered past ii AA batteries, we prepare a cost limit of about $forty. In that location is an enormous world of flashlights that cost more than, but at this price, nosotros knew we could find an entry-level version of an enthusiast light that offered some of the almost important features standard on the higher-end lights. Unfortunately, our cutoff excluded many manufacturers that were favorites of the flashlight crowd (equally well equally among police officers, firefighters, and others in public safety), notably Elzetta, Fenix, Foursevens, and SureFire.
Afterward our initial 2018 research, we chose a wide variety of lights to test, focusing about of our attention on 2-AA models. We too tested a number of outliers—some 4-AAA lights and some one-AA lights—to encounter if in that location were situations where they would be an acceptable option. Our selection included models from Brightex, Coast, Maglite, Manker, Nitecore, Streamlight, and ThruNite. In 2020, nosotros researched rechargeable models and tested two such lights from ThruNite and Olight.
Also, knowing that some people often desire to purchase a lot of flashlights at a very low toll—to load i each in the glove box, basement, garage, and toolbox, say—we examined a large selection of inexpensive flashlights priced under $20, all with very high levels of customer reviews, and some fifty-fifty sold in packages of two or three. These were all "zoomies" that took either a single A or three AAA batteries. Here'southward why we couldn't recommend any of them.
How we tested
To examination if the flashlights would still exist as bright afterwards an hr and a one-half of use, we set up a simple "bounce examination." Using an Extech LT45 LED Light Meter and flashlights loaded with new Energizer Max batteries, we positioned each light inside a large sealed box with the flashlight at one end shining beyond the box onto its opposite wall. We placed the calorie-free meter behind the flashlight so that information technology would register only the bounced illumination, non the directly beam. We took readings at the 30-second marker, the 5-minute marking, and the ten-infinitesimal mark, so in x-minute increments later that, upward to 90 minutes (if the battery lasted that long). During this test, the flashlights were all ready to the highest brightness, and the zoom lights were set up to their wide-beam mode.
The purpose of this test was merely to compare models, not to prove or disprove manufacturer brightness claims, which are tested in a very specific lab setting (according to the ANSI/NEMA FL 1 standard [PDF]). What we got was an thought of how bombardment drain affected performance—with the better models, it was not linear—and a sense of how flashlights with the same bombardment configuration compared with i another with regard to general brightness levels and the speed of battery drain.
Instead of taking more than meter readings in a sealed, lab-like, dark room, I spent nighttime after nighttime later on night wandering around the dark New Hampshire wood (and more than than in one case caught the reflection of animal eyes looking back at me). We tested in the weeks surrounding a new moon and in an area with very piddling light pollution. This unstructured testing gave united states the near useful judge of overall usability, beam spread, and beam distance, and it really helped usa empathize what each light had to offer from a practical standpoint. We also used the flashlights for more regular daily tasks, such as looking under the burrow for Legos, checking the crawl space for signs of mice, and investigating strange dark noises in the backyard. Lastly, nosotros used the lights during multiple power outages.
As for light output, every unmarried one of these lights is pretty impressive. We establish very few that couldn't shed at to the lowest degree a little light on the trees at the far end of a field, over 500 feet away. So oddly enough, brightness concluded up being a gene, but not the biggest one. Plus, to paraphrase Wise, the brightest beam that throws light the uttermost might not be all that practical for regular utilize.
Our pick: ThruNite Archer 2A V3
Our pick
Of all the lights we looked at, the ThruNite Archer 2A V3 offers the best combination of high-cease features at an affordable cost. It has a two-button interface that lets you quickly cycle through the four brightness levels—1 of which is the very useful, very low firefly mode. The strobe setting is not office of the effulgence toggle, and then it doesn't go in the way of regular use. As with most of the better lights we found, the beam simultaneously projects a long-distance hot spot and a dimmer wide-angle light, which together give you a peachy view of your surroundings. It's loftier-quality in fit and finish, and it can handle full submersion in water and a 1-meter drib. Nosotros also similar that the body is designed and then that it won't ringlet. After we finished most of our testing, the Archer 2A V3 was the model nosotros kept reaching for when we headed into the wood.
The Archer 2A V3 has an interesting 2-button interface. At the rear of the light is a button that turns it on and off (oftentimes called a "tail switch"). Once the low-cal is on, you control the brightness levels with a second push up at the head of the light. Prior to testing nosotros had never used a ii-button light, only we before long realized how convenient the blueprint is. Property the light with a thumb on top and fingers cradling the bottom, we could toggle through the brightness levels quickly and i-handed with merely a few taps of the pollex. (This too works when y'all're holding the lite in a pencil grip.) Many of the other lights we tried put command of both on/off and the brightness levels at the tail switch, which forces you to reorient the light in your easily or use a second paw to change the setting. Of the two-AA flashlights we tested, but our runner-up, the Manker E12, has a similar 2-button setup.
The Archer 2A V3 also has what's called "momentary on," which ways that the light activates with a half-press of the tail switch and stays on for as long as y'all hold the switch. This feature, establish on some of the other high-terminate lights we tested, is convenient for quickly turning the light on and off without fully engaging information technology. In improver, the light has a retentivity, then it ever turns on at the brightness setting you lot last used. The nicer lights, including our runner-up, have this characteristic, but others (under $xxx) usually default to the brightest setting, which is often too vivid and blinding, especially if you're looking for the lowest setting.
The Archer 2A V3 has four brightness levels: high, medium, low, and firefly. At the high setting, we were able to brand out the copse at the end of a 500-foot-long field. At the low end, the firefly setting seemed barely brighter than a full moon, so we found it perfect for reading a map or checking on a sleeping child. It's so low that we could hardly come across a wall ten or xv feet in front of the states, just we could yet make our style around in the dark. When we initially heard about these über-low levels oft institute on high-end flashlights, we rolled our eyes thinking it was a gimmick, but when we got this low-cal in our hands, we ended up using the setting all the fourth dimension. Of the lights we tested, the Archer 2A V3 offered the everyman of these low settings, which we retrieve is a very nice feature. The Archer 2A V3 also has a strobe setting.
Non surprisingly, the brightness levels dictate battery drain. ThruNite claims the high setting has a run time of near 96 minutes and the firefly mode tin concluding fifteen days. These numbers are based on use with Eneloop Pro 2550 mAh NiMH batteries, which offer meliorate performance than the more common element of group i batteries. In our tests with Energizer Max batteries, which are alkaline metal, the high mode lasted around 45 minutes, so a fiddling less than half the stated output with NiMH batteries. Because ThruNite claims the firefly setting lasts 15 days with NiMH, nosotros assume with alkaline batteries that translates to around six or seven days, which is nonetheless a considerable amount of time.
Having multiple levels of brightness and understanding how much each one offers in terms of battery life left us with a feeling of command over the flashlight. On single-setting flashlights, in contrast, all yous get is a set amount of time, and that's information technology. The Archer 2A V3 allows you to employ but the amount of light you demand. As Wise predicted, we found ourselves operating in the lower-lite modes virtually of the fourth dimension, with only the occasional bound to the high level. Walking effectually a house during a ability outage, nosotros establish no reason to become above the depression setting.
And exactly how the bombardment drains on the ThruNite Archer 2A V3 is another 1 of its high points. The Archer 2A V3 has what ThruNite calls circuit regulation, so the battery feeds a constant corporeality of power to the LED. This ways that on the highest setting, the light maintains a consistent level of effulgence for about 45 minutes. At that point the high setting kicks out, and but the lower settings work; this stepping down continues for about 20 to 25 minutes. Nosotros saw similar results from the other tested ii-AA lights from loftier-end manufacturers (Manker, Nitecore, and Streamlight), simply other lights, such as the Craftsman and all of the AAA lights we looked at, had a more than linear bombardment drain—as the chart above shows, they start out bright and slowly and consistently fade down to zero.
The Archer 2A V3 also has a loftier-quality beam pattern. Around the LED is a reflector with an orange-peel texture, which provides both a focused hot spot and a not-equally-bright spill axle surrounding information technology. In the forest, we could clearly make out tree branches over 300 anxiety abroad, and at the same time the surface area directly effectually the states was lit for total visibility. As a reflector calorie-free, the beam pattern on the Archer 2A V3 was pretty comparable to that of the other, similar designs we tried.
As for the strobe setting, the Archer 2A V3 mercifully tucks it away from the regular brightness settings yet keeps it fully accessible; you activate the strobe with a long press of the brightness button. Information technology'south an ideal setup, and given that the strobe is a feature someone may need to utilise in an emergency, this activation is unproblematic plenty to remember and perform in a high-stress, high-adrenaline situation. We consider this separation betwixt the strobe and the standard effulgence settings to exist an essential blueprint element, and very few lights in the nether-$twoscore range do it successfully: The Manker E12, our runner-upwards, has the same setup, but in most of the other lights we tested, the strobe is just 1 of the toggle settings. That design is already annoying in regular circumstances—in an emergency, having to cycle through settings to find the strobe is a potential adventure.
The Archer 2A V3 is a little bigger than a Sharpie marker, a shape typical of the two-AA lights we tested. It'south a comfortable size to handle, and we found it easy to flip the light around in our fingers depending on how we wanted to hold it. A prissy knurled design around the body offers a piddling extra grip, which in our tests proved useful when the light got wet. It too has a hex shape at the lens terminate, and then information technology won't curl off a stone or any other sloped surface. And the lite was minor plenty to concur between my teeth, which was useful for brief instances when both of my hands were occupied, such equally during a quick electric fix in the basement.
Its bezel is slightly crenellated—designed with a small serial of ridges that project from around the lens of the flashlight—for apply in self-defense force. We're a lilliputian skeptical that such a design would offer much of an advantage over a non-crenellated light in terms of self-defense, simply nosotros do like that the design recesses the lens a bit, giving information technology more protection if you driblet the light right on the nose.
Speaking of drops, the Archer 2A V3 is rated for a i-meter fall. Many flashlights we tested also came with an IPX rating indicating the standard for protection against water intrusion. The Archer 2A V3 has the highest rating of IPX8, pregnant information technology can tolerate beingness completely submerged in water over ii meters deep (which we put information technology through a number of times to no ill consequence). The tested lights from Manker and Nitecore take the same water-intrusion rating as this ThruNite model.
The Archer 2A V3 comes with a lanyard, a pocket prune, a replacement cap for the tail switch, and two additional O-rings for the battery compartment. Minor but overnice finish details brand information technology feel similar a high-quality tool—the threading on the bombardment-compartment cap is smoother and cleaner-feeling than the rough threads on cheaper lights, for instance, and a knurled texture on the grip helps proceed it secure when information technology's wet. The light is available in cool white and neutral white, which are hard to distinguish side past side; the cool white has a bluish tint and the neutral white has a more than yellow tint, equally this video explains. We tested the absurd white and thought it was one of the warmer lights we saw.
ThruNite'south warranty for the Archer 2A V3 is a little nicer than average. It offers ii-year coverage with free replacement if "problems develop with normal employ." Of the lights we tested, only the Nitecore had a longer warranty, stretching to a total five years followed by a limited lifetime warranty.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The Archer 2A V3 is an splendid flashlight, but we did have a few very small quibbles with it.
1 of the loftier points of the light, the dimness of the firefly mode, also creates a problem: In any kind of daylight, information technology's near incommunicable to discover that firefly fashion is even on. During our tests, on more than than one occasion, nosotros used the Archer 2A V3 in a dark room and and then put it down in a lit room and forgot it was on. The proficient news here is that in firefly mode the battery drain is and then minimal that information technology would take weeks to empty a full battery, giving you aplenty time to observe the fault. Still, it'south something to proceed an center on if you become reliant on the everyman fashion as we have.
Too, the belt prune feels a picayune on the flimsy side, especially compared with the one on our runner-upward, the Manker E12, which is much more robust.
Runner-up: Manker E12
Runner-up
Manker E12
Virtually identical, virtually equally skillful
The Manker E12 has almost all the aforementioned features as the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, but the depression setting isn't as depression, and its price is ordinarily slightly higher than our choice'south.
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If the ThruNite Archer 2A V3 is non bachelor, we recommend the Manker E12. Almost everything we like nearly the Archer 2A V3 is nowadays in the E12, and this model even has a few small-scale aspects that we liked a picayune meliorate. But we concluded that the wider range of brightness levels on the Archer 2A V3 offers more flexibility in use and in managing battery drain. The differences are fairly minor, noticeable only when the lights are next, and then we're convinced that anyone ending upwardly with the Manker E12 will exist wholly satisfied with their flashlight.
The E12 has the aforementioned two-button interface with four effulgence levels and a subconscious strobe function. Information technology has a retention like the Archer 2A V3, as well as the aforementioned momentary-on characteristic. It likewise has a similar high-quality expect and feel, including a knurled body, an anti-scroll blueprint, and the ability to stand on its tail. Nosotros like that the Manker is about ½ inch shorter than the ThruNite and that the pocket clip has a picayune more heft. Manker says the E12 has a rating of IPX8; this ways it has the aforementioned waterproof ability as the Archer 2A V3.
The respective highest settings on the E12 and the Archer 2A V3 are basically identical, too. The official specs of the lights indicate that the Manker is brighter, but nosotros spent nigh 30 minutes switching back and forth betwixt the two lights in a variety of settings, and if there's a departure, it's so minor, we couldn't see it. At the other stop of the light scale, in our tests the E12's lowest setting, moon way, was visibly brighter than the Archer 2A V3's firefly way. Because we found ourselves constantly using ultralow modes, the ThruNite low-cal is our preference—the lower that setting gets, the better.
Yous won't notice a crenellated bezel on the Manker. Nosotros're not concerned virtually that characteristic'southward absence in relation to self-defence force; without the crenellations, however, the lens is a little less protected in case yous happen to drib the flashlight straight on its nose. Also, the forward button of the E12 is rubber, whereas the one on the Archer 2A V3 is a more durable metal.
The Manker E12 is typically simply a fleck more expensive than the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, usually but 4 or 5 dollars more. Pricing does fluctuate, merely still, the manufacturer base pricing of the Archer 2A V3 is lower. Given how similar the ii lights are, the fact that the ThruNite has a lower cost tag is yet some other reason to cull that model.
Likewise great: ThruNite TC15 V3
Also great
Although we prefer AA flashlights, rechargeable lights offer a lot of advantages. While they're roughly the aforementioned size equally AA models, they're a lot brighter, and their bombardment life is longer. If yous tin can keep upward with charging yours, it should be e'er set to become at its brightest setting, and you have no need to be constantly disposing of expressionless batteries. We found that the ThruNite TC15 V3 USB rechargeable flashlight hits the same balance as the visitor's Archer 2A V3, offering advanced features at a budget-friendly price. The TC15 V3 replaces our previous choice, the original ThruNite TC15 (pictured). The two models accept a similar cost, brightness, and battery life, but the V3 has a better pocket clip.
The general look and feel of the TC15 V3 is the same as that of the AA-based Archer 2A V3, but the TC15 V3 has a one-button interface that allows for instant access to both the brightest and dimmest settings. It uses a larger bombardment, so it's roughly twice as bright and capable of lasting twice as long every bit the Archer 2A V3. Different with many rechargeable lights, y'all don't need to remove the battery from the light to accuse information technology—the USB-C cable plugs straight into the light. We thought this design might create a weak spot, just the TC15 V3 has the same waterproof rating as the Archer 2A V3. At a typical price of virtually $60, the TC15 V3 is on the lower terminate of quality rechargeable lights.
But the TC15 V3, like all rechargeable lights, presents a trade-off. It's squeamish not to need a supply of batteries (and to throw them out once they're dead), only unless you have an contained ability source, you lot have no way to recharge the light during an outage. Also, charging takes time, so when the flashlight does drain out, you tin't simply pop in some new batteries and have it at full strength. For these reasons, we recall that a two-AA light like the Archer 2A V3 is a meliorate fit for most people.
Still, rechargeables do have some nice advantages. Let's outset with the effulgence. The TC15 V3 has a listed top terminate of 2,403 lumens. It can sustain this brightness level for a trivial over 2 minutes, only that'southward still quite a bit more than brightness than the Archer 2A V3'southward meridian end of 500 lumens (with high-end Eneloop Pro 2550 mAh batteries—regular AAs won't exist as vivid). The side by side-highest setting on the TC15 V3 is one,057 lumens, which is yet twice as bright as the Archer 2A V3's highest setting. The light can hold that level for roughly one and a half minutes, after which information technology drops to 754 lumens for 108 minutes (which is still higher than the Archer 2A V3's highest setting).
The interface is a little different than on the Archer 2A V3. The TC15 V3 forgoes the tail switch and puts total command in the single side push button. A single press of the button activates the light to the most recently used brightness setting. This design likewise offers you the benefit of being able to directly access both the everyman and highest settings: One long press turns the calorie-free on at the dimmest setting, moonlight mode, and a double press turns it on at the brightest setting. We really like this feature. Going straight to the moonlight style preserves night vision and doesn't cause a disruption if, say, you're sneaking into a room to cheque on a sleeping child; at the same fourth dimension, when I was trying to take hold of the raccoon that had been getting into our recycling, I wanted an immediate burst of brilliant light and didn't want to waste time clicking through lower settings. Once the light is on, a long press toggles through the other settings.
The flashlight uses a rechargeable 18650 battery that yous practice not take to remove from the light in society to accuse it; the TC15 V3 comes with a USB-C charging cord that plugs directly into the side of the light. (As a result, at that place's really no reason to ever open the light and remove the battery, which would create an opportunity for dirt and grime to become into the housing.) This kind of charging is not a standard feature, as on most lights you must remove the battery for charging. We had an initial concern that the USB port would pose its ain dirt-infiltration issues, but it comes with a little rubber cap that plugs it when y'all're non charging the light (an extra one is as well provided). The TC15 V3 besides has the same water-resistance rating as the Archer 2A V3, IPX8.
Side by side to the Archer 2A V3, the TC15 V3 is shorter, by nigh an inch, only quite a bit bulkier. In contrast to the Sharpie-like bore of the Archer, information technology'due south more similar to the width of a big cigar. The belt clip on the TC15 V3 is dainty and has a double bend, so you tin hook it on a belt or a pocket with the lens facing up or downwards. Yous can also clip it to the brim of a baseball hat facing forward, creating a makeshift headlamp, though we retrieve the calorie-free is a little heavy for anyone to practice that on a consistent footing.
The TC15 V3 replaces our previous choice, the original TC15. We also tested and liked the TC15 V2. Honestly, we found the differences among the three models to exist slight, particularly in effulgence and bombardment life. Nosotros prefer the TC15 V3 due to its better pocket clip and the simple fact that it's the most recent model and is therefore likely to exist supported past the company for a longer menstruation of time.
Also great: Olight S2R Baton II
Besides cracking
The Olight S2R Baton II, which excels in the arena of convenience, is a pocket-friendly rechargeable choice. In brightness and battery life, the Olight falls between the Archer 2A V3 and the TC15, and it's usually more expensive than the TC15. But it offers the easiest, nearly convenient charging setup we've seen: Not simply do you accuse the bombardment inside the light, every bit with the TC15, but you do so with a magnetic charger that only clicks on to the tail of the light. Because the S2R Baton 2 has no charging port, there is no way for dirt to gum up the charging process.
With this setup, we plant it very easy to regularly keep the Olight fully charged. All we had to practice was set the light down right near the charging cord, and information technology would attach itself. Additionally, we were impressed with the overall experience and quality of the S2R Billy Ii. It typically costs around $70, which is still less than the price of nearly quality rechargeable flashlights.
At virtually iv inches in length, the S2R Billy Ii is smaller than the rest of our picks, and carrying information technology effectually in a pocket is much easier to do. The Archer 2A V3 is thinner, merely at around 6 inches, it'south awkward equally any kind of everyday-conduct light. The same can be said for the TC15, which is thicker than the S2R Baton Two and about an inch longer. You tin detect smaller lights, even models that attach to a keychain, merely for some people, the S2R Baton II will piece of work equally a daily light.
The S2R Baton II has a very nice pocket clip. Because the clip has a double bend, you can clip the lite to something with the lens facing either manner. You can also clip information technology to the brim of a baseball game cap and employ it as a makeshift headlamp. Both of the ThruNite lights we picked, on the other mitt, accept only unmarried-bend clips.
Long-term examination notes
After using all of our picks regularly since the original publication of this guide, Doug Mahoney reports that they continue to exist useful for a variety of day-to-twenty-four hours tasks, including checking for Lego pieces under the couch, getting cats to come inside at nighttime, and even checking in on chickens and sheep. They maintain a good range of effulgence, but Doug still peculiarly likes the ultra-dim setting, which conserves the bombardment and doesn't disturb sleeping kids or farm animals.
The Olight's magnetic charging system has also been surprisingly useful, which really has fabricated recharging the flashlight well-nigh as easy as just placing the calorie-free down on the counter. Doug finds that the very pocket-size hurdle of physically plugging in a cord ofttimes prevents him from charging. And so having the magnetic charger ensures that the light is always charged and set to go.
Why we can't recommend a cheaper flashlight
We tested 12 inexpensive flashlights in the under-$20 range, all easily institute on Amazon, and all with a high number of positive reviews. For the virtually part they're a generic agglomeration, and we institute many identical models sold under a diversity of names. These lights are powered by either one AA battery or iii AAA batteries. At that place'southward no question they're brilliant enough to help someone become around in the nighttime, but they take bug. For 1, they all accept the unmarried-button interface with the strobe characteristic every bit part of the brightness cycle, which is a major flaw. Merely fifty-fifty worse is that their quality is completely unreliable.
Flashlight reviewer Selfbuilt no longer reviews upkeep lights considering such models can "be incredibly inconsistent from batch to batch." Selfbuilt continues, "The reason for this seems to exist that many of the upkeep 'brands' are actually ofttimes merely a loose gear up of model standards manufactured by more than i found. Copying and counterfeiting is besides rampant, especially for perceived 'popular' budget models." In one case, Selfbuilt gave a positive review to a budget light, and when negative feedback of the same light appeared, Selfbuilt "bought a new sample from the same dealer, and discovered a completely unlike calorie-free (with a different body thickness, screw threads, switch—and most importantly, circuit)." The conclusion: "In every measurable mode, the newer version was junior to the previous one I had tested."
Reviewer Dave Wise had similar things to say most inexpensive flashlights. "[The] biggest pitfalls are the reliability aspect," he told the states. "Nigh of those lower priced lights come with much poorer electronics that just don't hold up to use." He added, "My Granddaddy taught me that I'thou as well poor to buy cheap tools."
Nosotros had our own experience with this lack of quality control or mayhap counterfeiting (we have more thoughts on counterfeiting in general in this blog mail). 2 of the upkeep lights we tested were ostensibly from a visitor called UltraFire, but on i of the lights, the logo was misspelled as "UltruFire." Not exactly reassuring.
The lesser line is that we agree with Selfbuilt, who writes, "Every bit a reviewer, I can't justify reviewing a calorie-free where there is no reasonable assurance of consistent quality of manufacture." Besides, we tin can't recommend any specific budget models, because if the products themselves are inconsistent, we can't even exist sure exactly what we would exist telling you to buy. If y'all're looking for an inexpensive way to load up on flashlights, say, for the glovebox or the toolbox and garage, such lights are certainly an option, but just know what you lot're getting yourself into. Caveat emptor.
The competition
The Olight Warrior Mini 2 is an excellent light and has the interesting power to auto-dim if an object is likewise close to the lens, to prevent overheating in a backpack or a pocket. Typically $xx more expensive than the Olight S2R Baton 2, this model is brighter and offers a longer bombardment life. Information technology has both a side button and a tail switch, which control unlike settings and can get disruptive. If yous use a flashlight enough to proceed these button modes top of mind, this light provides a lot of versatility. During more casual employ in our tests, however, we kept forgetting the nuances of the buttons and often ended upward grabbing some other flashlight with a simpler interface.
The ThruNite TC12 is similar to the TC15, but information technology has the tail-cap interface of the Archer 2A V3. Once we got into using the lights, we preferred the i-push interface of the TC15, especially the power to immediately activate the highest and lowest settings.
ThruNite's T1 is a much smaller rechargeable calorie-free with brightness levels similar to those of the Archer 2A V3 but a shorter battery life. It'south less expensive, and its size makes it a nice pick for an everyday-comport light, simply for a general-use rechargeable, we similar the added brightness and battery life of the TC15.
Nosotros dismissed many other rechargeable lights in the same price range because the battery requires removal for charging. Many of these models appear to be fantabulous lights, but nosotros call back the added step is unnecessary, especially given the combination of quality, brightness, and battery life that the TC15 offers. This grouping of lights included the Coast HP8R, Fenix PD35 V2.0, and Nitecore P12.
Among AA flashlights, the Mini Maglite Pro was a previous option, simply through our long-term testing, we've realized that nosotros simply never want to use it. The Mini Maglite Pro doesn't have the range of brightness levels of our picks, and it'southward but not as bright. It's typically priced at a little over $twenty, roughly $10 less than the ThruNite Archer 2A V3. We retrieve the ThruNite is worth the added investment.
The Nitecore MT2A has the same high-quality await and experience as our AA picks, and it has an unusual interface that helps you avoid the strobe (and the additional SOS setting) in regular use, but this workaround is only non as successful or easy to use. The MT2A has two modes: a turbo way, which is the calorie-free's highest setting, and a user-defined manner, which you access by slightly untwisting the head of the low-cal. The user-defined mode cycles through the settings: loftier, medium, depression, SOS, and strobe. In one case you've called the brightness level, you can employ the calorie-free as a ii-setting lite: turbo and whatever the user-defined mode is. The problem is, in our tests we still occasionally had to cycle through the modes and deal with the strobe and SOS.
The Streamlight ProTac 2AA likewise has a strobe workaround, just here, the option lets you lot program the light to eliminate the strobe mode from the toggling bicycle. At that point, unfortunately, the strobe becomes inaccessible in an emergency (unless you lot spend time reprogramming the light). This model also has no moonlight/firefly way.
A very cheap flashlight, the Craftsman 93660 had the lowest brightness level of the flashlights nosotros tested. It turns on with a twist of the tail cap, and it'due south small and equipped with a nice condom grip along the body. But due to its weaker low-cal output, it's merely not every bit useful every bit the others.
The Coast HX5, a unmarried-AA light, was much brighter than the other single-AA lights we tested for shut-range tasks, but out in the wood it didn't have the same throw as the others. The HX5 is a zoom light, just its lens mimics the look of a reflector light. Overall, we wish Coast made a larger, two-AA version that would better compete with the others in light output.
The Coast HP7 was also very bright, although a step downwards from the Brightex XR 700. It uses four AAA batteries, and it exhibited a fast and consistent bombardment drain. Like the smaller Coast model, the HP7 has a overnice axle pattern, similar to what we saw from the reflector lights.
We dismissed a number of lights without testing. Many of these, such as the Nebo 5557, fell out of contention because they had the strobe setting as part of the brightness toggle. Other lights, like the Dorcy Z Drive, had just two settings and no moonlight mode.
We looked at a lot of cheap generic lights, which didn't compare to the other tested models. Due to the inconsistencies mentioned above, we can't recommend any of them. Among unmarried-AA lights, nosotros tested the J5 Tactical V1 Pro, the UltraFire 7W, and Hausbell's 7W lights. The three-AAA models we tried were the J5 Tactical Hyper 5, the Captink T6, the Refun E6, the LE adaptable-focus light, the LuxPower V1000, and the BYB adjustable-focus light.
ThruNite offers an Archer 1A V3 version that takes a single AA bombardment. It'due south not equally bright and doesn't have the run time of the company'south ii-AA Archer, but it does have the same versatile ii-push button interface. This model is typically priced within about $5 of the two-AA version. We think the larger model is the meliorate selection.
Once more, in our opinion, more than $twoscore is simply too much to pay for a bones around-the-house flashlight, and in establishing this cutoff we excluded many well-respected flashlight manufacturers. If you lot have the interest and the budget, we strongly recommend consulting Selfbuilt'southward Flashlight Reviews in addition to registering at CandlePowerForums.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-flashlight/
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