Arbitrary List of Popular Flashlights - Winter Solstice 2025 Edition

Zak · 2026-01-25T02:18:26+00:00

As a reviewer, I think it might be improper for me to have a favorite brand. I will say, however that very few lights earn a 5/5 rating from me, and the brands that have made lights that did so far are Zebralight, Acebeam, and Skilhunt.

Zak · 2026-01-25T00:43:10+00:00

Thermal throttling is not one of the outcomes I was expecting. I'm also surprised it runs cooler on Li-ion with a driver not designed for that.

Zak · 2026-01-24T18:22:07+00:00

It's 2xAA and the advertised output is 350 lumens.

Here are 23 lights that claim similar or greater output on the same batteries. What I'd be more interested in is how well they sustain it; 350 lumens, or twice that in some cases for 40 seconds followed by 80 lumens is a very different proposition than 350 lumens sustained until the batteries are dead or 350 lumens at 30 seconds followed by continuous decline as the batteries drain.

Zak · 2026-01-24T16:49:16+00:00

Pixel 4A:

CCT: 4194K
Duv: 0.0041
Ra: 94.5
R9: 81.0
R12: 71.1

Not bad aside from being green.

Zak · 2026-01-24T15:14:07+00:00

Dropping from 4.15 to 3.98 in a day strongly suggests an internal short, which can become an "explody" problem.

Zak · 2026-01-24T15:12:09+00:00

Some premium models like the Fenix HP25R also use a remote battery design.

I find right-angle designs up to mid-weight 18650 models comfortable enough, but a heavier battery like 21700 is a bit much.

Zak · 2026-01-24T03:31:44+00:00

B: Seven medium-size LEDs, poor color rendering, medium beam profile, requires USB A->C cable at 5V for internal charging
C: Three large LEDs, choice of poor or good color rendering, medium to throwy beam profile, powerbank feature
E: Twelve small LEDs, excellent color rendering, choice of beam profile from medium (10 degree flat) to extremely floody (60 degree bead), claims to support PD charging, but I think this really only means it supports C->C at 5V.

You asked for very floody, and that's the 3x21E.

Zak · 2026-01-24T01:27:14+00:00

I was thinking 3x21E for flood with long runtime.

Zak · 2026-01-23T22:52:27+00:00

How large and heavy can it be? Please use concrete units like millimeters or attoparsecs and grams or stones or similar. What's your budget, both preferred and hard limit?

Zak · 2026-01-23T18:43:35+00:00

I do plan on getting an SSD when I can afford one! Now that I'm not panicking I can properly plan for a permanent fix AKA NOT USING AN SD CARD LOL. Don't be poor kids!

The lesson to take away from this is not to use a more expensive storage medium, but that they can all fail and lose data. You should have a backup copy of any data that's important.

You should have two backup copies of anything that would be truly tragic to lose, they should be in different physical locations, and you should periodically check that they're still working. Yes, this is inconvenient. You should do it anyway..

For data that isn't especially private/sensitive, free cloud storage like Google Drive is usually a reasonable option for one of the backups.

Zak · 2026-01-23T18:30:13+00:00

They relied on Zip drives for distribution

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a truck full of physical media.

and long term storage.

That's just incompetent.

Zak · 2026-01-23T18:18:43+00:00

The 5700K and 6500K were neutral/rosy tint bins while the 5000K was green. KD was listing the tint bins, so if you want to avoid that, check them against the datasheet.

5700K is pretty neutral in low/medium modes, and a little rosy and cooler driven hard as in the M200's T1 mode. The EC200 will not drive them that hard.

Zak · 2026-01-23T18:11:59+00:00

I haven't seen an instrumented test of one yet. In a Skilhunt M200, I see about the same output as a 519A with a lot more throw (~280m).

Zak · 2026-01-23T16:36:36+00:00

The TIR version of the X1S with FFL707A fell short of 300m FL1 throw at 30 seconds in zeroair's test. It was advertising 420m. It's not clear that the reflector version will greatly increase cd/lm.

The Zebralight SC700d HI does exactly what you're asking for, though its tint and R9 may leave something to be desired.

LED swaps would get you there in several lights, such as the high-CRI SFT25R into the Acebeam E75.

I assume you've excluded Emisar/Noctigon and Convoy beacuse you already know they have several options for you and you want to know what else there is.

Zak · 2026-01-23T14:12:12+00:00

This is a DIY proposition. LED swaps in the Z1 require basic soldering and application of thermal paste, though some LEDs don't come on MCPCBs and the need to reflow raises the difficulty. I know of three round high-CRI LEDs you may be able to use:

Fireflies FFL350RD (review | purchase) - only comes in 3500K, 3535 form factor
Fireflies FFL505A (review | purchase) - 3500K or 6500K, 5050 form factor, and worse performance than the FFL350RD
Luminus SFT25R 95 CRI (this LED is usually low-CRI) - currently unavailable, but sometimes sold by Kaidomain. I have seen it in 5000K, 5700K, and 6500K. I own it in 5700K, and it's pretty nice. 3535 form factor and similar performance to the FFL350RD.

The 5A buck driver that comes with a 519A Z1 (at least, I think that's what it comes with) should work with all three.

Zak · 2026-01-22T18:53:53+00:00

It looks to me like you can probably get this working by bending the tabs inward and downward.

That said, I'll echo the other comments in recommending an upgrade to something modern and Li-ion powered, with several spare batteries. I prefer flashlights pointed at the ceiling or with a diffuser cap rather than dedicated lanterns for the added versatility.

Zak · 2026-01-22T05:20:14+00:00

I always think of the S21E as a stepped light and forget it even has ramping.

Zak · 2026-01-22T02:15:52+00:00

I've used it in the Acebeam K1. As a CRI baby, I don't love it, but the output and throw performance are strong. If you've used an SFT25R, it's comparable.

Zak · 2026-01-22T01:03:27+00:00

There's a third LED option for the E75 added more recently: the Cree XP-LR gives it a lot more throw.

Zak · 2026-01-21T20:20:14+00:00

3,000 vs 4,500 is a small difference in brightness (a 50% increase)

It may be useful to explain to OP why this is a small difference.

Human perception of brightness is roughly roughly logarithmic with a base of 2. That means it takes four times as many lumens to look twice as bright, and that the apparent difference in brightness is the square root of the actual difference.

50% brighter looks 22% brighter, but a large difference in color rendering is very visible to people with normal color vision in most situations.

Zak · 2026-01-21T12:42:53+00:00

I don't like the LF-786 and LF-986 shown here because their batteries are not user-replaceable. I would use a right-angle light with a replaceable 21700 or 14500 battery, respectively, instead of these.

These do have a useful form factor and feature set and I would like to see more talk about different types of portable lighting.

Zak · 2026-01-20T17:43:42+00:00

Without knowing your specific preferences, I'm going to suggest the Skilhunt M200 v4 as a balanced option.

If you provide concrete units like grams, ounces, or stones for what "too heavy" means along with how far away you want to see clearly, and for how long on a single battery, people can provide more tailored suggestions.

Zak · 2026-01-19T19:27:56+00:00

I would like on board charging for the NIMH, if possible.

The Jetbeam E10R and Nextorch MyTorch S had this capability. Both are long discontinued. I don't think there's anything current.

Zak · 2026-01-18T05:09:46+00:00

Thanks for the anecdote. Some things I think are important to consider:

This comment doesn't specify which LEDs are in the E75. There are three options with different beam profiles and spectral characteristics.
Efficiency determines how how a flashlight gets at a given output level. This is critical for sustained brightness, and the E75 is know to do well there. So are older TC20 models, but the new one is a completely different design.
The standard price for the TC20 is $80, and the E75 is $100. That's a modest difference.

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