Tactical Flashlights

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I picked up a J5 V1 Pro (300 lumens) flashlight for $14. It's very small and really bright. Quality is good.

There are so many tactical flashlights on the market. Which brands/lights have you liked?

Link
 
I’m old fashioned. I have a 20 Plus year old Mag-Lite 3D. Updated the bulb to led a few years ago. If I hit anyone with it it will hurt.

Obviously it’s not in the same league as these Fenix lights for example. They are cool but I really don’t need one.
 
"Tactical" is an over-used word. If you really bought that light to use tactically, in life or death situations, I would caution against that.

If you are going to use it as a general purpose light, it will probably work about as fine as one could expect from a $14 light.

Tactical use lights that I personally use are made by Surefire, Streamlight, Elzetta, and Malkoff devices. $100 and up.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
That is an ok light as long as it suits your purpose.. tons of great lights for $5-20

I got this one for 9.99 earlier this year

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JE329YO/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

with battery and charger.



This looks very good for the price. I'm happy with the J5 I bought. There are so many on the market.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I bought one of these about 3 years ago and use it nightly to take the dogs for their walk and it's perfect.

CLICK HERE


Looks good. 8k lumens! Nice...
 
Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I bought one of these about 3 years ago and use it nightly to take the dogs for their walk and it's perfect.

CLICK HERE


Looks good. 8k lumens! Nice...

LoL
 
Originally Posted By: buster
I picked up a J5 V1 Pro (300 lumens) flashlight for $14. It's very small and really bright. Quality is good.

There are so many tactical flashlights on the market. Which brands/lights have you liked?

Link


I'm not really sure what your definition of tactical is, but in general when it comes to price to performance ratio and honest lumen ratings, I have been very happy with Convoy. Here is one I got recently...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthr......#Post4534021
 
I have a bunch of these: Amazon

Can't say they're tactical but they've worked great for me and the price is right.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I bought one of these about 3 years ago and use it nightly to take the dogs for their walk and it's perfect.

CLICK HERE


Looks good. 8k lumens! Nice...

LoL


LOL yeah most likely 800 LM's.
 
I'm pretty impressed with the J5 line. Quality is excellent.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Tactical use lights that I personally use are made by Surefire, Streamlight, Elzetta, and Malkoff devices. $100 and up.

Mine's bigger than yours
lol.gif


Just what "tactics" do these sorts of lights support for a civilian dude?

Got a pair of the ubiquitous adjustable lights from Amazon for about $14. Very bright, if an offputting high color temp. It's kinda neat that you can see the circuit if you set it to full zoom. Surprisingly even spread at anything but full zoom.

jeff
 
Originally Posted By: buster
I picked up a J5 V1 Pro (300 lumens) flashlight for $14. It's very small and really bright. Quality is good.

There are so many tactical flashlights on the market. Which brands/lights have you liked?

Link


Look like the Cree Ultrafire from ebay at $3.50 each. Fair light for the price if you use a 14500 battery
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I bought one of these about 3 years ago and use it nightly to take the dogs for their walk and it's perfect.


That might have been pretty bright back then, a Cree XM-L2. But the last light I got was a C8 with the Cree XP-L V5 which seemed a bit brighter than some XP-L Hi V2's I got the year before.

They're always playing games with the lumens, if you really want to know, just look up the Cree spec sheets on the LED.
 
Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: StevieC
I bought one of these about 3 years ago and use it nightly to take the dogs for their walk and it's perfect.

CLICK HERE


Looks good. 8k lumens! Nice...

LoL


LOL yeah most likely 800 LM's.

If you are getting a flashlight, a charger, and an 18650 cell for about $11, then there is very little chance you are getting a genuine Cree LED, in which case even 800 lm is questionable.
 
Originally Posted By: greenjp
Just what "tactics" do these sorts of lights support for a civilian dude?


Prior law enforcement with lots of training. Like they say, once a Marine, always a Marine. Still training to this day. Plus I train people as well. Not as much as before, but still occasionally. I carry a "tactical" light every time I leave the house. As well as having several in the home to include those mounted to my home defense weapons.

Originally Posted By: greenjp
Got a pair of the ubiquitous adjustable lights from Amazon for about $14. Very bright, if an offputting high color temp. It's kinda neat that you can see the circuit if you set it to full zoom. Surprisingly even spread at anything but full zoom.


One night I was wrestling with a bad dude. About the time he pulled out a knife, my flashlight dropped and the incan bulb broke. I QUICKLY learned the value of a high-quality light. A light that won't break on you when you need it most. I can EASILY justify spending $100, $200, $300 or more on a tactical flashlight, because nothing is worse than needing a light RIGHT NOW, and not having it. After that night, I went from wearing one flashlight on my duty belt to three flashlights.

$14 for a pair of lights is all fine and dandy, for general use, but don't confuse that set as having quality consistent with a high-quality light.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

If you are getting a flashlight, a charger, and an 18650 cell for about $11, then there is very little chance you are getting a genuine Cree LED, in which case even 800 lm is questionable.



My guess is that the battery is fake. There's a big business rebuilding used laptop batteries and putting new wrappers on them and calling them new. I think an LED is much harder to fake. I've gotten those in the past and the fake 18650's only last a few months before they won't take a charge and even new they only last 5 minutes before going dead.
 
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