LED Flashlight experience

[F51]

I have been trying to find a good LED flashlight. Every single one I have tried from bargain table cheapos to Eveready, Rayovac, and MagLite are great for a few days ir weeks. The light is bright, the batteries last and last, but after a while, the switches go bad. You have to shake 'em, tap 'em, and beat on them, but the light flickers from zero to max bright. I never had this problem with the old incandescent flashlights. What's going on? Maybe it has something to do with the low current of the LED bulbs allowing corrosion on the switch contacts or something. Am I jinxed or what? Are any of the rest of you having this problem?

[rebel heart]

These are the three flashlights I have:

- $12 cheap energizer headlamp. the headband eventually loses its elasticity but otherwise it's great. Energizer Pro 3 LED Headlamp - Amazon.com

- $8 cheapo Dorcy but actually an awesome light that they could charge 3x the price for and I'd still buy it. Floats, waterproof, comfy grip, batteries last a while. Dorcy 41-2510 Floating Waterproof LED Flashlight with Carabineer Clip, 32-Lumens, Yellow Finish - Amazon.com

- $50 Lenser light. Insanely strong, waterproof, can actually short-term blind someone in a dark situation. Coast HP7TAC High Performance Focusing 251 Lumen LED Flashlight with Tactical Strobe - Amazon.com


I use the headlamp and the dorcy around the boat all the time. The Lenser has great "throw" for when you want to light up a mooring ball 100' away, as an example.

[sabray]

Nite core mt 40. Has 2 level lighting ,tactical strobe, SOS strobe. Runs on 123a batts. Not as long life in the batts but it is very bright and reliable. Beats the old stand by d cell expensive stuff I have had.
Every other led light I have is suspect. These just work everytime .

[transmitterdan]

Princeton Tec makes inexpensive LED lights that are waterproof with no switch (screw top). Used 'em for years.

[motion30]

I find the cheap. Lights are fine.....until you drop it, then. Not so good.

[sabray]

I drop my cheap led head lamp to make it work. Sometimes I shake it but usually I just slam it a few times on something hard and then it's good So long as I don't bump my head or turn to fast.

[Paul Elliott]

I've had good luch with the Energizer headlamps, and the cheapo LED flashlights. I usually put a bit of silicone grease (or spray) on the battery contacts, which seems to help. I've had some switches go bad, but not many, and I throw those away. The survivors have worked for 5+ years.

[RainDog]

I second the lensers. I have several. I use this one:

LED Lenser 880040 V2 Dual Color LED Flashlight with Red and White Light Function, Black - Amazon.com

for my "every day" light, and this one:

T7 Flashlight - LED LENSER

As a spot light or when I need something bright. The first one I have used every day for over 4 years now with no problems. Have not dropped it in salt water, but it has been splashed plenty of times.

[gordwedman]

Take a look at Fenix. Not cheap but very good quality and quite a range of sizes.

[deckofficer]

I'm like a bug to light on a flashlight thread. My illumination weapon of choice is a pocket flashlight with (3) Cree XM-L leds, 3000 lumen, 13.3 w-hr lithium.......

And if left on for over 10 minutes becomes a very nice hand warmer in cold weather.



Elektro Lumens Presents "Big Bruiser Flashlight"

[Paul Elliott]

Jeeze, guys! Don't fire up one of those photon-beam weapons on my deck at night while I'm trying to sail! Me, I really like the red LED headlamps.

I have some of the little Princeton "Byte" headlamps, and they are pretty nice, BUT, when turned off mine drain the batteries in a week. This is a known defect (I now discover), and Princeton claims that the new ones don't have this problem.

[gonesail]

the coast G35 Dual Color has worked well for me .. it has a red light for night vision.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by gordwedman

Take a look at Fenix. Not cheap but very good quality and quite a range of sizes.

+1.
I often recommend Fenix. They have a very wide range of reasonable quality flashlights available for a large range of batteries. There are better brands if you want to spend a lot money, or many very cheap ebay specials.

The ebay specials are great for scattering around the boat, but a good quality reasonably large flashlight for situations like MOB, is great addition to any boat and while many people are shocked by the price in boat dollars they are very cheap for the safety benefits alone.

[deckofficer]

Commercially built LED flashlight


One off "roll your own" LED flashlight.

[rebel heart]

Bob, holy crap!