What lightweight, practical flashlights would people recommend?
I want something that I could use while camping, dog walking, and general day-to-day tasks (finding something under the bed for example). Currently I use my phone torch, which isn’t particularly practical. My previous (battery powered) torches have died after too short a space of time - I want something that will last.
One with a clip would be handy, so I could attach it to a cap.
I see lots of ones online with insane lumens. 1000 lumens seems like overkill for my purposes!
Not too worried about price (within reason!)
I have a Zebralight that gives 300 lumens from a single AA battery. Mine is several years old though, there’s probably a better model today.
But that’s what I’d look at: AA battery and 300 lumens or so. You have to buy NiMH, which is really cheap these days (Eneloop has the best brand recognition. Energizers are good. AmazonBasics are surprisingly rebadged older-eneloops from Panasonic, so they’re also pretty good).
Basically NiMH gives more current than any Alkaline or Heavy Duty battery. So only rechargable NiMH can offer 300 lumens.
The metal construction is durable for sure, but note that your phone will get scratched up by the hard metal if you put it in the same pocket as this flashlight. AA is small, but not quite the smallest, you can still feel the thing in the pocket throughout the day, but this is far smaller than your typical 18650 Li-ion based 1000+ Lumen behemoth.
A web-search gives this as the rough size:
One cool feature is the firefly setting: 0.1 lumens. You’d be surprised at how useful that one is. You don’t need much light in some situations, and keeping the setting low can keep your “natural night vision” so to speak.
Many thanks for the detailed write-up! Are you aware of anything with similar specs that could be charged by USB-C? That does sound ideal, but if I could avoid having to buy the battery and charger separately that would be neat.
That said, having a backup battery on hand would be useful… How long do NiMH batteries hold their charge while not in use?
AA NiMHs are $1.50 to $2. AA NiMH chargers are $10. Mayyyyybe $20 or $30 if you get a fancy one. Are… you SURE that you wanna get more complex than this?
AA NiMHs are damn near disposable in my experience. The trickle-charger ($10 for an 8+ hour slow charger that requires 2 batteries at a time) is fine. If you want a charge within 4 hours or less, that’s where $20+ chargers come in. But trickle-charge is fine?
Basically: NiMHs can be left overcharged, as long as they’re overcharged slowly. They’ll just radiate heat when they reach a state of overcharge, but its actually a safe situation. (maybe reach 120F or 50C temperature during overcharge, but otherwise they’re fine). A $10 trickle-charger has no smarts, it just overcharges the batteries you connect. You set a kitchen timer and 20 hours later you take the batteries out, because they’re probably overcharged by then.
To answer your question: yes, USB-C AAs exist. But in my experience, the $10 trickle-charger + $2 NiMH is cheaper than buying USB-C AAs. The USB-C charger “inside” the AA also removes room for chemicals (An Energizer or Eneloop AA is 100% chemicals to make as much energy as possible). So you lose on battery life, and the electronics will cause self-discharge (so you’ll also have less life).
So you’re spending a lot of extra money on worse-specs. IMO not worth it, just stick with the classic NiMH from Eneloop (or reasonable competitors) + standard charger. Buy as much chemicals as you can, lol.
There are USB-C AA chargers btw.
https://www.amazon.com/EBL-Individual-Technology-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B077XCKC2G
Modern NiMHs are “LSD”, low-self-discharge and have specifications of 1Y to 10Y (!!!) of charge hold. However, older “classic” NiMHs self-discharge within 3 months (!!!).
The brands I discussed: Eneloop, Energizer, and AmazonBasics, should have over 1Y of charge. If you want an “emergency” battery, I suggest Lithium (not Li-ion, but Energizer Lithium)
These will give you enough charge, and have over 10Y worth of life. But they are NOT rechargable. So they’re “emergency use”, leave in the car kinda thing. They’re also quite expensive ($2+ for non-rechargeable), but their long-life makes them ideal for an emergency use “forget-about-it” battery to leave in a toolbox or something.
Ah great post - many thanks for the information! Gives me a lot to consider.
So what about flashlights with non-removable batteries? The small Olight ones for example appear to use a magnetic charging attachment. Would you still recommend a AA NiMH flashlight, for the fact that they potentially have a longer lifespan?
Which small ones? All of the Olights are larger than the Zebralight SC53 except for the AAA Olight. Bigger flashlights will have more lumens and more energy. The question is what’s the right size for EDC?
Zebralight SC53 is on the smaller side: 77mm long, 21mm diameter (round). But all 1x AA flashlights will be about this size, its just the nature around designing a flashlight around a 50mm long AA battery. AAA is even smaller but you lose out on Lumens significantly: the AAA Olight is 180 Lumens, about half the light that the AA design gets you. But it is even smaller and easier to keep in the pocket, so that’s the tradeoff.
A lot of people like the 1000-lumen sized flashlights, they’re a touch bigger and they use Li-ion batteries instead. But again, its about the size difference. What size do you want to carry with you?
For me, I think AA makes the most sense. They have cheap chargers made by a large number of competing manufacturers. If I “lose” my AA charger, I know I can get a replacement for $10 to $20. What happens if you lose that magnetic charger? Can you ever recharge that flashlight?
Fair point regarding the models with proprietary chargers.
I think the Zebralight model you mentioned is the smallest I’d want to go. Do you reckon it’s a buy-it-for-life kinda product?
I’m looking it up and it seems like Zebralight is USA-only, so maybe the whole thing is moot. IMO, technology is always improving, 10 years from now we’ll have better… something. Its unpredictable, but something will be better. Maybe more-efficient MOSFETs (on/off switches relating to the power-delivery, especially in the voltage-converter circuits and/or current regulator circuits), or more-efficient LEDs, or more-efficient batteries. Who knows? Something will be obsolete in 10 years however, and you might care for an upgrade by that point.
But I’m not so loyal to brands. What I believe in is that the “AA-size” is a good, practical, flashlight for everyday carry. Then again, I know that some people prefer the 18650 (aka: Lithium-cell) that’s roughly one-size larger instead.
Here’s what I do think:
Batteries wear out over time – Replaceable Batteries are key to longevity. My own collection of AAs are thrown away regularly, as they do break down, and I do buy new ones over time. Lithium-Ion in my phones only last 2 to 3 years in my experience. I absolutely require a replaceable battery for any long-term use.
LEDs have long lifespans – 10+ years for the LED is likely. The flashlight likely won’t last for “life” as the LED is the critical component, but if we ignore the battery (which probably only has a few years of life at the best), the “next” component to likely fail is easily 10+ years of life. Other parts inside of the battery (Inductors / MLCC Capacitor for the boost circuit, and other chips) are 20+ year components.
Technology always improves – Every part I listed here has improved in the past decade. Meaning I expect 10+ years from now, that the new tech will improve again somehow.
Its the device class you should be thinking of. – Decide upon AAA-size, AA-size, or 18650-size flashlights. There’s a few custom-battery sizes outside of that, but 18650 is the “standard lithium” cell that likely is replaceable. AA-size might use Lithium-ion 14500 cells, which is also fine and standardized (albeit less popular, but its still a “standard” size with replacements available). The particular brand isn’t too important: as long as its using modern parts, you’ll get roughly the same performance as all competitors. (Be it a Zebralight or a M150 or whatever you end up buying).
So yeah, that’s your main decision: AAA-sized (180 Lumens), AA-sized for ~280 to 300 lumens (or 14500-sized, the equivalent Li-ion standard-size), or 18650-sized (Li-ion only, 1000+ lumen).
Bigger is more lumens and hours of use per charge.
Smaller is easier to carry.
Brand probably doesn’t matter as long as you choose a premium LED / premium brand of some kind.
Thanks again for the comprehensive info. It’s a shame that Zebralight are US only!
I’ll do a bit of research based on what you’ve said :)