this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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flashlight

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Portable illumination

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Over Christmas, I realised that I don't actually own any torches, and whilst I have no interest in throwing myself into yet another expensive, niche hobby, I wondered if the folk here could help suggest a possible flashlight.

I'm wondering what kind of options are for a headlamp style flashlight, ideally one that can be detached from the headlamp mounting, if that's a thing. In the most ideal world, the flashlight itself would be small enough I could fit it in my everyday carry tool pouch, which is a tool pouch that's around A5 size.

I used to have a basic headlamp which had three lights on it and a button which toggled between modes so it had some variable brightness. I liked that I could tilt it up and down. I used it mostly for digging in unlit storage units, or illuminating in and around my car when unloading at night. It wouldn't need to be too bright (the brightness aspect is one of the things I find most overwhelming about fancy flashlights, because there's a lot of in-group lingo to be learned which I haven't had the brain for.

One of the worst parts about my old headlamp was that its charging adaptor was specific and it'd often go uncharged if I couldn't find the specific charger for it. I don't know how fancy flashlights(TM) are generally powered, but I don't want to get a nice gadget I never use because it's awkward to charge. Proprietary connectors are a bit of a nightmare.

My budget would be up to £100 as a maximum, and only for something that ticked all my boxes. I have no idea how reasonably my goals are here, so thank you for reading this. I'd be glad to hear any suggestions anyone has, whether they be product suggestions, or questions that might be useful for me to consider in narrowing this down. You don't need to explain your recommendations too much — I can go away and research stuff once I have a place to start, but at the moment it just feels a bit big

Thanks

Edit: I feel like I've got plenty to go on now, thank you to everyone who answered, I love y'all, wonderful nerds

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

For the best headlamp, I recommend the Armytek Wizard C2 Pro. It's bright, efficient, and durable. There is a Nichia version which has superior light quality, but has a lower max brightness then the non-Nichia (Cree) version. While it comes with a proprietary built in magnetic charger, it uses standard 18650 sized lithium ion cells, meaning you can either buy a separate external charger or a battery with a built in USB-C port.

On the budget side, there is the Wurkkos HD15. It's less efficient and durable, but far cheaper. It has 2 different LEDs. There are models that have a throw/flood LED combo, and ones that have a white/red combo. This headlamp does have USB-C port built in and uses the same 18650 batteries.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks for these options; it's useful for comparison to see what's considered to be a budget option even if I'm likely to go for something on the fancier side