I’m thinking about getting my first decent flashlight. I find that most of the time when I want a decent light, it’s when I’m walking the dog or taking out the compost, and I’m struggling to juggle a light with what I’m doing, so I’d like something I can tuck in a pocket and have it illuminate what I’m doing.

I’d prefer something with a fixed right angle; I’m not terribly interested in a swivel.

USB-C charging woul be best. I can see the appeal of magnetic charging, but I’ve got so used to having everything on USB-C that I’d rather not have another proprietary cable around.

I’m a little bit intimidated by some of the programming diagrams I’ve seen. I don’t think I need a light with over a dozen different lighting and strobe modes. On/off is fine, high-mid-low is also great, but much more than that and I worry about getting lost.

I’ve seen some with the option for a red light as well as white, and that’s appealing, but not essential. I like the idea of not having to totally lose my night vision when I turn on my flashlight. Powerbank function, similarly, is appealing but by no means essential.

Budget is $70, tops, but if there are models that are cheaper but still quality construction, I’m open to suggestion.

Thanks for the help!

  • @[email protected]English
    1•11 months ago

    I carried a streamlight on my bunker gear for years. It’s survived a large number of structure fires and car wrecks and still going strong.

    For something small, I’ve really been enjoying my hanklights, he released a smaller right angle light last year, ordering can be a little overwhelming, but r/hanklights has some good guides. Mine has survived going through the washer and the dryer, and is my duty light on the ambulance I am working on. Yes, it has a lot of features in the UI, but you don’t have to use them, and there are good guides to figure out the basics. 99% of the time I just use on off.I can provide my build list if you are interested to simplify things.