My flashlight Search turning into an addiction?

[340pd]

I keep a very old Surefire flashlight by my bedside with my gun. It was upgraded to a LED about 10 years ago. Knowing that technology has increased, I did some digging and ran into Malkoff Devices a guy who really makes one tough flashlight plus drop in kits to convert older Surefire and Maglights to today's standards. I bought a drop-in for my Surefire and the results are dramatic. I thought, why not, so then I ordered one of his small edc lights. It is a really nice replacement for the mid-range Chinese lights I have been using. BTW, If anyone is thinking about ordering any of his products, go to his website and subscribe to his e-mail list and you will immediately get a code for 20% off your order. Valuable because they are not cheap but their reputation in the flashlight world is solid as a rock.
https://malkoff-devices.myshopify.com/

Malkoff MDC -small.jpg

[Bawanna]

Thanks for this. I have an old 6Z I've carried for many many years, been thinking of upgrading it to LED for many of those years.
Always balked at price and options. This looks like a very good fit.
I picked up a Fenix PD31 a few years ago but never gave up the Surefire, just carry both.

[340pd]

Looking at flashlights I found there are the cheapies, the mid-range Chinese that are really good products, and then the so-called bombproof products and the maker's list gets rather small. All Surefire products are rated very high. Your flashlight is well worth spending the $40-$50 to upgrade. There are other makers of drop-in components but Makloff's name always ranks high on the list. Lights in that category sell for well over $100. Now, upgrading a 3 cell Maglight with all it's involved length and weight, may not be practical.
Be aware Malkoff charges $9.00 shipping so utilize the discount by subscribing to his e-mail list if you go that way.

[Bobshouse]

Couldn't carry weapons in the prison, so I carried a 6 D cell maglite....

[wyntrout]

I bought an upgrade LED bulb for my 2-cell Maglite and it seems brighter... $9.99 at Walmart or Harbor Freight. I don't carry that, but keep it at the front door.
I have a 300+ lumen Cadet for EDC at night... about $60. And, I picked up something that small and almost as bright for under $10 at Cabela's, I believe.

[ltxi]

Back in the dark ages (yep, pun intended) I was lights addicted to cutting edge technology. High output Surefire incandescents, than early LED conversions, then into building my own best and brightest from components. In the latter years of this, Malkoff was one of my best sources for conversion components and heads. Malkoff is good people!

These days, with LED tech much mainstream evolved, I no longer need to build my own. I still have and use my upgraded Surefires and some of my later custom builds. But for anything new, especially high output subcompacts, my go to default is Fenix. High quality at fair prices.

Haven't been on the forum for quite some time but Candlepower Forum should still be a rich resource for anyone interested.

[Barth]

Years ago I took a standard Surefire and upgraded with a crazy LED 400 lumen bulb.
It is the Bat Signal.
So bright it's nearly blinding from behind the light!
Bad boy is still on my nightstand these days.
Just don't see any point in changing it out...

[edw794]

after owning a bunch of surefires for years, i found the fenix line, especially the tk16 very hard to beat.

[downtownv]

Surefire is living off it's name Fenix blows them away!
I have Fenix TK-32 and it is Blinding.

[RustyIron]

I'm only a fan of top shelf flashlights when someone else is footing the bill. I've been using Chicom flashlights for years. The one that's been my primary flashlight for three years can be found on Amazon as a Skysted A100. It's fourteen bucks. And I use it multiple times every day. The main feature I MUST have is single mode. I can't be jacking around going clickety-clickety-clickety as I switch between high-low-flash-SOS modes. I want my light to go ON-OFF, and that's it. Next, I want a moderately-bright light. These flame-throwing mega-lumen lights aren't for me. While doing close up work, these rambo-lights are blinding. Even in a small room, they'll wreck your vision. They're great if you're trying to light up a hillside looking for a rogue possum, but that's it.

So functionally, the Amazon light meets my requirements. But what's better, when you drop your flashlight you're not crapping your pants over the potential loss of $150. It's more like, "Pffft. Fourteen bucks. So what? I wonder how much more abuse this cheap POS will take."