GearLight LED Tactical Flashlight S1000
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Review 1
I took my son car camping for a few days and needed a pair of flashlights, a pair of lanterns, and a head-light for the trip. When I assembled my lighting gear, I decided that the cheapo LED flashlights I had needed an upgrade and were only suitable as back-ups. I went found the pair of GearLight tactical flashlights on Amazon and decided to try them after reading both positive and negative reviews.
I was very happy with the results! This is a great flashlight for a casual camping trip. We had no problems seeing our way along the paths of the camping grounds and our campsite. The narrow beam can illuminate trees 100 feet away easily.
A month later, the whole family went on another trip and spent a morning walking through a lava tube cave that extended nearly a mile underground. The height of the cave varied from 5 feet to 45 feet and the width from 3 feet across to 20 feet across. For fun, our group would stop in larger sections and turn off all of our flashlights for a minute. It was absolutely pitch black! With flashlights on, the wide beam was great for seeing your step forward and the walls of the cave. The narrow high beam was good for illuminating the highest cave ceiling.
We were in there for well over an hour. I hadn’t changed the AAA batteries (separately purchased Amazon brand) since I first opened the new package of flashlights. By the very end of the cave hike, the brightness was fading. But the light was still better than the cheaper LED lights and the headlights that some others in our party had — just time to replace the batteries.
I will note that the park rented super high beam spotlights that looked like 3-inches by 3-inches blocks with handles attached. The little GearLights were NOT anywhere as powerful as those spotlights. But I did not expect them to be.
At this price for two flashlights ($16 for the pair), this is a solid piece of gear.
Review 2
Alright, this is an update to an earlier review I had made. First thing I want to say is that these flashlights are 15.99, which is a price point that is very important when looking at these lights. For that price, these are really nice flashlights. I have more expensive flashlights that I use for work and to carry every day, but these are really bright flashlights that take 18650 batteries (so great battery life) and are just great spare flashlights.
I purchased these originally for spare lights to use and share at my work, where I use flashlights consistently over an 8 to 10-hour shift to look through machinery and clear areas. The lights are bright, probably about 700 lumens, and they do have great battery life. However, everything can be unscrewed easily and can fall apart.
That adds to my rating like I’ve stated these flashlights cost 15.99. When they fell apart on me, I didn’t think nor ask for replacements, but the sellers contacted me and replaced them anyway. Great customer service that honestly I would have never expected, so I agreed to try them again and review them once again.
So for me, I’m going to keep these as spares to let my handlers use at work and to use them around the house and in emergency kits. To solve the issue I had, I used some Loctite on the threads, and now these flashlights have zero issues.
So, in conclusion. If you need a spare flashlight or you are shopping for bright flashlights on a budget, then you really can’t go wrong with these.
URPOWER Tact,ical Flashlight Super Bright CREE LED Flashlight Zoomable Tactical Flashlight
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Review 1
I am amending my original review that you will see below. The seller saw my initial review of 2 stars, contacted me, and sent out a new unit right away. The main issue I had was the charger, and the replacement unit has no problems at all so I consider the problem perfectly resolved. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that the seller took care of this so quickly, that speaks highly of their overall integrity.
Initial product review:
I just got this, and I am fairly disappointed in this purchase. The flashlight itself seems pretty solid although I am pretty skeptical of the 1000 lumens rating. I have a Duracell flashlight rated at 1000 lumens, when held side by side, the Duracell is clearly several orders of magnitude brighter than the URPOWER flashlight. I have no way to measure the lumen output scientifically; I can only relate how it appears in direct comparison. However, I will use this flashlight while camping, and the light output should be sufficient for that.
My major disappointment with the light is the enclosed charger for the 18650 battery. The charger unit is pretty flaky. The positive contact point is fixed, the negative contact is a spring-loaded sliding tab, the idea being that you slide up the negative contact, insert the battery, and then charging is established. It barely works. In order to get the charger to start flashing the red charging indicator light, I have to jiggle and delicately position the battery at awkward angles in order to get the charger going. Sometimes I can get it charging right away; sometimes I can’t.
As well, out of the box, the battery took approx. 14 hours to charge. This is my first 18650 battery so I cannot say whether that is slow or not.
Review 2
We were looking for a good priced, bright small light that is rechargeable like our larger flashlight for days when we just need a quick light for an activity. After reading a ton of reviews on several different brands, this one seemed to have the brightest light. We use it to go to our mailbox at night, let the dogs out for a break, keep a small spotlight on the little Jack Russell that likes to sneak off and hunt, find food items in our pantry that does not have an overhead light because we have an 80s house. We didn’t need the flashing SOS but like the feature to take it from wide to pinpoint lighting. It is very bright for such a small light. The strap is handy to leave hands free if you need to pick up something quick.
Very pleased, this little light packs a big punch! My husband is hoarding the other one because I lose and drop flashlights all of the time. We’ve had this a month; it holds a charge a long time. Plan on mailing one to my daughter and husband for dog walking, 2 pack is a bonus.
Ultra-Bright LED Flashlight, Wsiiroon CREE XML-T6 LED Flashlight
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Review 1
The two flashlights seem to be of different quality. The zooming head on one of them is loose to the point that a slight flick of the flashlight will change the zooming, while the other one needs to be pulled or pushed to change it. So, they are not as high quality as claimed. I Will not recommend this flashlight.
UPDATED (11/21/2018): DO NOT BUY!!! After about 7 months of use, both are dead within the past two weeks. Charge up the battery, but neither turns on — a piece of garbage. So I am lowering the rating to 1 star–could have been none, if amazon allows it.
Also, I came back here to post this update and saw the seller’s response to my original review. So, I am going to contact them to see what they are going to say about their products.
UPDATED (11/30/2018): The seller offered either a free replacement or a full refund. Knowing that the seller is 100% backing their products and willing to work with the customer to correct any issues they might have, I am willing to trust this seller again for future purchase needs. Therefore, I am changing my rating to 5 stars. I could be just one of the few getting a bad batch.
Review 2
The light output on this small flashlight is incredible. The 1800 lumen output is many times brighter than any incandescent handheld up to twice its size and weight, and its metal body feels far more durable than any other LED flashlight below $50 that I’ve used. The telescoping feature to control the aperture is very useful for adapting the volume of illumination necessary for different situations, such as a large area for outdoor use and a smaller area for indoor use during a power outage. The different modes are well-suited for adapting to different situations as well– since the flashlight is so bright, having a 50% output and 20% output option is invaluable for shining it indoors while still avoiding the unintentional blinding of someone else.
Another useful thing to note is that you don’t have to turn the flashlight completely off then on again in order to switch modes (although that works too). You can depress the rubber button about halfway (before it audibly clicks) to cycle through the different modes more quickly than switching it on and off.
Review 3
This is a fantastic flashlight, especially at this price point. It comes as a set of 2, so split the price in half for the cost of each. The beam is quite bright, and it can be adjusted from very wide to narrow with a simple slide. The slide mechanism is smooth and seems strong. The battery life is excellent; 3 aaa batteries lasted for over a week of camping with no dimming. The unit is lightweight and compact but rugged. I used the tactical head to hammer down tent pegs during a storm with minimal damage to the flashlight. The drawback is the wrist strap, which snapped after some use. However, it’s pretty simple to slip in your own piece of stronger cord. Cycling between the brightness settings and the built-in strobe (which seems unnecessary) and SOS settings can be annoying These small flaws don’t detract much from this being by far the best value flashlight I’ve ever bought. Most flashlights this bright (and what seems to be this level of quality) are at a minimum of double the price. It’s good looking too, with bright green on/off button and nice grooves throughout the body.
Anker Super Bright Tactical Flashlight, Rechargeable (18650 Battery Included)
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YET ANOTHER EDIT AND UPDATE – have tested this flashlight out a few times already, just as good as my first one lights up the night like it’s daylight and feels very sturdy, solid and well built. I haven’t bothered testing the “switch between modes” button on it since I only need it at one setting (maximum brightness) but overall very happy with it.
FURTHER EDIT AND UPDATE – raised this back to a 5-star review again due to Anker’s amazing customer service. Short version: despite me returning the flashlight to amazon for a refund, Anker STILL mailed me out a replacement flashlight, basically for free!
Long version: originally I emailed Anker support (helpful hint, scan the instructions that come with the flashlight into your computer for the useful contact info or take a picture with your phone and email it to yourself, asking if the problem I described below was normal. The following day decided to call them directly. The Anker rep I spoke to said that was definitely not normal but also mentioned that happens in maybe two out of 500 flashlights and they sell a ton of these each day.
So given the sheer volume of flashlights sold I would assume there are bound to be some manufacturing defects (that last thought – my words not the rep, the Anker rep didn’t actually say that. But you would think so. The rep generously offered to send me a prepaid shipping label and to ship out a free replacement flashlight – which in and by itself is pretty awesome. A lot of companies out there will insist you mail the defective item back at your expense, period (trust me, I’ve dealt with said companies before ).
But, it would have taken 5 business days for Anker to ship out the replacement flashlight. Originally I accepted the prepaid return label then thought to myself, well there’s a delay to get the flashlight anyways same as if I ordered it again from amazon. Might as well return this to amazon for a full refund and order it again once amazon processes the refund (that way you’re not stuck with the flashlight if the replacement. Anker sends turns out to have a problem too – though I now realize Anker is so nice they probably would have just replaced it again if that turned out to be the case!
By the time I’d submitted the flashlight to amazon for a refund (which amazon promptly processed, as usual, Amazon is great. My email must have gotten through to an Anker rep. I referenced my amazon order number in the email, so I have to assume the Anker rep knew I’d already sent the flashlight back to amazon for a refund, and despite that the rep still mailed out a brand new replacement flashlight to me, basically giving me one for free!
Just got the flashlight today in the mail, far as I can tell works great. I’m going to have to wait until night time to go outside and test out the brightness but if I don’t update this review any further assume that:
1) the flashlight is as bright as the first one was and
2) no problems with the flashlight being “stuck” in-between modes far as going into “strobe/flashing” function and then not being able to switch back to “normal” again.
The moral of the story is – reach out to the manufacturer first and give them an opportunity to make things right, not just with this flashlight but in general – you may be pleasantly surprised 🙂 …
EDIT AND UPDATE – I will have to agree with the negative reviews, of which there appear to be many, stating that there are problems with switching between modes (bright, strobe, SOS, and so forth).. accidentally switched it to strobe mode, took a good twenty minutes (literally) of turning the button on and off again on the bottom before I could get it to cycle back to “bright” mode. A workaround is to make sure you wait a good ten second after turning the flashlight off before turning it back on again (turning it on and off within 2 seconds triggers the mode switch apparently), but this is going to be a problem if I forget to do that.. emailed Anker’s support team , will update my review accordingly if/when they reply. Unfortunately, this caused me to drop my rating of the flashlight down from 5 to 3 stars after only one week of use. Having said that for the money I’m tempted to keep the flashlight given how well it (literally) lights up the night. But I really wish their design team had done a better job of hat button/switching modes function of the flashlight.
(ORIGINAL REVIEW) At the time I post this review, P. McGuire’s extremely helpful review is the first one that pops up when you check out the reviews, and I agree 100 percent with everything he says. This thing is REALLY bright! I swear, when I’m using it in the dead of night the area within the beam – it’s as if it was broad daylight!
One thing I’m confused about, however, is why amazon says “there is a newer version of this item”… and sure it’s slightly less expensive, but from what I can see of the product description it’s less bright? Spend the small amount of extra money and get the older, brighter version.
The instructions could also use some work. Call me mentally challenged, and eventually, one can figure out what the instructions can tell you, but they are abbreviated to the point where you have to puzzle through where everything connects to where. Especially when plugging the USB charger into the flashlight (Anker in the highly unlikely event you’re reading this among the literally thousands of reviews on here 😛 … a video outlining how to put together and charge the flashlight step by step would be great ! )
Still, happy with the purchase overall. It replaces a very cheap other USB rechargeable flashlight that was great while it lasted. But, sure enough, it broke the first time I dropped it (you get what you pay for). This, in contrast, feels hefty and durable and I believe the product description when they say you could use it to smash a window in case of an emergency of some sort (trapped in your car maybe?)
Review 2
 I bought the Anker LC90 flashlight three months ago, and it worked perfectly until now. This flashlight was really bright, and the build quality seemed fantastic, it looked sturdy and durable. The zoom feature was great too. I brought this flashlight on many trips, and it worked flawlessly. It was working fine until yesterday.
When I inserted the battery and screwed in the end cap, the case got really hot, so I took the battery out to inspect the flashlight. The flashlight and battery looked fine, nothing burned or exploded so I put the battery back in the flashlight to see if it works, but the flashlight did not want to work properly anymore.
Now when I insert the battery it either doesn’t want to turn on or randomly goes into strobe mode, it doesn’t want to cycle to the other modes. I tried other batteries too, but I got the same result, the flashlight doesn’t want to cycle modes anymore. I really enjoyed using this flashlight; it’s too bad it stopped working.
UPDATE(8/7/2017): Anker Customer Service is top-notch, and this issue is being resolved.
UPDATE(8/9/2017): 2-Stars to 5-Stars. Received a new flashlight today free of charge, and it works perfectly. Didn’t have to return the broken flashlight. Anker Customer Service is amazing, and I would buy their products again.
Review 3
There are so very few legitimate flashlight ratings out there.
It appears that only the trysted bigger name brands have trustable luminescence ratings.
After trying several “highly recommended” or “choice” flashlights, this Anker 900 lm model is about the only one that is truly what it’s rated at 900 lm’s, and consequently the only one I want to keep.
Don’t be fooled by the many that claim 1000 lm and higher. Unless its a reputable name brand, like Anker, Coast, Lux-pro, etc., while they may make very nice, well-made flashlights, do not expect the advertised brightness, and frankly, unless you have other quality models to compare to, you will not even realize how much it may be lacking in performance.
From all my searching and testing, I do not believe you will see higher than a legitimate 900lm from a flashlight that uses a single 18650 battery. So unless you want to go bigger, guys, this is most likely your best bet for the money,
Note that many of the legitimately higher lm flashlights (at a much higher price too), that use 18650 batteries, usually use several (3 or 4) in parallel, meaning it really only needs 1 to run, but the higher wattage LED would cause it not last very long, so they parallel multiple batteries to still deliver the same approximately 3.7 volts, but with 4x the capacity (if it takes 4 18650 batteries). Another word, you can run these on just 1 battery if you desired, but will not last so long.
I also advise purchasing quality 18650 batteries for this and other good lights.
Just like lights, go with the name brand, reputable, battery brands, such as Samsung.
Do not trust the ones that claim huge mah capacities, like 4000 and up. The technology isn’t there yet. If you want to know a quality battery, a good indicator is a digital scale. In general, the heavier the battery, most likely, the better quality (higher mah capacity).
My 3200 mah Samsung 18650 batteries weigh considerably more than my Sunfire 6000mah ones and last much longer as well.
MIKAFEN 5 Pack Mini Flashlights LED Flashlight
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Review 1
I wanted a cost-effective compact; pocket LED flashlight with decent specifications and quality. This product easily meets my criteria.
The 300 Lumen brightness is obtained with using the 14500 3.6 Volt Lithium Battery. As an additional benefit, this flashlight will also run off a standard AA Alkaline 1.5 Volt battery, producing a little over 100 Lumens of brightness which is quite decent for a compact pocket LED flashlight.
The flashlight is well built (all-metal housing), rugged, and water-resistant. The zoom range from wide-to-spot is decent, providing useful lighting for different requirements. In the “spot” position, the projected bright light image is “square” (mirroring the LED element) which is quite acceptable and typical of inexpensive optics.
This product is an excellent value, providing a good price point for quality, features, and performance.
I recommend this flashlight as it has met my aforementioned criteria.
Review 2
For less than 4 bucks each shipped, these are a great value. My intent is to have these scattered in various places for occasional use, not for everyday use. They appear sturdy, and all 5 worked fine. Yes, if they are zoomed to the smallest diameter beam, it shows the LED, but for me, there is no practical use at that zoom.
At or near wide-angle, the beam is quite even and for use nearby, has a surprising amount of light for such a small flashlight (I am using a rechargeable AA). The clip, which may for some be uncomfortable when hand-holding, can be removed by withdrawing 2 Allen screws. A bit on the operation. It has high, low, rapid flashes. It cycles through these options every time the button is pressed. From the off, one full press turns it on high.
One more full press turns it off. The next time it is fully pressed, it turns on in low, next full press off, next full press flashing, next full press off. At that point, you are back to the beginning. Alternatively, if you are starting from this point, one full press turns on high, a HALF press goes to low, another HALF press goes to flashing without shutting off in between.
Then a full press turns off and when fully pressed again is on a high. If you turn off the light in any setting other than flashing, the next time you turn it on, it will go to the next setting, not high. For example, turn it off in high, and the next time it turns on it will be in low, turn it off in low, next time it is turned on, it will be flashing. Got it? Just always turn it off in flashing every time, and it will turn on in high. I have not tested these over time, but don’t expect problems.