Flashlights and Stuff Michael Alan

If you need some good info on starting a knife collection this is your episode. I also mention some info on Thrunite and Olight flashlights.
Blog post associated with this episode: https://www.flashlightsandstuff.com/blog/things-to-consider-when-starting-a-knife-collection-podcast-notes-and-links
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Brands mentioned in this episode: Spyderco, Kershaw, Zero Tolerance, Benchmade and Kizer.

In todays episode of the Flashlights and Stuff podcast I want to talk about a flashlight that isn’t the newest model to hit the shelves but is a tried and true flashlight that is very worthy of consideration today. If you are looking for a well built, dependable, 1000 lumens flashlight you’ll want to consider the Fenix TK16.


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Full transcript at my website.


Visit the website: flashlightsandstuff.com

Transcript:
In this episode of Flashlights and Stuff I’m going to try and answer some common questions that get asked all of the time. Why does one flashlight appear brighter than another, yet they both have the same lumens rating? Do I need a flashlight rated at more than 1000 lumens? Why doesn’t a 4000 lumens flashlight appear 4 times as bright as a 1000 lumens flashlight? Ready? Let’s get going…


So what are lumens? Essentially, lumens are a measure of brightness. Flashlights have lumens ratings to give you an indication of how much perceived brightness you can expect. But, if you buy tactical flashlights based solely on lumens ratings you’ll be disappointed.


There are a number of factors that affect the perceived brightness of a flashlight. Lumens rating can be a starting point, but there are a bunch of other factors to consider as well. Let’s start with the reflector.


Is it smooth? Is it orange peel? Is it narrow and deep? Is it wide? The reflector helps determine light dispersement which affects the perceived brightness of the flashlight.


Typically, narrow, smooth reflectors produce more throw. So a narrow, pronounced beam APPEARS brighter. Just remember that flashlights deemed as “throwers” typically have a ton of light fall off on the sides. So if you want even lighting throughout your field of vision this isn’t the type of flashlight you want.


If the flashlight has an orange peel reflector, you will typically get more flood than throw. By design the orange peel reflector disperses light in a border pattern. Typically, this flashlight reflector design will produce more even lighting across your entire field of view. So if that’s the type of lighting you’d like your flashlight to produce, this is a type of reflector design to consider.


Obviously, the width and depth of the reflector make a difference as well. Generally, a shallow reflector distributes light in a border pattern while a deeper reflector concentrates light more effectively.


Let’s move on to the LED. Most tactical flashlights use some model of a CREE LED. Like any technology, LEDs models change over time to use power more efficiently, yield greater brightness, etc. etc. The bottom line is the LED version your flashlight uses does affect perceived brightness.


Take the Nitecore P12 and the Nitecore P12GT. I own both flashlights. They are mid-size everyday carry flashlights and rated at 1000 lumens. Both flashlights use the same reflector, same power source, are the same size and have the same features. Even though both are 1000 lumens rated, the Nitecore P12GT is noticeably brighter than the Nitecore P12. Why? The difference is in the LED that they use. The P12 uses a CREE XM-L2 U2 led. The P12 GT uses a newer CREE XP-L HI V3 led. The CREE XP-L HI V3 led produces more light intensity. So in this case simply swapping in a newer technology LED makes one 1000 lumens rated flashlight appear brighter than another 1000 lumens rated flashlight. Both identical in every way EXCEPT for the LED.


Since we are on the topic of LEDs don’t forget LED tints and colors can affect your perception of brightness as well. Warmer LED tints, the ones that lean a bit more toward orangey red, have a tendency to soften the light thus making it feel less bright to your eyes. Pure white tints will make the flashlight appear to be brighter. Just remember, the whiter the tint the harsher it is on your eyes for viewing. So LED tint and color selection can get a bit snobbish, but as you purchase more flashlights you may lean toward a preference.


In fact, the quest for the perfect flashlight for you - lumens output, LED type, LED color etc. may take you into the world of flashlight “modding.” Flashlight modification - swapping to emitters, LEDs etc. is a whole other episode, but is a reminder just how serious people can take their flashlights.


Another thing to remember about lumens is that a 4000

In this episode of Flashlights and Stuff I talk about the type of blog post I hate the most. It’s the “Best Tactical Flashlight” post. Reading them is a waste of time. And I’ll reveal what the best tactical flashlight is. So… let’s get started… in 3,2,1.


First, I want to be completely transparent. I’ve had tactical flashlight blogs. My first blog was pretty successful. I made my money from Amazon affiliate links. In fact, before Google penalized my blog (along with thousands of others) for “thin content” I was making as much as $700 a week in affiliate sales. I had the requisite “Best tactical flashlight post” just like dozens of other blogs. I was sort of pissed when Google did this because my reviews were about flashlights I actually owned and all of the photos were ones I took myself. Regardless, my blog was toast at least from a monetary perspective.


So that was about 5 years ago and life goes on. Here’s the deal. If it can make money on the internet it will rear it’s ugly head again. So the “Best Flashlight blog post” is all over the place and 90% of them suck. And here’s why you should ignore them.


The person who wrote the blog post doesn’t even own the flashlight. How do I know? Because they use stock pictures from the manufacturers website. Or the one that totally pisses me off (because it’s happened to me) they’ve stolen a great flashlight photo from another persons Flickr feed or site.


The flashlight’s description is basically a re-write of canned manufacturer marketing crap. No description of the flashlight’s UI, build quality, etc.


Another red flag (at least to me) is the lack of beam shots. When I typically take pictures of a flashlight I include some beam shots as well. I mean the whole point of buying a flashlight is to illuminate something.


So before I talk about what the best tactical flashlight is, just know most of these best tactical flashlight blog posts are just a regurgitation of content you can get by going straight to the manufacturers website. If you are going to “buy” a flashlight from a link to Amazon or some other vendor via a blog post ONLY do it if the person owns the actual flashlight. Google needs to scrub this crap, but based on what I’m seeing it appears their AI is too stupid… so the good flashlight blogs are lost in the midst of the get rich quick passive income hustlers that create blogs about stuff they know absolutely nothing about.


So now… back to the question at hand… revealing the best tactical flashlight. The best tactical flashlight is the one you have with you. That’s it. Plain and simple. It doesn’t matter what brand it is, how many lumens it pumps out, or how many features it has. It just needs to work and be dependable. You can have the most expensive, newest, or brightest flashlight on the market, but if it’s not with you it just doesn’t matter.


I personally believe you need to consider multiple flashlights for your given situation. For example a small everyday carry flashlight like the Fenix E18R or the Thrunite T1 are really great to have with you at any time. My point is this… they are so small and easy to carry you should just automatically put in in your pocket any time you go out.


You can check out the Fenix E18R at FENIXLIGHTING.com and the Thrunite T1 at THRUNITE.com. And of course, listen to my podcast episodes where I review both.


Sometime you need more light than you can get from a super small EDC light. But, you still want to be able to slip it into your pocket. That’s where the mid-size tactical flashlight comes into play. These are typically 1000 to 2000 lumens lights. Fenix, Nitecore, Klarus, Olight, and others all make lights in this category.


Typically, these flashlights have easy to understand user interfaces, additional lighting modes (like SOS) and many come with dual tactical tail switches and crenelated strike bezels. So the fl

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In this flashlight review I share my impressions of the Klarus HA2C multi-purpose flashlight that doubles as a headlamp. The HA2C boasts 3200 lumens of output and a magnetic tailcap.


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Detailed photos here: Klarus HA2C photos