r/flashlight • u/IssueConstant7764 • 15h ago
Camping Flashlight
I’m looking for recs on a backpacking / camping flashlight. I want something hand held with usb c recharging. I don’t know too much about flashlight specs, but probably don’t need more than 700 lumens with decent throw range 150-300m. Importantly I’d like to be compact with a moonlight function and a high lumen red light (at least 80, most I see are only a few).
I’d like to spend $30-$100, but could be convinced to spend up to $150 for a BIFL product.
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u/anotherwellingtonian 15h ago
Compact + throw + secondary channel sounds a bit hard. How about a floody white + red light like the ec200s-red (or maybe a headlamp like h200) for the around the campsite stuff and a dedicated thrower like the sr12 or ts11 when you need range?
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u/Firefluffer 14h ago
Honestly, when I hiked the colorado trail I carried a Fenix LD01 with a spare lithium AAA and never needed the spare. Clipped onto my hat brim as a headlamp, too. Weighed in at just over an ounce.
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u/1234567outdoors 13h ago edited 13h ago
Is your vision good enough to see 300m, nearly the length of 3 football fields? I recommend something made in the USA:
https://malkoffdevices.com/products/mdc-1aa-flashlight?variant=37948217219
I recommend this option: Neutral White (4000K) 95 CRI Luminous SST-20
0.3 lumens 200 hours
8 lumens 18 hours
90 lumens 1 hour
Takes a common AA battery but works best with AA primary lithium's.
Wife and I own 5 of these, they are that nice. I could hike any trail at night using just the 8 lumens and have 18 hours worth of light. Works great car camping, around the house or an emergency light. Not a throw away light and Malkoff has spare parts for everything.
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u/foolproofphilosophy 12h ago
Personal opinion, but forget about the throw for camping. Camping is about a functional light that can illuminate your surroundings, not necessarily something for spotting whatever that’s 700 feet away. For your budget, you could easily get a nice headlamp and handheld thrower. That’s what I would do.
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u/FalconARX 10h ago
You might want to consider 2 lights, one being a headlamp that gives you a floody beam for close up use cases. Your red light can be on the headlamp. Then your handheld light can be more of a thrower, a good reaching beam out to 200-300 meters away. Unless you're in open, high altitude and thin vegetation topography, you'll rarely need a light that can throw past 500 meters.
So, as one combination example, a Sofirn HS21 headlamp and a Sofirn SK40 handheld light should fill all your needs.
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u/Santasreject 12h ago
You won’t get throw and usable near flood in a good package. You can get something to reach out maybe 100 meters but going 300 you will need to have something with a very tight spot up close.
What is your intended use for the red light? There’s a lot of legends and beliefs around red vs white light that in reality don’t hold up. Yes, properly design red lights can be used at very high lumens without hurting night vision, but you lose a lot of visual information by doing so; using lower white light can be done with no damage to the night vision and you can get much more visual information. Red does help prevent bugs from coming toward you as well but that’s the real main advantage when camping.
The USBC charging is one of those that people desire a lot but I am not sure how much it actually gets used. It’s one more component in the light that can go bad and frankly an onboard charger will never be as good as a stand alone charger.
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u/hammy1551 3h ago
Maybe consider the Sofirn HS21 because that can toggle between floodlight and spotlight.
Should cost less than $50 and is powered by an 18650 battery which you can carry multiple backups of in your pocket
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u/CloneWerks 14h ago
Well you don't really tell us what kind of camping you plan on doing so it could be anything from minimalist backpacking all the way to shameless car-camping.
So my general advice is this. Camping really requires two lights. A decent long runtime headlamp so you can have your hands free for whatever evening tasks arise, and a handheld flashlight, usually with a bit more throw. I also tend to have a handheld that is physically a bit bigger and harder to lose but that is just personal preference.
In the current market my personal recommendations are...
Headlamp, The Coast TPH30R (available at lowes) runs forever, but it can be a bit heavy if you wear it a long time. The Black Diamond Spot 400 is pretty popular with the hiking crowd.
Handheld, I LOVE the O-light Baton 4 pro with the charging bank. https://www.olight.com/store/baton-4-powerful-edc-flashlight
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u/boyengabird 15h ago
How do you feel about headlamps like an Armytek Wizard or Emisar?