Flashlights

[warren5421]

Seeing contender1's comments about using flashlights in the predator posting caused me to wonder what flashlight you use.

Brand, LED, Incandescent, HID, Lumens, Candle Power, Flood or Throw, under $50 or over $50

Just general type info on your flashlight and would you buy again.

My flashlight is a Surefire E2D LED DEFENDER rated at 60 lumen when bought cost around $60, no longer made. It is a throw and wish I had bought 2 or 3 at the time. The replacement is $225

[megasupermagnum]

Maglite XL50 with Energizer lithium batteries.

[KCcactus]

I have a couple of cheap green led flashlights I use for pig hunting from a blind. First one was Vastfire, about $30 including 2 18650 batteries and charger. The other is Windfire and was $15 for just the light. Both zoom from wide to spot. My feeder is about 60 yds out. With one light set covering 10 yds either side of the feeder, I can see another 30 or so beyond that. Light goes on a small tripod on top of the blind and gets turned on just before dark.

[Kestrel4k]

Oveready BOSS 70.
4.5 inches long and less than an inch in width; 3500 lumens on High mode.
Lower modes include a respectable 400 lumens for 5 hours, or 16 lumens for 4 days straight.
The lowest mode is set to 0.14 lumens, enough for household navigation w/ dark adapted vision. Nobody really knows how long that runtime is.
The modes are fully programmable via the optical sensor on the front that is also is a micro red LED that could run for about 6 months.
If you have to ask the price, well you know how that part goes ... :-/ It was a gift from a friend during a rough time.

[GhostHawk]

My only flashlight on a gun is on a Rem 870 wingmaster 12 ga special trap model. Shotgun is behind the bedroom door within reach with me sitting on the bed. I think I have only pulled it out to go look at noise twice in 25 years. Once was a cat with a mouse. The other was my stepdaughter who was supposed to be at a sleepover and not home that night.
Scared the living daylights out of her when I flicked the light on. Shotgun was lined up on her head about 6 inches from the end of the barrel.
That barrel had to look mighty big as her eyes got VERY large very fast.

Just a cheap 15$ light from amazon that takes 18650 Li-Ion battery's of which I have many battery's and chargers. I check it once a year, charge battery once every 5 years or so. I have a variety of lights around the house from dirt cheap on ebay to mid range. They mostly all work pretty well.

[rbuck351]

My best most used is a Hyper Tough that has 6 small leds for wide angle short range and one bigger one in the center that is a beam. It uses 3 AA batteries of what ever type you want and has a range of a good 60yds on high with 3 beam settings and one wide angle. I don't remember exactly what it cost but was around $30 about 7 years ago.

[alfadan]

a cheap 500 lumen 4aaa on my ruger 10-22 armadillo gun. I need to put something on my 500 mossberg.

[contender1]

I have a lot of different flashlights.
On the "cheap" end of things,, I have several "Coast" brand lights that I use on a regular basis in my work. I inspect attics, crawl spaces & such a lot. If I break or destroy one of those, I'm not out much.
And I have a couple of Streamlight's & a SureFire. Those are in places where more serious things may be needed.

Between those,, I have all sorts of lights. Some are rechargeable, some use triple A's, some double A's, some lithium batteries. Lums vary all over the place.

None of my lights are mounted on a gun, except for a few dedicated StreamLight handgun light/laser ones.

[BadgerShooter]

The newer Surefire G2 Nitrolons can be had with 300-600 lumen lamps. Just massively better than the original incandescent ones. They can be had for $50-$75 I use mine every day. I'd hate to say how many Surefires I've owned over the last 30 years or so. They were awesome at the time and have kept up with advancements in performance. I have one mounted on a Ruger PC carbine - works great when the dog is tangling with critters at night.

[megasupermagnum]

I guess I should have expanded on what I said. The Maglite XL50 is the flashlight I prefer the most in hand. I have one in the nightstand. I have one in all gloveboxes. I have one in the hunting gear. I used one for years at work. They don't fail in any conditions I've found. Not in hot or cold, not in snow or rain. I even dropped one into 200 gallons of hot hydraulic oil, and it still works.

For a weapon mounted light, I have a Maglite MagTac on my Mossberg 590. Seems a little brighter than the XL50. Little bit longer and heavier than the XL50. Twice the cost of an XL50. Seems to hold up to recoil well.

By far my most used light is a headlamp though. A Princetontec Vizz. I think I have 3 of them. Zero failures. Good balance of brightness and battery life. Super lightweight. They regularly end up underwater duck hunting without issue. The one and only downside I've found is they will not work with rechargable batteries. I only use Energizer Lithiums in them.

[GregLaROCHE]

Thé LED technology is amazing. You can have a flashlight the size of your little finger and see 25 yards away.

[MaryB]

Olight Warrior X Turbo, 1,100 lumens, I can light up street signs 1/2 mile away, easy to see a coyote out 400 yards. Yes it is big and heavy!

https://www.olightstore.com/warrior-x-turbo-black.html

[kerplode]

My EDC light is an old, well worn, and now discontinued Fenix PD22UE.

Single CR123A/16340, 510 Lumens

[Shawlerbrook]

Whatever you choose make it LED.

[gc45]

My Lowes handheld flashlight lights up real well to 100yds and more, can see coyotes very clear, it cost $20. about 5yrs ago. Wish I had bought 3 of them. My wife holds it and I shoot. We have killed lots of dogs this way.

[megasupermagnum]

My Lowes handheld flashlight lights up real well to 100yds and more, can see coyotes very clear, it cost $20. about 5yrs ago. Wish I had bought 3 of them. My wife holds it and I shoot. We have killed lots of dogs this way.

I find that really hard to believe. See their eyes at 100 yards, sure. See clear at 100 yards? I've never seen a flashlight do it.

[BadgerShooter]

I have a 1000 Lumen Surefire Weapon light that will do it. Its pretty good to nearly twice that distance.

[Gator 45/70]

I try not to use one with the wife or kids around as one or the other wants to grab it.

[Electrod47]

Olights. Have them all from 2,000 to 500. Lumens? I guess. Got one of their headlamps rechargeable for after dark game recovery. Some are over 5 years old and still functioning like new. Don't be afraid of this Chinese brand. They must have the A-Team building them. Guys try to tell me how great their Lowe's and others are. I switch on a Olight. Suddenly, everybody's quiet.

[1Hawkeye]

One thing I have noticed is that reguardless of the light a red lense can be a benefit because a plain "white" light beam can spook some predators.

[almar]

i have some acres and a bit of livestock, small scale but the streamlight protac HL4 was a game changer. 2200 lumens. I like reliability and performance and this thing checks all the boxes for now until a bigger better one becomes available.

[M-Tecs]

https://www.huntinggearinsiders.com/best-light-for-coyote-hunting/

https://www.coyotelight.com/tips-and-techniques-for-hunting-coyotes-at-night/

https://thepredatorhunter.com/best-coyote-hunting-light-color/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg98D45Q-YA

[megasupermagnum]

I have a 1000 Lumen Surefire Weapon light that will do it. Its pretty good to nearly twice that distance.

I can at least see a high end Surfire light having the ability. I've got what I consider a mid range spotlight I forget the brand, possibly Cyclops. I've never seen a flashlight this bright. You can see coyote pretty good to 150 yards. 200 you can see them, but not what I consider really clear. You can see eyeshine way out there. Taking shots past 150 yards is really tough at night anyway unless you have a good setup where you could get both the spotlight and weapon light on the coyote at the same time. My biggest issue is these spotlights eat C batteries. One good night of hunting, and they are already not as bright. I'd like to get a rechargeable one, or at least find one that can use D batteries.

[kerplode]

If you want a spotlight for distance, look into a LEP light. They will blow your mind.

Fenix makes a nice one, but it's not particularly powerful as far as LEPs go. There are some out there that have 3000+ meter throws.

Fenix HT30R (https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-ht30r-white-laser-flashlight)

[M-Tecs]

If you want a spotlight for distance, look into a LEP light. They will blow your mind.

Fenix makes a nice one, but it's not particularly powerful as far as LEPs go. There are some out there that have 3000+ meter throws.

Fenix HT30R (https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-ht30r-white-laser-flashlight)

I don't own any LEP's but I am looking into them.

https://leplights.com/

https://1lumen.com/lep-flashlight/

[Tazman1602]

Surefire EDCL1-T single battery, I have a dual battery EDCL2-T but it’s 2-battery and it EATS batteries…..

Art

[megasupermagnum]

If you want a spotlight for distance, look into a LEP light. They will blow your mind.

Fenix makes a nice one, but it's not particularly powerful as far as LEPs go. There are some out there that have 3000+ meter throws.

Fenix HT30R (https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-ht30r-white-laser-flashlight)

1500 meters? That's almost a mile. I'm sure it's bright, but certainly you don't really believe there is a light you can hold in your hand that is bright enough to light something up almost a mile away. I mean, I'm sure a lazer pointer is almost as bright at 1 mile as 1 foot, but that doesn't help you at all. Even if they really are super focused beam lazers, I don't see how that can help anyone. If you hunted coyote you would find the only time they ever stop running is the split second to either check out the call or smell you. A 5 foot wide beam doesn't help you at all. Not for taking the shot, and not for scanning for eyes.

[armoredman]

I've been using the Surefire G2 series for years, still have three of the incandescent bulb versions. Juts had to finally replace on lamp unit, finally failed. The belt carry is a new model LED Surefire G2 Nitrolon, 600 lumen, works great. Batteries are either Surefire brand or the generic brand from Battery Junction, the ONLY place i buy batteries anymore.

[MrWolf]

Guess I am gonna have to upgrade my Wiljen lights. Those are still working just fine. But I do need something brighter with a longer throwing distance.

[dale2242]

Another vote here for Cyclops.

[Beerd]

I like 'em with a simple switch, don't want to cycle thru 3 or 4 settings (plus that silly strobe) to turn one off.
..

[MaryB]

I can at least see a high end Surfire light having the ability. I've got what I consider a mid range spotlight I forget the brand, possibly Cyclops. I've never seen a flashlight this bright. You can see coyote pretty good to 150 yards. 200 you can see them, but not what I consider really clear. You can see eyeshine way out there. Taking shots past 150 yards is really tough at night anyway unless you have a good setup where you could get both the spotlight and weapon light on the coyote at the same time. My biggest issue is these spotlights eat C batteries. One good night of hunting, and they are already not as bright. I'd like to get a rechargeable one, or at least find one that can use D batteries.

Olight makes a magnetic mount that clamps on the flashlight then has a V magnet that holds onto the barrel. It is STRONG. I have used it on my shotgun and recoil does not budge it. https://www.olightstore.com/x-wm03.html

[alfadan]

Anybody know where to get some mortar launch flares?;)

[M-Tecs]

Anybody know where to get some mortar launch flares?;)

https://exotic-firearms.com/

http://www.ordnancegroup.com/37mm-rounds.html

[warren5421]

Looking in a flea market, wife wanted to, and found a SOLARFORCE L2 flashlight. It had a $2 price tag. Anyone know anything about them? No information on the internet that I can find, just a little larger than the SureFire E2D that went through the bushhog.

[elmacgyver0]

The magnetic mount that MaryB posted looks like the cat's meow.

[elmacgyver0]

Looking in a flea market, wife wanted to, and found a SOLARFORCE L2 flashlight. It had a $2 price tag. Anyone know anything about them? No information on the internet that I can find, just a little larger than the SureFire E2D that went through the bushhog.

All I can say about cheap flashlights is they work or they don't.
It seems the cheapest flashlights now are better than the best of thirty years ago.
I have a bunch of cheap flashlights and most of them are awesome.
I do like the high dollar ones too.

[megasupermagnum]

Olight makes a magnetic mount that clamps on the flashlight then has a V magnet that holds onto the barrel. It is STRONG. I have used it on my shotgun and recoil does not budge it. https://www.olightstore.com/x-wm03.html

I have a mount screwed right to my forend, but that mount looks nice too. Still, nothing 1" diameter that will fit in these style mounts is going to be effective much beyond 150 yards, hence my statement. I have seen more serious setups that allow farther shooting, but it's beyond what the average guy can do. I guess I shouldn't quite say that. Currently with all this smooth snow, you can probably see a lot farther at night than normal. The best setup for long range would be to hunt over bait, and have a spotlight on a stand, but at that point, why not just sit closer to the bait? That is something I've done. Baiting coyote with dead deer is legal in both MN and SD, and they are happy to let you take roadkill to do so.