Most popular flashlights of 2018

BLF-Q8 

#10 most popular flashlight

Best budget quad LED flashlight for 4*18650 batteries. Quad XPL LED. Can be used with 1 – 4 batteries. 5000-6000 lumens.

• 1-4 18650 lithium batteries
• 4x XPL LED for 5000 lumens
• Best budget flashlight of 2017-2019

Specd by the BLF team in order to get the most bang for the buck. Quality and power. The light is produced by flashlight maker Thorfire, and sold at Banggood. It has been a very, very popular light amongst many flashaholics. The driver is running the NarsilM firmware, with the standard UI being ramping with direct access to turbo with a double click. Press and hold for ramping up, and same for ramping down. 4x XPL LED for 5000 lumens. (need to use good cells to get the most output). Or check out our own BLF Q8 review including discount coupons!

Zebralight SC64w

Extremely bright and small flashlight made by top manufacturer Zebralight

#9 most popular flashlight

• Powerful XHP35 LED
• 1300 Lumens
• Single 18650 battery (not included)
• IPX8 waterproof

Zebralight entered the top 10 most popular flashlights of 2018 twice. The SC64w has several models, so you can choose from a variety of emitters, from Cool White to High Cri, to Netrual white, and High intensity. My suggestion would be going for the Neutral White, High Intesity, so you got a good tint, and a throwy beam. This would help lighting up thing close by as well as far away.

BLF GT Mini

Extremely far-reaching small flashlight made by Lumintop

#8 most popular flashlight

• Powerful XPL Hi
• 1200 Lumens
• Single 18650 battery (not included)
• Reaching over 130.000 cd (130kcd)
• UI: smooth ramping up and down

Lumintop has been working steadily in becoming a world-renowned flashlight manufacturer. After their very successful launch of the behemoth (BLF GT) they announced a pocketable version called the BLF GT MINI. Although mini in size, it’s still capable of delivering stunning numbers. Please read my BLF GT MINI review for details. A staggering 1200 lumens and 130kcd!

Olight M2R Warrior

Rechargeable flashlight including a 18650 battery with 1500 lumens.

#7 most popular flashlight

• CREE XHP35HD LED
• Claimed 1500 lumens
• Lithium-Ion 18650 battery included
• Built-in charge system

The Olight M2R is called a Tactical Flashlight. You are able to soft press the rear switch for momentary Turbo mode. This means that you don’t have to completely depress the switch. With a small tap you can blind /disorient anybody. The package includes a USB magnetic cable so you don’t have to take the battery out to charge it.

Zebralight SC600W IV

Extremely bright and small flashlight made by top manufacturer Zebralight

#6 most popular flashlight

• Powerful XHP50.2 LED
• 2300 lumens
• Single 18650 battery (not included)
• IPX8 waterproof

Zebralight is one of those manufacturers that produces top notch flashlights in all respects. They are extremely bright, have intuitive firmware and very strustable. Although it has “only” 3 main modes, you can actually program them with sublevels. So you have the ability to set your preferred output.

Thrunite catapult v6

Best “thrower” with XPH35. #5 most popular flashlight of 2018.#5 most popular flashlight

Amazing pocketable thrower.

• Powerful XHP 35 throw LED.
• 1700 lumens
• Single 26650 battery included
• Builtin USB charger

The Catapult V6 has a large head and the diameter is larger than the very popular budget Convoy C8. Although it uses a 266650 battery, you don’t need a special charger as the Catapult V6 has a built-in charger that can charge up to 2A. The battery is actually included in the package. So this will save you another $10 or so.

Lumintop BLF GT

#2 longest throw flashlight of 2018/2019

Far reaching throw LED flashlight 

#4 most popular flashlight

• 2000 lumens
• 1.2 million candlepower, for a reach of 2100 meters.
• Runs off 4 or 8 Lithium-Ion 18650 batteries

Shipping of the BLF GT started back in December 2017, but most people only received it in Q1 2018. I have the Lumintop BLF GT myself (see review), and it is really a beast. It can reach almost 2000 meters, and as much as 1 milion candelas. Mine doesn’t reach 1Mcd, but almost. Although not the farthest reaching LED flashlight on the market it still came out #4 of the most popular flashlight for 2018.

Emisar D4

By far the most popular and most powerful single-18650 of 2017. Quad LED. Can be shortened to use 18500 and 18350 battery. 3000-4000 lumens.

# 3 most popular flashlight of 2018  

#3 most popular of 2018 

• With a Nichia 219C 5000K you can get up to 3800 lumens 
• With the XPG-2 you can get up to 3300 lumens
• With the XPL-HI you can get up to 4300 lumens. 

So it is a real sub 10cm hotrod that blows everything out of the water that is currently avaiable in stock format!  

The light can be used with 18650, 18500, 18350 or 16340 cell. With or without adapters. Because the body can be replaced for a shorter or longer version.  It has a simplified Narsil UI firmware on its driver. 

FIREFLIES ROT66

Smallest Hi-Cri multi-led multi-cell flashlight with 5000+ lumens! 

#2 most popular flashlight 

Best flashlight for tint snobs

#2 most popular flashlight

• Available with XPL Hi, Nichia 219B and SST20
• 9* Leds and 5000+ lumens

Fireflies has been a new manufacturer and has put out 3 nice flashlights in 2018, with the ROT66 been the first and most powerful to this date. Out of the 100+ respnonses on BLF, CPF and Reddit, it cam out as 2nd most popular flashlight of 2018! The main reason probably being the 9*Nicha 2019B’s. These are very popular among the tint snobs because it has Hi Cri and 5000+ lumens.

Emisar D4S

The number 1 popular light on BLF, CPF and Reddit of 2018 2018 winner!

#1 most popular light of 2018  

#1 most popular flashlight

• (Received 24 mentions out of 192)

• With a Nichia 219C 5000K you can get up to 3000 lumens
• With the XPG-2 S4 you can get up to 3300 lumens
• With the XPL-HI you can get up to 4300 lumens.
• With the XPL-HD up to 5100 lumens
• With the SST-20 up to 4200 lumens

Available since about Q3 of 2018, this has taken over the forums and facebook groups as the #1 hotrod of 2018. Using a 266650 battery, and you can choose between Black Grey and Green.

Sofirn C01

The Sofirn C01 has been the most popular AAA flashlight on Budgetlightorum of 2018

#11 Most popular AAA flashlight but, just out of the top 10

• One-handed operation
• Runs on AAA batteries (don’t use Alkaline batteries)
• Uses a 5mm High Cri 94 Yuji LED 
• Available in 3200K (Warm) and 5600K (Cold)
• 1 mode
• Available in blue and black.

Although not my favorite kind of emitter, it made the top of the list for the most popluar flashlights on Budgetlightforum because of it’s very High Cri LED. It reminds me of the very old and popular Fenix E01. Which has been used by many flashoholics, but I don’t care for it that much.

Acebeam K65

Not the brightest and not the farthest throwing, but definitely one of the best all-round flashlights…. with a little edge towards Throw!

One of the best all-rounders of 2018

• Far reaching flashlight
• Runs off 4 Lithium Ion batteries
• Nice bright spill
• De-domed XHP70.2
• Greenish tint on white walls, but giving a punch with green colors in nature

The Acebeam K65 is an all-rounder, meaning that it gives plenty of throw, and plenty of bright spill that we can call flood. It’s not really a flooder, nor a thrower. But if you have to put it in some kind of category, it will probably sit in the throwers category. This is one of the first factory lights that have a dedomed XHP70.2 reaching about 1000 meters, as you can read in the K65 review. This is just amazing with 6200 lumens in Turbo mode. You need to use High Power batteries in order to sustain the brightness until it will drop out of Turbo into High mode.

Acebeam X70

Brightest light with 60,000 lumens. 

The Acebeam X70 posses 12 XHP70.2 LEDs for pure flood and 1 XHP35-HI for throw.  60,000 total combined lumen output! Currently world’s most powerful LED flashlight.

• Claiming 60,000 lumens!
• 1130 meters throw with the extra installed XHP35-HI LED
• Built-in cooling fans with the handle
• 8×18650 non-replaceable battery pack
• External active cooling

Not many flashlights have external fans to cool down the light, the first one actually. Power output is comically high, so heat management is crucial. Besides having a huge flood beam, or flood, it can also illuminate objects as far as 1000 meters (0,6 miles throw) with the small XHP35-HI LED and deep reflector. When this beast becomes available, it will be the brightest flashlight manufactured in 2018 and blinds its competition…

Outputting 40k+ lumens of lights is extremely dangerous to the high power output, which, unlike other lights, can not only burn materials, but can actually cause fires if mishandled properly. More power to you if you have the responsibility and money to get it.

Boss 35 & 70

The Boss 35 and 70 (combo) has an XPL Led and is programmable by the user.

Most popular premium flashlight for 2nd year in a row $500+

• Available in Titanium, copper, brass and aluminum
• 2 sizes
• Multi battery options
• User porgrammable modes
• 3500 lumens high
• 0.2 lumen low
• Available in XPL (4000K) and Nichia 219C (4000K)

An exclusive light made by oveready.com. The Boss35 and Boss 70 are identical flashlights with the difference in the battery tube alone. The 70 is especially for 1x 18650 or 2x 18350, while the Boss 35 is designed for a single 18350. This one is considered one of the best premium flashlights for 2017 – 2018 by CPF members.  Price $270-632