Are expensive flashlights worth it?

24 considerations before buying a dirt cheap flashlight.

While some cheap flashlights are just plain dangerous, others are just not worth the money… and the trouble. If you want to skip my rambling and get a good and affordable flashlight, check out our “Best cheap flashlights.” First off, I need to generalize here a bit because not all ‘cheap flashlights’ are bad. And honestly, some ‘expensive are not really worth it. But here is a list of well-known problems we have encountered in the last ten+ years. Not all of them apply to every cheap flashlight of course.

1 – Inconsistency is the key

Let’s start with an example.

Back in the day, there was a highly popular budget flashlight named Sipik SK68. Many people liked it, and I also owned one. (This was actually a copy of a Nitecore flashlight).

If you were to buy another copy one year after its release, you might end up with a completely different flashlight. When a certain flashlight becomes ‘hot’, the copycats will be all over it. The quality decreases, and you get a copy of a copy.

Expensive flashlights don’t really have this problem. They remain the same throughout the years. It’s possible that the older model get discontinued, and you can only get the newer model though.

2 – Subpar build materials

You grab your Police light, hit the switch, and it doesn’t turn on. What do you do? Well, it is probably the switch that broke. Have you ever bought a Police flashlight on eBay? The ones with plastic pressed-in switches? Those are a real pain to repair.

Please, don’t even consider trying to repair it! It’s impossible.

The Lens

Some very cheap flashlights have plastic lenses instead of glass. The cheaper lenses also have no coating or aren’t particularly clear. When you buy a branded flashlight, you should at least get an ultra-clear or coated lens that is more scratch-resistant and does not block any light.

Reflector.

Sometimes, the reflector is just a piece of plastic that looks like a reflector but isn’t the right size for the LED. Sometimes, cheap flashlights have artifacts in the reflector that affect the beam. This is especially true for long-range flashlights.

3 – Subpar machining

In the following picture, you can see an example of a poorly machined flashlight. It was supposed to be a Roche F12 knockoff, and it wasn’t worth the $10 they asked for it. Look at the machining on this light.

This kind of low-quality machine is not possible on higher-end flashlights like Olight, Fenix, Nitecore, etc.

4 – Subpar Anodizing

Most cheap flashlights are made out of aluminum. You can make aluminum flashlights look better by anodizing them. But cheap brands usually equal cheap anodizing, which means that in most cases, the anodizing doesn’t fall off, but you can definitely see that the coating on the flashlight looks cheap.

Branded flashlights have much more consistent anodization and often use a matte finish instead of the cheapy-looking shiny black finish.

5 – Functionality/ User interface (memory/blinkies) and no driver options.

A driver is a piece of hardware inside the flashlight that controls the brightness and functions.

• Many cheap/low-quality flashlights have horrible user interfaces and the outputs are not programmable. A user interface normally consists of different brightness modes, including a Low, medium and high output.
• Many flashlights lack mode memory. Some also have a NEXT-MODE memory, which turns on the flashlight in the next mode from which it was turned off.
• Many inexpensive flashlights lack the option to bypass the Blinky modes (SOS/beacon/strobe). As a result, when you go from low to high, you must go through SOS and Strobe before returning to low again. This is very annoying.
• More expensive flashlights have a dedicated User Interface without. In some cases, you can even configure the output of these modes with a programmable driver.

6 – Low frequency PWM

Flashlight manufacturers, even the higher-end ones, have faced issues with PWM in the past. PWM stands for Pulse-Width-Modulation, which means that the LED will switch on and off in rapid intervals. This flickering effect is still noticeable in many cheap drivers.

How to check for PWM?

1. Set the flashlight to its lowest mode possible. Hold it in your hands, facing your eye, wave your hand with the flashlight, and you’ll notice Dots of light instead of a solid line of light.
2. Point the light at something fast-moving, such as a ceiling fan, or a shower.
3. When pointing a light at black fabric, the sound of PWM can be heard. Be cautious not to place it too close when the light is powerful, because that could burn the fabric.

7 – Common LED problems

Fake LEDs:

In the last couple of years, we have seen an increasing number of fake CREE LEDs. Since CREE is one of the major manufacturers of LEDs, other manufacturers started copying them. Well-known fake CREE LEDs are made by Latticebright. Check out the difference in this BLF thread.

Ugly Tints:

Some flashlight manufacturers offer a range of LED color or tint options to choose from. On the other hand, inexpensive flashlights usually have a blue or purple beam which can be unpleasant for most people. Unfortunately, with cheap flashlights, you don’t get the option to choose your preferred LED.

8 – The lack of a real Low-mode or a moon-mode.

It seems to be rather difficult to make a useful Low mode for cheap without PWM. The cheaper flashlights usually have no proper Low mode, or as we call them, moon mode. The lowest modes start at about 10-20 lumens, which is too bright for some people.

9 – Bad threads

Another thing you’ll notice with some of the cheaper lights is the poorly threaded tailcap/body. This happens especially with smaller AAA or AA flashlights. Because of their size, the manufacturers use thin threading, which feels gritty and can sometimes result in cross-threading.

Cross threading means the threads on the two flashlight parts get stuck because the threads cross. This shouldn’t happen with any higher-end flashlights.

10 – Thin aluminum MCPCBs

An MCPCB is also referred to as the LED Star or LED board. The board to which the LED is attached.
This board is meant to transfer the heat from the LED as quickly as possible. These boards were made of Aluminum. Only in the last 10 years or so, have flashlight makers started using Copper MCPCBs.
Thin aluminum boards like those in the picture below are frequently found in cheap flashlights.
They can overheat the LED and break it. And even if it doesn’t break, it reduces the output considerably.

11 – No Thermal paste/grease/adhesive underneath the MCPCB

In the picture above you can see a LED board without any thermal compound underneath. This means the heat transferred from the LED board to the Pill is limited. Cheap lights tend to have no or too little thermal paste underneath them.

You can solve this by adding some TIM (thermal paste) like Arctic Cooling MX-6, Grizzly Kryonaut, etc. These are also used for CPUs in desktop computers.

12 – No (good) heatsink

Especially with more powerful flashlights, this is a common problem. You can see many $30 flashlight with multiple LEDs (sometimes even 10-15). They often lack a proper heatsink. The LED board sits on a very thin sheet of aluminum or only touches the walls of the body to transfer the heat.

A good heatsink is crucial to draw heat away from the LEDs, keeping them cool and maintaining their brightness. When LEDs heat up, they produce less output. Heat generated by the LED board is absorbed and dispersed by the heatsink, ensuring that excess heat is moved away from the LED.

Cheap flashlights usually lack a good heatsink.

13 – Too thin electrical wires

With powerful flashlights, batteries need to provide a lot of current to the LED. Wires connect the LED to the Driver board, and the higher this draw, the thicker these wires should be. They should be made of copper. The thickness of the wires is dependent of the maximum current draw, but the higher you go, the thicker they should be. Below 1000 lumens it doesn’t matter too much though.

Most cheap flashlights come with AWG 28 wires, that are too thin to provide the required current to the LED. AWG 22 is enough for most 3000+ lumens lights. For the most powerful flashlights (10,000+ lumens), you need something between AWG16-18.

14 – No spare parts available

What happens when your cheap flashlight breaks? Do you throw it away? Or do you want to repair it?

In some cases, spare parts (if they even have them) may not even fit. There have been so many variations of that particular flashlight that most of them don’t share the same parts.

If you have a more expensive flashlight, you should be able to get spare parts from the manufacturer. If they don’t have the parts anymore, they are likely willing to get you another flashlight or fix the light for you.

15 – Nothing but Aluminum

Almost all cheap flashlights are made of aluminum (or worse, plastic).

Higher-end flashlight brands often sell limited editions made of different materials, including brass, copper, titanium, etc.

16 – No proper packaging and accessories

Premium flashlights often come with nice boxes, a manual, and some spare parts, like a rubber boot, o-rings, or lanyard. Cheap lights usually come in plain boxes without accessories, and sometimes, they don’t even include a manual or warranty card.

17 – No collectors value / no special editions

No, you don’t need to collect flashlights, but if you do, it’s better if they keep, or increase their value.
And cheap flashlights basically have no collector’s value, and will only reduce in value over time. Cheap lights also have no ‘special editions’, which could keep their value.

18 – Ridiculous Lumen claims

1000 lumens from an AA battery is still impossible.

The most powerful premium single AA lights that run off AA batteries can ‘barely’ reach 500 lumens, like the Zebralight SW5. So, a cheap flashlight claiming 1000 lumens of an AA battery is impossible.
The most powerful single cell flashlights, can do about 15,000 lumens, but they aren’t cheap. So anything that is cheap and says 3000+ lumens is simply a lie. Also, look in the picture below, you can see Cree XM-L Q5.. that LED never existed :–)

19 – Dangerous batteries + chargers included in the package

This one should probably be on the top of this list. If you search eBay for “Flashlight with battery charger”, you can find hundreds or thousands of sets. The included batteries are very dangerous and often include ridiculous claims!

Buyer, please beware!

Please educate yourself before buying lithium-powered flashlights. On CPF you can read a lot about these dangers: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?107-Smoke-and-Fire-Hot-Cells-and-Close-Calls-The-dangerous-side-of-batteries

20 – There is no quality control

You order two of the same lights, and one of them is DOA (dead on arrival). Of course, this can happen, but in most cases, that light wasn’t tested before sending.

Other problems that come up regularly are problems with the UI, switch, or even a flicker in the light.

21 – No warranty

In the previous example, it would be fair to send the torch back and get it replaced or repaired within the appointed warranty. This can even happen with more ‘premium brands’. Because who knows what happened during transport. But cheap flashlights are more often than not without a warranty. The only warranty you may get is from the seller.

22 – No Return Policy

This probably falls into the category of ‘Warranty,’ but a return policy just doesn’t exist for cheap flashlights that are not made by a real brand. Do you have problems and want to send it back? Uhm…where, how, who pays?

When you buy locally, you can return it to the store, and they will take care of the rest.

23 – No Customer Service:

Good afternoon, sir; how can I help you? Well, I have a problem with my flashlight; when I want to change modes, the light stops working. Well, sir, this is Customer Service.

A real brand has a website, a brand name, a postal address, and an e-mail address. Cheap junk brands like superbright, superfire, andyfire, ohmyfire, ohmypantsareonfire don’t have a website, nor do they have contact details or customer service.

24 – No official Brand name

If you have ever browsed eBay or Aliexpress for a flashlight, you probably have come across some funny ‘brands’, like Police, Ultrafire, Quickfire, Subwayfire, and PantsonFire. Those are no brands! They are just some names stamped on a piece of aluminum.

No money for an ‘expensive flashlight’ above $50?

Choose the best bang for your buck!

I prefer to call them Budget lights, to distinguish them from the “Cheap” ones because they provide some serious bang for your buck. Check out our overview with Best Cheap Flashlights.