Cheap LEP Flashlights

Trustfire T30R

One of the best deals on the internet when on sale (which it has been for already 1year straight)

Turstfire flashlights are not very popular in the flashlight community, but that has to do with their reputation from the past when there were tons of flashlights called Trustfire, but with low build quality.

But the original Trustfire flashlights are not bad at all. At least from reviewing at the T30R, which is one of the most affordable LEP flashlights available on the internet. Aliexpress often sells them for about $65-$85, depending on your location.

It may not be the best performer, but it can reach over 700 meters (700+ yards) for more than 3 hours straight. Check out our review of the Trustfire T30R.

Natfire SF2

Zoomable LEP flashlight with built-in battery

There is 1 flashlight that has been well known for being one of the cheapest LEPs, and that’s the Natfire SF2. It’s a $70-$80 dollar LEP flashlight with built in battery.

Nick reviewed it for us, and measured a very low output. However, output is only 1 factor, and the most important for LEP flashlights is not output but beam distance. The intensity of the beam is therefore more imporant than the overall output.

The output of his copy reached almost 183 lumens, while mine only reached 133 lumens. But that’s not that important.

He measured 1466 meters (1600 yards), while I measured 1179 meters (1290 yards). This means that the quality control isn’t the best, but for $70-80 you can get an LEP flashlight that doesn’t perform too bad in overall runtime. In this video I show that the SF2 is actually not bad after 20 minutes of runtime!

For all the details, check out our review of the Natfire SF2.

Lumintop Thor Mini

The shortest LEP on the market

The Lumintop Ant Man used to be the shortest flashlight on the market, but now it’s surpassed by its little brother, the Lumintop Thor Mini.

It’s a little handy flashlight with the beam distance of a much larger LED flashlight. It’s quite impressive to reach over 600 meters from such a small flashlight.

It has 2 modes, low, and high. Low mode is doing roughly 270 meters / 300 yards for almost 3 hours straight. And that from such a small flashlight.

For all the details, check out our review of the Lumintop Thor Mini.

Amutorch BT35

Affordable tactical-style LEP flashlights

Amutorch has built a couple of LEP flashlights, including the BT35, BT55, and BT60. But the shortest, and most affordable is the BT35.

I personally liked this flashlight quite a bit, even though it may not be the best performer. For the price you get a pretty handy and easy to use LEP flashlight. There is only a Higha dn Low mode, and the tactical-ring makes it pretty cool to hold and play with.

With a beam distance of 1269 meters, it’s definitely not a bad performer, though. The output drops after about 5 minutes but continues to run with a beam of over 700 meters for almost 2 hours and 40 minutes.

For more details, check out our in-depth review of the Amutorch BT35.

Lumintop Thor 1

Very short but bulky flashlight

Lumintop has some of the most miniature LEP flashlights on the market. The Thor 1 is the second shortest of the bunch, with a length of only 3.8 inches (96.6mm) and a reach of almost 1200 meters. That’s the farthest-reaching flashlight under 4 inches long.

With a simple UI, everybody can use it, but you shouldn’t let children play with it, because of the extremely high beam intensity.

For more details, check out our in-depth review of the Lumintop Thor 1.

Nealsgadgets 26650 LEP

Bulky flashlight with almost 2000 meters reach

Nealsgadgets built 2 LEP flashlights, namely this unbranded 26650 LEP flashlight, and the more expensive, but much better performer, the NLightD L1.

This unbranded LEP is more of an OEM flashlight, but I haven’t seen other brands selling it.

You can use a 26650 battery or a 18650 battery with a battery adapter. The 26650 battery will run much longer of course.

The only real negative is the unregulated output. So the output drops the moment you activate the flashlight. You can still get plenty of throw and runtime though. It starts at about 1,000,000 candelas, and then slowly drops. After 2 hours, the candelas are around 300,000, which is almost 1100 meters (1200 yards). And after 3 hours it’s down to 100,000 cd, which is about 630 meters (690 yards).

For more details, check out our in-depth review of the Unbranded 26650 LEP.

Lumintop Thor 3

Best thrower for the money

Lumintop has built the most LEP flashlights of all companies. They range from very small, like the Thor Mini, to relatively large, like the Thor 3.

The Thor 3 is actually on sale for many, many months, so I don’t feel this one is out of this category of cheap LEP flashlights. The cheapest I have seen the Thor 3 is around 110 USD, and a little more expensive in the EU because of import fees etc.

When you compare the Thor 3 to all other LEPs on this list, it outthrows them all, and with ease.

It uses a single 21700 battery and reaches 2629 meters (2875 yards) after 30 seconds. This is pretty crazy for its price. And that’s why I think this is the best combination of cost vs performance.

It has 3 modes, ranging from 1200+ meters to 2600+ meters, and runtime between 4.5 and 8 hours. We’ve reviewed it extensively, so don’t forget to check out our Lumintop Thor 3 review. It has a few cons, but you better read the full review.