Happy solstice!

In honor of Summer Solstice, I've made an updated list of popular lights. Today is the day you're least likely to need a flashlight in the Nothern hemisphere, but it only increases from here.

There is no best flashlight, so this is an amalgamation of what enthusiasts have been buying and recommending to others lately along with the author's arbitrary preferences and biases. Please take note that prices and availability may change - feel free to leave a comment if you notice a mismatch. To search more lights by their attributes, try Parametrek Search.

Some people have asked if they can give me kickbacks or gratuities for maintaining the list. Some lights in the list offer affiliate links marked with 💵 and (aff) which will result in the dealer paying me a small commission if you buy a light through the link. There is always a non-affiliate option if you don't want to be tracked. I also have two affiliate coupon codes that apply to some of the dealers:

• Killzone Flashligths (aff): zakreviews
• Acebeam.com (aff): ZW10

I also have a 💵 tip jar 💵 at Ko-Fi. Nobody should feel obligated to use either, but it's certainly appreciated.

About specs

Lumens are total output. Don't worry about small differences in output. You probably can't detect a 10% difference in lumens with your eyes, and 20% is barely noticeable. It takes 4 times the lumens to look twice as bright. Candela is intensity, which translates to throw distance. FL1 throw numbers are about right for detecting large objects; cut them in half for seeing clearly. Extreme throw distances also run in to limits imposed by human vision and by backscatter in the atmosphere. Warmer tints have less backscatter.

FL1 runtime numbers are to 10% output and can be misleading. Look for a review with a runtime graph.

Performance specs for AA and AAA powered lights are usually given with NiMH rechargeable batteries. Alkalines don't perform as well, and may leak corrosive electrolyte.

Considerations

Briefly, here are some characteristics that are usually considered desirable. Most of the recommended lights won't have all of them, but these are things to look for when shopping for lights:

• Neutral white tint - the vast majority of people with an opinion prefer a color temperature that's within the range of direct sunlight, which is generally marketed as "neutral white", but sometimes as "warm white"
• A lack of red, or especially green off-tints, beam artifacts and tint shift from the center of the beam to the edges
• A user interface that does not require cycling through different modes to turn off, and does not change modes every time the light is turned off
• A lack of blinking modes within the standard mode rotation, either because the light doesn't have any, or they're "hidden" by being accessed in a different manner than the usual modes
• An IP waterproofing rating - most good lights are rated for IPX8 with the depth and duration of submersion specified by the manufacturer
• A lack of timed stepdowns. Some lights only produce their maximum output for a few minutes at a time. While some powerful lights can get too hot to hold if run on high constantly, the hardware necessary to measure temperature and only reduce power if the light is actually too hot costs only a few cents, but many lights won't overheat badly anyway
• Full-spectrum, or high-CRI for more accurate color rendering. Color rendering index, or CRI is the most common measurement of this; average LEDs are about 70. Over 80 is decent, and over 90 is excellent. The highest I've heard of from an LED is 99. This is more important for seeing detail than absolute output and can be the difference between a stick and a snake on the trail.
• A sub-lumen moonlight mode (for general-use lights)
• A user interface that allows access to the lowest and highest modes from off without having to cycle through other modes
• A user interface where a single click turns the light on in a reasonable mode, and another single click turns it off.

The Quick List

If you're not interested in flashlights as a hobby, you should probably just get one of these

All of the lights in this section come with a rechargeable battery and have a charger built in to the light. The battery will be a standard size you can buy online from third parties, and the charger will use USB as its power source, though some options do use a special cable. Aside from the Catapult, all have very good color quality compared to the average LED flashlight, improving your ability to see details.

This section is strongly influenced by what is available for purchase within the US. Changes from last time reflect current availability and may be updated before the next list as that changes.

Mainstream lights

Everyday Carry Lights

These are selected for pocketability first and performance second, but most of the larger options are perfectly adequate for house/car/camping/etc... uses. This section excludes right-angle designs that double as headlamps, but many people do use those for pocket carry, so see that section as well.

Small keychain lights

AAA Battery

AA/14500 battery

CR123A/16340 battery

18350 battery

18650 battery

Right-angle lights and headlamps

If I could have only one portable light, it would be a right-angle light that functions as both an everyday carry light and a headlamp. Some lights in this form factor also offer a magnetic tailcap, allowing them to act as mountable area lights.

Small

Medium

Large

Duty lights

These are suitable for first responders and possibly members of the military in combat roles. The focus is on simple operation, reliability and a good way to make sure the light starts on high.

High-performance lights

Most lights on the list are easy to carry, with performance constrained by size and thermal mass as a result. After all, the best light is the one you have. Here are lights to bring when you know you'll be using them.

Flooders

Turn night into day, but not necessarily very far away

Throwers

What's that over there? WAY over there? The hotspots of these lights tend to be too focused for comfortable use up close, though using a diffuser is an option. These tend to be most useful for search and rescue, boating, and the like. FL1 throw is the distance at which large objects can be detected in clear air. At half that distance, there's usually enough illumination to see clearly, though with more extreme throwers, the distances may be so great as to require binoculars to see clearly even during the day. Throwers have visible backscatter from the atmosphere even in clear air, which may obstruct the user's view of the target. Warmer color temperatures tend to have less.

Hybrids

Some throw, some flood... probably a lot

Other lights

Stuff that doesn't fit somewhere else goes here.

Enthusiast Lights

Enthusiast lights can be subject to a bit of a flavor of the month phenomenon, and this section isn't necessarily going to try to include them all. What you'll find here are enthusiast lights with some staying power. There will probably be an Emisar D4 of some description this time next year, but not necessarily the latest new FW variant or whatever's currently trendy from Nightwatch.

Everyday Carry

Jacket pocket, maybe

Pending

These lights are newly introduced or recently announced and expected to become popular, but aren't popular or even necessarily even available yet.