How To Choose The Perfect Flashlight

Are you looking for a new flashlight but not sure what to look for to decide which one to choose? If so, in this blog, we will deconstruct everything you need to know about a flashlight to help you make an informed decision!

To start with, you need to consider the flashlight's type, features, lumen count and cost. Another major factor that would shape your decision would be the reason for getting a flashlight in the first place.

This would help you decide which features hold more importance than others. These features may include light output, battery type, modes, and more.

Choose the Right Flashlight Category

Commonly, flashlights come in three categories: general-purpose, industrial, and tactical. Before you begin your search for the right flashlight, you need to determine which flashlight category is right for you.

General-purpose flashlights

These are handheld, lightweight, and fairly inexpensive everyday use flashlights that are easy to find and can be used for various purposes, including nighttime walks, fixing things around the house, hikes, finding things in your attic, power outages, and more.

Industrial flashlights

These are often called "intrinsically safe" flashlights, used in industrial settings such as warehouses and industrial buildings and are specially designed to operate safely around hazardous materials. Each of these flashlights comes with a safety rating indicating which hazardous materials are safe to be around. If you need to ensure your flashlight will be safe in your facility to avoid causing an explosive or a chemical reaction, use one of these rated flashlights!

Tactical flashlights

Often used by police officers, rescue teams, security guards, firefighters, hunters, search, and for personal defense, tactical flashlights are great for safety personnel since they are lightweight and easy to maneuver. They tend to be more expensive than general-purpose flashlights because they typically produce a lot of light and are made with high-quality materials.

Determine the Purpose of Your Flashlight

After deciding which general category your flashlight will fall under, you need to determine which features you will need. This will make decision-making easier.

For instance, if you've decided to get a tactical flashlight for hunting or personal defense, you'll want to ensure it is light enough to use while holding an additional weapon, with a light output that is strong enough to disorient an attacker.

Decide on a Budget

Flashlights' prices can range anywhere between $20-$200 (or more), depending on their features, light output, and their overall quality. When shopping for a flashlight, decide on a budget to narrow down your options.

Think About What Kind of Lighting You'll Need

Among all the other features, the amount of light a flashlight produces is the most important feature to consider!

Light output

Flashlight's light output is determined by how many lumens (the total amount of visible light coming from a light source) it emits. The more lumens your light source has, the brighter it will be!

Normally, a flashlight can emit anywhere between 5 to 3000 lumens. For close-up activities that don't require that much light, such as reading a book, a flashlight with lumens in the 1-25 range would be effective.

Whereas, for most common indoor activities, such as inspecting a breaker box during a power outage or kids reading a book at night in their homemade tents, a flashlight with 100 lumens would suffice.

On the other hand, for enhanced clarity and to see things significantly better in the dark, tactical flashlights tend to be a better option. They have at least 120-250 lumens.

Beam type

Commonly, there are three beam types, including:

• Flood: These flashlight beams are wide, allowing you to see things close to you by brightening up everything within your general vicinity.
• Spot: These flashlights produce a long beam, allowing them to light up things hundreds of feet away.
• Adjustable: These flashlight beams are the best of both worlds. You can make the beam focused, wide, and everything in between!
• Multi-beam: Some flashlights offer more than one beam type and can be used simultaneously or independently.

Bulb type

Most flashlights now come with LED bulbs. Occasionally you can still find incandescent bulbs. What makes LED bulbs perfect is the fact that they are energy efficient, very bright, resistant to impact, and have a long run time.

Select a Battery

Choosing the battery comes down to different factors such as its type, and longevity.

Battery Type

There are different types of batteries available, such as:

• Alkaline batteries: These are the classic batteries that are cheap, and easy to find, but their voltage is pretty low. They come in AA, AAA, 9 volt, D cell, and C cell.
• Lithium batteries: These are small and very efficient batteries that come in two varieties, rechargeable or non-rechargeable.

The non-rechargeable batteries are powerful and can power high-end flashlights. However, they need to be replaced frequently. Whereas rechargeable lithium batteries typically last two years or more. However, they are typically more expensive than the non-rechargeable kind.

Battery longevity

The type of the battery determines its longevity. While renewable batteries may last up to 2 years, non-renewable batteries need to be switched out every few months, depending on how frequently you use them.

Choose the Size, Weight, Shape, and Material

Size and weight

Your selection of size and weight of your flashlight would depend on the activities you plan to use it for.

Shape

Most flashlights come in a cylindrical shape and are prone to roll. However, some companies offer flashlights with added features to the bodies to prevent them from rolling around.

Material

Most flashlights are made from plastic or aluminum alloy. However, some flashlights come with stainless steel heads to provide additional impact resistance.

Buy Flashlights At ProServices Supply

Whether you’re a gadget lover, security professional, outdoor enthusiast, property manager, law enforcement or military personnel, find reliable and high-performance flashlights at ProServices Supply!

We are a proud distributor of high-quality, long-lasting Coast products, from a high-lumen flashlight to a lightweight headlamp. Explore the flashlight section on our online store to find innovative products that meet your needs at competitive rates.