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Doug Mahoney is a writer covering home-improvement topics, outdoor power equipment, bug repellents, and (yes) bidets. Ecorative Night Lights
After another round of testing, our new top pick is the ThruNite Archer 2A C. Our previous pick, the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, is now the runner-up. We no longer recommend the Manker E12.
Your smartphone’s flashlight is pretty good at shining about 3 feet in front of you. But you can get far better illumination, versatility, ergonomics, and durability with the ThruNite Archer 2A C, an affordable flashlight with high-end features.
We settled on this model after spending four weeks in the New Hampshire woods with 27 flashlights, draining almost 90 batteries, researching the topic for over 60 hours, reading through countless threads on a number of flashlight-enthusiast forums, and speaking to a man who has personally reviewed almost 200 flashlights.
The Archer 2A C has a wide range of brightness settings and a versatile two-button interface, and it can run on either two AA batteries or an included rechargeable.
The Archer 2A V3 is identical to the Archer 2A C except that it runs only on two AA batteries, so it isn’t as bright at its high settings.
The rechargeable Baton 3 Pro offers high build quality, and the unusual charging system is about as hassle-free as it gets.
The Archer 2A C has a wide range of brightness settings and a versatile two-button interface, and it can run on either two AA batteries or an included rechargeable.
The ThruNite Archer 2A C offers a wide range of brightness settings, including a very dim mode that allowed us to read a map without destroying our night vision and a bright setting that easily lit up trees 500 feet away. Like many of the best flashlights, this model has a two-button interface that lets you easily toggle through the brightness levels. The blinding strobe mode is useful in an emergency—and the Archer 2A C’s design makes it easy to avoid activating the strobe by accident, an advantage over most competitors.
The light comes with a rechargeable battery but can also run on two standard AA batteries. With AA batteries, the Archer 2A C is not as bright at the highest settings, but it’s nice to have the option of using regular batteries during a power outage, when recharging might be difficult.
The Archer 2A C also boasts a number of features found on more-expensive lights: It doesn’t roll on a flat surface, it stands upright on its rear end, it can survive a 1-meter drop or full immersion in water—try that, smartphones—and it has a memory function as well as a momentary-on feature that activates the light with a half-press of the rear button. The one inconvenience with the Archer 2A C is that you need to remove the battery from the flashlight in order to charge it.
The Archer 2A V3 is identical to the Archer 2A C except that it runs only on two AA batteries, so it isn’t as bright at its high settings.
If the ThruNite Archer 2A C is not available, we also like the ThruNite Archer 2A V3. This model was our long-standing top pick before the arrival of the Archer 2A C. The two flashlights are identical in shape and features, but the Archer 2A V3 can run only on two AA batteries, not on a rechargeable one as the Archer 2A C can. As a result, the Archer 2A V3 is not as bright at its high settings (though the two flashlights are equally bright when they’re both using AA batteries). Typically the two models are priced similarly, so we recommend this less versatile option only if you need a flashlight in a pinch and the Archer 2A C is not available.
The rechargeable Baton 3 Pro offers high build quality, and the unusual charging system is about as hassle-free as it gets.
The rechargeable Olight Baton 3 Pro, a slightly smaller option with a nice, solid feel, is a decent flashlight for everyday carry. Compared with the ThruNite Archer 2A C, it’s a little brighter and has a longer run time. But what really stands out is the way the Baton 3 Pro charges: It has a USB charging attachment that magnetically clicks against the tail of the light, so there’s no need for you to fuss with plugging anything in. This design is so convenient that we kept this light charged far more consistently than the others. Like all fully rechargeable models, the Baton 3 Pro presents drawbacks in the time spent charging it and the difficulty of recharging during a power outage (unless you have additional 18650 batteries or a power station handy). This pick replaces the Olight S2R Baton II, which has been discontinued.
For this guide, we spent countless hours combing through the online forums of flashlight enthusiasts, who typically call themselves “flashaholics.” Chief among these sites is Candle Power Forums, but we also read through threads at BudgetLightForum.com and The Flashlight Forum, which is now defunct. These forums are filled with people who are really into flashlights, and it’s not uncommon for them to own 20, 30, or even more flashlights.
We spoke with Dave Wise, who used to run Layman’s Lights, a website (which has since been sold to other owners) dedicated to flashlights. Wise has reviewed flashlights since 2007, and in that time, he told us, he has taken a hands-on look at nearly 200 different models. Though Wise no longer has a site, he and his reviews resurfaced recently on Facebook.
We also spent a lot of time with the impressive work of Selfbuilt, an independent flashlight reviewer who puts together deeply comprehensive flashlight reviews (see this review as an example). We used Selfbuilt’s site as a reference point for some of the more technical questions we pursued.
As for me, I’m a daily flashlight user, taking nightly trips to the woodshed, chicken coop, and sheep barn as well as regular walks in the woods at night. I also take a very hands-on approach with my home, and it seems like I’m always using one of my half-dozen flashlights to look behind the water heater, to peer into the crawl space, or to get a better look at my boiler control. In addition, I have four kids, so I’m constantly searching under the couch for lost Lego bricks.
After speaking to flashlight expert Dave Wise about the best features in general-use flashlights, we decided to seek out models that offer a wide range of brightness settings, use two AA batteries, have a nice, wide beam, and provide a good selection of brightness levels, including the very low “moonlight” setting (also called “firefly” in some models). Wise recommended that the flashlight have a strobe feature for emergency use but stressed that the mode needed to be separate from the regular brightness levels. Our research turned up a few other good features to have. For one, a flashlight should be waterproof and designed so that it doesn’t easily roll. Also, in order to be reliable, a good flashlight should be able to hold a constant level of brightness—something that only the better models can do.
LED flashlights that use two AA batteries offer a good combination of brightness and battery life. Wise told us that, for the non-enthusiast, “AA [flashlights] are definitely the place to look these days.” And judging from our experience, such models offer an excellent combination of performance and size. Because AA batteries are so easy to have on hand, an AA-powered flashlight is a good option for a power outage, as well. The two-AA battery configuration makes a flashlight a little large for a pants pocket, but in our search for a balance of power, run time, and price, we didn’t make an EDC size a priority.
But we like rechargeable flashlights too. Rechargeable flashlights that use batteries like the 18650 size are brighter and longer-lasting than AA lights, and they eliminate the need to purchase and discard additional batteries. The best rechargeable flashlights give you some way of charging them without having to open them up. The downsides of these models: Recharging during a power outage can be difficult, and once the battery is drained, you can’t immediately get it back up and running again due to charging time. For these reasons, we still prefer lights that use AA batteries, but we also wanted to have some rechargeable recommendations for people who are interested in this powerful and convenient category.
Reflector lights show more of what you want to see, compared with zoom lights. Reflector flashlights have a shiny metal cone positioned around the LED emitter, often with an orange-peel texture that evens out the spread of the beam. These lights produce both a center hot spot of concentrated light and a lesser wide-diameter light around it, called the spill beam. Zoom lights, in contrast, consist of a lens situated in front of the LED that concentrates the light the way a magnifying glass concentrates a sunbeam. These lenses usually slide forward and back, giving you the option of a small, focused spotlight (the forward position) or a wider, diffused area light (the back position). Unlike a reflector model, a zoom design can’t produce both the concentrated hot spot and the spill beam at the same time.
Wise favors reflector lights: “Everyone starts off wanting to light up trees at the far end of a field [with a zoom lens], but eventually people just want to use the light to check the oil after dark, or set up the tent when they got to the campground too late, or just take the dog for a walk through the woods at night,” he told us. “These are all tasks better served by seeing everything around you as equally as possible.” Reflector lights typically also have a higher degree of water resistance, and some can survive full submersion—whereas zoom lights, which have more moving parts, can’t tolerate it.
Bright lights are good, but we really like the lower settings. Wise told us, “The brighter lights get, the more I appreciate lower output modes.” Lower-light modes don’t compromise night vision as much, and they can greatly extend battery life. “A light that lasts for an hour or two running 500+ lumens may last for more than a day at 5-10 lumens, and some have crazy low Moon modes that can last upwards of a month,” Wise said. “Being a father of small children, I find I use the super low modes literally every day, generally more than any other feature. This is usually to get dressed for work every morning without waking people, or to check on sleeping children at night.” After using and testing lights for years, we feel the same way, and we rely on the lower settings far more than the brighter ones.
Strobe is a fine feature, but it needs to be a little hidden. A strobe can be useful during roadside emergencies or when you’re running at night, but it’s not something you should have to deal with during normal use. Wise said, “If you have to cycle through them all the time, then they get really annoying.” In most of the lights we tested—and nearly all of the inexpensive models—the strobe is positioned as just another brightness setting, so you always have to toggle through it while using the light. It’s blinding, it’s annoying, and after you encounter it two or three times, you’ll want to throw your flashlight deep, deep into the woods. It’s such a frustrating design that strobe’s absence or presence among the brightness settings became a simple pass/fail test for us.
We wanted something for less than about $40. There is an enormous world of flashlights that cost more, but at this price, we knew that we could find an entry-level version of an enthusiast light with some of the most important features that are standard on higher-end lights. Unfortunately, our cutoff excluded many manufacturers that were favorites of the flashlight crowd, as well as among police officers, firefighters, and others in public safety, notably Elzetta, Foursevens, and SureFire.
We looked at battery life over time. Using an Extech LT45 LED Light Meter, we positioned each light inside a large sealed box with the flashlight at one end shining across the box onto its opposite wall. We placed the light meter behind the flashlight so that it would register only the bounced illumination, not the direct beam. We took readings at the 30-second mark, the five-minute mark, and the 10-minute mark, and then in 10-minute increments after that, up to 90 minutes (if the batteries lasted that long). During this test, we set each of the flashlights to their highest brightness, and we set the zoom lights to their wide-beam mode.
The purpose of this test was simply to compare models, not to prove or disprove manufacturer brightness claims, which requires testing in a specific lab setting according to the ANSI/NEMA FL 1 standard (PDF). What we got was an idea of how battery drain affected performance—with the better models, it was not linear—and a sense of how flashlights with the same battery configuration compared with one another in general brightness levels and the speed of battery drain.
We also did real-world testing. We spent night after night after night wandering around the dark New Hampshire woods. This unstructured testing gave us the most useful gauge of flashlights’ overall usability, beam spread, and beam distance, and it really helped us understand what each light had to offer from a practical standpoint. Since our original testing, we’ve continued using our picks for more regular daily tasks, such as looking under the couch for Lego bricks, checking the crawl space for signs of mice, and investigating strange nighttime noises in the backyard. Additionally, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from Wirecutter colleagues who are also using the lights.
The Archer 2A C has a wide range of brightness settings and a versatile two-button interface, and it can run on either two AA batteries or an included rechargeable.
Of all the lights we looked at, the ThruNite Archer 2A C offers the best combination of high-end features at an affordable price, and it can run on either two AA batteries or the included single rechargeable battery. It has a two-button interface that lets you quickly cycle through the four brightness levels—one of which is the very useful, very low firefly mode. The Archer 2A C’s features are typically found on lights that cost more, but at $40 (sometimes less), it’s a great value.
It comes with a rechargeable battery, but it’s also compatible with AA batteries. For lack of a better phrase, this is a “dual fuel” flashlight. With the single, long rechargeable battery, its highest settings are much brighter, and its longevity on some settings is extended in comparison with its operation on two AA batteries. Though we like the convenience of the rechargeable battery, we also appreciate the ability to use AA batteries, which are easy to have on hand and may be more practical during a power outage.
It has a two-button interface. At the rear of the light is a button, often called a “tail switch,” that turns it on and off. When the light is on, you control the brightness levels with a second button up at the head of the light; this design makes it easy for you to toggle through the settings while holding the light in a natural position. Many other lights, in contrast, have just a single control at the tail switch, and in our tests such a design forced us to reorient the light in our hands or use a second hand to change the setting.
It has four brightness levels: high, medium, low, and firefly. At the high setting, we were able to make out the trees at the end of a 500-foot-long field. At the low end, the firefly setting could hardly show a wall 10 or 15 feet in front of us, but we found it perfect for reading a map or checking on a sleeping child. When we initially heard about these super-low levels often found on high-end flashlights, we thought they were a gimmick, but now we use this mode all the time.
It offers good battery life, which the lower settings can really extend. With the rechargeable battery, ThruNite claims, the Archer 2A C’s high setting has a run time of about 128 minutes, and its firefly mode can last 27 days. Between the simple interface and the range of brightness levels, you can easily take advantage of the lower brightness settings and thus have more control over the battery drain. During our regular use of the light, we rarely spend time in the highest setting and use only as much light as we need, usually at the medium and low settings.
The Archer 2A C also has what’s called “momentary on.” This means that the light activates with a half-press of the tail switch and stays on for as long as you hold the button. This feature, also found on some of the high-end flashlights we tested, is convenient for quickly turning the light on and off without fully engaging it.
It always turns on at the brightness setting you last used. While the nicer lights we tested have this feature, others (typically those under $30) usually default to the highest setting, which is often way too bright and blinding, especially if you’re looking for the lowest setting.
The strobe setting is present, but it’s tucked away. Once the flashlight is on, you activate the strobe with a long-press of the brightness button. This is a nice setup, and considering that the strobe is a feature that someone may need to use in an emergency, we believe that the action is simple enough to perform in a high-stress, high-adrenaline situation. We consider this separation between the strobe and the standard brightness settings to be an essential design element, something that very few lights in the under-$40 range offer; in contrast, most of the inexpensive lights we tested have the strobe as just one of the toggle settings, which is awful to deal with.
It’s a nice size, but it’s a little big for an EDC pocket light. The Archer 2A C is a little bigger than a Sharpie marker, a shape typical of the two-AA lights we tested. It’s a comfortable size to handle, and we found the light easy to flip around in our fingers depending on how we wanted to hold it. And I found it small enough to hold between my teeth, which was useful for brief instances when both of my hands were occupied, such as during a quick electrical fix in the basement. That said, much smaller lights are available if you’re looking for something to carry in your pocket on a daily basis.
It can handle being dinged around a little. The Archer 2A C is rated for a 1-meter fall and can tolerate being completely submerged in water over 2 meters deep, which we put it through a number of times to no ill effect.
It has a good warranty. ThruNite’s warranty for the Archer 2A C is a little nicer than average, as it offers two years of coverage with free replacement if “problems develop with normal use.” Of the flashlights we tested, only the Fenix and Nitecore models had a longer warranty, stretching to a full five years.
The ThruNite Archer models have a lot of fans at Wirecutter. Many of our colleagues own and use the Archer 2A V3, the previous version of our top pick and our current runner-up, and all have positive feedback. Since the Archer 2A V3 and Archer 2A C are nearly identical, we’re comfortable applying this praise to both models.
Nothing we heard was as revealing as staff software engineer Rachel Fee’s experiences using her Archer 2A light during a 13-day stint at Burning Man in 2022. “Burning Man is super dusty, so it kills electronics, and that flashlight did fine,” she told us. Rachel gets around the desert festival on a bike laden with string lights. “Usually I go through a few sets of lights, but this year I actually ran out, as did most people. I ended up just clipping the ThruNite to my bag pointed down and turning it on strobe so people could see me.” Rachel also appreciates how the light can fit in a pocket and how the controls are designed in a way that “it doesn’t easily turn on and off if it’s tossed in a bag.”
Senior staff writer Joshua Lyon enjoys the Archer 2A V3 so much, he wrote an ode to it.
It’s easy to forget that the light is on in firefly mode. In any kind of daylight, it’s almost impossible to notice that firefly mode is even active, so it’s all too easy to bring the flashlight indoors, forget that it’s on, and put it away. The good news is that in firefly mode the battery drain is so minimal that emptying a full battery takes weeks; still, it’s something to keep an eye on if you become reliant on the lowest brightness mode, as we have.
The battery requires removal for charging. Unlike many high-end lights with rechargeable batteries, the Archer 2A C has the charging port (USB-C) on the battery rather than on the flashlight, so you have to open up the light and remove the battery in order to charge it. This design is a little inconvenient, but the battery lasts so long, it’s something we’re willing to put up with. If you don’t like the sound of this, we recommend the Olight Baton 3 Pro, which offers the easiest charging setup we’ve used.
The Archer 2A V3 is identical to the Archer 2A C except that it runs only on two AA batteries, so it isn’t as bright at its high settings.
If the ThruNite Archer 2A C is not available, we recommend the ThruNite Archer 2A V3. This model was our longtime top pick, and it’s nearly identical to the Archer 2A C. The only substantial difference is that the Archer 2A V3 is not compatible with the rechargeable battery. Because it can use only AA batteries, its highest brightness settings are lower than those of the Archer 2A C. It’s still a great light with all of the same features—it’s just not as bright.
The rechargeable Baton 3 Pro offers high build quality, and the unusual charging system is about as hassle-free as it gets.
The Olight Baton 3 Pro is a pocket-friendly rechargeable option that excels in convenience. In brightness and battery life, the Baton 3 Pro exceeds the abilities of the Archer 2A C and does so in a smaller package. It also offers the easiest, most convenient charging setup we’ve seen. These features, plus the flashlight’s high-quality feel, justify its added cost in comparison with our other recommendations.
The charging setup is excellent. Not only does the battery charge inside the light, but it does so with a magnetic charger that simply clicks on to the tail of the light. With this setup, it is very easy to keep the Baton 3 Pro fully charged; all we had to do was set the light down right near the charging cord, and it would attach itself with a nice little click. Because the Baton 3 Pro has no charging port, dirt and dust can’t gum up the charging process.
It’s more pocket-friendly than our other picks. At about 4 inches in length, the Baton 3 Pro is smaller than the rest of our picks, and carrying it around in a pocket is much easier to do. You can find smaller lights, even models that attach to a keychain, but for some people the Baton 3 Pro will work as a daily light.
It has a nice pocket clip. Because the clip has a double bend, it can clip to something with the lens facing either way. You can even attach the light to the brim of a baseball cap and use it as a makeshift headlamp.
The charging cord is proprietary. The charging system, for as good as it is, works only with the included charging cord, so you have to be careful not to lose the cord, or if you’re traveling, you need to bring it along with you. It’s not like a USB-C cord, where you’d be able to find one in the wild.
This pick replaces the discontinued Olight S2R Baton II.
We tested 12 inexpensive flashlights in the under-$20 range, all easily found on Amazon, and all with a high number of positive reviews. They’re a generic bunch, and we found identical models sold under a variety of names. These lights run on either one AA battery or three AAA batteries. They’re definitely bright enough to help someone get around in the dark, but they have issues. For one, they all have the single-button interface with the strobe feature as part of the brightness cycle, which is a major flaw. But even worse is that their quality is completely unreliable.
It’s so bad that flashlight reviewer Selfbuilt no longer reviews budget lights because such models can “be incredibly inconsistent from batch to batch.” Selfbuilt continues, “The reason for this seems to be that many of the budget ‘brands’ are actually often only a loose set of model standards manufactured by more than one plant. Copying and counterfeiting is also rampant, especially for perceived ‘popular’ budget models.” Once, Selfbuilt gave a positive review to a budget light, and when negative feedback of the same light appeared, Selfbuilt “bought a new sample from the same dealer, and discovered a completely different light (with a different body thickness, screw threads, switch—and most importantly, circuit).” The conclusion: “In every measurable way, the newer version was inferior to the previous one I had tested.”
Reviewer Dave Wise had similar things to say about inexpensive flashlights. “[The] biggest pitfalls are the reliability aspect,” he told us. “Most of those lower priced lights come with much poorer electronics that just don’t hold up to use.” He added, “My Grandpa taught me that I’m too poor to buy cheap tools.”
We had our own experience with this lack of quality control or possibly counterfeiting (we have more thoughts on counterfeiting in general in this blog post). Two of the budget lights we tested were ostensibly from a company called UltraFire, but on one of the lights, the logo was misspelled as “UltruFire.” Not exactly reassuring.
The bottom line is that we agree with Selfbuilt, who writes, “As a reviewer, I can’t justify reviewing a light where there is no reasonable assurance of consistent quality of manufacture.” Likewise, we can’t recommend any specific budget models, because if the products themselves are inconsistent, we can’t even be sure exactly what we would be telling you to buy. If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to load up on flashlights, say, for the glovebox or the toolbox and garage, such lights are certainly an option, but just know what you’re getting yourself into. Caveat emptor.
We previously recommended the ThruNite TC15 V3 as a rechargeable option. But the performance of the rechargeable ThruNite Archer 2A C is impressive enough that the TC15 V3 now seems less worth the added cost. For an entirely rechargeable light, we prefer the Olight Baton 3 Pro over the TC15 V3.
The Manker E12 was our previous runner-up. It’s nearly identical to the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, but it has had repeated stock issues over the years and is currently unavailable.
The Olight Baton 3 Pro Max, which we tested in 2024, is an excellent light that builds on the success of the Baton 3 Pro. In addition to being brighter and blessed with a longer battery life, it has a sensor that automatically dims the light if it is turned on with something directly in front of the lens, such as if it happens to click on while stowed away in a backpack. The battery gauge also lights up with a shake of the flashlight, so you don’t need to turn the light on to see how much juice is left. The Baton 3 Pro Max is thicker and longer than the Baton 3 Pro, so it’s more difficult to carry in a pocket, and it typically costs about $20 more, landing in the $90 range. The added features are nice, but we don’t think they’re necessary for the standard flashlight user. But if you plan to take your light off the beaten path for backpacking or extended camping trips, say, the Baton 3 Pro Max is definitely worth consideration.
The Klein Tools 56412 Rechargeable LED Flashlight has a second light along the side of the head that makes for a nice work light. It has a durable feel, and the USB-C charging port is protected by a rotating collar piece; in addition, the tip of the light glows in the dark, making it an easy light to find. This model is bulkier than our top pick and runner-up, and it lacks both their general finesse and their firefly mode, but it’s a nice flashlight for a toolbox.
We tested the Ryobi FVL51K USB Lithium Compact LED Flashlight and the Milwaukee 2161-21 RedLithium USB 1100L Twist Focus Flashlight. Both run on removable 4-volt batteries. The Milwaukee light is the more polished of the two, and it’s also more than twice the price. It has a bright light with a zoom lens, and it feels durable. Like the Klein Tools model we tested, it’s bulkier than our picks and doesn’t offer a firefly mode. During our tests, the rotating collar that protects the charging port was extremely difficult—in fact, nearly impossible—to twist. The Ryobi model, made of plastic instead of metal, is a decent enough flashlight, but it’s very basic compared with our picks.
The Infinity X1 flashlight, available in a variety of brightnesses ranging from 2,500 lumens to 5,000 lumens, is nearly 10 inches long and reminiscent of a classic MagLite model. It has three settings, all of which you control with a single side button. The removable battery can not only charge via a USB port but can also provide charging power to USB-compatible devices, making this flashlight especially handy during a power outage, when you may need to give your phone a quick charge. As a flashlight, though, the Infinity X1 lacks the small size and the subtlety that we appreciate so much with our picks.
We tested the rechargeable Fenix PD36R, which at a cost of roughly $100 is quite a bit more expensive than our picks. That additional investment is reflected in the overall build quality, which is nicer than what you get from the lights we recommend—the threaded portions unscrew a little more smoothly, the weight feels a little more solid, and the buttons are a little nicer. The highest setting is 1,600 lumens, which the light can hold for almost three hours when fully charged. It’s a genuinely nice flashlight, but unfortunately it lacks an ultralow setting. On top of that, the price is too steep for anyone who’s merely seeking a knock-around kitchen-drawer flashlight. But if your budget is higher, and you don’t need a moonlight setting, this is a light to consider.
The Olight Warrior Mini 2 is an excellent light and has the interesting ability to dim automatically if an object is too close to the lens, to prevent overheating in, say, a backpack or a pocket. Typically $20 more expensive than the Olight Baton 3 Pro, this model is brighter and offers a slightly longer battery life. It has both a side button and a tail switch, which control different settings and can get confusing. If you typically use a flashlight often enough to keep such button modes top of mind, this light provides a lot of versatility. During our more casual use in our tests, however, we kept forgetting the nuances of the buttons and often ended up grabbing another flashlight with a simpler interface instead.
We’ve tested a number of other ThruNite lights and found them all to be reflective of our top pick, offering solid quality and features at an entry-level price. Although we don’t think these other lights are a match for the Archer 2A C as the best choice for an all-purpose flashlight, each one does have its high points, whether in beam brightness or compact size. Flashlight features, like everything, involve a series of trade-offs (bigger body, longer lasting, brighter beam), so if any of these next few dismissals look like a fit for your specific needs, we think that you’d be satisfied with your choice.
The ThruNite Archer 1A V3 takes a single AA battery. Compared with the company’s two-AA Archer V3, it isn’t as bright and doesn’t have the lengthy run time. It is typically priced within about $5 of the two-AA version.
The ThruNite Ti Pro is a little-finger-length AA EDC light with a twist switch. With a maximum output of over 1,000 lumens, it’s quite bright. It lacks the versatility of our picks, but at around $20 it’s a nice secondary light.
The rechargeable ThruNite TC12 V2 is bright and has the same two-button interface as the ThruNite Archer 2A C, but we prefer the Olight Baton 3 Pro’s easy charging.
ThruNite’s T1 is a much smaller rechargeable light with brightness levels similar to those of the Archer 2A V3 but a shorter battery life.
The ThruNite Archer Pro V2 is a small rechargeable light. It’s brighter than the AA-powered Archer 2A V3, but it doesn’t last as long at its higher settings. The ThruNite Archer Mini is an even smaller rechargeable pocket flashlight. It may not be big and blinding, but it can help you look under the couch or light your way on a walk at night. It has only high, low, and strobe settings.
The ThruNite Catapult and Catapult Mini are designed to throw the beam a far distance, and they do. They’re much larger than the other models, and their wide lens makes them a little awkward to use in comparison with the rest. But they work as advertised and can easily light up trees over 500 feet away as if it were daytime.
We dismissed many other rechargeable lights in the same price range because their battery requires removal for charging, and they can’t accept traditional batteries as the ThruNite Archer 2A C can. This group of lights included the Coast HP8R and the Fenix PD35 V2.0.
Among AA flashlights, the Mini Maglite Pro was a previous pick, but through our long-term testing, we’ve realized that we never want to use it. The Mini Maglite Pro doesn’t have the brightness-level range of our picks, and it’s just not as bright.
The Nitecore MT2A has an unusual interface that helps you avoid the strobe (and the additional SOS setting) in regular use, but the associated workaround is simply not that effective or easy to use. The MT2A has two modes: a turbo mode, which is the light’s highest setting, and a user-defined mode, which you access by slightly untwisting the head of the light. The user-defined mode cycles through the settings: high, medium, low, SOS, and strobe. The idea is that once you’ve chosen the brightness level, you can then use the light as just a two-setting light, with turbo and whatever the user-defined mode is. In our tests, however, we still occasionally had to cycle through the modes and in the process deal with the strobe and SOS.
The Streamlight ProTac 2AA also has a strobe workaround, but here, the option lets you program the light to eliminate the strobe mode from the toggling cycle. At that point, unfortunately, the strobe becomes inaccessible in an emergency (unless you spend time reprogramming the light).
The Coast HX5, a single-AA light, was much brighter than the other single-AA lights we tested for close-range tasks, but out in the woods it didn’t have the same throw as the others.
The Coast HP7 uses four AAA batteries, and we found that battery drain was fast and consistent. We preferred our picks.
This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.
Doug Mahoney is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter covering home improvement. He spent 10 years in high-end construction as a carpenter, foreman, and supervisor. He lives in a very demanding 250-year-old farmhouse and spent four years gutting and rebuilding his previous home. He also raises sheep and has a dairy cow that he milks every morning.
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A trip to Yellowstone or Yosemite may not yet be in the cards, but we’ve come up with some ideas, plus the gear, to make camping out in the backyard fun too.
oem camp tent lantern Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).