I don’t know if this is for us to post reviews or just read what you wrote, but here goes nothing.
About 7 – 8 months ago, I was looking for a really good, durable, bright and economical flashlight. Interestingly enough, I quickly realized that these economical did not fit well with the rest of the qualities.
HOWEVER!!
As I continued my search, I was on a flashlight forum (yes, believe it or not, they have those) and someone mentioned a Hong Kong company that made flashlights called SolarForce.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love to buy American whenever I can, but when it come to something that can be less than half the price and the same quality, I don’t see the reason.
So I checked ebay and ordered one of the Solarforce L2 flashlights for less than $30 shipped. Don’t be in a hurry because it comes from HK and has to clear customs etc.
When it arrived, I quickly loaded it with 2 CR123 primaries and started testing it out. It is one of the brightest flashlights that I have ever owned. Not only that, but it is quite high quality. It is machined aluminum and not cast like some of the cheap flashlights that I have seen.
One thing that I did not like about it was that the CR123 batteries rattled around a bit. As I researched this, I (happily) discovered that the reason was that this Solarforce L2 flashlight could take a special battery called an 18650. An 18650 battery is the same length as 2 CR123 batteries and slightly thicker. The good thing is that the come as rechargeables and have a lot more capacity than 2 CR123 batteries. This means more run time, more options and can be recharged from my solar panel.
I am not affiliated with SolarForce in any way except a very happy customer as now I have 3 SolarForce flashlights and am just not at the same cost as I would have paid for one of the “brand name” flashlights.
Another plus is that it can take all of the same accessories as a Surefire 6P flashlight such as pressure switch, remote pressure switch, tactical replacement head etc, so you can source parts locally if need be.