... and other orifices

For one thing, cheap lights rarely have good color rendering. They make people look like zombies, wash out detail, and just don't do color very well. If you cannot tell brown from green, you will step in that dog mess in the lawn. While some enthusiast-grade lights also do that, most enthusiast lights that lack color rendering make up for it with sheer throw. Often in the 400-800m range, and sometimes up to 2,900m (yes, ~1.8 miles).

As for "similar brightness", a lot of cheap lights do not meet their claims while enthusiast lights do. For instance, the light you see sold a lot under hundreds of different names (including Gearlight S1000) and many of us get a cheap knockoff free with our battery orders claims 1,000-2,000 lumens depending who slaps their name on it, but it actually doesn't even make 300. The D2 gets about double that at startup. On one channel. Oh, and if you zoom that Gearlight to max throw, it's only 86 lumens; about half of what a D2 can sustain for the entire charge of it's battery. Here is what a 1,400-lumen light that *actually *makes 1,400 lumens looks like. And both the D2 and TS10 are tiny lights that run on an AA-sized battery. Larger lights are more powerful.

Hanklights (Emisar/Noctigon) also have the option to be configured many different ways. Hank is famous for shipping accordingly. Your choice of color temperature, some emitters available in actual (often monochromatic) colors like Deep Red, or maybe you want a UV light that has a filter that cuts the non-UV part of the beam out. Some lights, like the D2, offer multiple choices as they have two or three channels.

Metal construction doesn't mean much if you use cheap metal and/or bad machining. The build quality is notably better for enthusiast-grade lights.

In short, it's the difference between a decent restaurant and McDonalds.

To each their own, but I see no practical use for AA. In fact, I see AA-compatibility as a relic of the past, just like insisting that gasoline needs lead or PC's need floppy drives. It makes some people feel better, so it's a nice marketing tool, but I've moved past 2005. The only thing I have in my house that can even take AA's is my Rider RX.

For me, it's not about the lumens. At least not with 14500 lights. No 14500 can match my 18650 lights there. That's not what smol-lights are for. But 16340 lacks the runtime of a 14500, and when I carry a 14500 instead of an 18650, it's usually more a matter of girth than length so 18350 holds no appeal for me.

To head off another argument I've heard, my experience is that any alleged runtime advantage AA has over 14500 is only because of lower lumens. A light that can run at the same lumens regardless of battery, whether due to step spacing or ramping, will last longer on a good Li-ion. Those Vapcell F12's will outlast two white Eneloops, so 14500 beats NiMH. As for alkaleaks, I've been in exactly the sort of situations that many AA-lovers think dual-fuel is required for and been left in the dark, sometimes for days, as a result. Plentiful? Not in a natural disaster. If you're the type that only keeps a couple dozen around, you'll run out by the fourth day. And when I tried to use the infinite supply of AA's at work to get out of charging a 14500, I was so disappointed by having to swap batteries so much more often than I needed to charge that "all the AA's you can eat" was not worth it. That was the final nail in AA's coffin for me.

Experience guides opinion, and my experience has been such that pretty much every pro-AA/pro-dual-fuel argument I've heard has been debunked. Or at least deprecated since 14500's broke the 900-mAh mark. I do not thinking a larger, less efficient, more complicated and expensive light is worth a feature I will not use. If I wanted a(nother) oversized, expensive light that could take 14500's, I'd get a fourth D2.

I agree with ditching the USB-C port, but there's enough folks that find external charging to be blasphemous and immoral that I can see why they included it. Besides, the optics/reflector requirements of a thrower give it a bit more "wasted" space than a floodier light like the TS10, so it's less of a hassle.

We always remember the past as being better than it was. They haven't really gotten worse; if anything, they've improved. They've had to in order to remain relevant.

I've been on the internet too long to ignore the reference.

A less expensive light with many choices of superior emitters seems better to me. Then again, for those that can't tell CRI 94 from CRI 74 or tell a 219b from a 219c from the amount of green and go solely by lumens, I can see why some folks wouldn't care about the things that set the KC1 apart from the others.

And now we know why the military uses so much green light....

Everybody needs a TS10.

If you want low enough lumens with high enough CRI for wound examinations, it's a nice addition to your collection. It can bet lower than your M150, or it can get obnoxiously high, and it ha a smooth ramp in between the two to get any level in between. Ramping UI's rawk. As one who both works optometry and has been sent into medical distress by medical personnel using shit lights for pupil exams, I can attest to the value of a TS10's ramping UI. If you ever encounter a patient who is on the spectrum, epileptic, or has other medical issues triggered by photosensitivity, you'll find the TS10 potentially better than the Weltool M6 I recommended to my boss, an OD who knows more about eyes (37 years in practice) than about flashlights. He doesn't do SAR though, so he doesn't need twice the lumens an M150 is capable of, but it's also the only light my CRI-baby arse would consider a rival to the Nichia 519a and 219b. If you think the Nichia M150 is nice, you'll also like the TS10.

The only light I have that can compete with it for beauty or CRI/R9 is an Emisar D2 with a 4500k Nichia 219b. And that light has a UV channel for other uses. Not as powerful, but since I use UV as part of my job, a bit more useful. And still plenty powerful for close work; simply not good for throw or sheer power the way my TS10 is.

Given how many folks refuse to buy any 14500 light that can't take AA's, as well as how many simply don't believe that there is any way a battery smaller than a D cell can hold enough power to do anything because that was true 30+ years ago, I can see why.

Welcome to The Rabbit Hole. The Stavi Special M150 is a fine flashlight. Especially if you choose the Nichia 519a. But if you think you're in deep now, wait until you get introduced to Hank....

I don't even notice the added weight in my pocket, but when I hold it, it's heavy enough to know that I have something in my hand. It's actually pleasant in a way that cannot be described.

Even though I loved the aluminum TS10's enough to get four of them before copper was an option, I've barely touched the my aluminum ones since getting one in copper. It's that nice. I won't say that it's better than sex, but it's good enough that I'd have to think about it for a moment if asked to compare the two.

Disappointing to those that go for flood-throw combos to try and make a Zoomie with no moving parts. Happiness for those that were disappointed that the dual-channel DT8 only did checkerboard in E21 form though.

It depends on what you use dual-channel for

Everybody needs a TS10.

It may not be The Perfect Light, but it comes a lot closer than many other lights. Do you want great CRI and R9? The CPS2323 is solidly 9080. Do you want lumens? The TS10 has more than enough for any practical use. Do you want small? It's the size of a button-top 21700 cell; you could shove it inside most 21700 lights and screw down the tailcap securely.

IMO, the only thing that could make it more perfect is a 4500K 219b emitter swap.

Nope. Got me too.

RNG-controlled brightness. Every button press is a new roll of the dice.

After having gone through a few natural disasters that the AA-worshippers think utterly vindicate their fanaticism to he utter and total superiority of AA-compatibility, I have to say that I am unimpressed by anything that combines the downsides of alkaleaks (low lumens and low wH) with the biggest weakness of Li-ion (needs to be charged instead of replaced).

I appreciate that some, like Acebeam and Skilhunt, go for sustained lumens over startup peak lumens, and am a fan of boost drivers in general, but I think that the backlash to hotrod lights is a bit extreme. I've used TS10's to keep my home nicely lit during prolonged power outages. Yeah, it has a reputation as a hot rod since its a 14500 light that can do 1400 lumens, but at lower levels that do not involve the FET, it can hold enough lumens to do what it needs to do for many hours despite being a 14500 light with a driver that isn't a boost/buck driver and cannot take the first battery to sell out when TSHTF.

One nice thing about Anduril is that it can do the no-FET-needed levels that prolong battery life when you just need a little light, and despite the fear-mongering, it doesn't actually operate any differently from many other lights that copy it's Simple UI mode and merely omit 10H and the (easily ignored) options it unlocks. How do you think I get my TS10's to hold "don't walk into wall or trip over the cat" light levels for 8+ hours despite the low mAh of 14500 cells? I have options between M1 and M2 that Skilhunt's and Zebra's UI lack.

IMO, all lights need a ramping mode that allows for achieving a a nice balancing point between output and runtime. And I have yet to see a stepped-mode-only UI hit that balance with their mode spacing.

I used to carry a Stylus Pro and loved it... until I fell down the rabbit hole and discovered MUCH better flashlights.

My first was the Rider RX. Rugged, simple to learn (though with problems... I'll get to that), and the lowest most was 12 lumens with the included 14500. Still more than I like for pupil exams having worked Optometry so long, but low enough to get the job done. Just hold it back a little further. It also has great CRI, which helps with a lot in medical settings. Then I found better. Much better.

Everybody need a TS10.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you get past that, it's simple. The hard part is just that it's different. The lowest setting can be so low that it's useless for pupil exams; that's how dim it can get. But you can change that. The brightest it can get is probably brighter than you need. Again, that can also be changed. Going from pupil exams to over ten times what your lost Stylus Pro can do, and in something smaller.

While many are intimidated by the diagram that shows the full capabilities of Anduril, in actual use in the really real world, it's a lot like most other flashlights. A simple click will get it to the last-used brightness you had it. A double-click while on will make it as bright as it can get. Those are near-universal in high-end flashlights. Holding the button will start dim and make it brighter; many other lights have you hold from Off for low levels. The main difference with Anduril is that, by default and with no programming, it raises brightness smoothly when you hold the button; just release the button when it's at the level you want. If you overshoot while raising brightness, just let off briefly and then hold the button again to dim it. If you need to dim it it after not adjusting it upwards, press-release-press-and-hold (2H). Like the Rider RX, it has excellent color rendering to aid with pupil exams and wound inspections. It's also at least as rugged as your Stylus Pro, and slightly cheaper. Once you get used to it, it's pretty easy. And my wife got used to it in under a minute with no instruction at all; possibly because she never saw the manual and wasn't intimidated.

The downside is that it cannot accept regular AA batteries, and lacks onboard charging. That means you need an external charger and spare batteries... not unlike the radio you probably carry if you do SAR. There are some low-priced Xtar chargers, and spare cells are cheap, though my experience is that the TS10 requires recharging less than half as often as my Stylus Pro needed batter swaps; one charge on my TS10 lasted longer than 4 AA's in my Stylus Pro or 2 AA's in my Rider RX unless I cranked it FAR beyond what either light is capable of.

If you want a light that can survive being drop-kicked repeatedly, allows you to get a good look at wounds, and can go from "too dim for pupil exams" to "DAMN, that's bright!", for less than the cost of a Stylus Pro, then grab yourself a 4000K TS10.

It's worth noting on that pot that the inside has been exposed to things like salts and acids that the outside has not. In a similar vein, those who are forcing a patina use different salts/acids depending on what they are shooting for.

If I want something slender I probably want an AAA light.

I can fit a 14500 light in my watch pocket, but not an 18350, and few 16430's. It's just those extra couple of millimeters. If I really want slender, I still have a couple old 3*AAAA (8420) Streamlight Stylus lights kicking around. Low-CRI and only 11 lumens, but thin AF and intrinsically safe (Class I, Div.1/Zone 1 ATEX). There simply aren't any AAA/10440 lights that pique my interest, and the only 10180 that does is already in my collection.

3.6 volt 16340’s with built in USB charging exist, though (example). I don’t know if there are 3.6 volt 14500’s like that, only those silly 1.5 volt ones with built in voltage stepdown.

Acebeam and Lumintop have them in USB-C. I don't know the CDR on the Acebeam, but the Lumintop is rated 4A and I suspect Acebeam uses the same battery with a different wrap. There's also a few micro-USB one's, but they suffer a combination of lower mAh, micro-USB, and low CDR that I'd go with the Acebeams in anything that wouldn't be better off with a Vapcell H10.

The TS10 can draw up to 7A on Turbo, and a D2 running both channels at once will draw 5A, so I wouldn't use them in a light over 800 lumens. However, most other 14500 lights, or a D2 in pure channel-switching mode will do just fine. You'll need to ask Hank to tweak the D2 to be able to take a button-top though.

There's at least three ways around that. In addition to being able to be locked out both electronically and mechanically, many lights have a switch that is fairly well protected. I may not trust my TS10 rattling around loose/unclipped except in my otherwise-empty watch pocket, but hitting the button on most of my Hanklights is such a low-probability thing that the only light I lockout is my KR4.

It's also worth noting that I have the memory set to "hybrid", so unless I used the light at a high level within the last three minutes, it'll come on quite low in the highly unlikely event that something manages to poke inside the raised ring anyways.