Buying a Flashlight

How can we systematically choose a flashlight that fits our needs – without breaking the bank?

When you decide to shop for a new flashlight, you’ll find dozens of brands—and literally thousands of models with a variety of features, and prices that range from just a few to hundreds of dollars. And the rapid development of high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which is driven by applications that range from automotive headlights to refrigerated cabinets in grocery stores, means that finding the right light will only get more complicated. How can we systematically choose a flashlight that fits our needs—without breaking the bank?

Almost fifteen years ago a group of flashlight manufacturers formed the Portable Lights Trade Organization (aka “PLATO”) to develop a uniform rating system to compare their products. It’s known as “FL-1,” or more formally as the “Flashlight Basic Performance Standard FL 1-2009,“ which is now an ANSI-NEMA document. Any flashlight manufacturer’s use of the standard to promote his products is purely voluntary, and each manufacturer is responsible for performing their own tests and reporting their own results. But it does provide a defined test methodology and common reporting format using icons, numbers and text. If we can trust the manufacturer's data, then the FL-1 standard gives us basic information that we can use to understand and compare the performance of flashlights that are measured and reported using the standard.

The PowerTac WOFT 1,200 Lumen Tactical EDC Flashlight

A good explanation of the FL-1 standard’s specifics can be found in an on-line presentation from Streamlight, a member of PLATO, or at LED-Resource.com. The chart below shows the six performance ratings that are covered by the standard, along with the icons that represent each feature. The icons and the values associated with each of them will be shown on the packaging and the instructions included with a flashlight. Each manufacturer can decide which ratings they want to show; and there might be a few manufacturers who don’t provide FL-1 data for all six features. But if they decide to use a designated FL-1 icon for any of them, they have to follow the FL-1 standard for all of the ratings that they do show in their product data.

FL-1 Rating Summary (Source: MSC Industrial Supply)