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Need to get a pair of decent torches for the kids to use at scouts. They're not taking my joystick...
rechargeable, last a couple of hours at least, preferably high and low beam and a focus option.
£20 max if possible.
Thanks
James
The wife treated me to one of these for dog walking and it’s decent for the price. She purchased on Prime day so was a bit cheaper.
edit, for some unknown reason, I can’t paste the link?
it’s a Anker LC90 torch on Amazon
I'd say they'd be better off with a couple of petzl head torches. The Tikkina model is ideal for kids. 3xAAA batteries, so easy to get replacements for and no recharger or anything like that needed..
Headtorch is more 'pro'
3 light settings, with 100h on low(7lmn) which would be ideal for reading/inside tent, and 2h on max, with a well here's the spec....
https://www.petzl.com/GB/en/Sport/Headlamps/TIKKINA
A hand torch and a head torch, both have their uses, a head torch is indispensable for around a camp, hand torches for messing around in the woods.
I’ve got an Alpkit head torch which is perfect for when I’m sorting out the food for the ‘pets’, the birds and hedgehogs, particularly this time of year, but I’ve always got a small flashlight in my pocket for use anywhere where I need to see something in dark corners or whatever.
qwertyFree Member
Cobra Optics Fury Night Vision Goggles
Great right up until the point you get blinded by someone that is using a torch. Want thermal imaging really…
LedLenser Active Light 400. Headlight but detachable from the head belt, accu, 4 hrs on high beam and 35 hrs on low beam, focus option. It is having a clip, it’s so good I bought a second one on offer price: 20€.
Used it some time on the hardtail for front (and back, with red lens).
Just not a wind up one, please. We had a new scout who’s mum thought it would be a good idea for him to have a wind up one.
Great on a night hike and there’s the constant whirring to disturb the night. Or late on camp and stuff needs doing and he didn’t have any hands free as he needed it to hold and charge the torch.
Wuben c3. Great torch. £22 on Amazon
Wuben head torch E7, not got one but it's on my list of torches to buy.
Sofirn if23 for a torch with a ton of features.
Ledlenser stuff is very good quality. You can get cheaper stuff with better specs but it won't be as robust. I've bought a few when work were paying for it.
I did get a cheap Chinese Sofin headtorch from Ali Express, that is really bright for the money and it runs on a replaceable 18650 battery.
If you can afford a bit more, the olight Perun 2 mini?
Can be used as head torch or hand torch, has a red night light
Head torch.
The only likely use case I can think of that needs a non head torch is having a 6 D cell maglite to hit people with.
There's a very high chance it will get lost so any headtorch from B&Q, but make sure you also get rechargeable batteries.
MrsSC, a scout leader, has just bought herself an Alpkit Graviton. I wouldn't mind but it's better than mine - and I am the one who walks the dog every morning and night.
Ledlenser stuff is very good quality.
Excellent customer service too.
I had a LL head torch, the cord between the lamp and the battery pack failed. The conversation went as follows:
"Have you got a receipt?" (Oh, here we go) - No, sorry.
"How old is it?" - About three years maybe?
"Where did you buy it from?" - No clue, an outdoors shop in the Lakes somewhere.
"Send it back, we'll take a look." - OK.
I sent it in, got a brand spanking new one back, the next model up from the one I'd bought. (Tellingly perhaps, unlike the one I'd bought the new one had a section of curly cord front-to-back, I wonder whether they'd recognised it as a design flaw.)
Both a hand and headtorch are ideal. Just bear in mind cheap LED headtorches are good and all that, but those that take three AAA batteries tend to run out of steam/electrons pretty quick when using full power, as kids tend to do. The biggest bugbear people have with torches, the beam being dim or battery always being flat when you come to use it next!
Ring Automotive used to sell a waterproof metal Cree LED torch that took three C size batteries in combination with a reasonable/useful output. So you got a touch reasonably hand sized with batteries that last a long time before needing to be changed/charged. I've had about 8-12 months regular use out it before now!
A scout leader writes....
Please, for the love of god, don't buy them a headtorch. They just don't get the "when you look at people, you f____g blind them" thing, and when there's fifteen of the buggers it's really, really annoying.
Buy them something cheap, cos they'll only lose it. High and low beam is pointless less, cos they'll only use high. The scout leaders will like you even more if it doesn't have a flashing mode.
Thanks for all the recommendations.
I'm a trustee and volunteer, headtorches are no good for wide games (hence asking for torch recommendations)
Mostly, because as he says ^ they all look at each other's faces every time they speak.
Wuben head torch E7, not got one but it’s on my list of torches to buy.
I love this forum. Why do you - or does anyone - have a 'list of torches to buy'? I know we live in a consumerist sort of world, but it seems slightly excessive. I'm genuinely intrigued though. Do you collect torches? 🙂
Get them one of these each. Not only serves as an easy to carry torch, but they can gently bash each other with them too...
DrP
Aldi are doing a 1200 lumen torch for a tenner https://www.aldi.co.uk/led-torch/p/839530809154600
A scout leader writes….
Please, for the love of god, don’t buy them a headtorch. They just don’t get the “when you look at people, you f____g blind them” thing, and when there’s fifteen of the buggers it’s really, really annoying.
Another scout leader says, a blast of 3000 lumens from my Fenix soon gets the point across to them!
Why do you – or does anyone – have a ‘list of torches to buy’?
The torch 'list' is in my head. I only own a few torches. A few too many I guess but they are relatively cheap and they should all last for years.
I've a 3 D cell maglite from my youth which I'll never use again. I think the pifco safari lantern was my first torch I bought for scout camps.
- My wuben c3 . Keyring belt clip orange thing is a good addition that reduces the chances of losing it
I’ve a 3 D cell maglite from my youth which I’ll never use again.
Same. It has a number of redeeming qualities, but as torch it's terrible. I upgraded the lamp to an LED and it is now slightly less terrible. In their day they were probably the best on the market, but that day was 40 years ago.
Cateye volt bike light, l use them all the time for seeing.
Can't remember the last time I had one on the bike
Has 5 settings with two flashers, warms your hands up if it's freezing
Probably need a power bank for £20 too if you use it too much on a high setting
Cateye volt bike light, l use them all the time for seeing.
Good idea, they're rubbish for hearing. 🙂
Posting here just because by coincidence I was after a couple of torches for the kids myself just last week! After going on a couple of Beaver night walks being constantly blinded by kids shining torches in my face I actually wanted them to have something not so bright... ended up getting these Energizer Eveready LED Torch, Super Bright Flashlight for Outdoor Lights, Ideal for Emergencies, Camping, Batteries Included, Pack of 2.
Absolutely fine!
Posting here just because by coincidence I was after a couple of torches for the kids myself just last week! After going on a couple of Beaver night walks being constantly blinded by kids shining torches in my face I actually wanted them to have something not so bright… ended up getting these Energizer Eveready LED Torch, Super Bright Flashlight for Outdoor Lights, Ideal for Emergencies, Camping, Batteries Included, Pack of 2.
Absolutely fine!
Indeed, that looks like the perfect torch for a Scout.
After going on a couple of Beaver night walks being constantly blinded
The last time I tried that I realised, dogging isn't for me.
It has a number of redeeming qualities, but as torch it’s terrible.
I've finally got around to upgrading my maglite torches with LEDs and have been really pleased with the results. I also upgraded the AA sized one with an on/off switch too.
used these guys
https://thetorchsite.co.uk/TTS-2AA.html
The only likely use case I can think of that needs a non head torch is having a 6 D cell maglite to hit people with.
Sounds like the sort of advice I’d expect from someone who’s user name is thegeneralist… *heavy sigh*
I frequently have a use for a torch, far less frequently do I have a use for a headtorch. My main torch is clipped to my pocket, I’ve had it years, it uses a Li-ion 14500 3.7v cell, it has a range of brightness settings easily accessible from the button on the tailcap, and it’s titanium.
It’s a Reylight, I’ve got two, I got the first one through a Kickstarter campaign, then managed to mislay it sometime later, then another campaign came up for the same torch, so I jumped at the opportunity to replace the lost one. I think no one will be surprised at the fact that the first one turned up after the replacement arrived…
It’s got four brightness settings, just from cycling through a light press on the tailcap button, and it’s got slots and holes to accommodate tritium glow tubes - three around the light head, six around the tailcap, and one across the button.
It’s not a cheap torch, by any means, and the addition of the tritium tubes almost doubles the cost. However, both torches have been faultless for all the time I’ve had them, the older one is at least ten years old, now, IIRC, and one is always on my bedside table, the tritium tubes mean no groping around and knocking stuff on the floor in the dark.
I wouldn’t recommend them for a Cub Scout, though…
Mine’s a variant of the LAN model…
https://reylight.net/collections/all