Best EDC flashlights

Nitecore T4K

Lightweight 4000 lumen EDC flashlight.

The Nitecore T4K is a performer. In-person it looks a little unusual with the two buttons and the OLED display, but it is a very functional and somewhat practical EDC light. We evaluated the Nitecore T4K, and it reached 3736 lumens.

Unlike cheap flashlights sold on eBay or Aliexpress advertising thousands of fake lumens, the T4K really generates (almost) 4000 lumens. The OLED display reports how many minutes of battery life is remaining. Although the peak brightness is only maintained while the mode button is pressed, the highest continuous output is 200 lumens.

Lumintop Tool AA 3.0

If you look through our reviews, you will see that Lumintop has some serious flashlights, including the Lumintop GT4695, Thanos, Mach, and many, many more. The Tool AA is one of those lights you just can’t go wrong with. We’ve reviewed the Lumintop Tool AA 2.0 three times, as well as the v3. The price for the aluminum version is usually around $20-25, excluding the lithium-ion battery or magnetic tailcap, which are optional. Sometimes, they’re included, depending on where you order from.

The Tool AA works on AA and 14500 lithim-ion batteries. Lumintop recommends the 920mAh lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which costs an additional $4-5. During our test, we measured almost 1,000 lumens at turn-on and over 800 after 30 seconds, with this particular battery. It’s rated at 900 lumens, but that’s not entirely accurate according to ANSI FL1 standards, which specify measuring output after 30 seconds, not at turn-on. When using a high-quality NiMH battery, such as the Panasonic Eneloop AA, you still get over 300 lumens, not bad for an AA flashlight.

If you are looking for a reliable yet affordable flashlight, consider the Tool AA! (Just be aware that there’s also a Lumintop Tool AAA, which only works with AAA batteries)

Olight Baton 4

From our review:

The Olight Baton 4 has nearly everything I want in an EDC flashlight. It’s highly pocketable and incredibly bright for its size. The Baton 4 has a rugged and attractive design with its coordinated stainless accents and anti-slip texture on the battery tube.

The Premium Edition’s wireless charging case makes topping-up on the go super convenient. The laser micro-perforated brightness and battery indicators (a new feature for the Baton 4) are really intuitive and handy. Pretty much the only thing I don’t like about the Baton 4 is the LED with its greenish tint.

I can’t help but think that the new Olight Baton 4 Premium Edition would make an excellent gift – perfect for the enthusiast, but also for someone that just needs a handy, dependable flashlight.

Nitecore MT1C Pro

Pocketable EDC light with 1200 lumens

Taken from our Nitecore MT1C Pro review

If you’re looking for a simple light, the Nitecore MT1C Pro comes close. Building off an already simple MT1C always starting in high right out of the pocket gives it tactical strength, but having an optional low mode allows it to be multi-task. 

Nitecore’s published specs are a mixed bag, though; output on high and runtime on low were lower than expected, but throw was much higher. If throw is important to you, keep this in mind.

You are definitely going to need something strong to clip this to, maybe leather, because that steel clip will grab ahold of your pocket and drag it across some intense knurling that will make quick work of cotton.

If you want a no frills, bare-bones light whose only special feature is a low mode, this light is for you. I recommend the Nitecore MT1C Pro with 5 stars.

Emisar D4v2

Popular EDC flashlight for advanced users

It’s been around for some time now, but still one of the most popular EDC flashlights in the flashlight community. It uses an 18650 cell, but with optional battery tubes, it can also support the 18350 and 18500 size batteries.

Emisar flashlights are built for enthusiasts, so you’ll get the latest and greatest flashlight technology with lots of options for customization.

The D4v2 uses the extremely popular Andúril UI, which features many interesting modes including utility modes for battery voltage, temperature check and calibration, smooth ramping, momentary on, special strobe modes including candle mode, party strobe, and even a lightning storm mode. It’s an excellent EDC flashlight and one of our top picks. For our full click here: Emisar D4v2, or buy at the following stores.

Emisar D1

A compact, throwy EDC light, for advanced users. 

The Emisar D1 has had a quiet existence up until it was redesigned. It is a compact, very pocketable light with up to 100 Kcd when properly equipped.

The newly designed Emisar D1 runs off a single 18650 battery with optional tubes for both 18350 and the obscure, slightly slimmer 18500. The D1 is highly versatile, with a wide variety of the most popular LEDs on the market in just about every tint and CRI available, from cool white to R9080 and 98 CRI. When equipped with the Osram W1 or too-powerful for a small host Luminus SBT90.2, the D1 is capable of 100 Kcd. The UI has been updated to Anduril 2 for added features and two mode sets (Simple and Advanced). It’s an excellent EDC flashlight and one of our top picks. We tested the D1 with the GT FC-40 LED and it had excellent performance and consistent output. For our full click here: Emisar D1 v2.

Wurkkos TS26

Great EDC for advanced users (Anduril)

From our review:

Every once in a while I’ll get a flashlight for review that comes with a bit of controversy. The Wurkkos TS26 is one such flashlight, and honestly, it turned out better than I thought. The first TS26S came with enthusiast LEDs and an enthusiast driver, but not the enthusiast user interface. I really liked the TS26S though, with its good performance, elegantly host, and low price. It made me forget it was missing Anduril 2, but Wurkkos had work to finish.

This new TS26 launched with the enthusiast UI and driver, but the enthusiast LEDs are missing for now. However, I’m not upset one bit because this TS26 is great! Anduril 2 isn’t my favorite UI, but it’s up there, and the TN3535 LEDs really woke it up, improving the beam distance and luminous output. I can totally forgive the low CRI and cool tint because these aren’t bad at all for CW LEDs, and they’re efficient with good overdriving headroom.

Acebeam E75

The Acebeam E75 is a high output 21700 sized EDC light. It’s available in a variety of colors, including gray, green, black and teal. Great for beginners and advanced users.

It’s a bit on the large side for EDC suitability, but it’s definitely one of the best-performing EDC lights on the market.

It comes with everything to get you started, including a 21700 battery with 5,000mAh capacity. It also includes a USB-C cable, so you can charge the battery inside the flashlight. No need to get a separate battery charger.

Equipped with 4 LEDs, it is specced at 4500 lumens. But that only counts for the cool white LEDs version. The other, with neutral white Nichia 519A are rated at 3,000 lumens. This is also the exact configuration we tested. During our test the E75 reached over 2767 lumens after 30 seconds. After the output dropped, it stayed consistent at just below1000 lumens for about 1.5 hours. That’s pretty good performance, especially considering the test light is using the Nichia 519A LEDs with neutral white color.

For more information on the E75, check out the full review here: https://1lumen.com/review/acebeam-e75/

Imalent MS03

Imalent MS03 is extremely bright for its size. Reaching approximately 13,000 lumens!

Imalent is known for being one of the few manufacturers that try to achieve the maximum output. The MS03 is no exception in that regard. Pushing out over 10,000 lumens from a single cell is insane!

If you are looking for a pocketable flashlight to blind 100 people at once, get the MS03. This thing is seriously ridiculous. Please check out our in-depth review of the Imalent MS03 for all the details. And yes, it does include a pocket clip, but it’s easy to remove.

Imalent includes a high-drain 21700 battery, so you are ready to go.