The 3 Best Flashlights of 2025

In 2025, we tested the Acebeam TAC 2AA EDC Rechargeable Flashlight. It’s a nice option with many of the same features as our top pick. Unfortunately, the interface is a little less intuitive. Like the ThruNite, the tail switch turns the light on, but with the Acebeam, a regular click of the side switch shuts the light off again. Brightness changes are done with long presses of the side switch, instead of regular clicks, like on the ThruNite. During testing, it was too easy to shut it off by accident.

We also looked at the Weltool Pro V2. It’s a solid little single AA light—that can be expanded to a double AA light with an extension tube—but the single rear button interface is limited compared to our picks.

We also tested the Olight Arkfeld Ultra and the JETBeam E26 UV Kunai. These have a flat design in addition to a blue light and laser pointer. It’s an odd combination of features and unless you want to get in the habit of inspecting hotel rooms or you want another cat toy on hand, it’s probably best to just get a regular flashlight. If these features are something you’re after, these are both well-built lights (the ThruNite Defender appears to be similar). Unfortunately, they all lack the wide range of brightness and control options found on our picks.

We previously recommended the ThruNite TC15 V3 as a rechargeable option. But the performance of the rechargeable ThruNite Archer 2A C is impressive enough that the TC15 V3 now seems less worth the added cost. For an entirely rechargeable light, we prefer the Olight Baton 3 Pro over the TC15 V3.

The Manker E12 was our previous runner-up. It’s nearly identical to the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, but it has had repeated stock issues over the years and is currently unavailable.

The Olight Baton 3 Pro Max, which we tested in 2024, is an excellent light that builds on the success of the Baton 3 Pro. In addition to being brighter and blessed with a longer battery life, it has a sensor that automatically dims the light if it is turned on with something directly in front of the lens, such as if it happens to click on while stowed away in a backpack. The battery gauge also lights up with a shake of the flashlight, so you don’t need to turn the light on to see how much juice is left. The Baton 3 Pro Max is thicker and longer than the Baton 3 Pro, so it’s more difficult to carry in a pocket, and it typically costs about $20 more, landing in the $90 range. The added features are nice, but we don’t think they’re necessary for the standard flashlight user. But if you plan to take your light off the beaten path for backpacking or extended camping trips, say, the Baton 3 Pro Max is definitely worth consideration.

The Klein Tools 56412 Rechargeable LED Flashlight has a second light along the side of the head that makes for a nice work light. It has a durable feel, and the USB-C charging port is protected by a rotating collar piece; in addition, the tip of the light glows in the dark, making it an easy light to find. This model is bulkier than our top pick and runner-up, and it lacks both their general finesse and their firefly mode, but it’s a nice flashlight for a toolbox.

We tested the Ryobi FVL51K USB Lithium Compact LED Flashlight and the Milwaukee 2161-21 RedLithium USB 1100L Twist Focus Flashlight. Both run on removable 4-volt batteries. The Milwaukee light is the more polished of the two, and it’s also more than twice the price. It has a bright light with a zoom lens, and it feels durable. Like the Klein Tools model we tested, it’s bulkier than our picks and doesn’t offer a firefly mode. During our tests, the rotating collar that protects the charging port was extremely difficult—in fact, nearly impossible—to twist. The Ryobi model, made of plastic instead of metal, is a decent enough flashlight, but it’s very basic compared with our picks.

The Infinity X1 flashlight, available in a variety of brightnesses ranging from 2,500 lumens to 5,000 lumens, is nearly 10 inches long and reminiscent of a classic MagLite model. It has three settings, all of which you control with a single side button. The removable battery can not only charge via a USB port but can also provide charging power to USB-compatible devices, making this flashlight especially handy during a power outage, when you may need to give your phone a quick charge. As a flashlight, though, the Infinity X1 lacks the small size and the subtlety that we appreciate so much with our picks.

We tested the rechargeable Fenix PD36R, which at a cost of roughly $100 is quite a bit more expensive than our picks. That additional investment is reflected in the overall build quality, which is nicer than what you get from the lights we recommend—the threaded portions unscrew a little more smoothly, the weight feels a little more solid, and the buttons are a little nicer. The highest setting is 1,600 lumens, which the light can hold for almost three hours when fully charged. It’s a genuinely nice flashlight, but unfortunately it lacks an ultralow setting. On top of that, the price is too steep for anyone who’s merely seeking a knock-around kitchen-drawer flashlight. But if your budget is higher, and you don’t need a moonlight setting, this is a light to consider.

The Olight Warrior Mini 2 is an excellent light and has the interesting ability to dim automatically if an object is too close to the lens, to prevent overheating in, say, a backpack or a pocket. Typically $20 more expensive than the Olight Baton 3 Pro, this model is brighter and offers a slightly longer battery life. It has both a side button and a tail switch, which control different settings and can get confusing. If you typically use a flashlight often enough to keep such button modes top of mind, this light provides a lot of versatility. During our more casual use in our tests, however, we kept forgetting the nuances of the buttons and often ended up grabbing another flashlight with a simpler interface instead.

We’ve tested a number of other ThruNite lights and found them all to be reflective of our top pick, offering solid quality and features at an entry-level price. Although we don’t think these other lights are a match for the Archer 2A C as the best choice for an all-purpose flashlight, each one does have its high points, whether in beam brightness or compact size. Flashlight features, like everything, involve a series of trade-offs (bigger body, longer lasting, brighter beam), so if any of these next few dismissals look like a fit for your specific needs, we think that you’d be satisfied with your choice.

The ThruNite Archer 1A V3 takes a single AA battery. Compared with the company’s two-AA Archer V3, it isn’t as bright and doesn’t have the lengthy run time. It is typically priced within about $5 of the two-AA version.

The ThruNite Ti Pro is a little-finger-length AA EDC light with a twist switch. With a maximum output of over 1,000 lumens, it’s quite bright. It lacks the versatility of our picks, but at around $20 it’s a nice secondary light.

The rechargeable ThruNite TC12 V2 is bright and has the same two-button interface as the ThruNite Archer 2A C, but we prefer the Olight Baton 3 Pro’s easy charging.

ThruNite’s T1 is a much smaller rechargeable light with brightness levels similar to those of the Archer 2A V3 but a shorter battery life.

The ThruNite Archer Pro V2 is a small rechargeable light. It’s brighter than the AA-powered Archer 2A V3, but it doesn’t last as long at its higher settings. The ThruNite Archer Mini is an even smaller rechargeable pocket flashlight. It may not be big and blinding, but it can help you look under the couch or light your way on a walk at night. It has only high, low, and strobe settings.

The ThruNite Catapult and Catapult Mini are designed to throw the beam a far distance, and they do. They’re much larger than the other models, and their wide lens makes them a little awkward to use in comparison with the rest. But they work as advertised and can easily light up trees over 500 feet away as if it were daytime.

We dismissed many other rechargeable lights in the same price range because their battery requires removal for charging, and they can’t accept traditional batteries as the ThruNite Archer 2A C can. This group of lights included the Coast HP8R and the Fenix PD35 V2.0.

Among AA flashlights, the Mini Maglite Pro was a previous pick, but through our long-term testing, we’ve realized that we never want to use it. The Mini Maglite Pro doesn’t have the brightness-level range of our picks, and it’s just not as bright.

The Nitecore MT2A has an unusual interface that helps you avoid the strobe (and the additional SOS setting) in regular use, but the associated workaround is simply not that effective or easy to use. The MT2A has two modes: a turbo mode, which is the light’s highest setting, and a user-defined mode, which you access by slightly untwisting the head of the light. The user-defined mode cycles through the settings: high, medium, low, SOS, and strobe. The idea is that once you’ve chosen the brightness level, you can then use the light as just a two-setting light, with turbo and whatever the user-defined mode is. In our tests, however, we still occasionally had to cycle through the modes and in the process deal with the strobe and SOS.

The Streamlight ProTac 2AA also has a strobe workaround, but here, the option lets you program the light to eliminate the strobe mode from the toggling cycle. At that point, unfortunately, the strobe becomes inaccessible in an emergency (unless you spend time reprogramming the light).

The Coast HX5, a single-AA light, was much brighter than the other single-AA lights we tested for close-range tasks, but out in the woods it didn’t have the same throw as the others.

The Coast HP7 uses four AAA batteries, and we found that battery drain was fast and consistent. We preferred our picks.

This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.