It has been nearly 5 years since I reviewed an Elzetta ZFL-M60 LED flashlight. Since then, it has continued to be be my most-favored LED flashlight.
As a reminder, I received this light at no cost, as a review sample.
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To be honest, given what I’ve experienced with this flashlight, I’m fairly confident that I would buy a replacement should my sample go missing. But if I could go back in time, would I have spent close to $200 on this? I’m not certain.
I don’t use this flashlight daily. I own a number of other lights, from Surefire, Streamlight, Maglite, Four Sevens, Zebralight, and Fenix. Here are a few of my previous reviews:
Aside from power tool LED worklights that I’ve been testing here and there, I’d say my other favorite LED flashlight is a Maglite Mag-Tac, which you can buy today for around $55. The Elzetta and Maglite are both powered with CR123 Lithium batteries.
But when I’m travelling, going on road trips, or otherwise want a light I know I can absolutely count on to give me strong and consistent illumination, I carry or pack away the Elzetta.
It’s been in snow, through dirty, countless road miles, and all kinds of temperatures. I can count on it to just work, every time.
What I’m hoping is that someone asks for a review of the flood lens version, so I have an excuse to consider buying one. Or maybe one of the new high output models.
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The ZFL-M60 flashlights are built with Malkoff LED modules.
These are mainly marketed as tactical lights, and also as weapon lights, but I’ve found it to be the best everyday flashlight I have ever used. At close to $200, it had better be a fantastic and flawless light.
This version, ZFL-M60-CS2D, turns on to low light mode if you click the tail cap button, and if you turn the tail cap, it goes to high illumination mode. I like this a lot better than some of the other flashlight controls I’ve used before, including on the Maglite Mag-Tac.
The Maglite is a fantastic flashlight, and at less than 1/3 the price of the Elzetta, but the Elzetta feels so much more solid in my hand.
For what I often use a flashlight for, the Maglite – or any of my Four Sevens flashlights – is good enough, and some can argue even better than I need. But I plan on keeping this Elzetta light close at hand for as long as I can. It’s been with me for nearly 5 years, and I hope that’s just the start.
There are loads of different options.
Buy Now(Elzetta ZFL-M60)
Buy Now(Other Elzetta Models)
Buy Now(Maglite Mag-Tac)
You can buy Elzetta lights with different configurations. The Elzetta website isn’t behaving for me at the moment, so I’ll try to decipher the model numbers for you. My test sample, ZFL-M60-CS2D, has a crenellated bezel (C), spotlight lens (S), 2 cell design (2), and high/low tail cap (D). A standard (flat) bezel version with flood lens and single-mode click tail cap would be ZFL-M60-SF2C.
Given my experiences with this flashlight, I think I might buy an “Alpha” single-battery flashlight. It’s pricey, although not quite as much, and should be much more pocketable.
RC Ward
235 lumens for almost 200 bucks? That’s a stretch. Would have to really have some other features making up for the lack of output. I can get 400 plus at Fenex for less than half of that .
Mike
Well, he did buy it 5 years ago, where 200 something was still a substantial amount of light.
Stuart
I didn’t buy it. But still, 200 lumens, or 235, is a lot, and enough for many things.
Lumens are cheap, good quality continues to be expensive.
Pete
I bought my fenix tk21 5 years ago for $80-ish And it has 463 lumens.
GrumpyBugger
I’ll just never get the whole flashlight fetish thing.
Jonathan
LOL, it’s part addiction and part primal dispersal of darkness and for some people they just share a higher percentage of DNA with Moth’s and other nocturnal insects. Thankfully the great majority of the global population don’t share the same DNA that drives insects attraction to moving windshields.
ca
I wouldn’t call it a fetish or addiction. Some people’s activities necessitate the ability to see things in the dark.
Jonathan
“Hi, my name’s Jon and I’m a Flashlight and Toolaholic……my struggles began when I stumbled across this website……. and at first I was just reading the articles, really I was; sincerely I wasn’t there for photos, with all their curves, sleek lines and the unatural perfection as all blemishes in the powder coatings an industrial finishes had all been deftly Photoshopped out by the marketing professionals.
It all went off the rails this one Friday in November years ago while still in a tryptophan induced walking coma, my defenses were down and the wife dragged me to the mall hours before the crack of dawn, after being thrust into the Department store by the hordes, I resigned myself to wait in beds and furniture department. A perfect opportunity to test out a recliner.
I had to pass through the craftsman section of the store to get to the recliners and I recalled an article I read about a deep discounted offering on these tool chests with ball bearing drawer glides, I pause and turn toward the rows of gleaming tool chest…..
I’ve learned that one tool is too many and a shoppful of tools is not enough. Ditto for Flashlights/Torches/knives/multitools
Steve
If you want to meet some real flashlight addicts, check out candlepower forums
Jerry
Hi Jon, I’m a Flashlight and Toolaholic also. This website is the best for having meetings 🙂
(no disrespect to people that go to meetings for substance addiction; AA, NA etc)
BonPacific
It’s a nice looking flashlight, but a bit too heavy for my liking. My wife and I use a pair of Pelican 1910’s and I absolutely love mine. Super light, but with a reassuring dense feeling. Well made aluminum and steel, and plenty of light (39 lm) for my needs. The proud cap button in particular is a must-have for me.
BonPacific
Nice looking in terms of specs and manufacturing. On a second look, the design is just too “Tacticool” for my tastes.
Stuart
Hmm, I might have to give that a try. Not bad for under $25.
BonPacific
Been going strong for almost two years now. How I’ve managed not to lose it in that time I’ll never know.
Mr. Creek
Have you reviewed the flood lens version? If not you should, I’d be very interested in it, especially if it has a red light option to save night vision.
Troy
Add my vote to “I don’t get it.” I recently bought an 850 lumen Defiant at Depot for what, $20 bucks? While I don’t expect it to withstand a drop off the roof, it’s made of aluminum and seems plenty weighty/rugged enough to handle home/ camping/ project use.
BonPacific
Well, to be fair, your defiant weighs 1.4 lbs, and the Elzetta weighs 5.4 ounces. Slightly different.
Stuart
The Defiant is designed to be as cheap as possible. Cheap flashlights do have their place.
Why buy a Dewalt, Milwaukee, or Makita drill, of a $15 HF special can drill the same 1/4″ holes?
Troy
Because its a flashlight. A power tool, with complicated moving parts needed under stressful scenarios, does not garner the same analysis of comparison. The rhetorical question suggests that we should all also buy carpenter pencils made of gold.
As a reader and tool enthusiast, where the Defiant feels and performs quite well, I’m struggling to see what technology or features make this flashlight worth 20x the cost. What is the “place” for a cheap flashlight vs. a $200+ flashlight? (Putting aside that this site is not geared towards tactical use).
Stuart
If you get stranded in the side of the road with kids, do you want a flashlight designed to be cheap, or one designed to be durable and reliable no matter what?
This is not for everyone.
My personal sweet spot is $40 to $75 for a high preforming light.
That’s why I said in a post that this might not be a light I would have purchased.
But rescuers, LEOs or tactical users? It might be a flashlight for them to consider.
Not that pricier lights cannot fail, but now goes into them than cheaper lights.
Years ago we recommended an inexpensive flashlight.
Their water resistance testing turned out to be fishy, and a lot of people wrote in to tell me their lights burned up with use.
A few times already, cheap flashlights were recalled after a holiday season, for being fire hazards.
There are good flashlights at every price point.
firefly
Because innovation cost money and the Made in USA probably have something to do with it. You are comparing a 5 year old price to a much more recent light. I have seen the Defiant, while I don’t have your particular model. I do own a comparable model that I got at Costco for roughly the same price point. I do agree with you that most $20 LED are plenty good enough for everyday use. I also own several NiteCore and Fenix ranging from $50-$150.
I am guessing comparable light to this Elzetta at the same spec should cost around $50-$100… Nowadays I would expect a $200 flashlight to have around 1000 lumen. I can’t comment specifically on the Elzetta but high perform tactical light also went through a much more stringent QA process and tighter engineer tolerant. Is the $200 price tag justified for a high performing 1000 lumen tactical light made in the USA? I will let you decide on that. I have friend that a swear by their SureFire.
Overall the price for good LED light have come down a lot but do expect to pay at least $50 or more for a decent light. Most cheap flashlight have no regulation circuit. That mean the light output will degrade along with the battery. Better LED module and regulation circuit mean higher light output and longer runtime. Next is optic, most of the time we use our light for general lighting purposed so we don’t really care for a hot spot or if the focus beam is slightly crooked. High quality optic cost money. Then there is overall build quality.
I have several $5-20 lights laying around the house for general use. Personally I love my Nitecore and Fenix. The build quality is substantial and I don’t regret a bit paying more for a much better light.
ca
Thought I’d take this opportunity to recommend the ThruNite TN12. It’s $85 CAD on amazon with an 18650 battery and charger. It may seem expensive for a flashlight, but this is by far the brightest flashlight for its size that I have ever owned.
Jay
Caught the flashlight bug a long time ago. Current crop includes an Eveready mod, some Maglites, Streamlight, Lumintop, NiteCore, Ultrafire, Thorfire and Olight. Currently using a Thorefire C8 on a daily basis for work, and an Olight M21-X Warrior every night around the Home 20 looking out for rattlers. She who must be obeyed favors her Lumintop Terminator TD-15. A TD-15 also stays in my POV and the Commander (She who must be obeyed) keeps a Streamlight ProTac in her’s. Have had good results with Olight 3.7V 2600 mAh 18650’s coupled with the Nitecore i2 charger.
Off topic but for a small lantern it is hard to go wrong with the Rayovac SE3DLN. Nice for temporary power outages when we don’t feel like firing up the genset.
Stuart
I’ve been meaning to check out some of those brands, such as Olight.
As for the Rayovac, I bought one a while back, prior to this deal of the day post:
https://toolguyd.com/rayovac-led-lantern-deal-122013/
It is indeed quite good. I paid $25 and change for mine, and then bought one for my parents. It’s now $18 or so, and I like that there are ore colors available. I might buy one more for the new house.
It’s a good quality light.
Jay
That Olight M21-X Warrior is my current favorite. It throws a beam well over 100 yrds with a very usable amount of flood for close up work. Having such a powerful light in such a small form factor is truly amazing. The best thing about this flashlight is the beam color which is a very natural looking neutral white. The Lumintop TD15 is also a great thrower but the beam color is a very cool (6500K?) white light that really lights things up but is more harsh compared to the Olight.
That said, the Thorfire C8 or C8s models offer quite a lot of value for very little money. My C8 has a beam color that falls somewhere in between the M21X and the TD15, has a very usable amount of flood and throws a slightly wider beam just as far as the other two flashlights and perhaps just a little bit beyond which is incredible for around $20 bucks. The C8 driver does seem to be less efficient causing the flashlight to heat up quicker especially on high which the manufacturer specs at 900 lumens. But still, the C8 is also very tough. I use it almost daily in the residential/light commercial repair and remodeling arena where it is dropped on concrete, gets muddy, wet and suffers all manner of indignity and yet it still keeps going after almost a full year of daily abuse. It’s not fancy but it gets the job done.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PRVITIC
Ralf
After looking for a while for flashlights, I came across nitecore and decided to take a gamble on the srt7, it’s turned out to be a fantastic light especially with a tactical ring for variable brightness. I’ve had it for 4 to 5 years and have never had a problem with it. Also bought a srt6 smaller version for my dad and he has loved the output on it. Srt6 is a little more on expensive side but it’s about 100 with charger and battery but about 950 lumens.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DOCGOYC/
Wayne Ruffner
While I’m always a fan of substantial & durable tools (and don’t mind spending on them), I find a variety of medium-grade LED lights suits me fine. I can procure a bunch, put them almost everywhere, and be assured of flexibility & accessibility.
It seems to me that two 98%-likely-working lights is more comforting than one 99.9% model. Especially when the two cost $40 versus one for $200.
But that’s me.
firefly
It depend on the situation but in general I agree.
John Marcus
When Elzetta wanted the absolute most reliable light engine, they turned to one man–Gene Malkoff. Gene, with his wife Cathy, own Malkoff Devices in Alabama. Each led light engine is hand made by Gene and guaranteed for life, without questions. In the world of a LEOs and Military personnel, Malkoff and Elzetta are even more highly regarded than Surefire. It’s not always about having the brightest light, although, Malkoff makes some 1200+ lumen monsters. It’s most often about life and death reliability. Admittedly, I am a Malkoff fan boy and a sucker for the kind hand written notes from Cathy that come with each order and the instant responses by Gene to questions I may have. This man simply will not put his name on an inferior product.
f.d.jones
elzetta.com has a website filled with video that will provide more information about flashlights that seems possible. these lights are designed to save your very life. they are amazing. having worked in industry for 50 years,i have some understanding of the amount of research and labor that quality demands. elzetta will show anyone what made in the U.S.A. has meant over the years.
delusional
I was not a flashlight fanatic until I got an Elzetta.
I got one of the very first high-output AVS models and have been daily carrying it as a plumber ever since. Even had the tube bored out for 18650 rechargeable batteries which gives me 650 lumens and 75 minutes. That’s about the same as a 60 watt incandescent bulb.
The flood lens is beautiful for close up work – way, way, better than ANY reflector-based light – which is every other light on the planet. It spreads the beam perfectly. Working under a sink or behind a tub? You don’t even have to point it at what you’re working on, just drop it in a corner to use reflected light, and you’re done playing with it.
I wear carhartt carpenter pants for the side pocket which gives me instant access to my elzy at any time. Really, until you carry a really good light at all times, you won’t know how often you really need it. Having it there, waiting for you at all times, is the key.
As for durability… I used to tell people with full confidence, “go ahead, throw it down the street as far as you can” and they did. Five times it was thrown, but I had to stop that because it damages the batteries. There are no major dings on it, just scratched edges. There are also zero worries about it getting wet, it’s been completely submerged in water several times. When some fool dropped it in a bucket of paint, I just hosed it off.
When I first got it, I had used a few of the new breed of LED lights and knew i wanted the high output of today’s technology, but was fed up with wasting money on lights that would quickly die when exposed to the kind of abuse it sees in my job. Now I tell people, “If you get an elzetta, you won’t be sorry….. until you lose it, then you’ll be very sorry.”
My recommendation for anyone in the trades would be to get the new “bones” version, with smooth bezel and flood lens. It’s a little cheaper and ready for rechargeable batteries.
I realize all of that sounds like I’m getting paid to say it, but I’m not. I’m just someone who became a flashaholic after being exposed to Elzetta lights.
You can trust your life to this flashlight, but I’d make sure I had a spare battery.
Elmer
I’ve had a high dollar flashlight glued to my hip for, well, forever. There are a few brands – Surefire, Elzetta, Streamlight – that just flat work and keep working no matter what (my favorite is the Surefire P3X Fury Tactical, no longer made, so when I needed another one I got an Elzetta C332, but a Surefire P2X Fury Tactical still lives in the belt holster 24X7X365; the 3-cell is carried as backup). All of ’em have only 2 switch positions: Dark. Light.
Is $200+ too much for a “flashlight”? Heck, yes. But….when you need light right @*$% now and lots of it, in something that fits a Harries grip well and can double as a nearly indestructible impact weapon, that kind of dependability in dark repellant comes with a price.
I’ll pay it.