An iconic Maglite flashlight sat next to my front door for more than 20 years, but it’s been relegated to basement duty ever since the incredible Infinity X1 came into my life.
When I first heard about the Infinity X1 flashlight ($40 on Amazon), I foolishly thought it was from Comcast (maker of the Xfinity X1 cable TV box). It’s not, of course. Infinity X1 manufactures portable lighting products, and its flagship product is the most impressive flashlight I’ve laid hands on.
It’s an LED model, and it’s a powerful one, producing up to 5,000 lumens of brightness—equivalent to a 400-watt incandescent bulb—with a beam distance up to 180 meters (590.5 feet). Those specs are remarkable enough, but I can also run it on either the included rechargeable 4000mAh Lithium-ion battery or on dry-cell batteries.
The Infinity X1 can run on either the included 4000mAh Lithium-ion battery or 9 user-provided AA dry-cells.Michael Brown/Foundry
There is a trade-off, however; maximum brightness drops all the way to 1,200 lumens using dry-cells, and they cut the maximum beam distance in half.
When the Li-on cartridge is in the flashlight, I can use its USB-C Out port to charge my smartphone (there’s a USB-C In port on the opposite side for charging the battery). The cartridge can be charged inside or out of the flashlight. I’m considering buying one of the spare Li-ion batteries Infinity sells for $25, so I’ll never be without light when I need it.
Impatient to see the quality of its light when I first got it in January 2024, however, I loaded its removable cartridge with 9 AA alkaline batteries, and it’s been running on those ever since.
The bottom end of the flashlight twists open to reveal a pair of USB-C ports: One for charging its Li-ion cartridge and a second to charge your smartphone or another small device.Michael Brown/Foundry
A textured on/off button beneath the lens barrel controls three brightness settings, with the first press turning the flashlight on at maximum brightness, the second press setting it to medium brightness, the third to low, and the fourth turning it off. Twisting the lens end of the flashlight’s barrel adjusts the width of the flashlight’s beam.
The 12-inch-long flashlight is fabricated entirely from aluminum, with 5.25 inches of knurling around its center to enhance my grip. The 1.65-pound instrument is probably too heavy to mount to the barrel of a rifle or shotgun—weapons I don’t own anyway—but its rugged heft will make a powerful club in close combat.
Deep ridges around its lens housing will provide a non-slip grip should I ever need to swing it at zombie skulls, and all that knurling will channel the gore away from my hand. The flashlight’s IPX4 protection from liquids will make for easy cleanup, too.
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