Being the cheap bast.. um fellow I am, I hate paying a lot of money for gear with a name attached to it. Flashlights most assuredly fall into this category. I don't mind paying money for good gear but I can't fathom dropping around $100 for a small flashlight. I have been looking looking for a small LED flashlight that was bright enough to use in a social situation but small enough to fit in a pocket without feeling like I was carrying a roll of quarters. Cost is of course a deciding factor as well.
I spent the better part of yesterday looking at a couple of local gun stores for a variety of items. The Surefire brand was well represented and carried quite a bit of emotional attachment on the pricetags as well. Later on the wife wanted to go to Target so I tagged along. I came across this little gem in their flashlight section for just under $16 and thought I would give it a try.
The light is constructed of Aluminum with a knurled grip, a rather nice pocket clip, a lanyard (which I will remove), and has a push button switch with a momentary on/off or a maintained on/off. It is powered by a single AA battery, another plus in my book of cheap. It is marked on the body which direction to insert the battery. The measurements are 4" long and a diameter of 7/8".
Energizer claims 50 Lumens. As seen in this picture, it has a pretty good spot at 30'. They also claim a run time of two hours and thirty minutes.
I tried to use my light meter to check the actual Lumen output at different distances but it won't pick it up past 15". If I get the opportunity to borrow one from work I'll revisit that. Suffice it to say at night with little ambient light I was able to readily identify items at around 50' and could identify shapes at 100'.
Good enough has long been the enemy of better. I will continue to field test this light for the next few weeks and see how it holds up. If it continues to function well I can see purchasing a few more for the go-bag and emergency kits.
I spent the better part of yesterday looking at a couple of local gun stores for a variety of items. The Surefire brand was well represented and carried quite a bit of emotional attachment on the pricetags as well. Later on the wife wanted to go to Target so I tagged along. I came across this little gem in their flashlight section for just under $16 and thought I would give it a try.
The light is constructed of Aluminum with a knurled grip, a rather nice pocket clip, a lanyard (which I will remove), and has a push button switch with a momentary on/off or a maintained on/off. It is powered by a single AA battery, another plus in my book of cheap. It is marked on the body which direction to insert the battery. The measurements are 4" long and a diameter of 7/8".
Energizer claims 50 Lumens. As seen in this picture, it has a pretty good spot at 30'. They also claim a run time of two hours and thirty minutes.
I tried to use my light meter to check the actual Lumen output at different distances but it won't pick it up past 15". If I get the opportunity to borrow one from work I'll revisit that. Suffice it to say at night with little ambient light I was able to readily identify items at around 50' and could identify shapes at 100'.
Good enough has long been the enemy of better. I will continue to field test this light for the next few weeks and see how it holds up. If it continues to function well I can see purchasing a few more for the go-bag and emergency kits.
