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Posted: 10/16/2005 5:24:15 AM EDT
| I am looking for a small flashlight that I can carry on my duty belt at all times but that is high powered . I've pretty much narrowed my choices down to the streamlight strion, most of the power of the stinger but in a smaller package and also rechargable or a surefire 6p , like the surefire as it is more powerful but then have to deal with batteries and their replacement cost. Also how much better/worse are Led lights, longer bulb life but how much power do you give up. Which you go with and why. |
| Surefire sells 3v batteries for $1.25 each directly in boxes of 12. LED lights have become more advanced now and you can get them with 60 to 100 lumens plus which would seem to put them up there with conventional incandescent tactical lights. If you compare the two next to each other though, the "throw" of the beam doesn't compare to an incandescent of a Streamlight Stinger/Strion/Surefire 6P ect. The Gladeus seems like it may be promising, however I would like to compare the beam throw to an incandescent. Anyone try this yet? |
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Third choice. This is one I just went to. Streamlight tl-3. it is factory rated at 200 lumens vs 80 for the strion and 65 for the sure fire. It will thro light a lot further. Add a set of 17500 li-ion battereis and a charger. They will give you a little over an hour run time. This light is actually brighter than the Stinger hp. Best of all you can get it, two sets of batteries and a charger for under $100. The led lights are just not there yet. They do not have the throw of the incadescents. Give it about a year and that will change. |
| if it's a light that you're going to depend your life on then i'd go with a non-rechargeable light. when i first started out as a cop i carried a Surefire 8X rechargeable light, cause like you i didn't want to spend money on batteries. but that quickly changed. you can't imagine how many times i've been on traffic stops and i go and turn on my light and it'll either be "dead" or you'll see it come on and slowly fade right in front of your eyes. that sucks big time! so now i carry a Surefire G2Z in a Blade-tech bezel down vertical scabbard; excellent piece. and for my tac assignments, i'll carry a Surefire M3 with its blazing 225 lumens and the G2Z as a back-up. just my 2 cents. stay code 4 brother! |
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On the duty belt and in the truck is a rechargeable Streamlight Stinger. Can't go wrong with that. It isn't really big and can do stuff that an LED light can't do well. One being, I can put a traffic wand on the end of it for when traffic direction has to be done at scenes. At work I carry a Streamlight Jr. Luxeon in the slot in my EMT pants. It fits there great and is just a tad longer than the Mini-Mag which also fits in that slot. Also, I picked up the Nite-Ize triple LED replacement lamp/reflector for the mini mag. WOW! That thing really improves the Mini-Mag. Why Maglite didn't do this I'll never know. I've converted all 3 of the Mini-Mag's that I own and have done the conversion on some of the flashlights for people I work with too. They are all happy with it. I did pick up a Dorcy MetalGear 1 watt Luxeon light that looks similar to a Surefire 6 type light. I found it at Wal-Mart and the throw on that thing is awesome. It's got the best throw of any LED light I own. I have a 3 AA TwinTask but I don't really care for it. The throw is just no there on the LED side or the regular bulb side. |
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Not a "duty" light, but I carry a Surefire A2 Aviator w/red LEDs. Not rated for super-mega lumens (think it's rated at 50 for the white light), but the ability to have a low intensity light has proven to be invaluable when I don't wanna wreck my night vision. The other night I lit up a building about 160 yards away with the white light (dark desert night, little ambient illumination)- it's plenty bright for me. ETA:In my experiance, LED lights don't have the beam quality or focus as conventionals. |
This is what I love about the Gladius. On the channel where I can program it. It starts out at a very minimal level. If I need more light. I can hold down the button, it gradually increases till it is at full intensity. The Gladius has excellent throw. I do not know how many yards it will be good for. 
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