Flashlight Blog

On Sunday, the family and I were at Costco, because... well, we are Caucasian and it was Sunday.  It's required.  Right next to the door was a display with a two pack of "Tactical" flashlights that lured me in.  The key things hat looped me in were:
Standard Batteries (C Cell)- Included
500 Lumens
$27

So, I picked them up.  Details listed on the pack said they were 500 lumens, 3x C Cell, 900 foot beam throw, and 7 hour run time.  So, while That Wife and That kid were in line at the Costco food court getting a drink, I cut open the godawful clamshell packaging (whoever designed that stuff can DIAF.  Hate it) and loaded the batteries in one of the lights.

I did the standard thing us morons do with a new light and shined it in my eyes.  Suddenly, I heard my ancestors asking me to walk into the light and join them. I may have screamed a little bit right there between the cages of empty cardboard boxes and the line for $2 pizza-and-a-drink.

As I told 45er later, this thing is holy-shit-good-lord-my-eyes-why-did-I-look-in-the-beam bright. And it's "zoomable" from flood to spot.  But here is the odd thing: Flood is a nice, round, (bright) even coverage, cold white LED beam.  Spot is an intense SQUARE beam.  You can actually see detail of thin wires on the LED in the projected beam.

Size- This is not a pocket light.  It is about the size of a good pistol suppressor.

Here 'tis with my EDC light- a much abused Streamlight PT2AA

How bright is it?  Well, everyone knows how hard it is to take pics of flashlight performance.  But we try to do it anyway.  This morning, while walking Tucker the Rat Terrorist, I took some pics.

At one point there is a clearing where there is about a 60-70 yard straight shot to a tree in the creekbed.  This is in the predawn dark, while backlighted by a sodium arc streetlamp:

What tree?

And here it is with the spotlight zoomed in

Oh... THAT tree.

slightly better pic of the tree

 As you can see, there is the interesting "square beam"

For comparison, here is the same view with the Streamlight PT2AA at 120 Lumens

Now as to the flood beam.  Here is a trailhead under the same circumstance- pre-dawn, overcast, backlit by streetlamp

And here it is with the flood beam

...and with the spot beam

All in all, this is a seriously freaking bright flashlight.  But what will it be used for?  Well, I miked the body diameter, and it looks like a 30mm scope ring would make this rail mountable.  Stay tuned, This may be one HELL of a pig light very soon.

EDIT:
Quick trip to the local Empty Shelf Emporium (i.e. gun store), and here is the new Pig Light:

Here, piggy, piggy....

I'll mount it on the AR-10 tonight.