Tag Archives: flashlight

CostCo flashlight

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15

I know it doesn’t seem like it, but not everything in my life has to be high-end (or high-mid-end) tactical. Sometimes a $29 MagLite is plenty for the anticipated task and doesn’t call for a $150 SureFire.

I mention this because I was at CostCo the other day and beheld this:

It’s a made-in-China flashlight from CostCo, but it had a couple features that made me want to examine it a bit closer. It has a focusing head, which is, I suppose, a nice feature to have. But more importantly it runs off of either a USB rechargeable battery or a battery pack of AA batts. In addition, the flashlight has a port to allow you to use it as a battery source to charge other USB devices. And, of course, its got some heft to it for those occasions that call for percussive remediation.

The USB charging (both in a and out) caught my attention because it seems like an interesting potential for a vehicle flashlight. I currently keep a D-cell LED MagLite in the console but I have to change out the batteries every year…just in case. This would be a light I could leave plugged into a USB plug-in in the cigarette lighter. The more astute among you will think “Won’t that drain the battery?”. I don’t think so. First, the draw is not that much, and I believe that once it’s charged it’s barely a trickle to maintain that charge. However, I’ll hook it up to one of the backup batteries in the house and see how long it takes to draw it down.

But I also like that I can use it to recharge my mobile devices as well. A handy feature in an emergency. Also a handy feature when you only have one cigarette lilghter outlet in your vehicle and it’s charging your phone, leaving your USB speaker uncharged. (Yeah, my vehicle is a fleet vehicle trade-in so no fancy options like Bluetooth, USB chargers, or even a CD player….so, when I travel, its a USB Bluetooth speaker and Spotify off my phone. And both need charging.)

As far as light throw, this thing isnt bad. It’s worth the $22 I paid for it, and seems a decent choice for a light to keep in the truckbox or wherever for those situations that don’t require the best and brightest. At $22 a throw theyre fairly disposable and would make decent stocking stuffers. One drawback is that if you attach a lanyard to the back of this thing it precludes being able to unscrew the cover to the USB charging ports. Que cera cera.

This thing has three modes all from one button – Off-high-med-low-off… in that order. Pretty basic. The head on this thing focuses to a room-filling flood and can be narrowed down for more focused lighting. It’s no replacement for a MagLite, IMHO, but the ‘deaul fuel’ nature of the thing, and the USB charging features, are some very nice points. Footprint is about the same as a MagLite although maybe a bit longer to accommodate the focusing head feature.

Anyway,. for twentytwo bucks, its a reasonable choice for a light for inside the gun safe, the kitchen junk drawer, or for scenarios where you don’t wanna risk an expensive high-end flashlight.

Unexpected Streamlight

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As you may (or may not) recall, a while back I had posted that I sent Friend Of The Blog ™, Joel, a tactical flashlight for his use in his particularly remote AO. That discussion begat another discussion about the relative availability and wisdom-of-choice between AA and CR123 batteries.

Apparently, this is a case of why choose when you can have both? A generous reader, who is now on the Paratus card list (nicely done, there), sent me a hitherto unknown product. The Streamlight ProTac 1L-AAA pocket tactical flashlight.

Apparently the colloquial term for a device that takes multiple battery types/sizes is ‘dual fuel’ (or, I suppose, ‘multi fuel’). Regardless, this little light runs on either one CR123 or one AA battery. According to the literature, the CR123 gives you about 60% more run time than the AA batt.

First off, mucho thanks to the generous person who, rather than posting to tell me about this item, simply sent one to me as a way of introducing me to the item. Well done, sir…much thanks!

Its a little bigger than the Fenix E12 that I carry around everyday, but it offers a couple extra features the E12 doesn’t…most notably a strobe option.

I’ll set my Fenix E12 aside for a while and carry this thing around to see how I like it. Right off the bat, the fact it can operate on two different types of batteries gives it some high marks. We’ll see how a couple weeks of everyday bumping and dropping (as well as maybe an inadvertent trip though the washing machine) affect it’s reliability. Stay tuned.

And by the way, while we’re on the subject, you do carry a small flashlight in your pocket at all times, right? And please don’t say that youll just use your phone if the need arises… thats just a bad idea for a buncha reasons.