flashlight

March 24, 2014 By Chas Bruce

Black Crater Cord Lock Light

This clever little beast of a light can replace the cord locks on any of your outdoor gear. We’ve put it on our jackets, on our sleeping bags–even on our shoes. Latch it on where ever you’ll need a handy light source. The clamping devise has allowed COG testers to attach this light to any stray cord. Hang it from the ceiling of your tent for reading. At $10 a pop you should carry several.

Black Crater Cord Lock Light in a hand — Black Crater Cord Lock Light illuminating a map

The Cord Lock Light uses a 3mm Hyper Bright white LED light and switches between 3 modes: low, high, and strobe. It’s water-resistant construction is ideal for use in harsh weather by backpackers, campers, climbers and joggers.

Black Crater Cord Lock Light on a sleeping bag

Weighs only 0.3 oz. (8g), and is no bigger than your average cord lock. Includes 2 lithium CR1220 batteries. The perfect addition to your gear to ensure you have light when you need it in all your outdoor activities.

$10

March 3, 2014 By Chas Bruce

JOBY Gorilla Torch 100 Flashlight

I can’t say when we’ve had so much fun on a test review. JOBY’s Gorilla series of tripods and now this adaptation to a handy light just look like fun monkeys. The Gear Guys are always looking for better illumination. The Gorilla Torch is one of the handiest we’ve found. The fully articulated legs will wrap around virtually anything. This hands-free LED flashlight fires off a brilliant 100 lumen beam. Now that’s bright! And according to the specs that will run 23 hours on a set of three AA batteries. Swing the dimmer to low and you’ll get 80 hours of runtime.

Joby Gorilla Torch 100 Flashlight with batteries — JOBY Gorilla Torch batteries

And that’s the thing: a dimmer to adjust to just the light you need. Take it most of the way down, say to about 12 lumens and you’ve got a heck of a reading light, and the legs will wrap around any old branch and the head tilts and turns to just where you want it. We took it took out to the dark parking and lot and found the magnetic legs would hold it to anything. Street lights. The fender of the car. We gripped the legs around the handlebars of the staff commuter bike and made an monkey headlight. Even better we gripped the vents of a bicycle helmet and made it into an alien spider monkey light. Endless fun!. Barrels of laughs! And a handy lighting tool.

Joby Gorilla Torch 100 Flashlight used in car repair — Using the JOBY Gorilla Flashlight in car repair at night

Kind of scrunches to a an 8 1/2 x 3 x 2 inch package weighing 6 1/2 ounces.

$30

February 17, 2014 By Chas Bruce

Fenix MC11 LED Flashlight

Here’s a twist on your everyday LED flashlights: a right-angled light whose head articulates 45-plus degrees in either direction. You can let this poke out of your pocket like Kilroy’s nose. It certainly follows the military style of right-angled flashlights, although this is the modern LED version and much smaller. It can be clipped to your belt or chest strap or hung from a carabiner. Testers liked the right angle grip to just grab and go. We set it vertically on a horizontal surface thanks to it’s flat bottom and we could easily tilt the head to illuminate the table in front or we could angle it back like a bounce strobe. Same thing when we hung it from the tent stays via it’s hanger.

Fenix Flashlight showing the flexibility

We could angle it anywhere in the tent. And with the diffuser on the lens, it made the perfect reading lamp at the medium setting. A single AA battery provides three levels of brightness: an eye-burning 87 lumens, a moderate 39 lumens and a moonlight 3 lumens, all accessible from the rubber button on the top.

Fenix MC11 Flashlight — Fenix Flashlight with tie-on

We ran it for just under 2 hours at the high setting. We understand that the medium setting has a 6 hour plus runtime and at lowest setting it will run for up to 53 hours. Fenix suggest using rechargeables, as we do, but this unit is quite happy with Alkaline or Lithium batteries. Measures just under 4 inches long and just over 3/4″ diameter and just under 2 ounces. Comes with a pocket clip, a lanyard, a hanger and diffusion screen.

$45

January 3, 2014 By Chas Bruce

Bear Grylls Intense Torch/Survival Flashlight

We like the “Torch” connotation. Yes, Bear comes from England, the land of Torches, not flashlights. But this is one Intense Torch with a 140 lumens of light right out of the box.

Powered by 2 AA batteries, you can fire up this torch for over 90 minutes at the intense setting. The medium 35 lumen beam will burn for 8.5 hours, while the low 17 lumen beam lasts for 17 hours. A SOS mode is included for big trouble, as is a momentary on switch for flashing out those morse code signals to your fellow scouts. We could clearly illuminate things in trees 200 feet out!

Particularly handy is the bright orange anodized finish with blazing logos for both Gerber and Grylls, easy to find in your black survival BOB (Bug Out Bag) and on the trail. We’re also fond of the textured rubber grip around the mid section. Easy to hang onto and also easy on the teeth, if you need to stuff it in your mouth for two-handed jobs. Another nice design feature is the triangular shape, guaranteed not to roll away.

Packaged with a handy lanyard–hang it on your wrist or in your tent. And this vessel is tight, guaranteed to be waterproof. Overall Length: 5.98”, 22.8cm. Weight: 3.89 oz, 110.3 grams. CREE XPG-R5 LED bulb.

“Bear” Grylls, the British adventurer, writer and television personality, best known for his TV series Man vs Wild on the Discovery Channel. We don’t care if he stayed in motels while portraying survival scenarios, the man has done some serious adventures, including crossing the North Atlantic in a rubber boat, and paramotoring over the top of Everest (he’d already climbed it at the age of 23). And his show provided great survival tips and entertainment. In the last several years he has teamed with Gerber to design and brand a line of Survival Gear, packaged with Grylls’ muddy face. The line includes hatchets, knives, lights, survival blankets and survival kits, and we plan to note and review several of them soon.

$64

June 7, 2013 By Chas Bruce

Princeton Tec Clip Point Light

We found the Princeton Tec Clip Point Light very handy to clip it to a hat band or pocket and the gooseneck makes for a easy-to-point beam to keep your hands free for whatever task.

The mount is arranged so the clip can point forward or back. Turn it around and it is just the thing for clipping on the bill of your baseball hat. I’ve even used it clipped to my bicycle helmet straps–for close work, not really bright enough for the street.

PT also makes a military version (Switch – MPLS) with dual lights (red/white) and a helmet mount. A large button at the side turns on the light with 10 Lumens of light. A second push provides a high beam with twice the light.

Available with White, Red, IR, Green, or Blue LED. Batteries: two 2016 Lithium Coin Cells (included). Weighs 17 grams.

$15

February 5, 2013 By Chas Bruce

SOG Bladelight Folder Knife

Flashlight in one hand, knife in the other. No hands left to part the underbrush. Why not combine the two into a “Bladelight.”

Brought to you by the folks at SOG, this folding knife has 6 bright LEDs embedded next to the 3.9″ satin stainless blade. Housed in a Glass Reinforced Nylon handle that measures 9 inches when unfolded. You can use it as folded as a flashlight. Blade extended you can see what you’re cutting.

35 lumens of light, powered by two AAA batteries.

$85

January 23, 2013 By Chas Bruce

Gerber Omnivore Multi-Battery LED Flashlight

Ever find yourself stuck with a dimming flashlight and the wrong batteries on hand? Gerber’s Omnivore handles this task easily: it will swallow a variety of batteries.

Use either a standard AA, AAA or the harder to find and more expensive CR123. We dropped each of the three batteries in the Omnivore and were able to blaze away with a bright 7 watt LED. Unit is housed in sturdy aircraft-grade aluminum. One AA battery included. Take note that size of the battery will affect performance and run-time. We found smaller batteries had less lumens and life.

$30

August 9, 2012 By Chas Bruce

Fenix LD01 LED Flashlight 1AAA

Fenix LED Flashlight — Fenix LD01 LED Flashlight

I love the brightness and convenience of this tiny light. About the size of an AA cell, it really is not much bigger than the solitary AAA cell it uses.

My complaint is it is so small I am constantly misplacing it. You can carry it weightlessly in your pocket and certainly will not know it is there. I put a along lanyard on it to keep it at hand.

No switches. You simply twist the barrel to turn it on. With each on/off sequence it moves through it’s 3 brightness modes. These modes allow you to pick either blindingly bright or the two lessor modes for longer battery life. You do have to be positive in your twists, or you’ll end up skipping a mode.

It uses an Cree LED that basically lasts forever (50,000 hours) that provides 3 output modes: 27 Lumens (3.5hrs), 10 Lumens (8.5hrs), 80 Lumens (1hr).

Dimensions: 75mm (length) x 14mm and weighs 15 grams. Made of durable aircraft-grade aluminum with a durable Type III hard-anodized anti-abrasive finish. Waterproof with a tough ultra-clear glass lens with anti-reflective coating.

Literature says it’s capable of standing up securely on a flat surface to serve as a candle. If I could just find it I’d give that a try.

Included accessories: clip, key ring, and a spare O-ring.

$55

August 1, 2012 By Chas Bruce

Gerber Infinity LED Task Light

The Gerber Infinity Task Light is classic simplicity: an LED bulb and a AA battery in a sturdy anodized aluminum housing. Barely larger than the battery it holds.

Twist on, twist off. Nothing to go wrong. These lights deliver a beam 30 feet out for up to 60 hours. Water resistant as well. 2.2 ounces.

$22

July 11, 2012 By Chas Bruce

eGear Marine SplashFlash LED Light

This is a handy little LED light that runs on a single AAA battery. It’s made for marine signaling, but it works great around the camp. It has a broad, diffuse beam that is bright (25 lumens) and lights up a large area.

Totally waterproof. Twist on and twist again for the SOS. Maybe you won’t need the SOS around the campfire, but you never know. Made of sturdy ABS plastic, about 1 x 3 inches long. I’ve found that it works great in the tent as a reading light. Comes with a carabiner that enables hanging from your tent stays.

$10