GearScout received the Surfire Saint last night. We brought it to the studio to give our readers an exclusive first look in a huge SFW flashlight porno shoot.
The unboxing isn’t a meme I quite understand, but we’re not here to judge. So if you’re a flashlight guy, turn the lights down low, get a box of tissues and enjoy the 62 image photo gallery after the jump. We’ll be back with a review and beamshots before you know it.
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The site is gone, the phones are disconnected. PentagonLight is no more.
Surefire sued the pants off them in district court back in April 2008. The suit was against Pentagon Scientific Corp’s infringement on Surefire’s lockout tailcap switch patent. Six months later, the court found in their favor. The company bought back some of its inventory from its dealers but never put out a statement about its demise. So, even though it’s old news, there are still people wondering if PentagonLight is really gone. It is.
Instead of re-engineering their product line or negotiating to license Surefire’s tailcap, PentagonLight chose to quietly shut their entire operation down. This is intriguing, since the judgment had no financial component. Surefire didn’t ask for a dime. They just asked that PentagonLight not be permitted to sell the Surefire tailcap.
Why did PentagonLight cut and run? Perhaps it had something to do with the other component of Surefire’s suit that refuted PentagonLight’s “Made in USA” branding. The combined loss of the tailcap and the unwanted attention on the location of their manufacturing revealed flaws in their business model the felt they couldn’t overcome.
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The MVF-515m combines two staples of the Picatinny rail and combines them with a third in the form of a forward pistol grip. On one side is a 200 lumen white light LED and the other has either a visible or IR laser. Both run from a couple of CR123 that are contained in the aluminum, full-tang grip. Righties and lefties are covered with separate buttons to operate the light and laser on each side of the grip. The controls can be programmed for momentary, constant and strobe activation.
Crimson Trace designed the system to make room for ATPAIL, DBAL-A2 and other rail pigs so shooters will always have the basics in an easily operable and accessible format no matter what other devices their mission profile calls for.
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Looks like someone couldn’t make up their mind on this one. The US Army Contracting Agency just bought 500 Surefire Helmet Lights and 500 Energizer Hard Case Tactical Helmet lights from W. S. Darley & Co.
What’s interesting here is that the ACA ignored the helmet light that was ‘approved’ per the Army Family of Flashlights List (AFFL) and split probably $83k between a proven battlefield performer and a promising, but relatively unproven product. Hedging bets or fielding one of each to a battalion for some T&E?
This begs the question, how relevant is the AFFL?
via FedBizOpps
More info at cejayeng.com
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Surefire just posted a series of 3 videos on their new X400 rail mounted compact light/laser. I found the second video the most interesting. Check out the how retired LAPD SWAT team veteran Scott Reitz sets up the laser as a secondary sight for close work on his carbine (4:10). And, whoever that pasty Derek McDonald guy is, he’s either a great shot or has a sympathetic sound editor (3:45). Hit the jump for parts 1 and 3 of the video series.
We’ve all heard it; You can’t hit what you can’t see. Sounds catchy, but it’s not true. You can put a lucky round in a fleeting, backlit target before you can accurately identify it. How do you know it’s not a friendly? Better to flood a shadowy recess with a momentary blaze of light to look for bad guys. Superbright rail-mounted LEDs with remote switches allow rapid identification of a target without affecting your weapon grip or readiness.
What they said: “During close-quarters battle, most buildings will have limited visibility inside, even during the day. A white-light illuminator, combined with the proper training, allows the war fighter the ability to maneuver on the enemy and rapidly engage the threats accurately. The white light illuminator should be mounted on a weapon with a pressure pad or momentary type switch allowing the operator to activate the light only when necessary without changing his normal grip on the weapon.”
Operator Favorite: Surefire M600C Scout Light ($425)
The Scout Light is the lightest (3.5 oz) and most compact rail-mount light available in its brightness range. It’s a simple, single-brightness LED light that will light up a target at 150 meters while still providing good peripheral light. It runs on two CR123s for two hours, which is typically a few weeks downrange. Surefire’s modular system of heads and bodies means you can replace the KX2C LED head for an incandescent head if you need white light with the capability to use an IR filter.
Also mentioned: Surefire G2 ($40)
The inexpensive polymer-body light can be weapon-mounted with a separate rail mount and is compatible with many Surefire heads and switches.
Headlamps used to be huge entanglements of wires and specialty batteries that appealed to cave dwellers and miners. Now, small, efficient LEDs make these handsfree lights useful admin tools for everything from reading in your rack to roadside vehicle repairs.
Weight, balance, runtime, battery availability and beam shape and color are all points to consider when choosing your headlamp. From bargain bin to top shelf, here’s sample of 8 contenders that you should have on the top of your list.
Hit the jump for reviews with lots of photos of each light with beamshots.
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Streamlight’s new Multi Ops 3AAA is a fist-sized multi-function wonder. It runs on 3 AAA batteries and sports a 50 lumen white LED, secondary ultra-violet LEDs and a laser pointer. The system is light runs off a tailswitch and uses the side-mounted 4-position rotary switch to choose a light mode. Use the laser to identify a target, shoot them, then use the UV light to follow their blood trail, and then finally use the white light to see what’s left of him. One light, many uses.
But seriously, the laser works out to 100 yards and can be used simultaneously with the white LED to light and point out a specific area of interest. The UV setting is useful for tracing vehicle fluid leaks and checking out-of-state IDs. The 5″ x 1.5″ aluminum alloy body is water resistant and weighs 7 oz with batteries. On shelves now for $70 MSRP.
Hit the break for a photo recon.
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Petzl has just released the Tikka 2 Plus over in Europe, making the rest of us here in CONUS standby ’till fall. For that, they earned the white-flag barb found at the end of this post. I caught a look at it on a Polish outdoor e-commerce site.
My Polski is pretty rusty, but thanks to Google Translate we know it runs on 3 AAA batts, has three settings with runtimes at 55/140/300 hours, has a discreet red LED for light-discipline use, carries an IPX4 water resistance rating (which means it’s splash/rain resistant with no gaskets), comes in gray or green, weighs in at about 83g and costs a spendy $45.
The French company has one of the most mature headlamp lineups in the industry. So, further refinement to the Tikka line should mean an improvement in performance and features. No “one goose step forward, two steps back retreat” expected here. The red LED alone is a worthy upgrade if that’s all it brings. Cheese, white flags and headlamps- go France!
Thanks – Dominik
UPDATE: There’s also a new Tikka 2 XP with a sliding wide angle lens and a little more power.
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