Review: SLUGhaus - BULLET 02 Smallest EDC Flashlight

I have plenty of keychain tools including a couple of keychain lights, the Jill lite Constel lantern which is built around a CR-123 but rock solid and a lightweight Photon LED as last ditch backup. I have a couple of AA flashlights on my belt, including the Jill Lite Jenyx UV which is fun but sometimes even a little AA light is too much, like if you're trying to find the keyhole of your car without scratching paint, or finding whatever fell out of your pocket at the movies.

Enter the Bullet02 from SLUGhaus. Launched on Kickstarter as their Version 2, the sucessor to the succesful first version, designed to be waterproof, more minimal in design, more secure, smaller and brighter. And most importantly its damn near indestructible. (For a certain value of indestructible.)

This litle bullet-form light features a quick 180 degree rotation that with a spring lock  for secure on/off operation. It will not unlatch even under the most vigorous conditions you might put your keys sensibly through.

Bullet02 can be submerged underwater for a total of 5 minutes without any water breaching it's seals. It will illuminate in any weather and in any situation, helping you solve any darkness problem.

Measuring in at an incredibly small 10mm x 26mm and weighing in at only 5 grams, thanks to its premium aerospace grade aluminum alloy (T6061) construction Bullet02 is the perfect sized flashlight for modern day wear. Powered by three tiny little LR41 Button Cell batteries to produce 20 lumens of light, keep it with you at all times, anywhere you go. 

20 lumens isn't a lot when you stack it against some of the big tactical lights but its plenty enough to navigate in a dark house or lighting up whats right on front of you. 

Laying side by side with this drilled out .45 Auto the form factor is clear

One of the main features SLUGhaus wanted to redesign was their previous "Twist Operation". They have improved this by creating a new mechanism altogether. This time, improving the threading by making it finer and having the threading extend all the way up through the inner casing. In addition, adding a gold plated spring inside for optimal conductivity and pressure, for keeping Bullet 02 snug and sturdy at all times. I've found the

 

What is an LED you ask? LED’s are the most efficient kind of light bulbs out on the market today. One small bulb can last you anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 hours. Of course you'll still have to replace the batteries periodically. However, they decided to use a premium 5mm bulb for BULLET 02 that can last up to 150,000 hours in lifespan. It casts a nice crisp blue white light, with a good direct cast as well as a reasonable spread for room-illuminating cast.

I've found that having my primary Bullet02 light (as I got several in my pledge) on my car-keys, attached to my titanium carbineer for extra go-fast. and it has become  a very useful, always at-hand (not in the bottom of a pocket) light, capable of acting as a "here I am" signaling light as well as its previously stated tasked jobs of keyhole finding and dropped treasure relocation. The form-factor is great the elegant bullet shape is nice on the hand, the twist-on-off action is smooth and easy to work.

Your flashlight says "Maglight replica"mine says ".40 S&W"

I haven't attempted to test for battery life, but i'd expect it to run good couple of days before running flat and whilst I wouldn't use them as a marker whilst caving, you could certainly mark out your tent or privy whilst camping to good effect with one. Given the size and the sturdiness of the triangle clip, you could even use them for collar-attachments for pets, or as personnel markers on kids when out at an after-dark event, on a necklace or attached to clothing. I like to do this on both Tactical Baby and Triceratops Girl and whilst its no substitute for attentive and responsible parenting, it allows a certain amount of freedom and adventure for adventurous and sensible kids.

Review: PowerPractical - Luminoodle

As first seen on Breach Bang & Clear ...

It might sound like a silly name, but the Power Practical Luminoodle is a serious product. At its heart, it's pretty simple. Take a 5-foot length of flexible circuit, string it with 26 LED's, give it a dual sided USB power plug, and sheath it in a waterproof case. Unlike a hand held flashlight, or a dangling lantern, having a flexible string of LED's means you can put a band of light where you want it, just where you want it and keep it there. That's what the folks at Power Practical have done. More than that, they put a fair bit of thought into how you'd actually use the thing.

I have a couple of other innovative pieces of kit from Power Practical; their power generating thermoelectric cook pot, the Power Pot XL, and a USB power regulator, the Practical Meter.

It's quite a nifty piece ...

Read the rest of my review on Breach Bang & Clear, here:

First Impressions review: First Tactical - MDL

Here's a quick "first impressions" piece on one of two items that arrived in my pouch from the good folks at First Tactical. First Tactical is an exciting new business founded by Dan Costa, founder of 5.11 Tactical, to meet the needs of all kids of Public Safety professionals with new, innovative ideas and products in the tactical industry. But enough of the waffle, let's see the light.


Read more about the First Tactical - Medium Duty Light here, on Breach Bang & Clear

Wish-Lust: ZyntonyRa light Strips

Ok, I was contacted by the people from Zyntony, who had launched a bad-assed light Kickstarter, and not had it make its threshold,  but they are back with a brand new product, that has already surpassed it's threshold, by 287% at time of writing, but I wanted to give them some more bandwidth with the info from their press-release.

Their new offering, the Zyntony Ra is a game-changing light for outdoor adventure enthusiasts that is designed to light up the entire area around you instead of just a spot in front of you.

At full power, Ra puts out 800 lumens of warm natural light. A pair of Ra attached to the shoulder straps of a backpack boast a staggering 1,600 lumens of light creating a “zone of daylight” around the wearer. “This is brighter than ten good headlamps”, one of the founders exclaimed in their release. He continued: “We named the light Ra after the Egyptian god who carries the sun across the sky because carrying one of these lights is like carrying a piece of the sun with you.”

I've covered similar strip lighting projects before, in the PackLight but the Ra is a step beyond.

Multiple mounting options enable Ra to be attached almost anywhere. The user can fix it to any ferrous object using the built-in rare-earth magnets. Ra can be attached to nearly any article of clothing using the accompanying magnetic backer strip, just by slipping the backer-strip under the outer-layer of clothing, and the Ra snaps into place magnetically. Using the D-ring strap and simple hook and loop ties, Ra can be fastened to virtually any piece of gear.

Each of the emitters can put out well over 500 lumens each. So in theory, the light could put out over 2,500 lumens. However, they are only running them at slightly over 1/4 power. Zyntony state they do this for several reasons:

First, is that the emitters are way more efficient - (in that they have a much higher lumens-per-watt output) at lower power. This means that you get a brighter light and longer battery life compared to a light that only has one or two emitters.

Second, by running them at lower power, their life is significantly extended to the point that they will virtually last forever (immortal buyers beware...).

Third, multiple emitters allow for each one to have a separate light dispersion pattern. This allows a less complex and more cost-effective way to balance light spread vs. throw, especially good given its area-effect design principle.

And fourth, by having multiple emitters running at lower power, you can spread out your heat dissipation, also especially useful if you're wearing it.


Ra is powered via a micro-USB input. Zyntony makes four different sizes of battery packs allowing the flexibility to carry just the power you need or as much as you want.

The Ra is designed to be lightweight to facilitate attaching it wherever you want so there is no internal power. It must be powered via USB. By connecting to a power pack via the USB, Ra has the flexibility where you can select a small BatPak for just the power you need or a larger one for as much power as you want. And you can connect up to three Ra's to BatPak II, BatPak III and BatPak IV. That flexibility supports a lot of different mounting options.

Zyntony are planning to certify the Ra to IPX7 which means it is submersible to 1 meter. It will certainly withstand the rain. The USB ports are the biggest challenge they are facing in this but by planning to use rubber boots/escutcheons on both Ra and the BatPaks, it should be waterproof as long as you use the Zyntony USB cable and power pack.

I'm really looking forwards to seeing what they can do when I get a set in-hand, but for mow, their on my wish-lust list!


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zyntony/ra-worlds-first-strap-light/description

Review: Fenix CL20 camp lantern

Whilst I was looking for a replacement for my lost Fenix TK51, (finally settling on the most excellent LD60) I also saw the newly released CL20 camp lantern that Fenix have put out. Sean from G8 Distribution was kind enough to send one to me one to trial.

The CL20 Camp Lantern weighs in at 100g (3.6oz) excluding batteries, and 8cm (3.1") length x 4.5cm (1.8") width x 6cm (2.3") high, making it pocket sized,and its rounded shape makes it ideal for stuffing into a pack, or pocket, and not having to worry about sharp edges jabbing you or your gear. That rounded dome houses a multifaceted internal coating, which coupled with the neutral white Cree LED, gives a very gentle light, making it easy on the eye, even at the maximum settings.
As with all of the Fenix lights I've used, the output is digitally regulated, maintaining constant brightness levels regardless of battery life and includes reverse polarity protection to protect from improper battery installation. The CL20 will take either a pair of AA's, or a single CR123A, giving you a range of power options for better.

A push button control on the side steps up from the lowest setting, 8 lumen, then on to 50, 100 and finally the maximum of 165 lumen. At this setting, it casts a 10m glow, perfect for tents and work areas. a double-press of the button when off turns on a second LED, in red, and supplies a 1.5 lumen glow, enough for navigating around a dark enclosure, or finding your way along a path, but not so much as to dazzle you out of your night vision.

The most exciting features of the lantern apart from its great ergonomics are that the red LED also has a "SOS" style flashing mode, accessible by toggling the button again when on red-LED mode. The other great features are the attachment options.

A metal ring attached to the middle of the lanterns base gives you tent hook attachment, as well as acting as a latch to access the battery compartment. Beside the metal ring, on either side, are two rare-earth magnets which gives you ferromagnetic attachment options. I've now hung mine from a shower hook, stuck it to frame of my car, the wall of a shed and to the bolt holding up my Ikea Gorm shelves.

With an IPX-6 waterproofing rating (heavy rain and brief submersion) and a 1.5m drop rating, this little light is both rugged and useful. I can imagine it becoming a standard addition to my camping kit, but also to my car tool-kit, and also as part of my black-out recovery kit.

Full power white LED in a dark room

Red LED in a dark room

Review: SOG Bladelight

 As first published on RecoilWeb ....

My love for gadgets is well known, and I try to lean towards the useful over the peculiar, the multi-functional over the one-trick-pony,   so when I got the chance to fool around with this new offering from SOG Knives, I jumped at it.

This is the BladeLight, from SOG. From just looking at it, you might be forgiven in thinking that it was a fairly standard dive-knife looking blade.

Its glass reinforced nylon handle, and high-sheen 9Cr18MoV blade don't really stand out, although the clear acrylic hand guard and tail-cap ring do add a certain "future-blade" look, they don't really betray the blades secret arsenal until you look a little closer and see that mounted at the very neck of the blade are six white LED's!

Mounted three to a side, these lights issue a mild 25 Lumen output, from the single AA battery that mounts in the body of the handle but the placement, and clever design of the sheath means that the light is right on target, where you need it.

The hard molded sheath features a button release, but will also allow a hard-pull draw, but most importantly, has six cut-outs, to allow the LED's to be used whilst the blade is sheathed, in "flashlight mode.

With belt loops, as well as a hefty built-in belt clip, the knife as a whole can be used as a flashlight without waving a blade around in peoples faces, be it camp-site, or road-side.
The LED's are activated by a stiff push-button mounted on the tail cap, and via some clever engineering the LED's back-scatter some light through the blade and illuminate the acrylic ring that circles the base. The battery is fitted by unscrewing the tail-cap.

The whole knife is IPX-7 rating for water resistance to full immersion for 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter. Perhaps not a dive-knife, but certainly fit for water-borne activities and other wet tasks.

My thoughts immediately went to dressing game. I've only needed to field dress game a couple of times in the dark, but it wasn't a lot of fun, and I can imagine that having a light that IS my knife, would have made that messy task just a little easier.
With slight jimping along the back, and the molded grips set into the glass reinforced nylon handle, this blade is a little on the free-and-easy in the hand, I prefer something with a bit more grip to it, especially if I am going to be doing something slick and messy.

The blade also doesn't feature a full tang, and as a result, is both very light (to the point of feeling a bit effete) and also having a weird balance. I don't tend to go for big knives (if you can put aside my KA-BAR Zombie Killer collection), but this knife just doesn't have the heft I wold have expected for its size.  At 28.7cm (11.3") overall, with 14.5cm (5.7") of blade, this piece weighs only 201g (7.10oz).
 
Its an elegant looking piece, well matched to its sheath and well thought out.  The sheath offers a selection of pretty standard mounting options, with rivet holes as well as belt loops top and bottom,

A nice afterthought is the little removable nylon pouch, which came with spare batteries for the LED's, but could easily be re-fitted with a stone, compass or other survival kit.

I used the knife as my fire-side cooking knife a few times, to get a feel for how well the LED's illuminate, not only where I was going, and what I was doing, but also to see how much of a help it was when I was right up in the fire, or in fact, carving.

For both at-the-coals work, where smoke and heat may make it difficult to check how things are going, and back at the camp-table where carving and jointing needs to happen quickly and neatly, I found the LED's to work just fine, in or out of its sheath. The chickens and rabbits I roasted turned out a treat, and having those twin sets of LED's running right down the blade meant I had zero guesswork about how the meat was done, or where fiddly joints sat. I even stabbed the blade into a log for a little area illumination as I moved the coals about.

Its a bit gimicky, but it's certainly well put together and thought out. For the light use I put it through, the SOB BladeLight did exactly what I expected of it, and did so admirably.