top-quark.blog
Ret zher be Right!
Tue, 03/16/2004, 20:15
A lifetime's yearning has now come to an end! I managed to score a pretty darn good deal on a Surefire flashlight, using funds from a game I won.
For those not in the know, Surefire is the maker of premium flashlights used by military types. While the majority of their line is still multihundred dollar metal body lights, they're now coming out with a more affordable series of impact-resistant plastic-body lights. The little gem I picked up is a Surefire G2. Though I got a pretty hefty discount on it, they do usually run about $30 from any number of online retailers.
Now you might be laughing that anyone would spend $30 on a flashlight. Normally you'd have a point. But these are friggen Surefires... Besides construction, which is quite nice, there is one thing about these lights that stands out. These are friggen' bright, sizewize, and on an absolute scale. It's hard to imagine, but something about the size of a Minimag puts out more light than the famous Maglite D-cell "Police Brutality Specials". One of the secrets is that they use Lithium CR123A batteries. The y're expensive, at a buck-a-pop, but it's not that terrible. The G2 goes through a pair in an hour. $2 an hour for some really intense, dependable light is actually a great deal, if you're in a bind. Plus, unlike other battery chemistries, Lithium batteries retain a charge for ten years.
You actually have to be careful with this thing; if you're not careful, you can blind yourself for a few seconds. It's actually an advertising point for Surefire; that these lights are bright enough to temporarily blind/stun people in the dark. This of course appeals to me. You can probably tell from the tape switch and mount that this sucker's going on my rifle. For a defensive use light, the temporary stun effect gives a few extra seconds to shoot or scoot. The glare from the light also makes it extremely hard for your opponent to aim back. It's not quite the same, but you can observe the same effect in Tom Clancy's Raven Shield computer game. It's very effective.
I'll have pics of it mounted to the rifle this weekend, when I come home for spring break.
...if I can survive this week!