Streamlight 14001 Sidewinder Tactical Flashlight - IR LED (Olive Drab)

I'm a flashlight junkie and own at least a dozen of various manufacture, from Maglights to Surefire. I purchased this light several weeks ago and I have to say it's superb and one of the better flashlights I've owned. It's very sturdy and well made, compact, and has a cool factor of 10.

Holding the power button down allows you to adjust the light intensity for each beam from soft to very bright (4 brightness settings). Exterior positive + markings are molded into the case exterior, allowing battery changes in total darkness by feel only. A wire holds the end cap on, preventing it from being dropped in the dark and thus rendering the light useless.

As an avid hunter and outdoorsman, the adjustable red and/or blue LED is perfect for stealth mode, keeping my presence in the dark to a minimum and preserving my night vision. Unlike the prior reviewer, I have no "halo" type beam with a dark center and bright outer edge, the beam is solid and consistent throughout all the different settings. The white light is clean with no yellow tinge and also adjusts from soft to very bright on its highest setting, more than sufficient to light up any task requiring precise vision.

The head is adjustable as well, allowing me to stand the light up on a surface and freeing both hands up. Something that's pretty difficult to do with a standard tubular flashlight. The black selector knob is easy to memorize by feel for night use and you can accurately pick which color beam you are selecting in the dark. The IR Beam is well marked with an external tab that can be identified in the dark and with a little effort its position can be memorized. I have not had any issues with selecting the wrong beam at the wrong time.

Streamlight put a lot of thought into this light and got it perfect as far as I'm concerned. It is about as superb a light as you can find for those of us who hunt or work in the dark and need more than just a light with a bright beam and an on/off switch.

Bought three of these Streamlight Sidewinder Tactical Flashlights; two without the IR LED and one with. All three lights worked excellent. It is suprising how much light the small LEDs can emit. The colored LEDs (which are red, blue and green) are brighter than expected, and the white is also bright. Dont get me wrong, they are not anywhere like a good sized flashlight, but for the size they are excellent. The swivel head is very useful since it will clip on your belt (even upside down since the belt clip "locks" on). The unit with the IR LED worked out the best for my purposes since it is excellent with night vision equipment. The only thing which seemed unique was that on all three units I bought, the blue LED made a circular light pattern and the light distrubution was not uniform. Both Olive drab and coyote brown units are nice colors, although OD was the one I kept. FOr the small amount of money, the quality workmanship of the light (yes, they are waterproof), and the fact they use double A batterys, make this a good buy in my opinion.

If I had to pick 1 flashlight for the apocolypse, the Streamlight Sidewinder is it! Fantastic battery life and extremely well built and well thought-out, right down to the braided cable retaining the battery cap and the raised indicators allowing you to 'feel' the proper battery polarity in complete darkness. There are brighter tactical flashlights, but typically those are battery hungry and have expensive tastes. The Sidewinder sips power like a fine vintage and uses ubiquitous AA batteries you'll actually still be able to find when society comes to a grinding halt or when your camping trip supplies are limited to what's on hand at the gas station mini-mart.

Ths primary white LED is well focused and usable in the lowest setting, but holding the power button down a bit longer unleashes a respectable spotlight that is certainly ample for most uses. The IR is also fully functional and worked well with my inexpensive 3rd gen night vision scope. The MOLE compatible belt clip can be even be switched to either side of the light for easy left-handed use. This might be the light that finally makes my flashlight collection complete.

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