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Conclusion:
Now, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I did what any idiot does when you hand them a battery-powered sunbeam and blasted myself in the face… with the strobe. First, of course, the lights were turned off in order to get the effect you’d find using it on someone who jumped out of a dark alley somewhere. Yeowch. I left myself blind for a good five seconds and seeing stars for rather longer; I have no doubt that in full dark you’re likely to have the intended blinding effect. I also tried it around the house as just a flashlight; it proved more than up to the task of running cable behind furniture, checking the mail in the dark and rain (conveniently proving the light weatherproof as well), and other household tasks. What it was meant as is a pocket-sized flashlight to use in defense of life and limb, and it succeeds pretty well. It basically blows away almost everything in its size class. Still, at $50 it’s a bit steep for many people; others such as JetBeam and NiteCore offer similar products at a slightly higher price and not even a notch above as far as quality. If you just want something to make things light up, this probably isn’t the best choice. But if you’re going for something black, scary, and handheld (and a blinding tactical strobe) that feeds from a single standard AA, there really is little to no competition for the Lightning Strike. The only possible competition in this role is the NiteCore Defender Infinity, which is considerably more complicated to run. As this is as simple as learning to double-click with your thumb, you’re trading a bit of output for usability. Despite this, Brite-Strike’sLightning Strike is still a strong contender, but not quite the dead ringer it could have been.
Awesome:
- Glow-in-the-dark button
- User interface easy to explain and easier to use
- Aggressive grooving makes for solid grip
- Neutral/warm Rebel makes color easy to see, well-focused hot spot
- Reverse-polarity protection means a backwards battery can’t fry the light
Lame:
- Alkaline batteries not very powerful, can leak, and dimmer than lithium
- Lithium batteries expensive, only one manufacturer (Energizer)
- Strobe is awkward to deploy in a pinch, requires triple-clicking
- No anti-roll features but the removable clip
- Developed an intermittent flicker during testing, requiring the greasing of the tail cap threads and O-ring.
Verdict:All the non-techies I showed this to thought it was a really nice light – and most of the techies, too. At $50, it’s a pretty good deal; it’s easier to use and cheaper than its competition.
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