Testing
Let me first say that I am blown away by the performance of this light. After reviewing the Brite-Strike, I have become accustom to having an all too powerful flashlight on me. This light has truly spoiled me in every way shape and form. The beam on the Ra Lights Clicky Custom is perfect for use either outdoor or indoor and has a setting for everything in between. The highest setting puts out the 100% potential of the flash light, but in order to save battery life, it only outputs 100% for ten seconds. After that, the light drops to 120 Lumens. There is also a medium setting, and a low setting. The best part about this light is that it is 100% customizable. If you think that the medium setting is too bright, you can lower it. If you think its too dim, you can make it brighter.This feature is not only easy to fully customize, but something that we look for in any product, and puts shame to any other tactical flashlight that lacks the feature. The strobe setting is absolutely blinding. The quick strobe is more disorienting than anything I have seen before, and in a self-defense situation, I would trust this light to work.
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| Control Shot | Ra Clicky turned on high |
Camera settings are 100% the same in both pictures. They are as close to life like as I could get using a Canon G10. The tree distance is about 10 yards from light location, and the building is about 80 yards away.
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This particular model has the “narrower beam”. This narrower beam is used in more practical settings and allows you to see further, though it may not light up an entire room as much. Please don’t be mistaken, this light will still light up a room without a problem, the beam is just a little more focused. To put this tactical light to the test, i came up with a unique test. I got with the local Sheriff’s Office and went for a “Ride-A-Long”. Basically, I got to ride around with the midnight shift of Sheriff’s Deputy’s and respond to calls with them, as an observer. As these Deputy’s work in the dark, on the side of the road most of the time, a good light is something that they can not go without. I found one officer that made fun of the “Wimpy Little LED Light” and said that he would stick with his old school Halogen. He used it while searching a building, setting up “Stop Sticks”, and on a number of traffic stops. After the Bright LED was able to “catch the glare of a knife under the guys leg” he refuses to go on his shift without it. He bought one that night, and is using our test sample until it arrives. This makes us wonder, if its good enough for those that are to protect and serve us, isn’t it good enough for us…
The entire users manual can be found HERE, showing you all of the possible settings and anything else I fail to cover in this review.
Conclusion
Here at TechwareLabs, we don’t normally review things like flashlights, but boy are we glad to have gotten this. Ra Lights really hit home with the Clicky Custom Tactical Light, delivering everything that one would look for in a high end light. Selling for around $190, the price of this light may seem a little high to some, but in comparison to similar lights (Brite-Strike Blue Dot – MSRP $220), the fully customizable Ra Lights Clicky Custom cannot be matched, bang-for-the-buck. Becoming the preferred light of the midnight shift, as well as myself, I have no other option than to give this light our highest award: Editor’s Choice. I do this not only because I think that everyone should try one, but because I wouldn’t leave home at night without it…
That’s no “beatdown-bezel”, friend. The cut-outs on the side are for making sure you can see it if you’ve left the light on, or switched it on accidentally with the face down. That’s a good way to kill your batteries flat dead in the middle of the night. Not that those titanium teeth won’t stand up in the role of improvised kubotan, but the goal here was making something that won’t chew up pockets.
Also, the particular LED you’ve got here is the Osram Golden Dragon, a uniquely well-focused light source that’s pushing the envelope for what’s possible with current technology.
I’m sorry if I made it sound like all it was good for is a “beatdown-bezel” as you say. Most tactical lights have them but it honestly appears that they have designed this light to be a little more carry friendly. They could always make it more of a weapon, sharper edges, or even blades coming out of the bezel, but then it would be less carry friendly, even tearing up your pockets. The point that I was trying to make is that I, personally, would have liked to the crenelations a little sharper, but that’s just a personal preference, nothing more. If you get into a hand to hand combat, a flashlight is probably not going to do much to help you other than let you see whose eyes your trying to throw dirt in. In my eyes, the design was as follows:
1) use the Strobe feature to disorient the attacker
2) run
3) if attacker happens to grab a hold of your arm, use crenelations on the light to break his grip loose and run faster
4) if attacker is still persistent, pull CCW
Regardless of my views of the crenelations, I still think that this is the #1 stock light on the market, and the pros outweigh the cons 8 million to 1, and the build quality is something that is hard for others to match. The other features of this light are soo abundant, that its almost easy to overlook something this small.