LIGHTS FOR CCW AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

[black bear 84]

LIGHTS FOR CCW AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hi guys,
I have about 200 lights between flashlights and tactical lights, and also this idea of taking beam shots, so members can compare between them.

First, lets take a look at some lights that are used by police for traffic stops, search and even clearing houses.
These are not for CCW, but good to have in the car or truck to take care of big illumination needs.



This post will try to show how different lights used in law enforcement compare with each other, and will clarify the difference between the lumen ratings used in Luxeon (LED) lights and incandescent lights.
In short, I will show (through pictures) how Luxeons lack definition when used at increased distances.

I have maintained for a long time that LED Luxeons don’t have the range over the incandescent to really be helpful for law enforcement. They are excellent lights to use inside the house; their beams are very clean, white and with substantial flood, and in the average house, that is all you need. However, when taken outside to the backyard, woods, or large structure and the distance to the target is 25 yards or more, they lack definition (as they lack the red spectrum of light), and their poor penetration of fog or rain makes them inefficient to clearly identify what you are seeing at that distance.
Moreover, when the subject being illuminated is an animal with a light-drinking fur (depth of texture), the blending effect of the LED’s (against the background) will cause the observer to lose perspective.

LOW LIGHT FOR WRITING

As I am in contact with police officers that tell me what they really need to perform their functions at night, I think that I know more than the average guy what is needed for those officers.
What those experienced officers want are three lights that will cover specific illumination chores.
First, when writing a ticket at night, or looking for a dropped pencil in the floor of their own car or any other close up chore, they want a flood light in LED form: small and with an output of 20 lumens or less (LED lumens), and preferably with a clip incorporated to free both hands for holding the pad and writing.

LEO’s that have used the Fenix LOP (1 AAA) consider this light ideal (except for the lack of a clip). Another favorite is the ARC AAA. These lights can be held in the mouth without any discomfort.

Fenix has put out a bigger light (1 AA) with two stages output, and the lower output will be also ideal for these chores.

THE BELT LIGHT

Those same officers want to have a good light on their belt. Some prefer the two cell 123’s lights like the Surefire 6P, G2, or C-2 for their better flood beam over the more tightly focused Streamlight Scorpion, TL-2 and Night Fighter II (it is important for them to be able to cover an average room with the light, without the need of panning it).
They look for a run time of one hour and an output of 65 lumens.
Some opt for more intense lights like the Surefire 9P or the C-3 with their 105 lumens and one hour run time.
The Streamlight TL-3 is a little too tightly focused for clearing rooms, but it will do fine in an average backyard.
In LED form (Luxeon V), the Surefire L-4 is a good contender due to the excellent flood light that it puts out at medium range inside a house.

The main thing is that the officers want to avoid losing precious seconds by panning a light when entering a room. That is why the Surefires are preferred over the tightly focused others brands.

HERE IS A PICTURE OF SOME OF THE CONTENDERS, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT; THE MAGCHARGER 200 LUMENS AND 6 VOLTS BATTERY STICK, THE STREAMLIGHT ULTRA STINGER 295 LUMENS AND 6 VOLTS BATTERY STICK AND THE BOREALIS 1050 LUMENS (TWO MILLION CANDLEPOWER) AND ROLLS ROYCE BATTERY CARRIER WITH 12 VOLTS SYSTEM







THE CAR LIGHT

These police officers wear a light holder in their belt (a plastic and leather ring). On exiting their cars, they slip in the ring one of the powerful rechargeable lights, most commonly the Magcharger (200 lumens) or the Ultra Stinger (295 lumens) and sometimes a BOREALIS 1050 lumens.

Those are ideal lights for search, clearing houses, backyards, warehouses etc. Being rechargeable, they are always used with a maximum run time (taken out of the charger at start of the shift), a thing that you can not do with 123 batteries unless you are willing to dump half-used batteries at the start of a shift.

Their large diameter (2 inches) reflectors put more light at a longer distance than any of the belt lights. Even though some of the belt lights approach 200 lumens, they do it with reduced run time and much reduced throw, due to their small diameter reflectors.
A Magcharger will put a spot of light at 150 yards, as will the Ultra Stinger and a BOREALIS, which has the capability of illuminating the whole road for 250 yards.

Those lights are ideal for traffic stops, accident sites and the ones with major lumen output can even illuminate through heavily tinted windows, which makes them ideal car’s lights or for using in an emergency situation.


Lets start with the popular Surefire G-2 (or 6 P) at 65 lumens, the target is the 8 by 12 tool shed at 30 yards.
We are going to pit the Surefire G-2 65 lumens $35.00 against the Surefire Digital Lumamax L-4 (also 65 lumens and with a price tag of $160.00).

Surefire G-2 65 lumens



Surefire L-4 Luxeon V, LED, 65 lumens



And now we are going to pit the Surefire 6 P with the P-61 120 lumen lamp (20 minutes run time) against the best Luxeon LED thrower that I have (similar to the cree LED).
This is a Mc Gizmo PR T head with a TWOJ bin Luxeon doing 120 plus lumens.

Surefire Centurion C-2 (same as the 6P) with the P-61 lamp, 120 lumens.



And the PR T with TWOJ bin Luxeon, (LED) @ 120 lumens



And now we are going to show a belt light of 200 lumens (The Surefire Centurion III with the P-91 lamp, 200 lumens, 20 minutes run) and three cars' lights of 200 lumens plus and beyond.

Surefire Centurion C-III, 200 lumens P-91 lamp.



And here the Magcharger also 200 lumens, with its bigger reflector and tighter focus will throw the light at 150 yards, while the Centurion III range will stop at 45 or 50 yards.

Magcharger 200 lumens (40,000 candlepowers)





And here is the Ultra Stinger, the most powerful of the Stingers rechargeables from Streamlight with 295 lumens and 75,000 candlepower, although this figure is largely inflated when you consider that is about “bulb” lumens and not torch or “real” lumens.





And now the BOREALIS, with the format of a 3 D (12 1/2 inches long) outputting 1050 lumens (two million candlepower) for 50 minutes.




Do I need to say anything about the importance of a powerful light for police use when clearing a backyard or wooded area?
As you well can see the capabilities of each light from these pictures.


Best regards,
Black Bear

[black bear 84]

MORE LIGHTS FOR CCW AND LAW ENFORCEMENT




As a continuation of the first post and for whatever value it has, I am going to do some more shoot outs of a mix of popular Luxeon lights and incandescent ones.

The first order of things is to change the target area, to make it a little more interesting to my viewers.
Consequently I replaced the tool shed target with a deer and bear mount.
The deer head mounted on the tree is exactly 26 yards from my second story window from where the lights are shinning.
The bear head in the fence is only six more feet further away from the tree.

In the summer I have plenty of bushy cover in the area, but this time I had to be creative and cut and nailed to the tree and fence, some branches from a pine tree, not to hide the animals from view, just to provide a natural blending effect, like they were coming from a natural habitat.

The camera was placed twelve foot away from the tree (and eighteen feet from the bear) in a solid tripod, and the night camera mode used (this mode shows in pictures the same light values that I am seeing with my own eyes).

The close proximity of the camera is for the viewer to see the target with clarity; if I were to place the camera 26 yards away the target will be awfully small.

Here it is the target area and how it looks in daylight.



And here are the contenders, but before I describe them, let me voice my opinion that some manufacturers of Luxeon lights label the output in lumens in quite a wild way.




From left to right: # 1 Fenix L1P at about 40 lumens, # 2 Nuwaii Q III at 75 lumens (yes, sure!) # 3 Surefire L-4 Digital Lumamax at 65 lumens (this is a Luxeon V which is quite a flood light but with little throw).

# 4 Streamlight Task-Light 2 L (two Lithium 3 volts batteries, high and low output,
Cost is about $77.00) This is billed at a High Flux Luxeon III. With 75 lumens, which I think is about right.

# 5 is the Streamlight Pro Polymer 4 AA with a Luxeon I, billed as 40 lumens (3,500 candlepower according to the advertising) which I think is quite wrong, as it appears to me to have about 70 lumens or more, this light has a bigger and deeper reflector than the others lights and the beam is concentrated more than the others. This is a great light for the price of about $40.00

# 6, this is a PR T Luxeon III head done for me by master modder McGizmo, it is set on a Surefire E2e body and I am using two rechargeable 123’s with a voltage of 4.2 volts in it.
This light is my best Luxeon III light and up to two years ago it was pretty HOT STUFF, today the cree LED’s are approaching it in intensity, although it has not been overpower by any other Luxeon, yet.
My friends told me I have two of the Integrated Sphere Spectotometers just above my nose, those spheres are telling me that this light makes 120 to 130 “real” lumens.

# 7, this is A Surefire Centurion II in black with the P-60 lamp (65 lumens) this represents all the others Surefires lights that use this lamp, G-2, 6P. Z-2. etc.

# 8, this is another Surefire Centurion II, but in Hard anodized, it wears the HOLA lamp. The P-61 with the output of 120 lumens for 20 minutes.

# 9 this is a Surefire Centurion III (3 cells) this is usually sold with the P-90 lamp that makes 105 lumens for one hour, but in this case is set up with the P-91 lamp for 200 lumens for 20 minutes, as you will see in the picture later, the floodlight effect is great at 26 yards. All those P’s lamps start to lose range at about 45 to 50 yards, this is because the reflectors are fabricated to produce a good flood so police officers can clear houses with them.
I took this particular light out of my Remington 742 rifle, where it sits in the special quick detach mount in a Picattiny rail.

# 10, this is the BEAR CUB, this light weights 13 oz and measures 9 inches long, it works with two Lithium Ion computer batteries, and produces 220 plus lumens for 90 minutes. Thanks to the big and deep 2 inch mirror-like reflector, this light concentrates the beam like a laser and has a throw of 120 to 150 yards.
So the 26 yards distance is like child play for the Bear Cub and the light is so intense at the target that they had to close their eyes!

# 11, (last on the left lying in horizontal position next to the Bear Cub) this light is a KL-1 head Luxeon I of three years ago, it is set up in a Surefire Outdoorsman body and the lumens output is no more than 20, consequently I decided to strike it out from the competition, there is no room in my stable for weaklings and I will present it to my nephew on his birthday quite soon.

And now let’s go to the pictures:

Fenix L1P (40 lumens) Luxeon I



Nuwaii Q III (advertised at 75 lumens in a website, which I don’t believe) Luxeon III.




Surefire L-4 Digital Lumamax (65 lumens) this is very flood light and the lumens spread in a very wide area, so it cannot be expected to have a good throw at 26 yards. (Luxeon V ~which are 4 of the one watt together)




Streamlight Task Light 2 L about 75 lumens on high, works on two 123’s batteries and has two levels of illumination. High Flux Luxeon III. About $77.00



Streamlight Poly Pro 4 AA Luxeon. This light has a deep and bigger reflector, the Luxeon is I, according to the manufacturer, is listed at 40 lumens, but to my eyes is doing about 75 lumens.
For the price of $40.00 this is a great light, and very battery friendly as it uses regulars AA.
I feed this light, rechargeable Nimhs AA of high current (Powerex 2700 mah) that hovers around 1.4 volts for weeks consequently it costs me nothing to operate it.





Mc Gizmo PR T head on Surefire body, Luxeon III, TWOJ bin,
My best Luxeon light putting out 120 to 130 lumens. This is a collector’s item and was state of the art, less than two years ago.
I have found nothing new that can approach its power, except the new cree 7090 that is getting close.



Surefire Centurion II in black with the P-60 lamp (65 lumens for one hour)





Surefire Centurion II in Hard anodized with the P-61 lamp (120 lumens for 20 minutes)



Surefire Centurion III in hard anodized, with the P-91 lamp (200 lumens for 20 minutes) as you can see it is a great flood at 26 yards.





BEAR CUB running for 90 minutes on two computer Lithium Ion batteries, driving a Xenon Magnum Star bulb for 5 cells pretty hard at 8.4 volts at 220 lumens (which make it a very white light) with a reach of 120 to 150 yards, even surpassing the Ultra Stinger.



Best regards
Black Bear

[black bear 84]

THE SUREFIRE E2E
here is one more:
As the Surefire E2e is a very common light in the bow hunting and gun hunting scene and also for law enforcement, here it is.


The little MN03 lamp (60 lumens for 75 minutes) in the E2e is a big performer, I like myself this little light a lot, and I think it qualifies as a tactical light to be used at close to medium range if the need arise.
The MN02 lamp can be substituted for more run time, as it is 25 lumens for 2 1/2 hours, I actually prefer this lamp for hiking in the trails and other general chores, but I will use the 60 lumens lamp for blood trailing a deer or bear, although I don't consider 60 lumens good enough for blood tracking.
For CCW in the city where it is a lot of ambient light, I think the little E2e will do fine.

Red, blue and infrared filters are available from Surefire and vendors such as Cabela's. The red is used to walk in the trails or follow the cat-eye tacks when you go toward the stand in the pre-dawn darkness and don’t want to pollute the woods with light, and the blue to bring up the blood drops in the leaves.
If I insist so much in the capabilities of this light for outdoor use, is because so many of them were sold to hunters.

The E2e is 4 1/2 inches long and weighs at 3 .1 oz., is available in hard anodized type III and will not scratch easily, but it can be rough on your pocket liner. Other finishes are available sometimes. A tear drop bezel model is done in nickel plated and the wine light in regular anodized with a wine burgundy color.

Here is a picture of a few of the versions of the E2e.





And here is the beam shot at the same distance as the others above (26 yards) and the camera placed at the same distance (12 feet to the Deer head and 18 to the Bear head).




I can tell you that the light is fairly waterproof. I don’t have a pool to try it at a few feet, but it survived quite well in my 3 ½ gallon beer glass for several hours.



Kind regards,

Black Bear

[TimW]

I have that Streamlight Polypro AA light that I use as a backup light for search and rescue. I got it precisely because it uses AA batteries (as do all my SAR electronics except my Petzl headlamp) and lasts forever. I am still on the first set of batteries.

It does throw a good amount of light, except in the open desert. During one training exercise we had to look for one of those small Home Depot-style irrigation flags marking the "point last scene" for our subject.

The light was weak out past about 8 yards to the eye, since there was nothing for the light to reflect off. I wished I had my G3 Nitrolon at that point. I still carry the Streamlight, but have augmented my pack with a G3 for such circumstances.

[black bear 84]

STREAMLIGHT TL-3
XENON 9 VOLTS TACTICAL LIGHT

The TL-3 uses three of the 123’s batteries and is advertised to produce 200 lumens and one hour run time. In my experience, bulbs only last about five hours, but they are inexpensive at about $7.50 each.
The torch sports a clip and also comes with a lanyard. Due to the diameter of the big head (1.6 inches), I haven’t looked for a holster for this light, using the clip instead to carry it on my belt inside the pants.
Also, because I use my version of the Tiger ring system (better called Gabe Suarez ring for its inventor) a holster will not work with the protruding ring.
By the way, my version is a rubber O ring, or better still, a hair tie (that will stretch under pressure and doesn’t break fingers).



The light is 0.9 inches in diameter. Too bad it is not a one-inch to make it useable with inexpensive Weaver rings when mounted in rifles.
The length is 6.25 inches and it weights 6.9 with batteries.

The focus of the light is adjustable, but in flood position it introduces some artifacts into the beam. I have found the most pleasant beam when it is at the maximum throw position.
Due to the big head, this light will throw a good beam quite a distance. I have a target fence 68 yards away and the light will reach there with enough illumination to indentify the gender of a suspect.

The price tag is quite affordable, I have seem them in the web for about $67.00 and maybe lower. It is quite a competitor to the Surefire 9 P or the Centurion III that can also make 200 lumens with their P-91 lamps.

For law enforcement use I prefer the Surefire Centurion III with the P-91 lamp, because the smaller head produces much more flood which is badly needed when clearing rooms. Also the Centurion (or the 9P) can be adapted to rifles (M-6, M-4 etc) with easily available mounts and remote pressure pad switches such as the G&P and others including Surefires’ remote switches.

As usual my target bear and deer are at 26 yards, now with all the vegetation growing in the spring and including the shadows from my cherry tree, the camera can’t show as much of the fence as it did in the winter months, so you will have to take my word for it than the flood of the Surefire Centurion is much more at this distance than the flood from the TL-3.

SUREFIRE CENTURION III WITH P-91 LAMP (200 lumens)



STREAMLIGHT TL-3 (200 lumens)



The intensity of the lights at the target is almost the same; choice between them should be made in the amount of reach you want, the TL-3 due to its big head, throw farther than the Centurion (or 9 P).

I would like to see some plastic bushing for this light that will serve to adapt it to 1 “ rings and also a remote pressure pad switch made for it, otherwise I like it well enough.

Respectfully,
Black Bear

[black bear 84]

THE STREAMLIGHT SCORPION

I like the little Scorpion a lot, to be honest; it is a powerful (at 6,500 candle powers) light (at 4.4 oz), not too long at 4.9 inches, and with a great feel in the hand thanks to the rubber boot that covers the body.
This rubber boot can be especially beneficial in the winter when others lights left in the trunk are too cold to hold without gloves.





The switch is momentary and click on, exactly as I want my switches; it is located in the back of the light and protected by the rubber boot.
The momentary works well. The click is in my case, though, is too difficult to operate with my big thumb and I have to click it with my index finger.
But rarely do I use the click, as this light can be used as a “tactical” light and the momentary mode is preferred when using it with a gun. (You don’t want to drop the light “on” and that it will illuminate you or your partner, which is the reason to use the momentary).

The light uses two 123’s batteries and run a xenon bulb for one hour. This xenon bulb is quite small (a spare is located in the bulb holder inside the head). I will hate to have to change it in less than normal conditions; for starters you have to pry a cover from the bulb holder to access the spare, you will have a few small parts in your hands, and you will need calm conditions and plenty of light to do the job properly.

For those situations I really prefer the big bulbs with reflector included of the Surefires’ or even the smaller but easy to handle bulb of the E2e’s.

Why I consider this so important? Well, the bulb is rated for 5 hours of life, which is extremely short.

I say I like this light, but it is really not rational because we have much better designs for a tactical light. The little Scorpion will roll out on a table that is not perfectly flat, for lack of an anti-roll bezel. Surefires are much better in this department.

The beam can be adjusted by rotating the head (the filament of the bulb will go lower or higher inside the reflector), in reality I have the light set to maximum throw that will not show any artifacts and I don’t twist the head at all because the quality of the beam will be spoiled by artifacts and black spots.
This light is good for throw (considering the small reflector), and the quality of the beam, when set at near maximum throw, is good, producing a nice round circle due to the short filament.

The lens is polycarbonate. I would like to see it changed to Pyrex, but that is only my personal feeling that this light should deserve a better lens.
I bought mine two years ago from Cabela’s and it cost me $38.00; I think that the price is right for a quality made American product.
The bulbs run about $6.00 each and I also consider them in price, they are so bright because they are overdriven (hence their short life of 5 hours).

I have seen a holster for the light made out of Cordura Nylon, but I haven’t tried it and I don’t know if is any issues in removing the light quickly, the rubber boot cause me trouble when removing the light from tight pockets (read Jean’s) but is okay when the pocket is from s dress pants.
I also have seen filters made for this light in red, blue and yellow for those that would like to penetrate the deer’s woods with a minimum of light pollution.

As always the beam shots are coming from 26 yards away and my camera tripod is in the same position, 12 feet from the deer and 18 from the bear.
I have also included as way of comparison the beam shot with the P-60 lamp out of a Surefire Centurion C-2 (read it also Surefire 6P, Z-2, G-2 D-2 etc).

SCORPION’S BEAM



P-60 LAMP FROM a Surefire Centurion II



You will notice that the beam of the Scorpion is more concentrated than the P-60 lamp, making the target clearer at this distance, for tactical situations at short range the P-60 lamp is better for the extra flood, it will be easier to clear a room with a Surefire without the need to pan the light to cover it all.

Cheers,
Black Bear

[jmart]

Great post! It's really illuminating (bad pun intended ) to see the different types of lights side-by-side.

Do you have any experience with the Wolf Eyes Cree models (Sniper, Defender, Explorer)? Twin cell models are pumping out 180 lumens (advertised). They can run on CR123s or the rechargeable Li-Ion batteries. they also offer turbo models for increased throw. All of their models are very competitively priced. They also offer XENON-powered lights with the same models.

When I look at your photos, it appears that if the beam gets too tight you get a lot of reflection coming back at you. That's why I've heard be conservative with a light to be used indoors, especially around white walls.

My situation would involve the tight confines of my home interior (max distance is about 40 feet down a long hallway, the rest of the distances are 15 ft max), along with illuminating my backyard which is about 50 feet to the privacy fence. I use a hand held C-powered Streamlight Twin Task that has three power levels: a low lumen LED mode, a higher lumen LED mode and a max lumen XENON mode. I'm not sure what the lumens are for each, but the max LED mode barely gets it done outdoors (and sucks when it's snowing or foggy), but run time is improved. When I need to illuminate the corner of the yard, I switch to the XENON bulb, that has a yellower light color, but it penetrates. I use this light every night of my life when I take the pooch out to do her business, it comes in very handy. Right now though this light is only suitable for using with handgun, I doubt it's weapon-mountable and even if a mount exists, the switch isn't in the best location. There's no provision for a tailcap switch.

One last thing about the Wolf Eyes, the models that feature tape-switches also include a separate touch switch which is mounted on the side of the flashlight/tailcap body. I was wondering if that would be more ergonomic for folks that don't want to use the tape switch. It seems to be it would be easier to momentarily activate the side-mounted switch with your support thumb (squeezing inward using your pad, which seems more natural) than activating a momentary tail-cap switch with the edge of your thumb.


Wolf Eyes Sniper Model -- Tape Switch Model w/side facing tailcap switch

Wolf Eyes Sniper Model -- Regular PB Tailcap