Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Streamlight Sidewinder LED Flashlight
"You're going to blog about THAT?"
I think it's like the Three Stooges gene - you either have it, or you don't. You either laugh with glee when the pies start flying, or you just can't understand what's so funny about three grown men slapping and hitting each other.
I have both the Three Stooges gene and the Cool Flashlight gene*. My wife has neither, so she is genetically incapable of understanding the attraction of Larry, Moe and Curly or the Streamlight Sidewinder. I would place this firmly in the "heywaitaminutewhatchagottherebuddy" territory at the airline security checkpoint. It doesn't look like your average flashlight, because it's not.
I was sort of sad to see the demise of PentagonLight, because of the neat little angle-head LED light they manufactured. The Streamlight Sidewinder will duplicate the angle-head feat, and do some additional tricks.
The Sidewinder is rectangular - making it pretty hard to lay it down and have it roll away. The surface is covered with a slightly raised ribbing, reminiscent of picatinny rail spacing. Starting at the base of the light, there is a knurled metal disk that is laser etched with the serial number of the unit and the name of the manufacturer, Streamlight Inc. Turning the knob counterclockwise unscrews the knob, and releases the rubber o-ring sealed endcap.
Someone put some thought into this endcap - it's attached to the body of the light by a stranded metal cable; you're not going to lose this part. The knurled knob screws into a brass fixture inside the case, and when tightened compresses the o-ring, making the battery compartment waterproof. As the endcap is not directional, it is impossible to put it on the wrong way. It also has small holes that will accomodate a length of paracord, should you wish to add a lanyard to the light. The base of the endcap is flat, allowing you to stand the light up, and the positioning of the lanyard holes don't interfere with this design feature - it will stand with a lanyard attached.
One thing I really appreciate is that there are two raised protrusions on opposite sides of the main case marked with a "+" that indicate the direction the two AA batteries should be inserted. You know that when batteries fail, they fail in the dark, and it's handy to be able to tell by touch how to insert the batteries, instead of looking for your other light, or holding a lighter in one hand, the light in the other and the batteries in... well, you see my point.
Attached to the case by a single screw is a spring-steel clip, that engages the raised ribbing on the case, and prevents the clip rotating. The screw mates with another brass fixture, and can be moved to the opposite side of the light, for reasons that will become clear shortly. If desired, the clip can be removed completely, and is manufactured in such a way as to be compatible with a proprietary Streamlight helmet mount.
About three quarters of the way up on the main body, there is a pivot point that allows the head of the light to be moved in an arc of 185 degrees. This pivot is about as far away from "fragile" as you can get. It's simple and sturdy - I can't imagine under what circumstances it could possibly fail. It does not have any spring-loaded detent, allowing you to precisely position it anywhere along the arc of travel. You know how most things that have those little "stops" in the adjustment always seems to be just a little too much, or not quite enough? Not a problem with this design. Put it exactly where you want it, and it stays there.
The top quarter of the unit houses the LED lamps. Plural. There is a white LED, a red LED, a blue LED and a green LED in the model that I tested. There is also a model that has an IR LED in place of the green. The white LED sits in a reflector, and the other three sit in recesses in the lamp housing, focusing the colored lamps to some degree and minimizing the possibility of being seen from oblique angles.
The LED lamps are controlled by a clever dual-purpose black control knob/button on the side of the lamp housing. About the size of a nickel, it has a sealed, flexible push button in the center. Pressing and holding this button causes the Sidewinder to cycle up and down through the 4 brightness levels available. To select a brightness, simply release the button when you reach the level you want. If you're not paying attention and you pass the one you wanted, it will be back in about a second.
If you push the button twice in rapid succession, the light will strobe slowly at the high output level. It will strobe on any color setting, and the colors can be changed while the unit is on.
If you grasp the knob that houses the power switch and pull outwards, you can rotate it to one of four positions - white, red, green and blue for this model. While not labeled, there is a raised pointer that you can feel - it doesn't take too long to figure out that when the pointer is towards the pivot, the light will be white.
The fact that this control knob/button is on the side is what makes the repositionable spring steel clip a nice feature. If you're going to attach this to a MOLLE vest, for example, you can determine wheter the control is on the left, or right side.
The face of the unit has a polycarbonate lens with a scratch-resistant coating, and the cap holding this lens in place is held by four screws, instead of being glued or sonically welded. This leads me to believe that the lamp modules may be serviceable, or that the lens is replacable.
I like that the housing is flat - I can lay it on the dashboard or hood, and it dosen't roll away. I like that it can stand up, and function as an angle-head light, especially when I was wrestling with S-Video, RCA and who-knows-what-else cables on the back of my own personal fire hazard/home entertainment system. There is some halo effect on the beam of the green and blue leds, but not on the red or white. The spring steel clip really grabs on and holds on - it takes a serious pull to take it off, so be careful not to fling it straight up into the ceiling, as I did.
The Sidewinder is available in OD Green or Coyote Tan, and in the white/blue/red/green configuration, or in white/blue/red/IR.
*The Three Stooges gene and the Cool Flashlight gene are not officially recognized by the Human Genome Project. Please send research donations to Mark H. in care of the Tactical Store. Nyuk-nyuk.
Posted by Mark H. at 11:55 AM Read Article 