zespectre
Flashlight Enthusiast
POWERTAC "Warrior" Rechargeable package
Intended Use: Tactical and
2x CR123A or 1x18650 Li-ion or 2xRCR123A
$150.00 (USD)
URL: http://powertacusa.com/product_info.php?cPath=20_3&products_id=141&osCsid=9avj13j3ujnai5ds4ugjbvtlf0
What you get:
Initial Impression(s)
This light is roughly 6"x1.5" and is the "semi-dumbell" shape of most tactical style lights. The machining and assembly quality seem top notch. Retention, and single hand operation of the light are first rate due to the body styling. The balance is slightly "nose heavy" and since I have larger hands I found myself wishing the "grip area" was just a smidgen longer when tested with light leather gloves. It was fine for bare hands.
Head is large for "pocketing" and the striking bezel would tear up a pocket but the light comes with a neat kydex swivel holster. The pocket clip is removable if you don't want it, I removed mine.
The light interface is a "tactical clickie" tailswitch that allows momentary signaling and additionally has a small grey button on the side that allows you to switch between modes (1-5, low to high and strobe). Also if the light is off holding the grey button gives you instant access to the strobe mode. The switches and rubber "O" rings seem to indicate a high water resistance but I don't think I'd take this light swimming on purpose.
The beam is wide and bright with a slight bias towards throw but in the higher modes it throws out so much light that it basically just fills up an area. The beam color on my sample is white with just a slight (typical) blue tint. The beam pattern from the smooth reflector is a hot center, a slightly less hot spill, a dark area, and a thin, intense, "ring of Saturn" on the outside edge. Eventually I got used to that ring, but mostly found it surprisingly distracting. If that ring could be eliminated it would be a very good thing.
Output (In "DaleUnits"):
Mode 1 (20 Lumens): 0.5 (suitable for in-house use or close up map reading)
Mode 2 (100 Lumens): 11.0 (suitable for "general" outdoor flashlight use)
Mode 3 (350 Lumens): 55.8 (suitable for outdoors area use)
Mode 4 (650 Lumens): 126.0 (suitable for large area illumination/search use)
STROBE (not tested)
(NOTE: The "DaleMeter" is a homebrew, uncalibrated, bit of test equipment that I use to give a rough idea of relative brightness. It's readings do bias toward "throw" type lights and "flood" types generally read a little lower than they should.
The standard baseline for the DaleMeter is a stock incandescent MagCharger which measures at 190 "DaleUnits". Any lumen numbers are those supplied by manufacturers).
=====================================================================================
The "Standard Evening Walk"
The targets are all 5"x5" white plastic squares affixed to trees in my back yard.
1) 20ft (6 yards / 6 meters): Illuminated at all modes
2) 50ft ( 16 yards / 15 meters): Illuminated at all modes
3) 100ft ( 33 yards / 30 meters): Illuminated at mode 2 and up
4) 200ft Fence ( 66 yards / 61 meters): Illuminated at mode 2 and up
5) 250ft ( 83 yards / 76 meters): Illuminated at mode 3 and up
6) 350ft ( 116 yards / 106 meters): Illuminated at mode 3 and up
Across The Park (approx 250 yards/228 meters): Illuminated at mode 3 and up
The evening walk takes place over either a 1.5 or a 2.5 mile loop on an unlit and mostly open grassy area with a couple of short, steep, uphill/downhill gravel trails through trees and heavy undergrowth which I call the "confidence course".
=====================================================================================
As I walked with the dog I found myself primarily using "Mode 2" aka "low" with occasional jumps to the higher modes (3 & 4). It quickly became apparent that this light is biased somewhat towards throw but it puts out so many lumens it basically just illuminates everything especially in the higher modes (3&4), in fact when I ran this light on the DaleMeter I was surprised and felt that the reading was low (The dalemeter equipment has a bias against "flood" type lights). Be aware that this unit illuminated FOOTBALL FIELD sized areas even though the evening conditions were misty/light fog. On it's higher modes it easily lit up all my targets and was fine in all aspects/areas of the walk including the "confidence course" section. No "follow the bouncing ball" effect.
-----Then it happened--------
I found some people near the edge of our park walking around (with crap flashlights) and calling out a name. I thought they were looking for their dog or cat (a regular occurrence in the area). NOT THE CASE! In fact they were looking for a missing girl and I wound up joining in on a two hour "search and rescue" along with the local police and other community members. This review just turned more "Real World" than I ever imagined. I found myself using mode 3 to give TONS of light along with a more extended runtime (I wasn't sure how long this was going to go on) and called my wife and had her put the second battery pack on the charger. It was fantastic knowing this light was good for a couple of hours easily AND I had a hot swap on standby if I needed it.
For the next two hours the "Warrior" really did an excellent -and continuous- job of illuminating wide swaths of the park, punching through undergrowth, and because of that I spotted the dropped textbook that led us to the area where another guy spotted the girl. She had been coming home across the park, slipped on the edge of the path and BADLY hurt her ankle just before dark. She had given up trying to crawl home and was pretty much laying there crying in pain. (Just FYI, she's fine now but she did fracture her ankle). Running constantly in Mode 3 (with occasional jumps to Mode 4) the head did become warm to the touch and the light output was constant and reliable and I am certain that having this much light on tap made a significant difference in speeding up the rescue. The local police were impressed!
The next day this light was used for an entire day of automobile inspections and then as the only light to perform a vehicle oil change at night. It worked great especially used standing on it's tail. I did find myself wishing it had some sort of an "anti-roll" fin but I clipped the lanyard on and that solved that issue.
CONS:
PROS:
Summary:
Not a pocket carry or EDC but a serious, workhorse, illumination tool at a good price point. I look forward to years of service from this light.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
Intended Use: Tactical and
2x CR123A or 1x18650 Li-ion or 2xRCR123A
$150.00 (USD)
URL: http://powertacusa.com/product_info.php?cPath=20_3&products_id=141&osCsid=9avj13j3ujnai5ds4ugjbvtlf0
What you get:
- Warrior Light
- Kydex holster
- One lanyard
- Two spare O-rings, Spare switch cap
- Plastic buffer tube (to keep smaller CR123A batteries from rattling around if you use them)
- Two 18650 2600mAh rechargeable batteries (Tenergy)
- One home charger (Tenergy)
- Nice carry case
- Printed instruction sheet
Initial Impression(s)
This light is roughly 6"x1.5" and is the "semi-dumbell" shape of most tactical style lights. The machining and assembly quality seem top notch. Retention, and single hand operation of the light are first rate due to the body styling. The balance is slightly "nose heavy" and since I have larger hands I found myself wishing the "grip area" was just a smidgen longer when tested with light leather gloves. It was fine for bare hands.
Head is large for "pocketing" and the striking bezel would tear up a pocket but the light comes with a neat kydex swivel holster. The pocket clip is removable if you don't want it, I removed mine.
The light interface is a "tactical clickie" tailswitch that allows momentary signaling and additionally has a small grey button on the side that allows you to switch between modes (1-5, low to high and strobe). Also if the light is off holding the grey button gives you instant access to the strobe mode. The switches and rubber "O" rings seem to indicate a high water resistance but I don't think I'd take this light swimming on purpose.
The beam is wide and bright with a slight bias towards throw but in the higher modes it throws out so much light that it basically just fills up an area. The beam color on my sample is white with just a slight (typical) blue tint. The beam pattern from the smooth reflector is a hot center, a slightly less hot spill, a dark area, and a thin, intense, "ring of Saturn" on the outside edge. Eventually I got used to that ring, but mostly found it surprisingly distracting. If that ring could be eliminated it would be a very good thing.
Output (In "DaleUnits"):
Mode 1 (20 Lumens): 0.5 (suitable for in-house use or close up map reading)
Mode 2 (100 Lumens): 11.0 (suitable for "general" outdoor flashlight use)
Mode 3 (350 Lumens): 55.8 (suitable for outdoors area use)
Mode 4 (650 Lumens): 126.0 (suitable for large area illumination/search use)
STROBE (not tested)
(NOTE: The "DaleMeter" is a homebrew, uncalibrated, bit of test equipment that I use to give a rough idea of relative brightness. It's readings do bias toward "throw" type lights and "flood" types generally read a little lower than they should.
The standard baseline for the DaleMeter is a stock incandescent MagCharger which measures at 190 "DaleUnits". Any lumen numbers are those supplied by manufacturers).
=====================================================================================
The "Standard Evening Walk"
The targets are all 5"x5" white plastic squares affixed to trees in my back yard.
1) 20ft (6 yards / 6 meters): Illuminated at all modes
2) 50ft ( 16 yards / 15 meters): Illuminated at all modes
3) 100ft ( 33 yards / 30 meters): Illuminated at mode 2 and up
4) 200ft Fence ( 66 yards / 61 meters): Illuminated at mode 2 and up
5) 250ft ( 83 yards / 76 meters): Illuminated at mode 3 and up
6) 350ft ( 116 yards / 106 meters): Illuminated at mode 3 and up
Across The Park (approx 250 yards/228 meters): Illuminated at mode 3 and up
The evening walk takes place over either a 1.5 or a 2.5 mile loop on an unlit and mostly open grassy area with a couple of short, steep, uphill/downhill gravel trails through trees and heavy undergrowth which I call the "confidence course".
=====================================================================================
As I walked with the dog I found myself primarily using "Mode 2" aka "low" with occasional jumps to the higher modes (3 & 4). It quickly became apparent that this light is biased somewhat towards throw but it puts out so many lumens it basically just illuminates everything especially in the higher modes (3&4), in fact when I ran this light on the DaleMeter I was surprised and felt that the reading was low (The dalemeter equipment has a bias against "flood" type lights). Be aware that this unit illuminated FOOTBALL FIELD sized areas even though the evening conditions were misty/light fog. On it's higher modes it easily lit up all my targets and was fine in all aspects/areas of the walk including the "confidence course" section. No "follow the bouncing ball" effect.
-----Then it happened--------
I found some people near the edge of our park walking around (with crap flashlights) and calling out a name. I thought they were looking for their dog or cat (a regular occurrence in the area). NOT THE CASE! In fact they were looking for a missing girl and I wound up joining in on a two hour "search and rescue" along with the local police and other community members. This review just turned more "Real World" than I ever imagined. I found myself using mode 3 to give TONS of light along with a more extended runtime (I wasn't sure how long this was going to go on) and called my wife and had her put the second battery pack on the charger. It was fantastic knowing this light was good for a couple of hours easily AND I had a hot swap on standby if I needed it.
For the next two hours the "Warrior" really did an excellent -and continuous- job of illuminating wide swaths of the park, punching through undergrowth, and because of that I spotted the dropped textbook that led us to the area where another guy spotted the girl. She had been coming home across the park, slipped on the edge of the path and BADLY hurt her ankle just before dark. She had given up trying to crawl home and was pretty much laying there crying in pain. (Just FYI, she's fine now but she did fracture her ankle). Running constantly in Mode 3 (with occasional jumps to Mode 4) the head did become warm to the touch and the light output was constant and reliable and I am certain that having this much light on tap made a significant difference in speeding up the rescue. The local police were impressed!
The next day this light was used for an entire day of automobile inspections and then as the only light to perform a vehicle oil change at night. It worked great especially used standing on it's tail. I did find myself wishing it had some sort of an "anti-roll" fin but I clipped the lanyard on and that solved that issue.
CONS:
- I found the "Ring of Saturn" halo at the outermost edge of the beam very distracting.
- For my use, I wish I could reprogram the mode button to give me instant MODE 4 not strobe but that represents my personal style of light use.
- I wish the tailcap was flared out a bit more to provide a more of anti-roll, but this is really minor.
PROS:
- Solid construction
- Easy/intuitive interface
- Bright Bright BRIGHT on the higher modes
- Lower modes give this light excellent adaptability to different uses (indoors, reading a map, etc)
- Comes with a good rechargeable system.
- Good price point for what you get
Summary:
Not a pocket carry or EDC but a serious, workhorse, illumination tool at a good price point. I look forward to years of service from this light.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
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