Any Streamlight Stinger/Strion Switchblade users here?

[Coulomb.]

I'm looking to upgrade my Milwaukee M12 stick light, which hasn't worked out quite as well as I had hoped.

The switchblade lights are among the candidates. I'm curious about any experiences. The larger Stinger Switchblade uses a custom battery pack not used in any other light which will likely be discontinued while the lights are still otherwise viable so that's a concern, I guess. The Strion uses the same batteries the other Strion lights use.

Advice and alternatives welcome.

 

[geisto]

Strion would've been great if it takes a plain ol 18650 but it doesn't. You can look into Harbor Freight version of the Stinger or Nebolights.

 

[caelyx]

I have the Strion Switchblade, and really like it. I use it mostly for camping and it’s great in that role - but also really handy around the house. Happy to answer any questions if I can

 

[aznsx]

FYI. This might be of interest to you:

Streamlight Strion 2020 (New 2024)

Coming back to this after having it for six months. Still the same opinion, still like the overall design but the switch doesn't work for me. I did get around to taking one apart and it's what I thought: That intermediate plastic part goes sideways and hits the surrounding housing instead of...

www.candlepowerforums.com

The Strion is a premium, professional, flagship line for Streamlight. The full support of it, and its excellect cells, continues with current development and updates today, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

 

[ABTOMAT]

I have a Stinger switchblade. Seems fine to me. I don't have many worklight-type flashlights to compare it so. The fact is has a high-CRI light that you can only point down and a slightly brighter low-CRI light you can only point up is an odd choice. Its target market is very specifically auto mechanics, ie: the UV light is for AC leak detection. Its size is a little in-between large worklights and something you can really stick in a small space. I'd probably use a Strion Switchblade much more on my car if I had one. The micro USB charging port is dated and pointless for someone like me who uses the cradle charger.

The proprietary battery is the only thing that could be an issue. I think it's a successful light and I'm sure they'll support it as long as its in production. But even Streamlight doesn't keep making batteries a decade after something is discontinued. You'd think they could have expanded this battery into other new Stingers instead of creating yet another battery for the new 2020S.

 

[aznsx]

But even Streamlight doesn't keep making batteries a decade after something is discontinued.

When has SL done that in the past? After my Scorps, I've only used the Strion / & cell (no other SL, Stinger batts, etc.), and probably missed something (the larger lights didn't suit my needs).

Either way, I hope the new 2020S pack is as good as my Strion cells (which obviously have not been discontinued). We should be so lucky;-)

 

[ABTOMAT]

They stopped selling the Sl-20X battery and bulbs several years ago, and stuff for older models before that. 20X was only discontinued around 2014. Makes sense as a business decision but it shows nothing is supported forever.

 

[Robin24k]

I've had one for some time and just posted a review on LED-Resource:

Quick Test: Streamlight Strion Switchblade Review - LED-Resource

www.led-resource.com

I ended up buying a second one because the runtime is too short. It'll run for a long time at 10% output but that may not be bright enough. One possible solution would be to use the Strion HC Battery #74436, which is 3450mAh (compared to the 2600mAh that comes with the Strion Switchblade).

I wouldn't worry about Strion batteries becoming unavailable anytime soon, this line has been around for more than a decade and is still being updated.

On the topic of proprietary batteries, I did look at the Stinger Switchblade but it has a proprietary two-cell battery that is not shared with any other light. I would be concerned about this battery potentially becoming unavailable as it only shares the charger with the Stinger family.

 

[hsa]

@Robin24k, wow you are back. Are you going to start testing flashlights and such, again. Good to hear from you.

 

[Robin24k]

@Robin24k, wow you are back. Are you going to start testing flashlights and such, again. Good to hear from you.

I'm glad someone still remembers me. 😆

I did a bunch of runtime tests of lights that I had purchased over the past couple of years and am slowly working through this small backlog. For now, I'm focusing on SureFire and Streamlight as these lights don't get as much technical coverage and Streamlight has stopped providing runtime graphs for newer lights like the ProTac HL 6. The Quick Test format that I'm trying out should save some time and allow me to get through these a bit quicker.

 

[aznsx]

I wouldn't worry about Strion batteries becoming unavailable anytime soon, this line has been around for more than a decade and is still being updated.

I don't worry either. The Strion cells aren't likely to go anywhere anytime soon, and likely not in my (somewhat limited) lifetime;-) The same may not hold true for some legacy bespoke Stinger cells (EDIT: / batteries), whch are a different situation in several respects.

One possible solution would be to use the Strion HC Battery #74436, which is 3450mAh (compared to the 2600mAh that comes with the Strion Switchblade).

I use the 74436 in my Strion DS-HL for its significantly increased capacity, and am aware of no potential issues with that application. I can't officially 'recommend' it because SL doesn't officially support cross-compatibility between it and previous cell(s), but I believe that is due to some internal factors / product line decisions (which I fully understand), but do not believe it involves any strictly technical issues with that cross-compatibility. Given that, I use them with the understanding that it is not 'supported'.

 

[Monocrom]

No more runtime graphs from SL?
That's genuinely unfortunate.

 

[Robin24k]

No more runtime graphs from SL?
That's genuinely unfortunate.

There is one for the Strion 2020 but not for the ProTac HL 6 or MegaStream USB (just released).

If only the updated ANSI/PLATO FL1-2019 standard required one...

 

[Robin24k]

I use the 74436 in my Strion DS-HL for its significantly increased capacity, and am aware of no potential issues with that application. I can't officially 'recommend' it because SL doesn't officially support cross-compatibility between it and previous cell(s), but I believe that is due to some internal factors / product line decisions (which I fully understand), but do not believe it involves any strictly technical issues with that cross-compatibility. Given that, I use them with the understanding that it is not 'supported'.

I guess this is why Streamlight doesn't officially recommend using the higher capacity in other lights. It looks like the regulation in the Strion Switchblade is timed, so the extra capacity doesn't make any difference if you don't turn off the light:

For comparison, here's what it looks like with the Strion LED HL. The original 2000mAh battery only lost about 9 minutes of runtime over 14 years (date code is 52 week of 2010), so I reused the data from my original runtime test for consistency.