IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yes, I'm aware of that.
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These lights are still being discussed in this thread!!
If one wants to know the country of assembly for a particular Streamlight, which does vary, one needs to check the 'Fact Sheet' for that specific model, lower center, and lower left for the country of assembly, and revision level of the document, respectively.
The SL20 series lights referenced in this post are still produced / sold in an updated version in the current product lineup, and here's the referenced doc for the current equivalent:
My first original Strion Incandescent and Strion LED lights from well after this movie (which I've not seen) and just before the original issue date of this SL-20 doc were also U.S.A. assembled (and developed, designed / engineered, tested, marketed, and supported by SL (est. 1973) at their Corp. U.S. facility(ies).
I'm pretty sure those SL-20s probably also were / are as well, but perhaps you would know that, ABTO?
SL-20s 45 years ago were almost certainly made in Pennsylvania, and I'd assume with US made internal parts as well. They started making those guys in 1975 back when they first moved to PA. The wall chargers were mostly made in Taiwan or China. Maybe Hong Kong too, can't remember and my collection is in storage at the moment. Foreign off-the-shelf electrical items were common even back then. These days, without combing through all the fact sheets I think they only have a few US models. Strions switched to being made in China in the late 2010s, I think.
Streamlight was fairly early to use offshoring for their other (not metal police flashlights) products, however. The Litebox was introduced about 1980 and from the jump wasn't "made in USA." Depending on exactly when the things were made it was some combination of Asian countries and possibly "assembled in USA." Some of the labels got pretty specific detailing a half dozen places the different parts were made (Bulb USA, housing China, battery Japan, etc.)
Streamlight was fairly early to use offshoring for their other (not metal police flashlights) products, however. The Litebox was introduced about 1980 and from the jump wasn't "made in USA." Depending on exactly when the things were made it was some combination of Asian countries and possibly "assembled in USA." Some of the labels got pretty specific detailing a half dozen places the different parts were made (Bulb USA, housing China, battery Japan, etc.)
Thanx ABTO! I'm glad we still have a few flashlight 'historians' (which I am not) left around here!
No, I didn't think there was much question about where the SL20s in that movie were made;-)
I'm just glad they still have/had enough U.S. employees to build my Polytac-X (and to design / engineer most others)!
It seems they still employ enough good ol' U.S. factory workers (like me) to have a good size company picnic; (~350+? I'm told).
I wonder which other U.S. flashlight manufacturers employ that many workers in the U.S.???
They at least have enough on hand to shoot a good photo
🙂
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goofyman
Newly Enlightened
Hello aznsx don't now if they used Streamlight or Surefire in that episode from Elementary 2014 but both companies make great flashlight
goofyman
Newly Enlightened
German crime show from 2012 ( Tatort)
Jean-Luc Descarte
Flashlight Enthusiast
🚨 BOTTED ACCOUNT ALERT 🚨
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Streamlight management might want to take a close look at that photo. Some of those employees are not happy! Oh the thought bubbles that could come to mind over some of those disgruntled faces! Take a look at them up close, I was really surprised. A photo is worth a thousand words.
Care to hazard a guess as to the question I posed?
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Why do you ask?
The photo is very "USA". I noticed there's one guy with a beard in a jersey glancing away at something to the right of the photo.
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yeah, the guy with the red baseball cap. And what the heck is that "thing" covering his one shoulder? Looks like some kind of abstract art.
***Invalid Response***
The question "Why do you ask?" should always be preceded by an answer🙂
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- May 28, 2017
- Messages
- 366
If anybody ever gives Stephen King's "The Night Flier" a watch (or perhaps more likely you're unintentionally subjected to it), then you'll get to see the single Surefire 9N available to the prop department in quite a few scenes and different character's hands.
Totally get it! Those tiny flashlights in movies always seem unreal, but today’s Olight, Fenix, and Nitecore compact high-output lights can actually come close. Replicating the style from X-Files or Tron Legacy seems quite possible nowadays.
newts
Newly Enlightened
I just ran across this in the Highlander TV show. Looks like a Mag D5
ISTR one episode of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century series where the main characters were in a cave with flashlights that were small balls, probably less than 3" diameter, with a lens on one side. Very bright, way beyond the 1979-1980 state of the art in an incandescent bulb and battery that could fit in a package that small.
At 8 or 9 years old, watching that, I knew those lights weren't possible. There had to be a power cord run up inside their sleeve so the ball could have a big bulb, probably halogen, in it. My grandfather had subscriptions to all the science and tech magazines of the day and he gave them all to me after he read them. 🙂
Today something like an Olight Baton 3 is smaller and "Ow! My eye!" brighter than those TV magic prop lights.
Edit: May not have been a cave, but it was a dark place.
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IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
What drives me nuts is watching old detective movies. The main character will have a 2 cell incan flashlight of the era, and shine it around a room. The camera angle will change to show the beam moving around the room, but it isn't the pathetic light from a flashlight in the shot, but a theatrical spotlight moving across the room! I suppose I'm being petty about it, but filmmakers shouldn't insult their audience's intelligence with such shenanigans. It's like when they put a silencer on a revolver, or have a gun fire many times its ammo capacity without reloading. 🤬
If the show puts a suppressor on a revolver it had better be a Belgian Pieper M1893, Nagant M1895, or Revolver Shturmovoy kalibra 12.7 AKA Rsh-12.
Those are the only gas seal revolver models that have been made. The Pieper and Nagant are antiques initially produced in the 1890's so modifying one with a suppressor would cause collector conniptions. The Rsh-12 has been in production since 2000. It's a weird one that has its barrel aligned with the bottom chamber of the cylinder, like a Mateba Autorevolver or Chiappa Rhino. Both of those have been used often in SF movies, TV shows, Anime, and video games.
Those are the only gas seal revolver models that have been made. The Pieper and Nagant are antiques initially produced in the 1890's so modifying one with a suppressor would cause collector conniptions. The Rsh-12 has been in production since 2000. It's a weird one that has its barrel aligned with the bottom chamber of the cylinder, like a Mateba Autorevolver or Chiappa Rhino. Both of those have been used often in SF movies, TV shows, Anime, and video games.
