Streamlight Classic LED review or something of that ilk.

LRJ88

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As i mentioned a while back i'd use the Streamlight Classic LED (henceforth just SC because i'm not typing that out again) and then possibly review it. Today is possibly, so here you have a review of sorts.

This flashlight was purchased by me, for myself, with my own hard-earned dosh, so no sponsors, no gifts, no weird back alley deals.

To begin with i can both understand and be flabbergasted at Streamllight's business model of selling flashlights and chargers separately. On the one hand it's great for those who already have more chargers than space to put them, on the other hand it means that shops in countries where they're less common (Sweden for one) often only carry the flashlight alone in package and charge a premium for the charger, making the flashlight itself cheaper but total buy-in more expensive.

All that aside, if we take a look at the flashlight itself it's very nice, it's highly utilitarian and i've sewn a little holster out of an old belt to carry it. Before that i had a lanyard belt ring, and some of the kisses on the caps come from that. I like that the button is on the head itself and opposite the charging triangle, it makes it easy to find it fast. One thing that made me want the flashlight was how much it reminded me of the other company which didn't at all abuse the patent system, except an updated feeling. It's plain, nothing much is going on there, there's no adornment and no extra nooks and crannies, it's a plain battery tube with a head on it.

Going into details more the tailcap has what i assume to be a vent port, nothing which causes more water ingress. The face cap has a very nice and simple checkering and doesn't snag on anything. The button well is nice and wide. The balance point of it is nicely in the handle, it makes it rather easy to handle the flashlight without it acting weird should you put it on a ledge or similar. Speaking of ledges this flashlight has pretty much f**k all roll protection apart from the charging triangle, there was a rubber face cap cover included but it got on my nerves and i removed it.

Once we get to turning the flashlight the first step in turning it on is easy, a gentle push on the button turns the flashlight on in momentary, to turn it on permanently you have to push the button substantially further down though which felt odd at first. To change brightness you also push until it clicks and hold it there, that way it'll soon start cycling between bright, less bright, and lowest brightness which is still way too bright in a small room with dark-adjusted eyes. The lowest setting is about 130 lumen, medium is 260, and high is 500. Not much to write home about today, but a very useful range of settings nontheless.

When it comes to modes i wish that the SC had Streamlight's ten-tap settings adjustment, i'd prefer having it turn on on low instead of high.

I've no beamshots yet, the beam is pretty wide, but not too wide to be useless at range as well. It's hard to describe, so i guess i'll have to get those beamshots regardless.

I hope someone liked the review, i take no responsibility for any typos, considering i'm typing this on a phone and my fingers aren't exactly friends with the tiny keys.

Since it seems i can't just add images at will i'll edit them in soonish.
 
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LRJ88

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And here's them pictures i was talking about. Also included is the holster and a GITD mod to the face cap (literally just putting some GITD paint on part of the head inside so it glows through the lens, not on the lens itself). The images aren't the best, but they're at least somewhat sharp at times and show more detail than stock images.
 

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vicv

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It looks like a stinger. Kind of. Is that an optic? Ah I see it is basically a stinger. But the replaced the reflector with an optic to turn that perfect stinger beam into a flood light. Looks good though
 
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LRJ88

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ABTOMAT

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Thanks for the review, it's good to see ones for lesser-discussed lights here. Some perspective on the charger issue: In the US, Streamlight's target market is police departments who probably already have hundreds or thousands of Stinger chargers installed everywhere. Streamlight is obligated to offer the option to buy the lights by themselves. But it's just that, an option. So your local shop is messing up if they're ordering those packages rather than the eight other stock numbers of Stingers than include charging equipment.
 

LRJ88

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Thanks for the review, it's good to see ones for lesser-discussed lights here. Some perspective on the charger issue: In the US, Streamlight's target market is police departments who probably already have hundreds or thousands of Stinger chargers installed everywhere. Streamlight is obligated to offer the option to buy the lights by themselves. But it's just that, an option. So your local shop is messing up if they're ordering those packages rather than the eight other stock numbers of Stingers than include charging equipment.
I'd say it's more a case of getting customers here. If there's an option that's cheaper already and available it's more likely to get sold, add to that not having to keep more products on stock and deal with transoceanic waiting times when you need to restock and it makes more business sense. They're far from common here overall and Stingers in particular are rare as can be.
 

LRJ88

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The images from Letschat7, dunno why it wouldn't let someone else upload here but here they are.
 

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rwolfenstein

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Just as an FYI if you have a classic xenon stinger, there is an streamlight factory upgrade kit to turn it into an LED model. That way you can use your old stinger to make it an LED model.
 

ABTOMAT

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Just as an FYI if you have a classic xenon stinger, there is an streamlight factory upgrade kit to turn it into an LED model. That way you can use your old stinger to make it an LED model.
Do you know if those are any cheaper from the factory than online dealers? I have a whole pile of nice Stingers I was thinking of upgrading and selling but I'd have to keep the costs down to make it worthwhile.
 

rwolfenstein

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Do you know if those are any cheaper from the factory than online dealers? I have a whole pile of nice Stingers I was thinking of upgrading and selling but I'd have to keep the costs down to make it worthwhile.
Seems to be trending around 40 bucks per kit, which includes a switch unit. I know brand new Stinger classic LED models are running about 120.
 

jdaero88

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And here's them pictures i was talking about. Also included is the holster and a GITD mod to the face cap (literally just putting some GITD paint on part of the head inside so it glows through the lens, not on the lens itself). The images aren't the best, but they're at least somewhat sharp at times and show more detail than stock images.
It's a beauty
 

LRJ88

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Do you know if those are any cheaper from the factory than online dealers? I have a whole pile of nice Stingers I was thinking of upgrading and selling but I'd have to keep the costs down to make it worthwhile.
Just following up on what Rwolfenstein said with this:


No, i'm not in any way connected to the site or the company, i have no incentive to sell anything from there nor do i get any kind of compensation from them.

This is the kit in question though and if you search for the part number in this you should be able to shop around easier too since it should be pretty standard for serious sites selling them.
 
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