Gander Mountain is getting up to speed

zespectre

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May 21, 2005
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I was at the nearest Gander mountain store shopping for the last few Christmas gifts and what should I see but an impressive flashlight display in the camping section. Thor spotlights, all types of LED headlamps, Streamlights, Surefires(in the gun section) it really was impressive, bordering on intimidating :naughty: .

I was in there mid-summer and they didn't have anything like it before.
 

leukos

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Definitely one of the few "mart" type stores that carry some of the quality lights. :)
 

chmsam

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3rd Stone
The one near me has had SF for a long time, but even after the reset they had over the past year, they still don't restock and carry very few accessories.
 

Yooper

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Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Does anyone know anything about the Browning branded flashlights? Some of them look interesting.

At my Gander Mountain they had a two pack of Luxeon flashlights, both taking AA's I think, for $69.99. One was a 1W and one was a 3W. Any idea what those are?

It's a strange store. Poorly managed at first glance, with a LOT of product turnover; they have some great closeout deals. I visit weekly just to see what's on sale, what new products they have, and to check out the used gun rack. Unfortunately as a chain store with lots of product and pretty good prices they put the local fly shop out of business...
 

zespectre

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Yooper said:
At my Gander Mountain they had a two pack of Luxeon flashlights, both taking AA's I think, for $69.99. One was a 1W and one was a 3W. Any idea what those are?
I glanced at that two-pack but both sets of lights had those damn 3xAAA carriers in them and I HATE those carriers.
 

Macaw

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Oct 8, 2005
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I owned a Browning Black Ice with Red, blue, and white 5mm LEDs, as well as a Xenon bulb. A really well built, solid flashlight. That Xenon light is power hungry though. I didn't measure any runtime for it. Gave it to a friend before the first set of batteries was depleated. The only thing that bothered me was that you always have to cycle through 5 clicks to go from off to on, back to off again. I would imagine that they made the switch to take that amount of usage, hopefully. Also you could focus the xenon lamp but it was only really useful at it's tightest focus. All those LEDs in the reflector made for horrendous artifacts as the beam was defocused. This was OK as the white LEDs were adequate for close up flood work.
 

cratz2

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They've had the SureFire display at my local store I think ever since it's been open. First light I asked to see was an L1. I said to the guy in the gun dept, 'Hey... I'd like to see one of the SureFire LED lights in the case' to which he replied, 'SureFire doesn't make LED flashlights.' I was less than impressed. I finally got him to open the case and as I held the L1, I told him that generally, all the SureFires that start with L or KL (on the head) were LED lights as well as the U2 and the A2 having LEDs. He was completely dumb founded.

Still though, they have a nice selection, but not many accessories. I went in looking for which beamshaper might fit whichever LED light I had at the time and I don't think they had ANY filters at all.
 

AJ_Dual

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SE WI
One of Gander's main competitors, Sportsmans Warehouse, has a pretty substantial knife and flashlight case with several Surefire models on display. So perhaps Gander's move is in competition with them. SW also has a great deal of "mid-premium" lights like Streamlight etc. on open racks nearby.

(Still can't afford any of them right now. :(

But in the meantime CPF came through for me in a big way in the Christmas thread. :D )

Also, Gander's parent company, the big mail-order outfit, Cabelas (IIRC, they merged right?) now has some Surefire offerings in their catalog, I would suppose there's some crossover in what they'll carry.
 

Aaron1100us

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Dec 3, 2005
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Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Gander Mountain was where I bought my SF G2 allmost two years ago. Cool store, I still like Scheels better though. Not much of a sporting goods store selection here in Iowa.
 

bruner

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Oct 26, 2005
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North Central Pennsylvania
Gander Mountain in Williamsport, PA had your average selection of SureFire lights in the gun department. In the camping area, they had all sorts of lights, from Inova to Coast (led lenser) and several others. I can't remember them all... Still, it was an impressive variety of manufacturers and models.

I didn't see that much variety when I ventured to the closest Cabela's (3 hours away).

Dan
 

Pellidon

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Yooper said:
At my Gander Mountain they had a two pack of Luxeon flashlights, both taking AA's I think, for $69.99. One was a 1W and one was a 3W. Any idea what those are?


They are Dorcy's The black one is actually the 1 Watt. It interchanges parts from Radio Shack's 1 Watt, the Dorcy 1 Watter and the Dorcy 3 Watt. It has a 2 stage circuit, full and half bright. Both are regulated as in a short amount of play (use) :p they did not have a drop in brightness I could measure. And the brightness level was almost the same within 40 lux with alkalines or NIMH cells.

The 3 Watt's tail clicky is kind of wimpy and small and I like the body clicky better that is on the 1 Watt.
 
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