Whats Best For Duty Carry

Whats up guys,
This is my first post on here. Been doing a lot of reading and decided to post since im ready to buy. Im a police officer and looking for a new led duty flashlight. Currently, im using a streamlight stinger with the HP head upgrade on my belt, and i carry an SL20x and an ultra stinger in the tahoe on charge. Anyways, the three that im considering is the surefire L7, the inova t4, and the night ops gladius. A guy i work with has the t4 so ive seen it at night in person and looks pretty nice. Ive also played with a gladius at the police supply store and seems pretty nice as well. Never seen or handled an l7 or a surefire handheld for that matter other than the x200a on my glock that ive been very happy with. Im really up in the air about which one to go with. The fact two are rechargable and the gladius is not is a non factor to me. I mainly want the best and brightest handheld led light i can get for my belt. Give me you opinions on the three. Thanks for the help.

I was going to recommend an Ultrastinger to go along with your new LED light, but you already have it.

If you can get your hands on a defect-free SF U2, I think you'll find it very handy for many scenarios. It's NOT bright enough to be considered "tactical," so you shouldn't try to blind anybody with it, but it will fit all your lighting needs. For long distance spotting, you can just use the Ultrastinger you already have.

yea, most of the time, the sl20 or ultra stinger are going to come out of the truck with me, but there are situations where either i dont feel like carry the larger light with me on a scene, or i "get caught without it" and need to deploy my belt light. I keep looking at the surefire l7 for its high power, good runtime, and best of all rechargable, but the cost on the inova t4 is hard to overlook.

I work security and I only use an LED light when working indoors. I also use them because the ones I have run on rechargeables and I never have to replace the bulb. That said, I would never use an LED in their current form for serious applications. You're much better off with a bright incandescent. It's much easier to see things far off and recognize threats faster.

The Gladius is seriously nice. If you're considering purchasing one for any reason, I would recommend going for it. I EDC one with an FM34 Beamshaper, and I just love it. I'd be interested to hear whether the strobe function actually helps in "tactical" situations.

You could try the Streamlight Strion or TL-3 as well.

Been there, done that, still doing it, 33 years. Work in the southwest. I have provided a bunch of Golston 7W with the lir123 3.6 V and DSD charger to folks in three Metro departments and TSA for duty use. They are happy and more keep coming by word of mouth. I am not really in business, more like a bad habit or hobby so it is really surprising how many I have put out there. I have found out lately the newer 10W, 12w, etc and K2s often sold by the same two suppliers of Golstons are not as bright as this driven clone 3 watt which the Golston really is. Hate to disappoint you, but the price is very reasonable. Pay more for a light is a waste of money unless you can find a use for light levels and flashing and all the stuff that is too difficult to remember to fiddle with when you just want light in front of you. We get One hour very bright, second hour slightly reduced, some people do not notice it, 3 to 4th hour you can see the light to start dimming. With two sets of batteries you are set for 8-12 hours of uniform patrol. We do 12-hour shifts.
I almost forgot to mention: These are very bright, maybe the brightest out there in a single LED on CR123 batteries. Do not know how they do it, probably a quirk of overdrive and the reflector. Light on subject is comparable to 160-200 lumen claims.


Here:
http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/golstonreg-2xlir123a-waterproof-rechargeable-recommended-p-409.html

http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/dsdreg-2bay-intelligent-charger-plus-800mah-lir123a-p-272.html

Hey Draw

Currently I use a SF 8NX (rechargable) as my belt/duty light. They did have some battery issues not holding a charge, but I think that is rectified. I went through couple replaced batteries (Free from SF). They work fine now.
It's a very bright incand. light. I also keep a Streamlight TL-2 LED clipped to my body armor straps. I wouldn't be my first choice for searching a field, but for indoors or close quarters outdoor area it's great.

I finally got to fondle a Gladius, and both new Falcata flashlights. The strobe feature on the Gladius was neat and I liked the feel of the tactical tailcap. The Falcata's are incand's. The tailcap button seemed very stiff, almost difficult to turn on especially if you use your palm to activate the light in the "cigar" method. All of them had very sturdy construction.
I do have a Stinger I keep in my bag as another backup. It's just as bright as the 8NX.

Hello DrawDown and welcome at CPF

For me a light must be able to run with recheargeables.So no Gladius.
Since you will carry your new light everytime at the belt, the SF L6 and the Inova T4 are a bit bulky(long) IMO.

I would suggest the Barbolight U-04:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/132720

It has an incredible throw for such a small single led light, due to it's deep reflector.
Another great advantages are: very long runtime with full brightness (about 3hours), dive rated 200m (so it's 100% watertight) and not dangerous in chemical, explosives environments. It's one of the reliablest existing lights, build like a tank. It comes with a 18650 cell and charger. If you need more runtime, take 1 or 2 spare cells and you will have long, long runtime.

Also the reflective beacon could be very usefull for your tasks.

For reading maps or papers, you can use the very nice sidespill of the beam.

It has a LuxIII, rated lifetime 50000 hours. The SF L6 has a LuxV, rated lifetime 500 hours.

Best regards and good luck for your decision

_____
Tom

Actually, the Gladius can use rechargeables. You can't use the 3.7V ones, because they come off the charger at 4.2V and the Gladius has a max voltage of 7V, but the 3.0V Tenergy cells come off the charger at around 3.7V, and drop to 3.0V under load. I've tried the 3.0V Tenergy cells in my Gladius, and it seems to work. You'll only get about half the runtime, though.

I would recommend an incandescent for LE work. Since you want it to be on your belt I am assuming that in many situations it will be your primary light. Examples would be like when you have to bail out of the vehicle quickly, need to use both hands to navigate around and over fences ladders to get where you are going, and when you are away from the vehicle with no need for a light and then events change.
I originally started out with a Stinger then 8NX on my belt with the SL-20 in the car. I added a 6Z also since we can't use weapon mounted lights at this time. Both the Stinger and 8NX fit in the same leather pouch. If you get the open ended one the Ultra Stinger will fit too.
You already have the Stinger on your belt. Is it too big? It also appears that all the lights you have are activated by a body mounted switch. Will you feel comfortable with a tailcap mounted switch? If so...

I like a Surefire 9P with two 17500 rechargable li-on batteries in it. When the rechargables die you can put two more charged ones in or you can put in 3 CR123's. Another good option I like is the Streamlightr TL-3 incandescent. It too can use two 17500's or 3 CR123's.
My favorite though is my 9P with A19 extender, two 17670 li-on's, and a P91 bulb. The length is about the same as the Stinger but it is thinner. This too has the option of removing the A19 extender and putting in CR123's when the rechargables die.

I've been biting my lip (in the proverbial sense), but I'm afraid I have to join those who are suggesting that you stay with incandescents. It sounds like you're pretty well equipped already with a buffer of an Ultra Stinger. Not sure why you would need a lower powered LED light. But if you do want to have an LED light available, the 3AA MiniMag LED fits fairly well right next to a flap holstered Stinger (without HP head.) I'd be inclined to stay with the SL products for the serious work though.

DrawDown said:

Currently, im using a streamlight stinger with the HP head upgrade on my belt, and i carry an SL20x and an ultra stinger in the tahoe on charge.

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