Gladius Evolution

Hi Guys,

I was wondering about getting a rough list of items which have evolved with the Night-Ops Gladius flashlight, and maybe some developments yet to come.

I know the original ones were all cerakote (green, black, tan, grey) and had a couple of problems with the tailcap. There was a "reset" issue because of tolerances, and the cap was weak in impact if dropped right on the button when the switch was locked out. There might also have been an issue with the electronics inside and mysterious battery draining -- not too sure about the nature of that.

Here is my understanding of the events in the evolution of the Gladius:
- black cerakote changed to black hard anodize at about S/N 5000
- tailswitch issues finally resolved, possibly in multiple generations.
- green cerakote changed to green hard anodize very recently.

At some point a "ghosting" behavior started being reported, where there would be a slight afterglow when the light was turned off. Is this still going on? Anybody have a green HA Gladius that does it?

I understood that tan cerakote is slated to be dropped, maybe to be replaced by another color. Haven't heard much about that though.

Do I remember something about hard anodized DARK EARTH replacing tan cerakote? That would be very nice! (Calling Ken J. Good . . .)

Scott

I'm just wondering when the Gladius will undergo a major evolution. Here's my little wish list:

-Fully driven K2
-Overdriven strobe
-Turbohead
-Integrated quick-switch diffuser

Mmm... tasty.

Ken Good posted a comment on the Strategos forum earlier this year that made me think that the strobe may well be overdriven...fwiw.

I would be happy with the following changes:

1. A reflector that directed more light towards the corona of the beam so that the transition from the hotspot to the corona was less pronounced and so that the surrounding beam was more intense. Something like the 27LT.
2. A removeable pocket clip and a grip ring that functioned with the removeable pocket clip.

I would be thrilled if the Gladius came with a Lux V:naughty:

-Goatee

I think your recap of events in the refinement of the Gladius seems about right. There recently was an issue about having to really tighten the tailcap down to get it to turn on. My wish list for the next generation Gladius would be:

1) rechargeable battery compatible
2) Larger reflector (e.g. 27mm)
3) No O-ring exposed at the tailcap
4) New Cree 160 lumen LED
5) Tan color in HAIII
6) Removable grip ring
7) Shorter in length if possible

+1 to carl's CREE XR-E emitters suggestion! would probably give about 2x output with same runtime or 2x runtime with same output