about to buy light (gladius , L4, or strion) or upgrade maglight 2c?

ilyailya · Jan 6, 2007

hey, after spending few weeks on here and reading readding and more reading. I think I am set on buying a light.

I am fairly set on Gladius . But the Strion and L4 are tempting as well.

I know Gladius has more features, but will I really need them?

The light will be mostly used at night/day for NYPD use. Car stops, looking inside tinted windows etc.

Streamlight stinger is also an option, Or modding a 2c maglight instead.

Advantages of L4 and strion vs Gladius ?

Tips suggestions?

If i get gladius, I ll be using primaries for little while, but then might get the 3.0 regulated rechargeables.

P.S. Gladius will be 145 shipped with pouch. (discounted)
Thanks in advance.

benchmade_boy · Jan 6, 2007

well on what you are doing i would get a gladius. i persanoly do not have one but i have handled a L4. while it is great there is simply no through unless you are in the complete darkness. but one nice thing about the surefire L4 is you do not have to do much on it. now with the gladius you must learn the differnt modes and how to get to them.

i hope this helps!

kc2ouf · Jan 6, 2007

I can't vouch for the others because I don't own them, but the Gladius is great! The light is extremely well-built and flexible.

I use mine nightly, for brief periods, and average 4-5 weeks per set of SF or BS primaries. I didn't explore rechargables because at about 2.50$ a month to run it hasn't been a real issue.

I paid 180$ for mine last April. You can undoubtedly get a better price now. No regrets at all!

Regarding modes: spend 30 minutes familiarizing yourself and it's second nature.

ilyailya · Jan 6, 2007

http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=946

should I get this above?, or its best to get 2 separate batts?

ALso I was looking at night ops batts they are 1550 mah.

Monocrom · Jan 6, 2007

The Gladius has one disadvantage that most civilians are not really going to care about. When placed into a flap holster, and carried on the belt, the light has a tendency to turn itself on in every mode; except when you lock out the tailcap. If you ever need your light in a hurry, or to use it with one hand; reaching for one with a locked-out tailcap is not going to be your best bet.

I own an L4. It, along with a Streamlight TL-2 LED model, are the lights I normally EDC. I wholeheartedly recommend both.

TechPro · Jan 6, 2007

I've been using my Gladius as an EDC for a little over a year now, moving between modes is done without thought, as is changing batteries, which I've noticed seems to be an ongoing concern. I am in the habit of locking out the tailcap and havn't had any problems "remembering" to spin the cap to the desired channel before use. Regarding the Titanium batts I get them in pairs and simply cut the outer plastic wrapper to seperate if I need to reload my 1W headlight from Amondotech. I'm very pleased with the quality and feel of the Gladius and havn't found anything yet that would compel me to change my EDC kit

Trashman · Jan 7, 2007

ilyailya said:
hey, after spending few weeks on here and reading readding and more reading. I think I am set on buying a light.

I am fairly set on Gladius . But the Strion and L4 are tempting as well.

I know Gladius has more features, but will I really need them?

The light will be mostly used at night/day for NYPD use. Car stops, looking inside tinted windows etc.

Streamlight stinger is also an option, Or modding a 2c maglight instead.

Advantages of L4 and strion vs Gladius ?

Tips suggestions?

If i get gladius, I ll be using primaries for little while, but then might get the 3.0 regulated rechargeables.

P.S. Gladius will be 145 shipped with pouch. (discounted)
Thanks in advance.

You should first consider what you're going to be using the light for. Those three lights are completely different! The Strion is a great all around light that will give the best throw and is also the smallest. The Gladius is another great all around light, but the throw won't match the Strion's. The Gladius is multi-functional. The L4 is for massive flood. I think, I can still say it's my favorite light. If you want to light up your whole living room at once, then this is the light for you, but it won't reach to far distances (far enough, for me, most of the time, though).

Schnotts · Jan 7, 2007

I have been using a Gladius at work for awhile now and I like it.

TorchMan · Jan 7, 2007

I own the Gladius, and have carried it everyday for around six months or more. As stated above, if you don't lock it out, it will probably turn on. Mine has twice, and drained the batteries once. This was before I carried it everyday.

I've learned to make lockout a reflex. I can lockout one handed. Quickdrawing it one handed and unlocking is not a problem, but then I tend to do that mostly when walking the dog at night so that approaching cars see us (shining the strobe on the ground lets them know we are there). It's the only use for the strobe I've ever really had and I hope it stays that way!

TigerhawkT3 · Jan 7, 2007

Gladius good. Me like Gladius. :grin2:

I have a review on the Gladius at www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/gladius.htm. Enjoy!

I highly recommend getting Surefire's FM34 Beamshaper as well. (www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/fm34.htm.) With it, you can have throw or flood in one light.

SkinlessMonkey · Jan 7, 2007

I have a Gladius and a Mag 2C ROP. The ROP is brighter, but it's not really practical. I think the gladius is great for every day use because it has all those options.

Lexus · Jan 8, 2007

I EDC for several months now a Gladius and a L4. For your application, I'd get a Gladius + FM34 Beamshaper. You'll have throw, flood, high and low all in one light. It never hurts to have a second light though.

ilyailya · Jan 8, 2007

Just ordered the light (gladius) , 145 with pouch, I will hold off getting beamshaper for now. cant afford

http://www.batterystation.com/cr123a.htm is this better then the titanium from http://www.amondotech.com/index.asp brand ?
just ordered 10 of batterystation ones, came out at about 2.20 each shipped. theamondotech would be about 2 dollars shipped. I want the gladius 1550 mah ones to start getting cheaper.

thanks

about to buy light (gladius , L4, or strion) or upgrade maglight 2c?

ilyailya

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benchmade_boy

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kc2ouf

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ilyailya

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Monocrom

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TechPro

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Trashman

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Schnotts

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