It's only been a few days since I've started carrying around ThruNite Scorpion V2 with turbo head, but I've gotten a great use out of it tonight. I'm not sure how many people saw me using it, but I'm pretty sure that those who were involved would appreciate it if they realized it.
So, after the day's work, I've gotten out of work at around 11:15PM and decided to hang out at a bar across the street from the workplace with my coworker. At approximately 11:35PM, we got out so that I could walk over to the train station across the street so I can go home. Halfway to the station, there was a loud bang from the direction of the bar. As we walked toward the noise, people started to gather and, unfortunately, the source of the noise happened to be from a motorcycle accident.
A white minivan was attempting to make a left turn into a street, and the driver of the van must have either did not see the oncoming motorcycle or thought that she could beat it. The aftermath was clear; the motorcycle could not stop in time, and collided head on into the front-right of the minivan, with the driver of the motorcycle flying out, bouncing off the hood of the minivan, and landing directly in front of it. As luck would have it, the driver of the motorcycle was conscious and there was no serious external bleeding other than some blood on his face. He lay there, with a couple of people kneeling aside him to keep him conscious, while several people, including the driver of the minivan, called emergency services.
Within the next few minutes, a cop in his patrol car showed up, and it was none other than John Chalker, a local cop who also happens to be one serious BAMF, having served during Vietnam, Gulf War and 9/11, as well as two tours in Iraq. This guy's served throughout the most dangerous years of Iraq War, manning the MG on Humvees armored with nothing but kevlar platings from bulletproof vests. This was before armored Humvees and MRAPs were brought into full service.
He secured the area while the EMTs and fire department showed up, while a certified medic who was walking nearby assisted to stablize the injured driver.
When the fire trucks came, a light tower was promptly erected to light up the entire area, except that the truck with the light deployed was parked behind the minivan, causing the area in front and side of the minivan where the victim lay and motorcycle leaking gasoline to be unlit at all. Upon seeing this, I took out my Scorpion V2, held it up high and let it blaze away in all of its glory, lighting up the critical areas--the motorcycle, injured driver, and the asphalt under the minivan where the gasoline from the motorcycle was being leaked onto.
I lit up the scene for approximately 30~40 minutes, during which not only the entire scene was clearly visible, but also to the point where the reflective strips on the vests that the emergency workers were wearing shined so brightly because of my light to the point where you could have considered them to be powered by themselves. During all this I noticed that there were quite a number of people looking at my way, probably thinking where the hell the bright light was coming from, as it was obvious that it wasn't coming from another vehicle headlamp as I was often moving the spot to shine where the workers were focused at. Under a better circumstance, I would've smiled about it, but not then and there.
Thankfully, the victim was quickly put on a stretcher and carried away by ambulance, and the workers were able to pour and mix some sort of sand on the gasoline under the minivan as I shined the beam under the van by placing the light at my knee level.
After the victim was carried away, the motorcycle cleared off the road and the emergency workers dispersed, Chalker waited in his patrol car for a flatbed to show up and tow the motorcycle away. I walked over to his car and had a little conversation, and he learned that I was the one holding up that light, to which he commented, "That's cool." He's not that into flashlights. He carries around the original L2 Lumamax for his duty light. Hell, I gave him a box of Titanium Innovations CR123As about a month ago, and he still has them.
As for the light itself, it has performed admirably. Even after more than 30 minutes of near-continuous illumination at its maximum output, there was no visible decline in output, and while the light did get hot, I only had to cool it down once for not even a minute, as its heatsinking was enough that everywhere excluding the area where the emitter is located (where the heatsink fins are) did not get uncomfortable to hold. Keep in mind that this happened on Long Island where the ambient temperature was 90+°F at the time.
As a final note, while I'm sure that the emergency workers would have performed their jobs even without the additional illumination, I'd like to think that it made their jobs somewhat easier.
So, after the day's work, I've gotten out of work at around 11:15PM and decided to hang out at a bar across the street from the workplace with my coworker. At approximately 11:35PM, we got out so that I could walk over to the train station across the street so I can go home. Halfway to the station, there was a loud bang from the direction of the bar. As we walked toward the noise, people started to gather and, unfortunately, the source of the noise happened to be from a motorcycle accident.
A white minivan was attempting to make a left turn into a street, and the driver of the van must have either did not see the oncoming motorcycle or thought that she could beat it. The aftermath was clear; the motorcycle could not stop in time, and collided head on into the front-right of the minivan, with the driver of the motorcycle flying out, bouncing off the hood of the minivan, and landing directly in front of it. As luck would have it, the driver of the motorcycle was conscious and there was no serious external bleeding other than some blood on his face. He lay there, with a couple of people kneeling aside him to keep him conscious, while several people, including the driver of the minivan, called emergency services.
Within the next few minutes, a cop in his patrol car showed up, and it was none other than John Chalker, a local cop who also happens to be one serious BAMF, having served during Vietnam, Gulf War and 9/11, as well as two tours in Iraq. This guy's served throughout the most dangerous years of Iraq War, manning the MG on Humvees armored with nothing but kevlar platings from bulletproof vests. This was before armored Humvees and MRAPs were brought into full service.
He secured the area while the EMTs and fire department showed up, while a certified medic who was walking nearby assisted to stablize the injured driver.
When the fire trucks came, a light tower was promptly erected to light up the entire area, except that the truck with the light deployed was parked behind the minivan, causing the area in front and side of the minivan where the victim lay and motorcycle leaking gasoline to be unlit at all. Upon seeing this, I took out my Scorpion V2, held it up high and let it blaze away in all of its glory, lighting up the critical areas--the motorcycle, injured driver, and the asphalt under the minivan where the gasoline from the motorcycle was being leaked onto.
I lit up the scene for approximately 30~40 minutes, during which not only the entire scene was clearly visible, but also to the point where the reflective strips on the vests that the emergency workers were wearing shined so brightly because of my light to the point where you could have considered them to be powered by themselves. During all this I noticed that there were quite a number of people looking at my way, probably thinking where the hell the bright light was coming from, as it was obvious that it wasn't coming from another vehicle headlamp as I was often moving the spot to shine where the workers were focused at. Under a better circumstance, I would've smiled about it, but not then and there.
Thankfully, the victim was quickly put on a stretcher and carried away by ambulance, and the workers were able to pour and mix some sort of sand on the gasoline under the minivan as I shined the beam under the van by placing the light at my knee level.
After the victim was carried away, the motorcycle cleared off the road and the emergency workers dispersed, Chalker waited in his patrol car for a flatbed to show up and tow the motorcycle away. I walked over to his car and had a little conversation, and he learned that I was the one holding up that light, to which he commented, "That's cool." He's not that into flashlights. He carries around the original L2 Lumamax for his duty light. Hell, I gave him a box of Titanium Innovations CR123As about a month ago, and he still has them.
As for the light itself, it has performed admirably. Even after more than 30 minutes of near-continuous illumination at its maximum output, there was no visible decline in output, and while the light did get hot, I only had to cool it down once for not even a minute, as its heatsinking was enough that everywhere excluding the area where the emitter is located (where the heatsink fins are) did not get uncomfortable to hold. Keep in mind that this happened on Long Island where the ambient temperature was 90+°F at the time.
As a final note, while I'm sure that the emergency workers would have performed their jobs even without the additional illumination, I'd like to think that it made their jobs somewhat easier.
