Peter Atwood
Enlightened
Sometimes it pays to be a big mouth!
Came across these Nightcutter flashlights recently at the local gun shop. The price was right so I picked one up and tested it out. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the product and the brightness of the LEDs so I posted about them on CPF and got virtually no response........for about two weeks...........then I suddenly got an email from the company thanking me for the mention and asking if I'd like to be a product tester for them! I was quite surprised but naturally said "Hell Yeah!" and agreed right away to try their stuff out and give them an honest evaluation. That was a few weeks ago now and I've had plenty of time to thoroughly test the lights.
Here's the original model light that I bought and tested, their Tactical Model. They also sent me two personalized lights, one white and the other green.
http://www.realrates.com/pics/NC005P-lg.jpeg
Similar in size to the Inova X5, this light was very bright and had excellent color and very good throw for a non optic light. It runs on two CR123 3v lithum batteries. The company claims a 48 hour runtime with about 20 hours of bright light followed by a diminishing beam. In a side by side test with the Inova it out threw the X5 by quite a bit, had slightly less sidespill and better color. The body of the light had nice knurling and three flats milled onto the barrel made for a secure grip and also allowed for laser engraving of the company logo. Interestingly, Nightcutter also offers free laser engraving to it's customers so you have the option to personalize your light which I thought was kind of a neat idea.
The switch is a twisty tail type with a nice momentary On by backing off a 1/4 turn from full On and then pressing. I can do this on my Arc LS also, but Nightcutter has machined in something to enhance this feature. There is a lanyard hole and the light will stand on end for a candle or lantern effect. The threading and O ring seals were very well done and the two examples I tried passed the bathtub submersion test with flying colors.
All in all I felt these were a very good value and a well made solid light.
The second offering was the Commercial series Sport lights and this is where I thought the company really stands out and shows their potential. This light is my new EDC. Much more compact than the Tactical model, these lights have a slick look and feel to them. Even though they were smaller they still have the 6v system in them just like their big brother. The knurling is flatter and the Type III anodizing was a little better on these two which really made a difference both visually and in the handfeel of the piece. I tested both the 3 LED and the 5 LED versions. I like them both!
Here's a pic:
http://www.realrates.com/pics/NC005C-lg.jpeg
Not a huge difference between the 3 and the 5 LEDs in terms of brightness. The 5 is just slightly brighter but the flood on both was very nice indeed. Great color in these LEDs. What you gain with the 3 LED is extended runtime, they claim 80 hours on this one. The red chartlight version they offer goes for something like 400 hours! The Sport lights have the switch in the head in the standard twist on configuration. If you back off a hair you can actuate the light by pressing on the head sideways for a momentary On.....a unique and useful feature. Also, the different heads are sold separately if you want more versatility in color and LED quantity. I'm told that pocket clips are coming soon.
I can't say enough good about the Sport light version. This light is the smallest 2 cell lithium I have seen. It truly qualifies as a Nice Thing and even better, I understand the retail is between $23 and $27 for the two models. The tactical model above is $39.95.
Their site:
http://www.lightshipenterprises.net/index.html
I predict a lot of cool stuff coming from this company. They are very responsive to suggestions and constructive criticism which I found quite refreshing. These first products are very high quality especially considering the reasonable pricing and I felt they were well worth a mention. I can't wait to see what they come up with in the next few months!
Here's another shot to show a size comparison with some of my other lights:
Came across these Nightcutter flashlights recently at the local gun shop. The price was right so I picked one up and tested it out. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the product and the brightness of the LEDs so I posted about them on CPF and got virtually no response........for about two weeks...........then I suddenly got an email from the company thanking me for the mention and asking if I'd like to be a product tester for them! I was quite surprised but naturally said "Hell Yeah!" and agreed right away to try their stuff out and give them an honest evaluation. That was a few weeks ago now and I've had plenty of time to thoroughly test the lights.
Here's the original model light that I bought and tested, their Tactical Model. They also sent me two personalized lights, one white and the other green.
http://www.realrates.com/pics/NC005P-lg.jpeg
Similar in size to the Inova X5, this light was very bright and had excellent color and very good throw for a non optic light. It runs on two CR123 3v lithum batteries. The company claims a 48 hour runtime with about 20 hours of bright light followed by a diminishing beam. In a side by side test with the Inova it out threw the X5 by quite a bit, had slightly less sidespill and better color. The body of the light had nice knurling and three flats milled onto the barrel made for a secure grip and also allowed for laser engraving of the company logo. Interestingly, Nightcutter also offers free laser engraving to it's customers so you have the option to personalize your light which I thought was kind of a neat idea.
The switch is a twisty tail type with a nice momentary On by backing off a 1/4 turn from full On and then pressing. I can do this on my Arc LS also, but Nightcutter has machined in something to enhance this feature. There is a lanyard hole and the light will stand on end for a candle or lantern effect. The threading and O ring seals were very well done and the two examples I tried passed the bathtub submersion test with flying colors.
All in all I felt these were a very good value and a well made solid light.
The second offering was the Commercial series Sport lights and this is where I thought the company really stands out and shows their potential. This light is my new EDC. Much more compact than the Tactical model, these lights have a slick look and feel to them. Even though they were smaller they still have the 6v system in them just like their big brother. The knurling is flatter and the Type III anodizing was a little better on these two which really made a difference both visually and in the handfeel of the piece. I tested both the 3 LED and the 5 LED versions. I like them both!
Here's a pic:
http://www.realrates.com/pics/NC005C-lg.jpeg
Not a huge difference between the 3 and the 5 LEDs in terms of brightness. The 5 is just slightly brighter but the flood on both was very nice indeed. Great color in these LEDs. What you gain with the 3 LED is extended runtime, they claim 80 hours on this one. The red chartlight version they offer goes for something like 400 hours! The Sport lights have the switch in the head in the standard twist on configuration. If you back off a hair you can actuate the light by pressing on the head sideways for a momentary On.....a unique and useful feature. Also, the different heads are sold separately if you want more versatility in color and LED quantity. I'm told that pocket clips are coming soon.
I can't say enough good about the Sport light version. This light is the smallest 2 cell lithium I have seen. It truly qualifies as a Nice Thing and even better, I understand the retail is between $23 and $27 for the two models. The tactical model above is $39.95.
Their site:
http://www.lightshipenterprises.net/index.html
I predict a lot of cool stuff coming from this company. They are very responsive to suggestions and constructive criticism which I found quite refreshing. These first products are very high quality especially considering the reasonable pricing and I felt they were well worth a mention. I can't wait to see what they come up with in the next few months!
Here's another shot to show a size comparison with some of my other lights:
