Check out the Gerber Recon

  • Thread starter Cosmic Superchunk
  • Start date
C

Cosmic Superchunk

Guest
Picked up this new little torch by Gerber at a Military Supply shop yesterday. It's called the Recon:

Recon1.jpg


Think if it as a modified Gerber Infinity. The primary feature on this little flashlight is what Gerber calls a Rotating Color Lens System. It's basically a rotating dial mounted on the head of the light which contains 4 filters giving the user the option of selecting either White, Red, Green or Blue light. Sorry for the fuzzy pic.

Recon4.jpg


Recon9.jpg


Just like the Infinity, this unit runs on 1 AA battery which powers one 5mm (Nichia?) LED. The package states that it has a patented Diode Setup Regulator circuit and advertises this light as having a 100 hour battery life.

Recon2.jpg


Recon3.jpg


A size comparison of the Recon with a Gerber Trio and LX3:
REcon5.jpg


As the name "Recon" suggests, Gerber has made an attempt to market this light to military personnel as the package states that the lanyard hole accomodates 550 parachute cord. It's subdued black matte finish does give it a military look and feel that should appeal to troops.

As far as output is concerned, this is still very much a "task light" suitable for closeup work only. Gerber advertises the white light as giving 10 feet narrow focus visibility. Since the LED itself is white, the blue, red and green filters produce adequate illumination for upclose use, but not as bright as a blue, red or green LED would be.

Why not just use 4 different LEDs you ask? It probably would have made the mechanism a bit more complicated which would add to the overall cost of the light. Still, it's a nice little light and is the only LED flashlight of this size that I know of which comes with built in color lens filters. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
C

Cosmic Superchunk

Guest
To turn the unit on/off, you twist the tailcap like on the newer Infinities. The clip is removable, but it is a little bit on the flimsy side. By that I mean that it's not like the clips on Surefires. I'll post some beam shots later tonight.
 
C

Cosmic Superchunk

Guest
[ QUOTE ]
David_Web said:can you "dial" brightnes by partly rotate to another colour?

PS, it looks kinda cool.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, there's no way to enhance the brightness level by turning the dial. There are 3 color filters and one clear filter for the "white" beam. White appears brightest to the eye and the others are filtered green, blue or red. I would have really liked to see this flashlight with 4 LEDs of different colors which could be activated by turning the dial. Still, I think Gerber's intent was to make a small task light that can be used in a cockpit or any other area where you don't want to be overwhelmed by bright light. For the military, this can be essential during night operations, ergo the name Recon.
 

CalgaryGuy

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 23, 2003
Messages
501
Location
Alberta, Canada
That's a great idea for filters, too bad that the base LED is already while. It should've been turquois (brighter than white). Then have a yellow filter to turn it white. The red would be yellow and red filter to make it red. Blue would be yellow and blue, etc...
 

chiphead

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Messages
1,155
Location
Hutto,TX
I've found a simular unit made by Coast Cuttlery (Fry's) that does Green,Red,Blue & White.

chiphead
 
Top