Striker VG: A Gladius clone?

I don't know the Gladius, but this seller makes some bold claims for a presumed competitor, the Striker VG. A forum search failed to turn up "striker." Does anyone know anything about this light?

Hey Paul,
200 lumens eh? Well, the seller has a feedback score of 18 (24 w/repeats), with all of them from sellers. And then- there are three negatives. There is no buyer feedback, only feedback from sellers. I would be wary of buying from him. Understand that this is only my opinion. And no, I don't know anything about the light. But if it were legit? nice price for a 200 lumen light.
Regards,
Jay

There is one buyer, not zero. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
If I had the money, I would buy one for CPF sakes, but I do not. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Found the Striker VG home page. So these guys--LEDLogic--used to be known as LEDXtreme, makers of the far-throwing (and no longer available) 3W Predator.

Looks to me as though the control interface is only one button. This would make it impossible to use like the Gladius in certain situations. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Interesting features though. I wonder what the retail price is?

Anyone got one yet?

Mark

The web page says up to 7w output. I wonder exactly how they're getting 7 watts from a 3w LED? 200 Lumens from a 3w? Looks like a pretty nice light, though.

One thing that seems a little sketchy to me, other than the 200 lumens from a 3W, is their warranty policy. It seems like all of the high quality manufacturers back their product 100% and have a lifetime, no-questions-asked warranty, such as Surefire and Inova. In this case, they offer a 1 year limited warranty that only covers manufacturer's defects. To me, this could be an indication of a lesser quality light. I'd certainly be interested to try one or read a review though...

g'day,
buy it now price is 129.95 on ebay.
Too expensive an experiment for me.
Regards,
vhyper

One, of these Striker VG´s arrived yesterday here in germany!

Here are my first impressions after a little first testing:

Pros:

built rock solid, HA3 coating + extra grip coating, 4cm longer as a SFL4, extremely bright, the brightest one now in my collection (tested against a few other lights, like T3, Lionheart, Alephs, SFL4, MCLUXPD, Lioncub, HDS etc.), It uses a acrylic-optic instead of a reflector.

The output-power of this light is really very impressive!

Pure white and bright output with a cleanwhite hotspot, no bad tints at all, the optic gives a very impressive, very good and really powerfull throw.

The light is very easy to use: just click and press the button for a short moment until the light blinks shortly two times and answers with a full-output. By holding the button down, the light dimmes down.

From off or from on position: just click two times and the strobe effect starts to make your target dizzy!

Its a all aluminium-body (very thick walled aluminium, with a very thick and solid extra heatsinking-part inside), the light gives you a realiable and good feel in the hand and the sure-grip coating (coated all over the HA3 anodizing) seems to bee very reliable too.

I think, it is very cheap for a light this caliber!

Cons:

Not really much to say:

The acrylic-optic has no extra lens for protection on it!
The light rolls away on a desk, it has a round body and no anti-roll device, also no lanyard hole.
Because of its larger size and its rock-solid aluminium-tank-like-body it has obviously more, may be 1.5 to 2 times of the weight of a SFL4.

But therefore it has easyly more than 3to5 times more outpout-power) and dont think that it is uncomfortable or too heavy in weight!

I like it very much and for the nice price, you´ll get nothing really comparable at the moment, i think. This striker led-light is a extremely powerfull and reliable tool, by far the strongest (in every way) led-light in my collection!

Now, think it would be extremely interesting to compare/test it against a gladius.

But, sorry for this, i do not have one!

Oliver

Looks like an impressive light. Thanks for the review Elakazam.

Elakazam, how's the spill of the light compared to the L4? It is expected to have much more throw and a brighter hotspot, but does it give you any sort of "wall of light".

I was just thinking about the Striker the other day, although, I couldn't remember what it was called or where the website was. How coincidental that you suddenly post a review. Thanks, I am now even more curious!

I'm still wondering how they claim to get 7 watts from a 3w LED though, anybody know how that's possible?

Turn that puppy on for a few hours at 6 watts and see how much light the poor Lux III is not making anymore. Do you have a DVM? Please measure the Milliamps this thing draws on a fresh set of cells and post it. Take a Lux reading now and after 5 hours on the LED with fresh cells. Good luck.

Paul,

Thanks for the link to the LED Logic homepage. I sent them an e-mail inquiry about sending the Striker-VG out for 3rd party testing (to Quickbeam and Craig, of course), and for other info., including where to buy. I'll post their reply.

Andrew

I believe the manufacturer was going to send me one, but havn't heard from them in a while - I'll get on it.

Thanks! I hate to buy anything without a review from Quickbeam.

This is the inquiry I e-mailed to LED Logic:

"Hi. I read a bit about the Striker VG on Candlepowerforums, and am wondering if you have sent any of these out for testing/comparisons, etc., to Flashlightreviews.com, The LEDmuseum, etc.?

They look interesting, but not many CPFers will buy a product till they get some third party independent test data.

Where does one buy the Striker VG, and do you have any additional models available or forthcoming? I am personally most interested in models with maximum "throw".

I will be happy to post your response and information on CPF.

Thanks,

Andrew F."


This the reply I received:

"Hi Andrew;

We are in the process of being able to purchase online. We do have paypal and have sold some to individual buyers by depositing to our paypal account and we will forward the light.

Regards,

Alan Clark Business Manager"


Not exactly responsive to my questions, but I promised to post their reply. Maybe more info. will be forthcoming in the future....

Latest from LED Logic:

hello Andrew
> thanks for your interest
> you can order a striker vg flashlight from a rep in vancouver, bc
> phone number is 604 835 1530 or from myself.
>
> If you order from myself I only accept certified cheques or bank drafts
> and once i receive it i will send it out to you immediately. the price is
> $125.00
>
> regards
>
> Marcus


My response:

Marcus,

Thanks for your response. However, it seems to me that this light should be
available from reputable online flashlight dealers, who accept credit cards,
of course.

I am afraid I don't understand why that is not the case with your products.

Please advise.

Thank you.

Andrew F.

Bought Striker-VG (with revised function button) in July. Seems to be some misinformation posted on this site about the light to date. Based on civilian, non-duty use, I find:

Useful design. Solid, high-quality construction. Long throw for Luxeon III. Nice feel in hand. For me, pocketable ... barely. "Er, is that a striker-vg in your pocket or are you simply glad to see me?" Pocketable is important to me. Belt sheath is well-designed, but non-duty types don't usually thread belt through sheath just to carry a light into the void. Heck, I don't even wear a belt most the time.

Essential functions -- momentary on, strobe -- are intuitive and foolproof. However, the other two functions -- continuous on, and continuous/variable dimming -- are a bit, well, hit or miss? -- At least for this klutz. These require dexterity and timing. I'm still practicing. Fortunately, these are not functions one would normally perform in a high stress situation, so not a show stopper, in my opinion.

Would like to see the striker-vg kick up to a Luxeon V someday. Believe that would be a world-beater! (I use a wide-angle V as a bike light. So nice. Looks like a theatre floodlight.) Guess I'm spoiled. Probably heat and run-time trade-offs.

Bottom line: I find the striker-vg to be useful, and as advertised, and as described in Flashlight Reviews, among others. I feel good using it. Isn't that the acid test? / Best regards, MikeL

I keep my Striker VG by the bed, mostly because of the easily activated strobe function. I figure short of packing a gun, it might be a reasonable deterrant to an intruder.

My biggest gripe about the light is that after going through all the button presses to dim the light. It totally forgets the dimmed setting when powered off. That is, it always powers on full-bright. Heck, the $50 CPF Special light from Witt's End can remember the previous dimmed setting and resume there when turned on again (only when run on primaries though).

My Striker's beam has a lot of artifacts when projected on a wall which don't thrill me too much either. But, it does throw big time.

My experience FWIW,
Bill

Cd-card-biz, you should reconsider your defense options. A flashlight has only marginal value as a metal club.

The most recent home invasion in San Diego was two guys with at least one shotgun, who used it to buttstroke the victim and take his car keys. From everything I've read, home invaders don't mess around.

From my experience, criminals don't fear flashlights at all and aren't usually phased by having guns pointed at them.