zespectre
Flashlight Enthusiast
Real World Review - COLD WEATHER
This week has seen the weather go from the high 60's/low70's down to the 20-30 degree range. However the wife and I have continued to do our evening walks (albeit with a LOT more warm clothes on now). Our walks cover 2.5 miles and the terrain covers a well-lit neighborhood, an unlit bike trail, and a badly lit neighborhood. We usually take between 35-45 minutes to complete the walks and the flashlights were exposed to the elements for the duration (no warming up in the pockets, etc).
I have covered the general charistics of these lights on other "real world" reviews so this time I'm going to limit myself to cold weather related comments.
Gerber LX 3.0 - Still easy to handle/use with bulky gloves on. I use 2300mAh NiMH batts in it. The NiMH's suffer BADLY from cold. Within 5 minutes of starting the walk I would estimate the light had dimmed down about 10-15% from it's usual brightness. The light stayed at roughly the same level through the rest of the walk but the performance change was obvious.
Night-Ops Gladius - Still easy to handle/use with bulky gloves on. No surprise here as it was designed with that in mind. Lithium cells seemed completely unaffected by the temperatures. Flashlight performance seemed unaffected.
Inova T4 - Still easy to handle/use with bulky gloves on. The large cut-out for the switch and the large switch were of benefit for use in these conditions. The Li-ION power pack seemed completely unaffected by the temperatures. Flashlight performance seemed unaffected.
Surefire 6P - I found the smaller size of the 6P to be a little more difficult to use with bulky gloves. Not too bad though. Lithium cells seemed completely unaffected by the temperatures. Flashlight performance seemed unaffected.
As I cold-weather test more lights I'll post the notes.
This week has seen the weather go from the high 60's/low70's down to the 20-30 degree range. However the wife and I have continued to do our evening walks (albeit with a LOT more warm clothes on now). Our walks cover 2.5 miles and the terrain covers a well-lit neighborhood, an unlit bike trail, and a badly lit neighborhood. We usually take between 35-45 minutes to complete the walks and the flashlights were exposed to the elements for the duration (no warming up in the pockets, etc).
I have covered the general charistics of these lights on other "real world" reviews so this time I'm going to limit myself to cold weather related comments.
Gerber LX 3.0 - Still easy to handle/use with bulky gloves on. I use 2300mAh NiMH batts in it. The NiMH's suffer BADLY from cold. Within 5 minutes of starting the walk I would estimate the light had dimmed down about 10-15% from it's usual brightness. The light stayed at roughly the same level through the rest of the walk but the performance change was obvious.
Night-Ops Gladius - Still easy to handle/use with bulky gloves on. No surprise here as it was designed with that in mind. Lithium cells seemed completely unaffected by the temperatures. Flashlight performance seemed unaffected.
Inova T4 - Still easy to handle/use with bulky gloves on. The large cut-out for the switch and the large switch were of benefit for use in these conditions. The Li-ION power pack seemed completely unaffected by the temperatures. Flashlight performance seemed unaffected.
Surefire 6P - I found the smaller size of the 6P to be a little more difficult to use with bulky gloves. Not too bad though. Lithium cells seemed completely unaffected by the temperatures. Flashlight performance seemed unaffected.
As I cold-weather test more lights I'll post the notes.
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