LED Clip Flashlight
4
5
1
1
Well worth buying
I was in the local big chain store about 6 months ago actually looking for a LED retrofit kit for my AA Maglite (they didn't have it unfortunately) when I spotted this little gem. I had been looking for a flashlight with a useful clip for work and thought what-the-heck I'll try it.
This little light is GREAT! I carry it with me every day on and off the job in its holster on my belt. It's bright and has a very useful focus, runs a long time on a set of batteries, and has proven to be rugged enough for my work environment (working on aircraft). The clip comes in very handy for those times when you need both hands to work, and I use it that way often.
I took off one star for the packaging (which is quite evil and may result in cuts to your hands if not careful) and for the holster which I think is Almost great but has a few flaws:
1. The belt loop is too big, allowing the holster to pull up and flop over when extracting the flashlight. I made it smaller by running some stitches across the loop which cured that problem nicely.
2. The bottom could use some reinforcement (actually the whole thing could be made of heavier material). Mine wore through and I sewed it back together, wore through again and I added a piece of web belt material to the bottom, and is now worn through a third time so I use the clip to keep the light from falling through. Probably should have been doing that from the beginning...
3. The retaining flap is pretty long, flat and tends to fall off to the side. I bunch-stitched it a bit on the sides to give it more of a "cup" over the end of the light and that helped a lot.
One caveat when buying: be sure to check the clip and make sure it hasn't been broken during shipment. I don't know what the master packaging looks like when these are shipped to the stores, but it must not be too great - I recently went in to buy another one of these at the same store and went through 5 or 6 with broken clip hinge points before I found one that was intact. The clip is pretty robust too, so I don't know what was up with that...
I would definitely buy again (just did in fact).
The colored lenses? For my needs I just chucked them, but they were kind of cute.
April 22, 2012