All posts tagged Streamlight Flashlights

Shopping online or Shopping in a brick and mortar store

philadelphia Law Enforcement suppiesThere are a lot of things we learned in the last year about the Law Enforcement Community and sometimes its the small things that people want in your store and not the fancy stuff.   There are plenty of times we go to places like Youtube.com to watch the products that we sell to try and learn how to use them or to market them.   You can only read so much about a product but if you don’t know how something is used, certain terminology about a backpack might just confuse you.   There are so many differences between all of the bags we sell and sizes are something people have a hard time explaining.   The differences between the Rush 24 and Rush 72 5.11 bags is significant and sometimes people don’t know which one they want until they hold it in their hands.

Police Officers loose handcuffs and handcuff keys all the time and sometimes that 20yrd old holster needs to be retired.    We know have a Law Enforcement inventory and we are doing everything from Blackington badges and whatever else Philadelphia Law Enforcement Supplies like Safariland holsters, Blackhawk Serpa holsters and all of the pepper spray and batons that are used.   We have a pickup on location option on our website and stock a good bit of AR15 upper receivers and Magpul accessories.   Our Smith Optics Elite ballistic eyewear was used in the US Open here in Merrion and we are looking forward to bringing on even more products this Summer and Fall.

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Concealed Carry Flashlights, this time we’ll tell you what to buy

We always get asked for advice from customers about sizing and durability, but like many things, it really is mostly about preference and the job you need to perform that drives the gear you want to use.   There are so many options out there for holsters and firearms and at points, the New Products that we see come out really stress us out because it means adding them to inventory, having to learn about them, and waiting to see if they are any good and people actually buy them.   The new .380 pistol rave is still going strong and we have had to pickup new product lines just to stay on top of the holster buying.  The Smith & Wesson Body Guard seems to have almost caught up with the Ruger LCP.

One of the most common questions we get when customer walk in our stores is do we carry knives and flashlights.  The next most common question is do we have any flashlights like the Streamlight Flashlights available that they can hold in their hands.  I personally prefer the Streamlight Professional series flashlights and we keep them around the store for customers to hold and try  out.  The best feature about them is the hi and low power option.  For concealed carry it is nice to have a flashlight that can really light things up, but you don’t always need that much power to find the car keys you just dropped or to find the keyhole in your backdoor.

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CCW flashlights and home lights

There is a difference between the two and it’s not just about brightness.   There are reasons to have small and compact flashlights and there are reason to have larger ones.   For instance, if you are looking to keep flashlights around the house, I larger body flashlight can be used as a weapon or be easier to find and hold onto in the dark especially at 4am.   Rechargeable flashlights are the way to go in your home and especially something that can turn on if the lights go out.  It’s funny how people that are always prepared for such things don’t have the drama as people that are unprepared.

One of the hottest selling ccw flashlights we sell wiht our Woolrich Elite product line are the PT-2L flashlights.  I had a customer buy one of these and asked when he walked up to the counter if “these streamlight flashlights are good everyday carry lights” and I reached into my pocket and pulled out mine.   When looking at the wall of Flashlights that we have those are the first ones that pop out to people about CCW lights.   If you are carrying a firearm you really need a light because identifying a threat in low light and determining how much a threat they are means avoiding or defusing a security issue.

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Sometimes those small tactical and CCW lights don’t cut it

The Northeast recently got hit by an Earthquake and a Hurricane and several family members have come to our Employees and asked them about some of the flashlights that we sold.   We’ve told them  that the Everyready flashlights that they had 30yrs ago are beyond out dated and the technology in the flashlights has advanced tremendously.  LED technology has so improved flashlights that we are now able to use flashlights for hours that are 5-20x brighter then what we had even 10yrs ago.   One thing has not changed though and it is something to consider if you are keeping extra flashlights around the house for non-tactical reasons.

The size of a flashlight is still very important to the average citizen.   The flashlights that use to hold 2 D batteries are about the size that most people expect to use when they think of flashlights and for older people and younger people the size of the flashlight is really a comfort thing.   People want to be able to grasp the whole thing and if they drop it.   The Streamlight Flashlights that we usually recommend are the Poly Stinger or the Streamlight Strion.  Even though most of our tactical operators are using the Streamlight Scorpion or Polytac on their guns or for CCW, those are not what many of your family members are going to want around.

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Is pepper spray and mace a thing of the past?

I have been fortunate to have attended plenty of tactical conferences over the last year and it came up several times during training sessions that there is a move away from using mace like Sabre Defense products and towards  using tasers.   Tasers don’t have the blow back that mace has and of all of the times I have every trained with pepper spray or mace, my lips and eyes always got a little bit of it.   It’s still a very good thing to have on you if you want a less lethal and lower legal liability to use in a bad situation.   If I could name all of the times I have ever felt uneasy dealing with someone or was in a hostile situation, it was almost in or around a place serving alcohol.

Now that there is a lawyer  hiding under every rock, if you choose to carry a firearm for self defense you better be prepared to deal with the legal consequences of every action.   Streamlight flashlights are even being sold as defensive weapons for the strobe feature or the striking bezel.   Until tasers become smaller and more compact, I find them to be  a little too impractical to carry, but the time will come.  One of my favorites to this day is the Kimber Guardian II which looks and feels more like a gun but lasts much longer than bottles pepper sprays.   They are going to cost you more, but they are worth it.

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Putting flashlights on all of your firearms

Since we have been in the holster business, we’ve seen a lot of changes in the designs of holsters, many customers have unfortunately found out the hard way after buying a holster thinking it would work for their gun just because it says it is for a Sig 229.   Well there are many things that can change your holsters fit with a firearm, one of them is changing the sights, and the other is putting a light or laser on it.   There are plenty of good reasons to mount a flashlight on a firearms, but there are also reasons not to.    For Carbines and home defense weapons, yes, they can be helpful, but many people don’t realize that now that your firearm has a light, you better watch out that you are not violating an of the safety rules.

If you have to move through your home and you are using your gun mounted flashlight, you will be pointing the gun at everything your flashlight is.   Something like the Ultimate Retention Device from the now defunct Section 8 Tactical is a nice device and you can still get them from us.   These work very well with the Streamlight flashlights like the Streamlight Scorpion or Streamlight Polytac.   I’d give the edge to the Polytac or possible the Surefire G2 Flashlight.  The harder surfaces seem to grip the device a little better.

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Handgun flashlights should you mount it?

Should you put a flashlight on your handgun or should you keep it separate?   Go to an IDPA competition and check out the low light flashlight competitions and get back to me.   We see them dropped or competitors fumble them all the time.   We sell the Section 8 tactical Ultimate Retention Device which is a great an easy thing to add on to your finger when you are shooting but a less trained shooter is going to have some trouble getting use to using them.   Many handguns are now being made with rails under them and it’s becoming almost mandatory to have a white light on an M4 Carbine.

When you think about putting a light on a handgun, I would always suggest you think about what the gun is going to  be used for.   I believe that a home defense firearm should be configured to be used inside your home and sometimes that may mean not using a handgun, but an M4 Carbine or a shotgun with fragmenting bullets.   Streamlight flashlights can be mounted on handguns or rifles especially the TLR-1 light.   I’m a big fan of lights that are 110 lumens or more for home use because they will seem far brighter and easier to light up a room.

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Everyday carry flashlight options

This is something that seems to go with the 380 pocket guns these days, a pocket flashlight.   I’ve mentioned before that I’m not big on small flashlights because the smaller they are the easier it is to loose them.   I am seeing insight flashlights showing up at classes I teach but I don’t  have very much experience with them, flashlights really are new to me because the technology has changed so much that we’re really in a new age. Having a bright and powerful flashlight use to mean that you needed 3 or 4 D batteries and  you most likely were  using a mag-lite flashlight.   Those days are long gone.   You can get 130-180 lumens from a pocket light, but you better be careful how you carry them because I’ve seen guys on more than one occasion jump up quickly when they realized the light was on and they moved over and felt the heat on an inner thigh.

The pelican PM6 is a nice pocket flashlight and it comes with a clip on which will be very practical for a flashlight like this size.  I am not big on carrying lights on my belt line because after carrying a gun, spare pistol magazine and a cell  phone, it’ll get  harder and harder to conceal your weapon and gear if you have that much on you.   The Streamlight flashlights that I like the most for CCW are the Streamlight professional tactical flashlights.  They are small, reliable and most going to break the bank.   The PT-1 is probable the smallest flashlight I would consider carrying, but I really prefer the PT-2 because 180 lumens is so much that it actually might give you a few extra seconds in blinding a threat that didn’t see it coming.

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Streamlight flashlights and CCW

I am finding harder and harder to not justify carrying a flashlight all the time now.  I finally found a light that doesn’t take up much room and has been holding up to lots of dropping and fumbling.   And the best part about the flashlight I settled on is that I’ve had it for over 2 months and didn’t lose it.   I’ve been seeing NRA specials on flashlights that cost close to $200 and with my luck, I’d just loose one of these things in a movie theater or camping trip and wish I just brought my Every ready radio shack flashlight with it’s clumsy D batteries.

The Streamlight Professional Series tactical light has a whopping 180 lumens which has more blast than my Streamlight Scorpion LED and it’s a lot smaller.   I could have gone with the PT 1AA but I thought that would be too small.  There are key chain flashlights, but  I have used my cell phone as a flashlight in really dark situations and if I’m going to carry a flashlight to spot wild animals or ID threats, I want Streamlight flashlights with 125-180 lumens.   I also love the strobe feature because it really does give you a good option for drunks or assholes that you might run into.

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Streamlight Flashlights

Streamlight FlashlightsWe get asked about comparisons between Streamlight and Surefire flashlights as far as durability, and although Surefire makes some good stuff, there is no difference in durability. Streamlight will repair, replace or refund the purchase price, at our option, of any Streamlight product that does not work or that you manage to break for as long as you own it.

 

The Streamlight Flashlights is the most popular rechargeable flashlights on the market. The Stinger puts is the brightest flashlight for its size and This is an industry standard that is carried by almost all law enforcement officers.

 

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