Life

Looking for a new flashlight — do you have any input?

/ hsoi / 13 Comments

For many years I’ve carried a SureFire E2L Outdoorsman. It’s part of my every-day-carry, and in fact I use it almost every day. It’s because of that daily utility that I chose that particular model of flashlight.

However, over the past year I’ve started to have a change of heart. Many new flashlights have come to market, and over the years of carrying I’ve started to find myself wanting… a little more, a little different. And probably too much time hanging out with TXGunGeek, who is also a big flashlight geek.

What’s my beef with my E2L?

  • High-beam output. While my E2L’s high beam is pretty good, there’s better out there now. I’ve found myself in enough situations where I wished for more light.
  • Beam quality. I don’t know how to describe it, but the high beam feels… fuzzy. Maybe it’s my (aging) eyes, but compared to some other flashlights I have, there’s something about the light quality that just doesn’t provide me with the best picture. It’s certainly good enough for most things, but if I can have a little better, since again, my eyes are getting older and anything I can do to help out is A Good Thing™.
  • High first, low second. There’s no question I want dual-output because much of my every-day light needs require a low-beam. Originally I wanted the low-beam to come on first since I figured most of my needs were mundane and didn’t need to blind myself. Now I want the high beam to come on first, because I find myself in more situations where I need a lot of light right now and don’t need to waste time clicking through beam modes. I decided if I needed low beam mode, it would likely not be a “need it immediately” need and I could do something like press the flashlight into my stomach or leg to suppress throwing light, click through to low, then there we go. Besides, when you need a lot of light right now, you need it now and need to be able to just slam the light on and get the light. Yeah I tried many times to just get used to “half click, release, full click” to get as quick as I could over the low mode and locked into the high mode or doing 2 full clicks, but it’s just too error prone, too time consuming, and too loud.

So it’s not much, but it’s enough to motivate me to look for alternatives.

But on that token, some things I would prefer to not give up:

  • Clip. The clip is very useful, especially since I can hang it off the brim of my hat for hands-free use. That means the clip needs to attach near the head and point back towards the tailcap (like the E2L has). So many flashlights have the clip attach at the tail and run towards the head, which can be good for keeping the flashlight in your pocket, but isn’t very usable during use.
  • Dual mode. I need high and low beam. Strobe? Oh please… no.
  • Size. I like the E2L’s size. First, because it means 2 batteries instead of 1 thus more runtime. Second, the diameter feels good in my hands in terms of being able to hold a grip and not lose the flashlight in my hand.

And then there’s one thing I flat out do not want: strobe. This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco. I do not need nor want strobe. I do not want to waste time clicking through a mode that I don’t need, that all too often will accidentally fire because I’m trying to click through to the mode past it. If someone can tell me how strobe is actually useful, please comment. In the dark, it just screws up YOUR vision too, and again it’s too many modes to click through to get it. Enough Low Light shooting classes and strobe never comes up as useful.  But, I will admit I recently found a use for it. While taking Kiddos around the neighborhood this past Halloween for trick-or-treating, I carried a Streamlight Super Tac-X because low beam is good for close-up work (e.g. picking up dropped candy); the high beam is bright, crisp, clean, lots of throw, lots of spread, really lights things up which can be useful when walking around in the dark and well-behind a group of kids that might need some illumination in front of them (throw!). And then… yes… strobe was useful when we would cross the street. I would aim it down at the pavement and let it blink, and saw more than enough cars react to the flashing strobe (vs. other times when I’ve used a plain beam) and slow down. So yeah, THAT was useful. But for my EDC flashlight? No strobe.

There’s no question the awesomeness of Fenix Lights, especially that they have such great output, quality, and runtime on ubiquitous AA batteries, all at such a low price. The Fenix lights I presently have are great.  Because of them, SureFire and Streamlight have had to pick up their game. So lots of new and interesting stuff out there. I focused on these 3 companies. I did look at some others, but they either were no longer in business or their lights could all be eliminated from consideration because they had features I didn’t want (e.g. Blackhawk, NovaTac, Pelican).

Streamlight didn’t have anything that would fit my bill. Mostly lost out on the clip front. In fact, on the clip front alone I pretty much eliminated most every flashlight out there. *sigh* The two I found were:

Fenix LD22 (S2)

SureFire E2D LED Defender

The Fenix has a lot of win all around. Many different modes/levels of light output. Cree LED’s. A tailcap switch, but also a side button; so yes, that means there is a strobe mode but at least it’s not part of the tailcap. There’s a clip, but I’m mixed on the fact it’s removable. Sure that’s cool from a sales standpoint, because they can sell it to more people. And I kinda like that if the clip snagged on something it would just break away instead of bend (how many times have I bent my Spyderco Delica clips because of a snag?). But… that also means it can break away, which may not be what I want. I’m unsure about the clip. I think tho the bigger concern is while it’s cool it remembers the last output setting and uses that next time you turn it on, that means if the last thing I did was read a map but RIGHT NOW I need a lot of light, I won’t get it. The Fenix looks good in so many regards, but I’m not sure it will win the “tactical need” test. But it’s only like $60, so I might pick one up anyways because I could see a lot of use for this in other contexts, like camping or hunting.

The SureFire E2D. Funny how things happen. My only beef with this? The fact it looks aggressive. Of course, that’s the point of the “Defender” models, and I’m honestly not bothered by it myself. But as I wrote in my old “why I like the E2L” article I specifically avoided that light for its looks. At the time I was active in Boy Scouts and a lot of parents there did not “get it” and would freak out at the thought, and I just didn’t need the grief. As well, I flew and didn’t want to have some TSA goon take my $150 flashlight. But these days? I don’t fly. I don’t do BSA, and operate my life in a different context. Besides, I’ll still have my E2L in storage and can always pull it out and use it if context changes.

So yes, presently I’m leaning towards the E2D. I even emailed Comp-Tac to see if their flashlight holster for the E2L works for the E2D.

What’s your input?

13-Nov-2012 Update: Comp-Tac replied:

From what I can tell the e2d and e2l have the same bezel diameter. However, the e2d has that crenellated bezel, which adds to the length a small amount.
I would feel comfortable in saying that it would work.

So I figure if I go with the E2D, I’ll get it, try it, and hope for the best. If I do have to buy a new pouch, I reckon the existing one would work well enough until the new pouch arrived.

 

Epitomizing the Warrior Ethos

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

A Gurkha soldier who single-handedly defeated more than 30 Taliban fighters has been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross by the Queen.

Corporal Dipprasad Pun, 31, described how he was spurred on by the belief that he was going to die and so had nothing to lose in taking on the attackers who overran his checkpoint in Afghanistan.

His gallantry award is second only to the Victoria Cross – the highest honour for bravery in the face of the enemy.

Read his full story.

The unwritten rules of Halloween

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

Putting on my Old Man hat for a moment….

Taking two-thirds of Kiddos around for Trick-or-Treating last night and gee… have manners totally died?

Granted, it wasn’t across the board, but I did see lots of people just barging around, not waiting their turn, not saying “thank you”, being greedy rude little fucks.

And that was just the adults.

*sigh*

I know Halloween etiquette isn’t written down anywhere, but it seems to be understood that porch light on means “someone’s here, candy available, come knock”. Porch light off means “no candy, don’t knock, keep moving”.  That you wait your turn, letting the group already at the door finish up and allowing them to exit (since many doorways are narrow) before you go in for your turn. That you don’t ask for the candy, or for another piece; you get what you are given and you say “thank you” (even if it’s a pencil, a box of raisins, or a penny). That you don’t half-ass it: that you make some sort of effort with the costume, with the evening, and not just wandering around trolling for free candy.

But all these unwritten rules of Halloween seem like they might be dying and being lost.

Or… I’m just getting old, and more crotchety than I was yesterday. 🙂

Oh… and don’t trample on my lawn and through my garden! Use the walkway!

Let us learn from his mistakes

/ hsoi

Just because we’re teachers doesn’t mean we know it all — first and foremost, we are and always will be students.

So when my fellow KR Training assistant instructor, Paul Martin, had an event at his house in the middle of the night well… he wrote about it so we could all learn something from his mistakes.

Thankfully it was a non-event, but there was still much to learn from the event.

Attitude – she haz it

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Eighth grader, Danielle Harbour, broke the record for the most back handsprings: 40 (prior record was 36).

Watch the video

I’ll do it at the next football game… just for fun.

Just for fun. No workup, no pressure, no prep, no nothing. Just confidence, just knowledge of herself that she already has the skills. No fear.

In the middle, at like 20, I was like… I started slowing down… and I was like “Oh my gosh, I have to keep going… I have to keep going!”

And then when I got to 39 I was like “Oh my gosh, I can’t do one more!” and then I was like “I gotta do one more! I gotta make 40!”

She didn’t know quit. She pushed through pain, because she knew greatness was on the other side. Oh sure, back handsprings don’t mean much in the grand scheme of the life and the world. But her attitude means everything.

Congratulations, Danielle.

Senior Engineer

/ hsoi

John Allspaw writes “On Being a Senior Engineer“.

In my long career, I’ve met lots of people with the title “senior engineer”. We’d joke and call them “señior engineer” because it was all too often thrown around as some title of arrogance or tenure, but was about as meaningful as a “perfect attendance” award  — sure it’s great that you showed up and have been here a while, but that didn’t mean you knew anything.

Or were mature enough.

So with that, I’ve often cast off the title because it’s tended to be meaningless, maybe useful for business cards or at most on your résumé. But John’s article gives a perspective that the title is meaningful, if applied to someone who actually fits the role.

Of course for it to truly be meaningful, the title needs to be properly applied over the course of a career, not just because you’re the lone coder at some startup you and your other 20-something-year-old friends put together over beers one evening fresh out of college.

In the end, it’s just a title. It doesn’t really matter. But the merits and qualities of a senior engineer, as John lays out, are what really matters and what are worth striving to be.

Quote for today

/ hsoi

The devotion to tabloid is a symptom of our sick society. We don’t idolize heroes, we canonize failures, falls from grace, human weakness, Our priorities are warped and insensitive.

– Lonn Friend

Full article.

When coyotes attack… in my front yard

/ hsoi / 16 Comments

5:30 AM. Saturday morning.

Kissing Wife goodbye before I head out the door to KR Training. We hear a cat yowl outside, but didn’t think too much of it because we’ve been hearing cat fights in the early mornings for the past some whiles.

But Sasha thought something of it. She got amped… in a different way. Something wasn’t right, as far as she perceived.

I stepped out the front door and in a matter of seconds realized what was wrong.

10 yards in front of me — in the grass of my front yard — I saw the shape of a dog, turning to stare back at me.

“Crap… dog… what’s this dog? a problem dog? friendly dog? don’t let MY dog out, don’t let my dog see this!”

“Oh… there are TWO dogs… there’s something dangling from the second dog’s mouth… it’s… a cat… OH SHIT. COYOTES!” They obviously had just killed the cat.

It all flashed and processed in a couple seconds. Dropped my stuff back in the house and the 2 yotes took off. I booked it after the yotes as they took off down the street. I chased for a number of reasons: to try to better identify the animal taken (so the neighbor that lost the cat could know; closure), to see what I could see about the yotes themselves; to chase them off. No… I wasn’t going to get all Rick Perry on them.

I was able to get a fair idea of the cat… tho we’re not sure who it belonged to. Wife and Kiddos found a cat collar in the yard; no tags.

Really, none of this surprises me.

We may live in Austin, but wildlife abounds. Deer are common, with our landscape being munched and deer poop throughout the neighborhood yards. We probably hear coyotes howl at least once or twice a month. I remember a few years ago there was a mountain lion spotted at the Wildflower Center (matter of miles from my house).

And coyotes have to eat too. As far as I could tell, they were just hungry.

Food hasn’t been scarce… but then, when there are lots of cats wandering the neighborhood, that equates to food not being scarce.

No it wasn’t what I expected to see when I stepped out of my house, but it’s not really a surprise.

It’s a reality of living in this area. Be aware of it. And if you don’t want such a result to befall your beloved pets, keep them indoors.

Class was good

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

This past Saturday was another round of classes at KR Training. We had one of our good combo days: Basic Pistol 2 and Defensive Pistol Skills 1.

There isn’t much to say here that hasn’t been said before about these classes, because the things that students encounter, the enlightenment, it surprises, etc. is all pretty typical for those classes. Trigger control and sight alignment remain the order of the day. 🙂  Really tho, part of why there’s not much to say is because these two classes were pretty awesome. A fantastic group of students in both classes. One thing that we noticed in DPS1 was how little we taped the targets — students were really doing well! And apart from a little rain here and there, which was easy to work around, classes went smooooooth.

But I did see a few things worth mentioning.

M&P Shield – Saw a LOT of these during the classes. I should have counted, didn’t, but there were numerous and so quickly after introduction. Shows the explosion of this gun’s popularity. But I saw a couple of things that bothered me.

1. I’ve been seeing the Shield fail to go into battery more than enough times. It goes like 98% into battery, which isn’t enough, and the gun doesn’t work. And it happens over and over. I’m not sure why it’s happening, but I’ve seen it with my Shield, and I saw it happen to multiple students and their respective Shield’s. I have no idea what to call the culprit tho… but it’s just something that gives me pause.

2. One student had a brand new Shield with a magazine disconnect. Rumor has it that now every Shield is made this way because of Massachusetts? I don’t yet know if this is the case, but if in fact EVERY Shield is now made with a disconnect well…. since I can’t recommend a gun with a disconnect, then that means I can no longer recommend the Shield. That sucks. I’ll try to look into this more.

Demographics – This morning’s The Shooting Wire had this blurb about new shooters

Having said that, I admit some concerns when a new shooter is sporting body piercings, body art and a decidedly goth dress code. Today, however, that new shooter may be male or female. They’re just expressing themselves, albeit differently from anything I’d ever considered.

Instead of accenting differences, I’m increasingly trying to convince myself to take the things we agree on (like guns) and use them as the lubrication needed to get beyond my personal

We had a wide range of students in class: young to old, male and female, and while there were no goths, there were certainly some people who broke the stereotypical gun owner mold. And one of those guys was shooting pretty damn good.

I always point out demographics because I see the reality of what gun ownership is like, and who is shooting… and who is starting to learn to shoot. It’s growing, it’s widening, it’s diversifying. No pigeonholing here.

Personal note  – On a personal note, I need to remember to keep my voice relaxed… let the PA/bullhorn do its job. It’s hard to… you have ear muffs on, I’m deaf enough already, you start to speak louder… and that just kills the vocal chords. I did better… voice made it all the way through class. But still. 🙂