Choosing the Perfect Tactical Flashlight for Police Work

There is a reason we call tactical flashlights tactical. Why? Because they are mainly used by tactical forces, one of the largest markets being the police force.

A police officer needs a dependable flashlight, one that is high quality, powerful and easy to use. So, what features are required of a tactical flashlight in the police force?

  n  High Lumen Output

Police officers need to be bright! Most police tasks, especially search and rescue operations need an above average lumen output in order to see victims or criminals.

  n  Beam Distance

When police officers choose how far their beam throw needs to be, they need to take into consideration how they will be using their tactical flashlight. If they are doing regular residential patrols then they won’t need a beam distance as long as police officers patrolling rural areas.

  n  Battery Life

An average shift for a police officer can last up to 12 hours without any access to a charger, so having a tactical flashlight that has a battery life that lasts long is a must.

  n  Impact Resistance

Working in the police force can be dangerous; you never know what conditions will be thrown your way. Police officers often tussle with criminals or get knocked down on the job. This is why it is important to have a tactical flashlight that can handle the impact and keep on functioning.

  n  Size & Weight

A police officer’s carries a lot of equipment on the job. When you think about the amount of weight they need to be carrying on a daily basis, a conveniently sized flashlight would be the best option, especially when they use their flashlight alongside their weapon.

A tactical flashlight is perfect for tactical work; this is why police officers are one of the largest groups of tactical flashlight buyers.

Looking for a high quality tactical flashlight? Visit the Klarus website, browse through the large range of affordable flashlights as well as accessories and place your order! Call 071 6136 777 or email sales@klaruslight.co.za

The Klarus K1 Smart Charger

Looking for a charger that suites all your needs? The Klarus K1 Smart Charger is powerful as well as portable, making it one of the most all-round chargers on the market.

Although it is small and weighs under 60 grams, it is fitted with a single bay charging port that can charge a variety of Li-Ion batteries ranging from 18650 and 16340 cells to Ni-MH and Ni-Cd batteries.

Featuring an innovative LED display where you can see the charging process taking place along with flame-proof plastic - it is as safe as it is sophisticated!

You can find the Klarus K1 Smart Charger on the Klarus light website at an affordable price. 

Do not hesitate to place your orders from sales@klaruslight.co.za or call 071 6136 777 today!

Cycling Light Regulations

Did you know that it is illegal to ride your bicycle on a public road after dark without any lights? If you are cycling in the early hours of the morning or riding home late at night, it is vital that you start using your lights again!

Obviously, lights are there to help you see, but more importantly they are there to help you be seen. If you’ve been close to knocking a cyclist down with your vehicle, you’ll know just how invisible a cyclist is with no lights on their bicycle.

There are many different lights available at the bike shop, so it can be hard to know which one to choose. Instead of buying a cheap main light that isn’t very bright and the battery dies after a few days, opt to rather buy a flashlight mount instead.

A flashlight mount allows you to clip in a high-quality durable flashlight to the front of your bike, meaning optimum brightness and visibility. 

Klarus Light has a range of tactical flashlights that can fit into a bicycle mount – take a look here.

How to Cook Breakfast with a Flashlight!

This flashlight is strong enough to start a fire and cook breakfast.

With up to 2,300 lumens and a “high-efficiency reflector,” the Flash Torch Mini halogen light actually creates enough heat to start a fire. It’s literally hot enough to cook eggs, observe it in action...

The Mini may well be one of the most awesome and terrifying camping accessories we’ve seen. It’s the latest iteration of the company’s old 4,100-lumen, foot-long Flash Torch.

The new Mini packs a mighty wallop into 22cm and less than 400g.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the only flashlight that can start a fire. Nor is it the brightest, or most high-tech. The halogen bulb is less efficient than modern LEDs, which generate far less heat. The heat created by the Mini is, in cases when you just want to see in the dark, wasted energy.

But for frying an egg, it’s pretty rad.

Be warned though, the Flash Torch Mini is not a toy!

We know; no matter what we say, those people who buy the Flash Torch Mini will immediately start lighting things on fire. Wicked Lasers knows this, too. That’s why the company equipped the Mini with a “smart switch” that prevents the lightsabe–err, flashlight, from “unauthorized use.”

Translation: this thing won’t accidentally bump “on” during a hike and cause a cataclysmic forest fire.

That said, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. The Mini is no toy. This thing is so crazy, in fact, Wicked Lasers goes so far as to post on the website that the Mini is “100 percent legal.”

The rechargeable Flash Torch Mini retails on the Wicked Lasers website for almost R3000. It also has non-scorching modes so you can navigate in low light without starting a bush-fire.

If James Bond or Darth Vader needed a flashlight, this would be it!

Looking for a regular tactical flashlight that won't set everything on fire? Visit the Klarus Light website where you will find a range of affordable, reliable flashlights and flashlight accessories.

Review - MiX6 Ti

Klarus Light designs and manufactures some of the most innovative torches on the planet. The MiX6 Ti is one of the smallest and brightest AAA flashlights in the world with four different outputs.

The tiny flashlight has a titanium body for corrosion resistance and a solid feel. The user interface is the usual AAA interface with tighten and loosing of the head.

The light has a Textured OP (Orange Peel) reflector with the XP-G led at the bottom.

The head is smooth except for some grooves. The actual light engine is mounted in a brass insert that also has the threads and o-ring. Using brass for threads gives a very good quality threads.

The battery connection in the head is surrounded by a black soft ring, this ring will reduce battery rattle and work as a mechanical polarity protection. This light does not use the standard ring on the circuit board for power connection and on/off, it looks like the switching is done by breaking the battery connection, both at the top and bottom.

The inside of the battery tube, it also has a soft ring. There is no spring, but the connection has some flexibility.

The backend of the light is made for use on a key chain, making it convenient enough for everyday carry. However, because of this the light cannot tail stand.

This light is a solid and well performing keychain light; its titanium body means that it is perfectly built to survive around your keychain.

How does an LED work?

We've heard all the talk about LED's. How they're the newest and best lighting technology. Well, all of that is true, but how do LED's work?

Let's start by quickly looking at some basic lighting technology. We've all seen incandescent bulbs. They're your average light bulb. They work by heating up a tiny metal filament that glows. These bulbs generate a lot of heat vs. the amount of light produced. This wastes a lot of energy. To the flashlight user, this means that runtimes are shortened drastically and the lights are usually not very bright.

The inefficiency of incandescent bulbs was a problem. When there's a problem, people try and find a solution. Moving forward a few decades, we come to the LED, which stands for Light Emitting Diode. LED's are the brightest, most compact light emitters that are commonly available in flashlights. They are very energy efficient, small and durable and are quickly becoming less and less expensive.

A LED emitter is called a diode, not a bulb. A diode is a device that conducts an electrical current in only one direction. A bulb is not a diode since it will work with an electrical current flowing through it in either way. An LED will only work with current flowing through it in one direction. 

An LED is made up of semiconductors, which are materials that have a varying ability to conduct electricity.

Anyway, when an electrical current is applied to the diode, electrons travel from the N-type side to the P-Type side. When the electrons fall into one of the holes in the P-Type side, they release energy. Think of what happens when you drop a ball into a hole; the energy from the ball is transferred to whatever the hole is in. What can happen when an electron releases energy is really amazing, though. The energy from the electron falling into the hole is released in the form of a photon, which is a particle of light.

This continuous movement of electrons falling into the holes releases light, causing the LED to glow. This phenomenon doesn't create much heat, so it's a lot more efficient than an incandescent bulb.

Not that difficult to understand, right? LED technology is amazing and you can be assured that in the future, the technology will get better and better. 

The future does seem pretty bright, doesn't it? (Pun intended).

Klarus Light designs and manufactures some of the best flashlights in the world - visit www.klaruslight.co.za and place your order today!

Why you should always keep a flashlight in your car

There is nothing worse than your car breaking down on the side of the road – except for your car breaking down on the side of the road in the dark!

Don’t panic. Keep a flashlight in your car at all times to avoid ever being stuck in an unfortunate situation.

• Self-defense

Getting stuck in the middle of nowhere is dangerous, especially in the dark. Believe it or not, but having a flashlight handy, can save your life.

If you are ever in the situation where your life is in danger, a flashlight can double as a non-lethal weapon. A single blow to the head or bright flash in the eyes can render an attacker immobilized, just long enough for you to escape or call for help.

• Illumination

Have you ever tried looking for an object you dropped in your car? If can be almost impossible, especially if it’s dark. Keeping a flashlight in your glove compartment is absolutely necessary!

• Emergencies

Keeping a flashlight in your car is essential if your car ever breaks down in an unlit area. Changing a tyre or seeing under the hood of your car to address the problem can be almost impossible without the help of a flashlight.

• Signalling for help

Breaking down on the side of the road also means that the other cars on the road may not be able to see your vehicle. A flashlight can double as an emergency light to signal to oncoming traffic that your car has broken down and may be in harm’s way.

Looking for high quality, durable, affordable flashlights and accessories? Klarus Light manufactures some of the best tactical flashlights in the world! Visit the Klarus website today to choose the perfect flashlight that best suits your needs.

Weapon Mounted vs. Handheld Light – Part 1

Do you know what that rail is for on the front of your handgun? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not there to impress the ladies! It’s for mounting accessories, which usually means some kind of “tactical” light. Anyone who carries a handgun or keeps one around the house should also have a good flashlight, and a rail-mounted light is a convenient solution. Handheld flashlights are a popular alternative, and many respected firearms instructors seem to prefer this option.

Here are the basic pros and cons of the handheld light.

No matter which way you lean on this issue, it’s essential that the light selected is of high quality. Even if you skip the practice and training necessary to become proficient with a light, just having ready access to a reliable illumination source is better than waving around your gun in the dark. Below are a few general gear-specific tips and some recommendations to get you started.

Handheld Lights

LED technology has come a long way in the last decade and we now have plenty of remarkable flashlights that put out a great deal of illumination but can still fit in your pocket. However, not every well-constructed bright flashlight is suitable for use with a handgun. Beyond basic quality and light output, the most important feature to look for is a switch that can be activated easily with one hand. This usually means a tailcap switch that is operated with the thumb.

A simple interface is also ideal. Some lights have a strobe function or various brightness modes depending on how many times or how long you press the switch. For self-defence, the light should be stupid-easy to operate so that next to no brain power is required to activate it under stress.

Some lights feature a “momentary-only” style switch, which is useful for techniques that require the user to activate the light only for short bursts in order to avoid becoming a target for a potential attacker. Others boast extraordinary light output, which may be ideal when searching for missing children in the woods at night, but possibly counter-productive when illuminating your bathroom with a glossy white tile floor.

Most tactical flashlights run on one to two batteries, usually AA or CR123. Both battery types are common and affordable, and many of the brighter flashlights will burn through those batteries fairly quickly when used on the highest setting, so keep a good supply handy. No matter the bells and whistles, just make sure your light comes from a reputable manufacturer, like Klarus Light, who have a history of making lights that work every time and won’t die out on you when you need it.

Below are a few excellent tactical flashlights that are both reasonably priced and reliable.  This list should help get you thinking in the right direction.

Klarus ST2C
Klarus XT2C
Klarus XT11
Klarus FH10

This list should help get you thinking in the right direction. Stay tuned because next week we’ll be discussing the basic pros and cons of the weapon -mounted light.