Streamlight 14032 Sidewinder Military 55-Lumen Hands-Free Flashlight

This has become my new favorite flashlight. On high, it's very bright, but I almost always use it on its lowest setting. With the articulating head, it's a great reading light. My book light finally died a while back, and I thought I'd give this light a try as my new reading light, and found it to be an improvement over the book light. Low power is bright enough to see anything in a room. The entire room lights up with it on high, although I almost never use it on high. The two medium settings are well calibrated between the low and high settings, making the light adaptable to multiple situations, giving you the light you need without wasting battery life. The battery life seems excellent - still on my first set of batteries after a month of daily use. 1-2 hours on low every night to read, and no sign of any approaching dimness. I also use the red led light quite a bit when using my telescope. I can use it to move around in total darkness, swap out eyepieces, etc without ruining my night vision. I haven't used the blue led much, although it's quite bright. I got the UV version, instead of the green led light, knowing that I'll eventually get a night vision device, and then I'll have an extra illumination source for it, but haven't gotten it yet, so I can't really talk about the UV light. If it's as good as the rest of the lights though, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Lots of little pluses on this light really make it great - 4 levels of brightness for each light source makes the light very adaptable. And switching between different lights and power levels is very easy and intuitive. Tactile positive polarity markers on the outside of the light that you can feel in the dark make it easy to replace batteries in the dark. The cap to the battery compartment has a sturdy metal lanyard, so you don't lose the cap when you're replacing batteries. There is also a rubber gasket to keep water out of the battery compartment. The pivoting head makes the light very useful in a multitude of situations. This is a great all-around flashlight, and when I have a few bucks to spare, I'm going to get an extra one for my car.

Ordered this after my Headlamp short circuited and I found myself needing a new source of artificial lighting. Began looking around at different Maglights, Gerbers, and Rayovacs. I come across this gem while looking at all the options and remembered how a friend of mine that was in the Marines had such glowing praise for this light. Moment I opened the instructions I understood why many praise it. It's more than bright enough to accomplish what you need it for, and the options work good. I've personally tested the blue light after a nose bleed and can say that it worked better than I thought it would. Red light works great as I was able to have it on at highest setting and still be able to walk down a hall way that passes by several bed rooms without waking anyone up. It has a better battery life than a good portion of tactical lights and can accept regular AA batteries, not to mention that the batter cover on the bottom being tethered to the compartment and the tactile indicators make it quicker to get the light back in action after the current batteries run dry. Accessories are plenty for attaching this light to different places and there is even a diffuser available. If you'd like a good quality light that can properly perform in a large variety of circumstances, survive very severe use and abuse, and still not break the bank you'd do well to pick this light.

A very impressive unit !!!!!! It is compact but by no means inappropriately so and a close examination indicates it is well made and no cheap piece of rubbish. I purchased this item specifically as a back-up light to attach to the front of my recon chest pack and it fits perfectly with the clip fitting through the molle system. I’ll add some additional security with some tactical elasticated gear clips. The variable brightness on the unit makes it more than adequate for most uses. The light dims down to a very low level appropriate to read a map but without being visible from any distance. When detached the unit sits surprisingly comfortably in the hand as a hand torch. In answer to some of the criticism of this unit and it low light output (55 lumen) it is a tactical light and it is my experience that many people display far too much unnecessary light in the field even in a non-tactical situation. When in the field I use light in the same manner as I would in any tactical situation and keep it to the minimum necessary for the task and not unnecessarily advertising my presence. I carry a separate high output torch with a strobe function for emergency purposes. I look forward to extensively field testing this item.

Great flashlight love the different settings and brightness. You can use lightweight easy to attach to belt vest camping equipment for hiking. Excellent very well made sturdy strong. Should last you quite a long time I personally love it.

I love this flashlight and have since bought two more for myself and two for Christmas presents for my nephews . I like that these lights start out on low and move to progressively brighter settings. The raised areas on the outside of the light absolutely helps you feel which way batteries are to be inserted if you have to change them in the dark. The cap is very well designed and seals watertight. The clip is very strong and stays on your belt or molle gear. This is not the brightest flashlight but isn't designed to be a spotlight or to spot objects over long distances. It is awesome for seeing things in your immediate area and battery life is excellent. Update - I've been using these lights for 5 years now and they are still going strong. They have survived being dropped and banged around , the heat of being kept in my vehicle in the summer , the cold and getting wet. I have several of these lights and they all work great ! If my review was helpful to you , please take the time to check the "helpful" box below. Thank you !

Buggy but functional, my Fenix Tk21 is worlds better than this, no contest. But for area lighting in tricky situations I love this guy, standard batteries are a plus as well. The one, and only con I have with it, it's buggy, sometimes when I switch the circle to change the light type it will not work, so I'm stuck in the situation using my neck light or struggling with my gun light trying to fix it for static lighting in weird situations and angles, sometimes it has failure to operate, and I'm left sitting there systematically elimination possible causes for the failure, first starting with cycling through the modes, turning it on and off, and then swapping the batteries. It could just be the batteries, as when I reload it with a fresh set it seemingly works, but I've had this issue quite a few times, and always at the worst moments, I trust Fenix for Lighting in Critical situations, this thing not so much. It's a wonder they issue these things to Troops, they're not that great, but the angle and battery type gives it uses a weapon, neck, or conventional torch does not have which is good for static situations where you're working with something in weird spaces or angles. More research needs to be done on my part to find a better competitor, but for now, for this sort of application that I'm mentioning I've yet to find a better light that offers what it does despite it's failings.

Love this flashlight. I bought it on the chance it was just overpriced, but the quality is fantastic. I carry one in my truck and kit bag now, as well as in the nightstand and I keep one clipped in my tractor too. Why? It's very bright, it's solid, and I have no worries at all about it working when I need it.

I originally bought the compact version of this product ( Streamlight 14104 Sidewinder Compact Tactical Flashlight Featuring C4 Leds, with CR123A Lithium Battery, Coyote ) and while the features were nice, the unit was too unstable when clipped to a strap or webbing. This unit, the larger version, is larger but that larger size makes the light much more stable when clipped to my gear. Additionally, it uses AA-batteries versus the CR123 that the Compact uses....so batteries are easier to find. The 14032 also features a captive lid to the battery compartment..something lacking on the compact...so I don't have to worry about fumbling and losing the lid in the tall grass or snow. There is also a lanyard attachment point which the Compact didnt have and could sorely have used. Other than that, function wise, they're the same - four different color lights, four levels of brightness, and a strobe feature in each color. The metal clip is reomvable, so you can bend it back a bit to provide more 'bite' when clipping the light to webbing and straps. A good little light, far better than any GI anglehead, and definitely a better choice than the Compact.

Le prix fait mal, mais loupiote robuste, ultra pratique et bien fichue. Prise naturelle dans la main, orientation du faisceau à volonté, pose debout ou accrochage. Bonne puissance des LEDs de couleur. J'ai même testé sous l'eau... Seule la fonction IR pose question en usage civil.

This has to be my favourite torch; the white led isn't super bright, but then it's a tactical, low profile torch. The leds start on at their lowest brightness on the initial push of the main rotating selector button, and then progress to the next level of brightness, four levels in total each. It's very compact, comes with a handy belt-clip that can be swapped to the other side, and the red and blue lights are handy. So far it has proved very durable, and the swivelling head is great (although it could go a bit lower, but then you can always lie the torch on it's belly and angle it as necessary). My previous favourite torch was the Energizer Hardcase, now out of production, that had the white/red/green leds, but in hindsight that torch wasn't as durable as the Sidewinder, and bulky as hell. One thing customers should be aware of with the Sidewinder is that the invisible Infra red led (used to enhance night vision scopes, but dangerous to eyesight with prolonged exposure) is invisible, so don't turn it on and stare into it for any length of time. It does have a safety tab/marker on the switch for that reason. Overall I really love this torch, it uses two "AA" batteries, which suits me, as I HATE torches with inbuilt rechargeable batteries that eventually wear out over time.

Vorweg: Ich stecke nicht bis zu den Ohren im Thema Taschenlampen drin, sondern bewerte die Lampe aus Sicht von jemandem, der sich eher mit Werkzeug und Outdoor-Ausrüstung befasst. Also: Die Lampe ist, das ist bekannt, kein extremes Leuchtkraftwunder. Sie ist allerdings, das muss ich unterstreichen, in allen Helligkeitsstufen und den jeweiligen Farben absolut ausreichend, sofern man nicht gerade ein Zimmer taghell erleuchten will. Was mich vor allem beeindruckt, das ist die Qualität der Verarbeitung, die Robustheit und die sehr gut durchdachten Detaillösungen. Ich will nicht um den heißen Brei reden: Das Ding ist zwar aus Kunststoff, aber ich hab im ganzen Leben noch keinen Kunststoff gesehen, der so sehr den Eindruck macht, als könnte man mit nem Panzer darüberfahren. Das ist echt wow. Dann solche Sachen wie die Batterieschachtabdeckung: Man kann sie ganz abdrehen, sie wird nur durch die Rändelschraube gehalten. Das bedeutet kein Scharnier, kein Clip kann kaputtgehen. Und die Abdeckung ist mit einem dünnen Drahtseil an der restlichen Lampe befestigt. Dann diese kleinen, ins Gehäuse eingegossenen Symbole für + und - der Batterie, damit man selbst im Dunkeln nix falsch herum einlegt. Ich könnte so weitermachen. Man merkt, dass die Sidewinder fürs Militär entwickelt und von diesem genutzt wird. Es ist für mich buchstäblich eine Lampe fürs Leben und dafür sicherlich trotz des Preises nicht zu teuer.

This compact flashlight was exactly what I was looking for. The body is flat, which sits firmly against my backpack (if shoulder strap mounted), or flat against a vest. The head pivots smoothly allowing for 90degree operation or standard lengthwise. Being able to switch rapidly (while still on) between white, red, blue and IR is awesome. The button is a little soft, but is still tactile. This is not a huge flood light, but it is perfect for what it's designed. Well done Streamlight.

コンパクトで使いやすく先日の大雨で使用しましたが抜群です。