The competition in the flashlight industry has gotten increasingly stiff in the last ten years. Technology that has revolutionized handheld light has pressured those in the business to adapt or languish. Because things change quickly and the pressure to acquire or maintain market share is so great, novel and unpatented ideas often exist for a single generation before they get pilfered and incorporated into the product lines of the competition. As such the collective market seems to give an impression of homogeneity. The smaller companies tend to mimic the ones on the cutting edge. Now I know you're saying "Hey... there ARE only a limited number of ways to build a flashlight". Well, that's true, but sometimes it takes someone living outside of the box to come up and stick with something totally different. Flashlights as it turns out, don't all need to be made of aircraft aluminum with mil-spec coating. Safe-Light has known that since the beginning of commercial market LED history.Safe-Light Industries manufactures a line of very different, very refreshing, and very useful little lights that those in the know like to call "vampire" lights. They come in 5 models, the oldest and most popular of which is called the Survival. The lights utilize a Nichia CS 5mm LED and are powered by a standard alkaline 9v battery. The Survival has four modes... Glow, Power Saver, High Beam, and Location Strobe. When powered with a high quality battery, the Glow mode (a very subtle constant on state that allows you to easily locate the light in the dark but not distract you from your beauty rest) will run the light for 2 years. That's 2 years with a capital TWO. Their draw is very very low...that's where the term "vampire" comes in... these lights suck the juice that other 9v hungry devices leave behind. If you have some mostly depleted 9 volts laying around they'll still provide useful life to a Safe-Light flashlight.
The Guts
The anatomy of the Survival light is pretty ingenious. The LED is mounted on a circuit board that sits atop a plastic cap that snaps to a 9v battery and nests inside two halves of a durable and weather resistant rubber housing. The rubber housing is kept together by a form-fitting stainless belt that clips around its svelte midsection. The business end of the rubber housing contains an optic that focuses the light emitted by the Nichia LED and the non-business end contains a fold-out ring so that the light may be mounted to a tether, clip, or split ring. All counted, the darned little things only weighs 3 ounces. The lights come in 5 different body colors with a choice of four different LED colors. Red and green are much more helpful light if you're interested in the preservation of night vision so all you astronomers out there will love those models for nighttime map reading. The available accessories for the light include a lobster claw lanyard, an orange signaling cone, and a holster (that is constructed with a porthole so as to allow use of the light while it's inside an on-belt).
 |
| The anatomy of the Survival model |
 |
| Nesting D-ring attachment |
 |
| The Star and Survival models with holster and lanyard |
The Functionality
Although most of the models are identical in appearance, their UIs (User Interfaces for those without pocket protectors) differ. The Star model is a simple on/off with High as the only option. The Selector model allows the user to choose the level of output. The light turns on at Medium and when the button is pressed and held, the light increases in brightness over a 3.5 second time frame and 7 steps. A quick press of the button and the light reverts to Glow mode. The Handyman has all the modes of the Survival, but the capability for Total Off and comes with a housing that has an integrated clip. The Lantern has a built-in diffuser and Glow, High, Strobe, and Off as the mode options.
The run times are very respectable. On a high quality battery the run times are as follows:
- Glow - 2 years
- Power Save - 160 hours
- High beam - 30 hours
- Location strobe - 160 hours
The light produced by Nichia LEDs has components frequently been described by flashaholics as "angry blue". The nature of the Nichia emitter tends to produce a spot with a blue tint and a corona that's a little more neutral. The appeal however, is that even given its tint issues, the Nichia LEDs run forever on alkaline batteries. Probably one of the most popular Nichia-based lights is the Fenix E01. It too often has a blue tint to the spot, but the fact that it takes eons to milk a AAA battery dry has seen its popularity soar. Below I have compared the Safe-Light Survival to the Fenix E01 to demonstrate the differences in beam profile. The Safe-Lights use a lens that it positioned anterior to the emitter. The lens serves to collimate the light thus creating a Nichia-based thrower (yes, apparently it can be done!). The Fenix light nests the emitter in a machined aluminum cone that produces a more floody light.
The differences can be seen here:
 |
| Safe-Light Survival (high) |
 |
| Fenix E01 |
The beamshots demonstrate the same thing... The Safe-Light produces a tight hot spot and the Fenix a broad floody light. The Safe-Light is certainly cooler in tint but some of that seems to be due to the collimating lens. When the lens is not in place, the light is less cool to the eye. Even considering the cool tint, the lens makes a normally short range emitter into a more useful long range one.
 |
| Safe-Light Survival (high) |
 |
| Fenix E01 |
The glow mode on the Safe-Light was very difficult to capture. The other beamshots for this review were taken at 1/13th of a sec. The glow mode shot required a shutter speed of 1/2sec. in order to adequately represent the light as it appeared to my eye. The light is very low... low low... very low low... but still very usable. The glow mode certainly does what it was designed to do... serve as an aid in locating the light for that early morning groggy-eyed and normally toe-stubbing trip to the bathroom.
 |
| Safe-Light Survival (glow) |
 |
| Safe-Light Survival (high) wand |
The Conclusion:
These things are pretty remarkable. They are a prime example of the continued effective application of first generation technology to create an efficient and usable contemporary tool. Most models run $20 USD each and discounts are available for purchases of multiple units. At that price they're great to have in night stands, glove boxes, and emergency kits. While not waterproof, the units are certainly durable and capable of withstanding shorter-term use in inclement conditions. The run times are very admirable and the UIs varied enough that there's an option for even the most discerning operator. With regard to emergency or survival situations it's always good to keep your kit simple. Add a pad of fine steel wool and this flashlight to your kit and not only do you have a long-running light/signaling beacon, but the double-duty ability to keep yourself warm by starting a fire. I'm a big fan of these... do yourself a favor and add a few to your gear bag.
No comments:
Post a Comment