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The newest headlamp from Petzl is their first emergency headlamp and by far one of the coolest designs available, the e+LITE. Weighing less than one ounce, the e+LITE is compact and light enough to carry anywhere on your person. It comes in a small, pill-shaped plastic case about 3.25″ long and 1.6″ wide – smaller than most cell phones. The cap of the case is secured by a rubber O-ring that goes around the entire case. A molded belt loop will accomodate 1.5″ belts. The first thing I noticed was how small and light the e+LITE is. It’s dwarfed when compared side-by-side to the already compact TacTikka XP. A narrow but comfortable elastic band is attached to the base, and is adjusted by the red cord lock in the back. The lamp can be worn on the head, neck or wrist. The rectangular button on the cord lock is used to unscrew the battery cover (a coin can be used as well). The e+LITE is powered by two coin CR2032 lithium batteries, the same type that power mini red dot sights like the docter, and also illuminated scope reticles like the Nightforce, so they’re relatively common. Petzl claims that the light can be stored 10 years with the batteries and still be operational.

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Safety Systems Corp is offering a replacement tailcap for most hand-held flashlights that offers an additional feature – a strobe function. Called the Lightsaver Blitzer tailcap, it’s a direct replacement for the standard tailcap on a number of SureFire systems. It’s available to retrofit SureFire incandescent lights like the G2, Z2, G2Z, G3, 6P, 9P, C2, C3, M2, M3, M3T, M4, L5, L6, M951, M961, M971, M981 and most SureFire Classic Universal Weapon light systems. Caps are in development for other brands/models of lights. As of yet, they are not offering Blitzer caps for LED versions due to circuitary differences, and this cap will only work on incandescent bulbs.

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SureFire’s Helmet light was introduced more than a year ago at the 2006 SHOT show. Very unconventional in appearance, it has been quite a popular item. SureFire has developed a MOLLE adaptor for the helmet light to further increase its utility.

The helmet light itself is made of flat-dark earth coloured glass filled nylon and neoprene. The watertight battery compartment holds one SF123A battery and is O-ring sealed. The cap has a rubber lanyard to prevent loss. At the front of the light are five 5mm LEDs. The colour of the LEDs depends on the particular model (there are four different available configurations). The are two rubber covered toggle switches at the rear of the light. When the Helmet light was first introduced, these toggle switches were exposed, and could be accidentally turned on if bumped, or when the helmet was stored inside a bag. The ‘Gen 2′ Helmet light has a hard plastic shroud which protects the two toggle switches from accidental activation. Molded on the shroud are symbols which show what the different switch positions do. The LEDs are turned on with the upper switch – the middle position is off, and flipping it up turns on the primary lights, and toggling it down turns on the secondary colour. The lower toggle switch turns on the IR IFF light on the side, which is a 3mm IR LED beacon which flashes about once a second. Pressing the round button on the side cycles through the intensity of the primary and secondary lights – low, medium and high.

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The Phoebus company has been in the lighting equipment industry since 1976 – producing lighting solutions for movies, theatre, events, concerts, architectural, etc. It makes perfect sense that the Phoebus Manufacturing division is using its 30 years of lighting technology experience and expanding its product line to include tactical flashlights.

First up is the PK-01-2CR123 hand held light. It has a 3 watt LED and is powered by two CR123-type batteries. The entire light is machined out of aircraft-grade aluminum and finished in a satin titanium-grey coloured Type III hard-anodized coat for durability and scratch resistance. Overall length of the PK-01-2CR123 is 5.25″, and diameter of the bezel is 1.4″. It weighs 4.6 oz and puts out 65 lumens.

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The SureFire Kroma™ is a selectable-output multi-spectrum LED flashlight. What does that mean? Basically, it has two different levels of lighting in three different colours (white, red and blue). It runs on two 3V 123-type batteries.

The Kroma is 5.5″ long and weighs 4.9 oz. It’s not much larger than the C2 Centurion shown here for size reference. It has knurling on the body and tailcap, and a stainless steel clip. All aluminum surfaces are finished with a Type III hard anodize coating. The bezel is about 1.45″ in diameter. The push button tail switch is of the momentary-only type. It doesn’t click on and off. More on that later. The head assembly consists of a grooved plastic selector ring, the head, and the bezel. The selector ring has five positions. The bezel can be unscrewed from the head to clean the tempered Pyrex window, which protects the LEDs if needed.

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TacTikka XP ADAPT – The TacTikka ADAPT (and ADAPT system) further adds to the versatility of the already excellent Tikka XP headlamp (above). The TacTikka XP Adapt is the same basic headlamp, but with a different back plate. The XP ADAPT comes with the XP headlamp, an elastic headstrap that now has an additional ‘over-the-head’ strap, a clip and universal helmet adapter.

The ADAPT system backplate replaces the standard plate on the XP. The ADAPT plate has a slot which slides over a round ‘stud’ on the ADAPT interface on the headband, clip and helmet adaptors. It clicks in place, and is removed by pulling the small lever forward while sliding it back off. The lamp can be rotated completely around, and the stud has 12 detents, which lock the light in place at 12 different positions. The rotation, combined with the angle/pivot, allows the lamp to be aimed in most directions. The ADAPT plate easily replaces the standard plate and other Tikka or XP lamps can be retrofitted with the ADAPT kit.

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These are TAD Gear’s Ranger Eyes; cool little glow-in-the-dark skulls that can be used the same way luminous tape is used on USGI helmet bands with cat eyes – for identification at night.

The Ranger eyes are 0.75″ X 0.64″, and molded out of flexible PVC. The black base has hook velcro sewn onto the back, with the luminous TAD “Terminator Skull” logo molded as part of the base. They can be attached anywhere you’ve got loop velcro – packs, shoulders, caps, helmets etc. If you want to have the ability to hide them without having to take them on and off every time, an option is to get one of EMDOM USA’s ID Marker Panels (shown in the bottom right photo). It has two little velcro panels that fold down or up to show or hide whatever ID patch you put on the panels.

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The diminutive Arc-AAA light from Arc Flashlight is small enough to carry on your person every day, but is amazingly bright for a light of its size. At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss it as another little keychain light like the Maglite Solitaire AAA light I used to carry with my keys years ago. But closer examination reveals that this is not your common, cheap mini-LED light, but more of a miniaturized version of a higher end light, like a SureFire. It measures only 2.7″ long and 0.5″ in diameter, and weighs less than an ounce. Not much larger than a .308 round, it’ll fit almost anywhere unnoticed. I’ve been wearing it on my work ID badge that hangs from a cord around my neck. It was designed to be carried every day – a flashlight isn’t much use in emergencies when you don’t have it on you. If you’re in the habit of carrying a tactical light on your belt, the Arc is a perfect backup.

The Arc is machined out of 6061aluminum and grey Type III hard-anodized (an attractive colour I prefer to black) for corrosion resistance and durability. When I slid the metal pocket clip off the body, it was tight and I cringed as I expected it to leave a silver trail of worn-off anoziding, like it would on cheaper lights. Not a mark, even after I removed and replaced the clip quite a few times. The body and bezel are lightly knurled, enough to provide a firm, non-slip grip but not aggressive enough to be abrasive to harm what it comes into contact with. The end of the body has a hole for split-ring attachment (included) or dummy cord. The metal pocket clip can be used both ways (face it backwards and clip it to the brim of a cap for hands-free use), and is strong enough to keep the Arc in place under normal use. The gold-tinted coat on the interior of the body is Chemkote for corrosion resistance.

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