I just received my WISELED Tactical from Pacific Tactical Solutions. They've got a CPF special price, but they've asked that I not publicize it. List price is $560,
The summary is that this is one big, bad*ss light. It uses 7 Luxeon K2's to achieve a marketing output of 1000 lumens. Obviously, because the highest bin rating for a K2 is 140 lumens at 1500ma, that's really only 980 lumens at the source. Moreover, once the LED junction heats up, the output goes down and then you have losses getting the light out the front. Nevertheless, a lot of light.
DESIGN
The design is interesting. I don't have the time or skills for photographs, but I'll walk you through it from front to back. The WISELED Website has photos if you need them.
The light is about the same size as a 3D M@g: somewhat shorter and a bit thicker at both the head and body. There is no window on the front, just a customized optic recessed a few mm into the housing. Obviously, I'm a little concerned about scratching the optic. Given the $500+ MSRP, I would have liked to see an AR sapphire window.
The body is anodized black with slightly protruding o-rings at the various seams. However, the light is not user serviceable. I assume they've used some loctite-like adhesive on the threads at these seams. Strong manual twisting did not unscrew anything other than the endcap, which is just a cosmetic covering for the true body. I assume this sealed design is in the service of high depth water resistance. Theydo have a three year worldwide guarantee on the light, so if the Li-ion pack goes bad, you can send it back. But no switching spare batteries in the field.
There are two silver buttons set inline about a half inch behind the head. Right behind those is a three-inch rubber sleeve for grip. With dry hands, this grip is plenty tacky and very comfortable. With wet hands, it was a bit slippery. I would have preferred knurling. Moreover, with the amount of heat generated by 7 K2s at 1500ma, I don't think I want an insulator preventing my hand from cooling the light.
Behing the rubber sleeve, there's a silver metal ring with a lanyard hole. At the very end is the charging plug, which I assume is waterproof. The light comes with a wall power supply and car cigarette lighter plug. It has a keyed plug with visual indicators of the proper alignment.
The fit and finish on everything was excellent.
USABILITY
The light feels great in my hand. I have large hands and have always felt that M@gs were a little skinny for me. My thumb rests comfortably on the front button after reaching for the light and letting it settle into a natural position.
The user interface could use some work. Push the front button for on. Hold the front button for tactical strobe. So far so good. Holding the rear button down scrolls through the light levels, going down, then up. It looks to me like approximately 32 or 64 levels. I would prefer more distinct levels that scroll more slowly, a la the Chameleon. I often miss the lowest level before it starts scrolling up.
This is important, because the lowest level is still 2-4 times as bright as my Chameleon, which is obviously too bright of a low. I would have liked 5 levels evenly spaced, with the lowest level 1/20th of the highest.
Once you set the level, if you turn the light off and on with the front button, you return to the previously set level. Then things start to get weird. If you find a level you like and press the rear button again, it goes back to the highest level. OK, but there's no way to get back to the lower level you just set without going through the scrolling again. Turning the light on and off after going to high brings you back to high. Pushing the rear button again does strange things. Push once and the light goes off. Push twice and it comes back on to high. Push three times and it flashes a continuous SOS.
This weirdness has to do with controlling the optional taillight. I don't know why you would want the taillight, but surely the microcontroller could sense whether I have it and make those modes inaccessible. Better, yet forget about the taillight and have the rear button dedicated to controlling brightness. I found myself constantly getting to high output and then needing to scroll back down.
BEAM
You have to see it to believe it. It is friggin' bright! And as white as any of my LED flashlights.
I compared it to my sub-2D cmacclel hotwire, using the 1150 lumen Pelican bulb and 6 AA Lithium primaries (I have it configured for bedside deployment where shelf life is important).
In a ceiling bounce, I couldn't tell the difference because the colors were too different. Against a wall, the hotwire has a narrower, brighter hotspot and large corona. The Tactical's hotspot was about twice the diameter at 3m and very little corona. Overall light output looked roughly comparable, but it was hard to tell.
I took both lights down to a soccer field. At 100 yards, both lights did a great job of lighting most of the other end of the field. Interestingly, the Tactical did a better job. It's wider hotspot lit a noticeably wider field of view. However, I assume this would change if we took the range up to 200 yards--the Tactical's dimmer hotspot wouldn't reach, while the hotwire's would.
Don't even ask for beamshots because I don't have the time or expertise.
BOTTOM LINE
I'm happy with this purchase as a wow-light. I probably won't use it very often in a practical setting due to its bulk and usability issues. Though when taking the kids trick or treating, I will definitely have it with me. If I had more confidence in the user interface, I would definitely consider getting the Street version (much smaller, 3 K2's, only 1 button). Obviously, these guys are pretty serious flashaholics
The summary is that this is one big, bad*ss light. It uses 7 Luxeon K2's to achieve a marketing output of 1000 lumens. Obviously, because the highest bin rating for a K2 is 140 lumens at 1500ma, that's really only 980 lumens at the source. Moreover, once the LED junction heats up, the output goes down and then you have losses getting the light out the front. Nevertheless, a lot of light.
DESIGN
The design is interesting. I don't have the time or skills for photographs, but I'll walk you through it from front to back. The WISELED Website has photos if you need them.
The light is about the same size as a 3D M@g: somewhat shorter and a bit thicker at both the head and body. There is no window on the front, just a customized optic recessed a few mm into the housing. Obviously, I'm a little concerned about scratching the optic. Given the $500+ MSRP, I would have liked to see an AR sapphire window.
The body is anodized black with slightly protruding o-rings at the various seams. However, the light is not user serviceable. I assume they've used some loctite-like adhesive on the threads at these seams. Strong manual twisting did not unscrew anything other than the endcap, which is just a cosmetic covering for the true body. I assume this sealed design is in the service of high depth water resistance. Theydo have a three year worldwide guarantee on the light, so if the Li-ion pack goes bad, you can send it back. But no switching spare batteries in the field.
There are two silver buttons set inline about a half inch behind the head. Right behind those is a three-inch rubber sleeve for grip. With dry hands, this grip is plenty tacky and very comfortable. With wet hands, it was a bit slippery. I would have preferred knurling. Moreover, with the amount of heat generated by 7 K2s at 1500ma, I don't think I want an insulator preventing my hand from cooling the light.
Behing the rubber sleeve, there's a silver metal ring with a lanyard hole. At the very end is the charging plug, which I assume is waterproof. The light comes with a wall power supply and car cigarette lighter plug. It has a keyed plug with visual indicators of the proper alignment.
The fit and finish on everything was excellent.
USABILITY
The light feels great in my hand. I have large hands and have always felt that M@gs were a little skinny for me. My thumb rests comfortably on the front button after reaching for the light and letting it settle into a natural position.
The user interface could use some work. Push the front button for on. Hold the front button for tactical strobe. So far so good. Holding the rear button down scrolls through the light levels, going down, then up. It looks to me like approximately 32 or 64 levels. I would prefer more distinct levels that scroll more slowly, a la the Chameleon. I often miss the lowest level before it starts scrolling up.
This is important, because the lowest level is still 2-4 times as bright as my Chameleon, which is obviously too bright of a low. I would have liked 5 levels evenly spaced, with the lowest level 1/20th of the highest.
Once you set the level, if you turn the light off and on with the front button, you return to the previously set level. Then things start to get weird. If you find a level you like and press the rear button again, it goes back to the highest level. OK, but there's no way to get back to the lower level you just set without going through the scrolling again. Turning the light on and off after going to high brings you back to high. Pushing the rear button again does strange things. Push once and the light goes off. Push twice and it comes back on to high. Push three times and it flashes a continuous SOS.
This weirdness has to do with controlling the optional taillight. I don't know why you would want the taillight, but surely the microcontroller could sense whether I have it and make those modes inaccessible. Better, yet forget about the taillight and have the rear button dedicated to controlling brightness. I found myself constantly getting to high output and then needing to scroll back down.
BEAM
You have to see it to believe it. It is friggin' bright! And as white as any of my LED flashlights.
I compared it to my sub-2D cmacclel hotwire, using the 1150 lumen Pelican bulb and 6 AA Lithium primaries (I have it configured for bedside deployment where shelf life is important).
In a ceiling bounce, I couldn't tell the difference because the colors were too different. Against a wall, the hotwire has a narrower, brighter hotspot and large corona. The Tactical's hotspot was about twice the diameter at 3m and very little corona. Overall light output looked roughly comparable, but it was hard to tell.
I took both lights down to a soccer field. At 100 yards, both lights did a great job of lighting most of the other end of the field. Interestingly, the Tactical did a better job. It's wider hotspot lit a noticeably wider field of view. However, I assume this would change if we took the range up to 200 yards--the Tactical's dimmer hotspot wouldn't reach, while the hotwire's would.
Don't even ask for beamshots because I don't have the time or expertise.
BOTTOM LINE
I'm happy with this purchase as a wow-light. I probably won't use it very often in a practical setting due to its bulk and usability issues. Though when taking the kids trick or treating, I will definitely have it with me. If I had more confidence in the user interface, I would definitely consider getting the Street version (much smaller, 3 K2's, only 1 button). Obviously, these guys are pretty serious flashaholics